#Charlie Brown Christmas Special

[southernsagestoryteller]

Christmas Trees

The first Christmas trees I knew were cedar and chopped down in the woods near our house. When I was five Mama and I made paper chains to circle our tree and she cut stars out of cardboard that we covered them with aluminum foil. I didn’t know it was because she couldn’t afford to buy ornaments. Those foil colored stars remained among our treasured decorations even in the years when we had shiny…

[atomic-chronoscaph]

A Charlie Brown Christmas - art by Rodel Gonzales (2017)

[br1ghtestlight]

still pissed that disney told them not to do bob's burgers holiday episodes because they dont run well in syndication. like this show is thirteen fucking years old don't tell them how to do their jobs?? you dont give a fuck about the show either way?

[animatejournal]

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A Charlie Brown Christmas Director: Bill Melendez | USA, 1965

[arechanga]

It's the Great Christmas Heist!

Detective Puig received a calling card from Cometa targeting Christmas Itself! What could this mean? Whatever it is, the Yoalco Police Force is ready! Or are they...?

[cartoonkati09]

Why you gotta be so Vicious?

[peanuts-fan]

[linesonscreens]

Let's Read Peanuts (Yes, all of it) – March 1953

There are lots of great strips I just don't have room to comment on. I strongly encourage everybody to read the full month at the official GoComics page. Today's month starts HERE.

Mar 1, 1953

Torn between being irrationally angry at this boomer-ass “kids these days” take and loving that room's aesthetic.

Also I'm pretty sure that this is the song in question for those who are curious.

Mar 3, 1953

I haven't been showing them because the joke is bad and I hate it but there's a whole bunch of strips about Lucy's bread and butter sandwiches and her insistence that they be folded over and not cut. I'm guessing it's a thing Schulz's daughter was doing at the time.

Mar 7, 1953

A mildly antagonistic relationship is forming.

Mar 8, 1953

Living with Lucy must be a special kind of personal hell.

Mar 13, 1953

Careful, that girl will crush your abnormally large head like a grape. I've seen her do it.

Mar 15, 1953

Nice to see Schulz finally figured out how to draw thought bubbles.

Mar 26, 1953

Solid punchline, but the best part is actually the casual dig Schroeder drops in the second panel.

Thoughts:

Watched A Charlie Brown Christmas for the first time in decades over the holiday and it's... fine? I think it's something I respect more than enjoy. There are specific moments that I like and certain artistic decisions that I think work phenomenally (the jazz soundtrack, for example). I even like the message despite not being in any way religious.

But man, it's kind of a mess. I was constantly distracted by awkward cuts, animation errors, weird line readings, and all kinds of other issues. Plus the whole “we need to get this Christmas play ready” plotine just kind of gets dropped at the end and that really bugged the hell out of me. I don't think that this is the animation team's fault, apparently they only had 6 months to write and animate the entire thing, but the lack of polish really shows and I wish they had just a bit more time to tighten things up. Then again, that same jankyness gives the special a certain human touch and charm which I suspect is a large part of why a lot of people still like it even today. So who knows if changing things would make it more enjoyable.

Overall I think this special still ~mostly~ holds up, even if it's not my favorite piece of animated Peanuts media. It's over before you have time to get mad at the parts that don't work and at the end of the day when the kids decorate the tree and start singing I felt the feelings it wanted me to feel. And really, that's all it needed to do.

Soooo... I guess keep this one in mind for when you're looking for something to get you in the Christmas mood in like... 11 months? (Yeah, I really should have watched this thing earlier so I could post this before New Years. Oh well.)

[asteroidtroglodyte]

So this exists

[roskirambles]

(Archive) Christmas movie of the day: A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)

Originally Posted: December 7th, 2021 Rare is the day when a creative work is the epitome of it's own message, but such is the case with this little special that could. With a rushed production and no confidence for it's success from anyone involved in it's creation, this is such a giant of a short film that to this day it is still the nominal Christmas TV special over 50 years later.

All of this is poignant because the message o the short: the beauty of humility. In typical Peanuts fashion this is a tale where things don't go too well for Charlie Brown, but for once there's a silver lining for him. His simple contribution of a worn down tree is dismissed as a failure, but in the end it proves to be just the right thing for the Christmas play. Even if the message is delivered in the context of the religious tale upon which Christmas has been built, it is delivered in such a way that there's a universality to it. A man born from the most humble origins that still managed to change the world, which is analogous to that small tree.

And it also goes for the short itself. Made on a shoestring budget and executive disapproval, it had everything against it and yet it changed the world. It's resonant even today, and somehow it actually managed to disuade against consumerism. Seriously, aluminum trees? They were a real thing, it just happens this short utterly obliterated them in the popular eye.

I frankly didn't think much about it the first time I watched it, but I can see why it's so… touching. There's something powerful, even timeless, in the simplicity and humbleness of kindness.

[daystilchristmas]

Favorite Christmas Specials Countdown #2

A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)

First Aired: December 9, 1965 on CBS

Favorite Quote: “Charlie Brown, you're the only person I know who can take a wonderful season like Christmas and turn it into a problem. Maybe Lucy's right. Of all the Charlie Browns in the world, you're the Charlie Browniest.“

There’s never been a Christmas season in my life go by that I haven’t watched this special multiple times. The music in this special is beautiful and every moment is emphasized by the score. This is my mom’s favorite Christmas special and she’s watched it every year since it’s premiered. She said it reminds her of being a kid and she would always watch it with her parents and siblings. I know it may be cheesy but it’s a classic and no Christmas season is the same without.

[smol-stardust]

Thinking again about how A Charlie Brown Christmas was a staple Christmas program that regularly aired on broadcast tv and is nostalgic. But also about A CB Christmas’ message of the holiday season amidst commercialism and superficial celebrations. How Charlie Brown, feeling disenchanted by the materialism surrounding Christmas, and co eventually find Christmas in each other. Something about the simplicity of genuine connections and the spirit of giving being the core of us and of the holidays.

Then remembering Apple bought A Charlie Brown Christmas, and kept the streaming rights to it. Making it no longer on broadcast TV. How it ignored the message of the over-commercialism about a season meant for people and giving. How it took the little simple joys away, giving an absence of the yearly broadcast. And it’s been a few years, but it still makes me mad, because even if they make it available for a few days, it’s not the same. It’s no longer the same CB Christmas we know and love if it’s kept away in this manner… and it’s just… wrong

[punster-2319]

*Not to be confused with the Aardman film Arthur Christmas, the one in the poll is based on the PBS show Arthur.

[neonnovember]

Is it wrong to need reassurance? I’m like pretty much always the one who asks my irls if they’re around/down to hang out and it’s almost never the other way around . All my messages look like a long string of “yo r u around” and it’s so embarrassing to send it twice but if I don’t at least try I feel like I’ll tear myself apart completely and it just seems like all my friends are only friends with me out of a sense of obligation and they all regret me and are just waiting for me to graduate/us to go in our separate directions so they won’t have to talk to me anymore 😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍but then I feel like such an egotistical prick anytime I seek reassurance tho so I just can’t win !!! Need a lobotomy rn why do I even care anymore why haven’t I learned by now

[spearitbox]

It's so insane to me that so many Christmas movies and specials have families hunting for a tree days or hours before the holiday. Or waiting until the last minute to decorate it.

As if the stores haven't been selling Christmas decor since mid-October.

Is this a common thing I'm unaware of? Growing up, we always put our tree up on Thanksgiving, or if we were getting a real tree, we'd go out the day after Thanksgiving to get. You can't leave it up long, why wait until the last minute?

All this last minute stuff gives me anxiety.