Okay today's post may not be about film, but this is my blog and I can write about whatever I want. So today I am going to write about a comic strip that happens to mean a lot to me. This is Peanuts. As many of you know this strip was created and written by Charles M. Schultz and introduced such amazing characters as Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Sally Brown, Linus and Lucy Van Pelt, Woodstock, Peppermint Patty, Schroder, Pigpen and so many more. It also spawned off many animated TV specials, two TV series and a few theatrical feature films. The appeal of these characters is actually very easy to understand. They are us. We relate to them highly. We understand the insecurities of Charlie Brown and Linus, the daydreaming side of Snoopy and Peppermint Patty's boredom when it comes to school. However there is actually more to their appeal than this, we don't just relate to these characters we kind of admire them. Charlie Brown may never successfully fly a kite, kick a football, or win a baseball game. Similarly we know that Linus will never see the great pumpkin, and Peppermint Patty will remain D- student for her entire time in school. However these characters preserve through all of this. They never give up and when they fall off the horse they get right back on. If after all these characters go through they still hang in there so can we. At the end of the day this gives us hope that we can make it through any hardships or failures in our lives.
The reason I am talking about this comic strip today is simple. On this day in 1950, this strip first graced the newspaper funny pages. Below is the very first comic. Though a lot has changed and the strip would later have a much larger cast than the three characters featured here (Charlie Brown, Sherman, Patty (not Peppermint Patty mind you)), this strip gave birth to all that followed.
-Michael J. Ruhland
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