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Voice From The Bullpen: Children’s Specials Under Fire

After the recent November televising of “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving,” which first aired in 1973, reports surfaced questioning the possibility of that children’s special being racist. It sighted the fact that Franklin was sitting alone on one side of the table, while the other kids were sitting in a group on the other. It also made note that Franklin was sitting in a rickety old fold up lawn chair, while the other guests were sitting in the better chairs.

Was Charles Schutz being racist? Was he trying to perceive his characters as being racist? I’m not sure that was his intent. As we look at the various TV specials featuring the Peanuts characters, there seemed to be a lot of bullying, or ridicule, or sadness, as part of the program. Lucy pulling the football away from Charlie Brown and Charlie Brown doing a flip before falling hard to the ground. Charlie Brown not receiving valentines while the other children all did. In the movie, “You’re in Love, Charlie Brown,” most of the movie was about Charlie Brown being ridiculed by some of the girls, because he expressed liking the little red-haired girl. On Halloween, Charlie Brown continuously received rocks, while everyone else got candy.

According to , Charles Schultz served in the army and experienced being a loner, becoming frustrated by that. It was reported that he channeled that frustration into the character of Charlie Brown, and as we see in most of the Charlie Brown programs, Charlie Brown couldn’t win, no matter what he did. In the Christmas program, Charlie Brown saw a tree that need some TLC and bought it for the Christmas play. He was ridiculed by many of the other kids. In the Thanksgiving episode, Charlie Brown, Charlie Brown went out of his way to do something for Peppermint Patty, who actually invited herself and other kids to Charlie Browns house for Thanksgiving Dinner, even though Charlie Brown wasn’t going to be home as he, his sister Sally, and their parents, were going to Grandmother’s house for Thanksgiving. Still, Charlie Brown created a party for the kids, and he was ridiculed when it wasn’t the conventional Thanksgiving Dinner. Let’s face it, Charlie Brown was kind of a sad sack. Or was he? Not too much ever went his way. Or did it?

If you watched Schultz’s programs to the end, most ended with a “things usually work out if you keep doing them the right way, and with the best intentions” theme, as most things turned out pretty well for Charlie Brown. The kids stopped ridiculing him, Lucy stopped bullying him, Snoppy stopped laughing at him, he got a note from the little red-haired girl, he found the true meaning of Christmas (and the tree wasn’t so bad), and all the kids were invited to join Charlie Brown and Sally at Grandmother’s house for Thanksgiving Dinner.

In all of that, and in the many times I’ve watched the specials, (my children are all adults and have left home, and I still watch them), I never had the inkling that the episode was racist in any way. I never looked at Franklin as being black. I didn’t see one person on one side of the table, I saw a bunch of kids sitting at a table. I never put a thought into a chair being rickety. I just saw kids sharing in Charlie Brown’s make-shift Thanksgiving celebration. I’d be willing to ask my children, who watched these specials numerous times growing up, if they considered any of the kids in terms of their race, or what chair they were sitting in throughout the episode. My guess will be, they didn’t even notice that. I bet the same goes for many children of different colors, religions, and/or ethnicities. These are children’s specials, yet they’re being scrutinized by some adults as having subversive, hidden meanings, taking away the innocence of the specials for the children who view them. This particular one under fire premiered 45 years ago. As far as I know, it’s never been scrutinized and accused of being racist before now, yet 45 years later this children’s special television program appears to be in danger of losing its innocence.

Another program criticized as being politically incorrect is the animated, “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.” This children’s special first aired in 1964, this year celebrating its 54th anniversary on small screens, and some have come forward saying this program shows bullying in many different scenes of the longtime Christmas television staple. Some claim there’s verbal abuse by Rudolph’s father, who said some mean things to Rudolph as he was very young. There’s also verbal abuse by Comet, the Reindeer Coach, and ridicule by the other reindeer who won’t let Rudolph play in any reindeer games.

Another accusatory opinion made mention was that of the misfit toys being outcast, another example of bullying in the program, not to mention the outcast elf who traveled to the island of Misfit toys with Rudolph.

Yes, these are examples of bullying and meanness, by both the adult reindeer and the young reindeer as well, but there’s a lesson in this children’s program, as in all the Charlie Brown specials, and in other holiday specials.

One more example, not quite as old as the two aforementioned programs, is one of my favorites. It’s called “Nestor the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey,”first airing in 1977, and now celebrating its 41st anniversary on television. In this special, Nestor was born with what some thought was a physical imperfection, resulting in Nestor being ridiculed. After his mother died protecting him from the cold, Nestor ended up in the hands of a donkey merchant. He was verbally abused by that seller, after being ridiculed by the young donkeys while he was growing up. The story went on and Nestor was chosen by Mary and Joseph to carry Mary, with Child, to Bethlehem, and when a huge windstorm arose, impeding their travel across the desert, Nestor’s ears shielded them, and they safely arrived under the star that guided so many travelers seeking the child that night. So just like Rudolph, the imperfection, the difference in appearance, the would be anomaly, proved to be the value of that character and helped show the characters themselves, and others, that everyone is important in some way.

These children’s specials, under fire because of problems in our world today, and yes, racism and bullying, and chastising, ridiculing, and making fun of others for whatever reason, are terrible injustices against people, and that should not be overlooked, but as every one of these specials concluded, the moral of those stories were ones I’d want my children to learn.

My interpretation is, it seems in all of these programs, they try to teach that everyone’s unique and everyone has something they’re good at, and can contribute to the world. It shows everyone’s special in some way and everyone has feelings that should be respected and included, no matter what their looks, their religion, their politics, their lifestyle, or their life choices. These are good lessons for us, as adults, to be reminded of too. They also teach it’s important for everyone to be included, and not be outcast. It shows we all can, and should, share with each other, what we have, including our strengths and talents, and respect the ideas, differences, and opinions of others, whether we agree or disagree, with them. Meantime, I’m going to keep watching, and keep enjoying, those holiday children’s specials.

And as a somewhat related side note, if I come in from shoveling or snow blowing on a frigid winter day, I just might break out in a chorus of, “Baby it’s Cold Outside.”

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