Ask me what my all-time favorite comic strip is and, depending on the time of day, I’m likely to say Dick Tracy…or Pogo…or Barnaby…or Bloom County.
Truth of the matter is, though, my all-time favorite comic strip is and always has been Charles Schulz’s Peanuts.
The reason, I guess, that I don’t just SAY that is because for as long as I can remember, Charlie Brown and company have been so much more than “just” a comic strip.
Peanuts began nearly a decade before I, myself, began, and with that head start it had already made tentative progress toward becoming a world-wide phenomenon. Throughout my formative years, Peanuts became associated in my mind with everything from Ford automobiles and Coca-Cola to Hallmark, MetLife, and NASA!
I began buying the many mass market collections early on and, like much of America, plopped in front of my black and white (until 1968) TV set to watch the annual, usually holiday-themed, Peanuts specials.
Surprisingly, through all of this I never even saw the Sunday Peanuts strips as our local paper that carried the dailies had no Sunday edition.
When the rival paper did begin running the Sundays in the 1970s, I began regularly clipping them out and pasting them in scrapbooks. By that point, there were also Peanuts movies, stage musicals, and what seemed like more merchandising tie-ins than anything before or since with the exception of Star Wars and maybe Hello Kitty.
The secret of the Peanuts characters is that they come across as small adults, with most of them representing a certain type. I was a Charlie Brown in school, the kid who never got picked for games, the kid who never got valentines. I could also be a fussbudget, though, like Lucy. I had an imagination like Snoopy’s, and I like to think that sometimes I was wise beyond my years, like Linus. That was part of the magic of Charles Schulz—you didn’t just relate to one character, you could relate to many of them!
The humor of the strip was much subtler than, say, Bill Holman’s screwy Smokey Stover and certainly less “of its time” than Walt Kelly’s Pogo. It dealt with childhood issues but also adult issues as seen through childhood eyes. In time, it became just as well known for espousing gentle philosophy and even a bit of spirituality
Just about everything in the actual strip represented in one way or another an aspect of Charles M. Schulz’s own life. The revealing new Apple documentary from Bryan Grazer and Ron Howard, Who Are You, Charlie Brown?, directed by Michael Bonfiglio, offers a lovely combination of both a tribute as well as a continuation of the Peanuts animated legacy.
Having seen a number of documentaries and profiles on Schulz through the years as well as having read several books on the man’s life and work, I was curious to see what a 21st century “woke” documentary could bring to the table.
Curious, but not particularly worried, as Imagine Entertainment has in the past proven a deft track record with documentaries ranging from Pele and Pavarotti to the Beatles and Linda Lovelace! Who Are You, Charlie Brown? proved to be no exception.
The intertwining of an all-new but classically-styled Peanuts animated story is genius. In deference to the show’s title, Charlie Brown is given one week in which to write a 500-word essay about himself. “I’ve no idea who I am,” he says, and thus begins his everyman odyssey to discover and define himself through his interactions with his friends, family, and environment. We all reach that point in our lives where we ask the big questions. In this case, it’s an actual assignment, with a deadline.
As the scene ends and pulls back into color Sunday strip panels, the familiar strains of Vince Guaraldi’s “Linus and Lucy” waft in and the soothing, ultra-smooth narrator voice of Lupita Nyong’o arrives, reminding the viewer of many of the important events connected with the strip. Some members of the film’s eclectic grouping of talking heads get mixed in here, not yet named but each one sharing who their particular favorite character happens to be.
Those names are Schulz’s widow, Jean; fellow cartoonists Lynn Johnston (For Better or For Worse) and Dan Perkins (This Modern World); pop culture king Kevin Smith; award-winning designer Chip Kidd; tennis legend Billie Jean King; TV personality Al Roker; actress and talk show hostess Drew Barrymore; radio and TV personality Ira Glass; writer/transgender activist Jennifer Finney Boylan; former Schulz Museum director Karen Johnson; filmmaker Paul Feig; and young actors Keith L. Williams, Noah Schnapp, and Miya Cech. It’s a very diverse group, indeed.
Some of these folks actually knew Schulz and share memories of him. Others are, like us, just fans, and share their memories of the characters from the strips, TV shows, etc. Lupita introduces a whole new generation of viewers to the man behind the magic, annotating clips of Charles Schulz from earlier audio and video interviews and biographies as well as telling the story of his life and background anew. The connections are cited between shy “Sparky” Schulz and his successful creations and at various points individual strips are read aloud, tying them in directly to Schulz’s real life.
Meanwhile, the surrounding documentary keeps sidestepping in and out of Charlie Brown’s frustrating animated travails as he attempts in vain to find himself by revisiting the various tropes of the strip and the TV specials—Lucy’s psychiatry booth, the football, the kite-eating tree, Snoopy as the World War One flying ace, Sally’s homework, and more.
The animation is gorgeous and the voices are all quite well-cast, with all but a couple of them strongly echoing those of some of the best remembered actors from those roles. The sound effects and music all add to the richly classic feel of the cartoon segments, and specific callbacks to famous scenes will undoubtedly hit with longtime fans as they did with me.
But this show isn’t aimed at viewers like me. It seems clearly marketed more toward today’s generation, at those who came in after Charles M. Schulz passed on the very day his final Peanuts strip was published, just before the turn of the century. Timing.
Although Schulz, who did every single Peanuts strip by himself for its entire half century run, left instructions that no one continue the strip after his death, the syndicate does continue it in reruns. The movies and TV shows have continued, also, as has the merchandising. For many people of all ages, it just wouldn’t be Christmas without A Charlie Brown Christmas. As with all truly great works of art, Peanuts has outlasted its creator, and its timelessness in all its forms has made it easy for whole new generations to discover and appreciate it.
The biographical portions of Who Are You, Charlie Brown? are tightly edited, with well-chosen clips and stills, giving all the pertinent info without overwhelming the viewer. The genuine love for Peanuts comes through from all the guests. The script is informative without information overload, and the smooth transitions to and from the new story keep the whole thing well-paced.
As the documentary winds down, we go back one final time to see our old friends and enjoy the completely in-character happy ending that finds Charlie Brown perhaps just a tad more comfortable being Charlie Brown. It’s only been an hour for us but we’re left feeling we know him a bit better, too, because we know Charles M. Schulz a bit better. In the decades ahead, as with all legendary artists, there will undoubtedly be other documentary explorations of Schulz and his immortal characters. Who Are You, Charlie Brown? has set a pretty high bar for those to come.
Booksteve recommends.
* * * * *
Produced by Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Sara Bernstein, Justin Wilkes,
Josh Scherba, Anne Loi, Stephanie Betts, Craig Schulz, Paige Braddock,
Michael Bonfiglio, Meredith Kaulfers, Marcella Steingart
Written by Michael Bonfiglio and Marcella Steingart
Directed by Michael Bonfiglio
Narrated Lupita Nyong’o
Featuring Jean Schulz, Drew Barrymore, Al Roker, Kevin Smith,
Billie Jean King, Paul Feig, Ira Glass, Noah Schnapp, Miya Cech,
Keith L. Williams, Chip Kidd, Lynn Johnston, Robb Armstrong
Who Are You, Charlie Brown? premieres globally June 25 on Apple TV+
