Charlie Brown Christmas Specials - * * *
I bought Cam the "Charlie Brown" Christmas special DVD, which contains two 25-minute shows. These are the same ones I used to watch when I was a kid. It's amazing how well they hold up.
I heard a story recently on NPR recently about how Charlie Brown has an existential philosophy, but I never realized how true this was until I watched it again. When you're five years old watching Charlie Brown, all you care about is Snoopy and how cool the music is. But there are some pretty intense things going on in these stories, like Charlie Brown wondering why he can't get into the Christmas spirit.
After watching these two shows a few times, Cameron said, "No one likes Charlie Brown." And he's actually right. All the other characters are usually saying something like, "Now that Charlie Brown is directing the play, it's really going to be screwed up!"
Where else can you see a cartoon character masquerading as a psychologist, and going through several phobias with Charlie Brown (including "the fear of everything").
Are these shows too serious for kids? Or has the fare on Cartoon Network desensitized us to good writing, good characters, and flash over substance?
I heard a story recently on NPR recently about how Charlie Brown has an existential philosophy, but I never realized how true this was until I watched it again. When you're five years old watching Charlie Brown, all you care about is Snoopy and how cool the music is. But there are some pretty intense things going on in these stories, like Charlie Brown wondering why he can't get into the Christmas spirit.
After watching these two shows a few times, Cameron said, "No one likes Charlie Brown." And he's actually right. All the other characters are usually saying something like, "Now that Charlie Brown is directing the play, it's really going to be screwed up!"
Where else can you see a cartoon character masquerading as a psychologist, and going through several phobias with Charlie Brown (including "the fear of everything").
Are these shows too serious for kids? Or has the fare on Cartoon Network desensitized us to good writing, good characters, and flash over substance?
Labels: TV
