Peanuts (Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Charles M. Schulz)

Oh, really? How so?

And yeah, she probably didn't last that long. She's kind of a one joke character so far on this year.

Little Orphan Annie was a redhead, and Daddy Warbucks never tried to license her image. Generally, he'd disappear on some adventure, his wife would kick Annie out or she'd otherwise get into trouble, and then he'd show up at the last minute to save her.

And yeah, Tapioca Pudding is a very minor character. I think she only popped up twice, in the 80's. Oddly enough, she's appeared in some of the recent Apple+ specials. It's been suggested that she might be a reference to Strawberry Shortcake, though I'd have to wonder why if so.

Anyone remember Charlotte Braun, the loud-talking female version of Charlie Brown? Schulz actually got rid of her because a fan wrote him a letter asking him to give her the axe.

Edited by Robbery on Jan 14th 2024 at 10:15:06 AM

Tapioca Pudding was a satire of Strawberry Shortcake, iirc. Her whole bit was a shot at commercialization and superficial brands.

But honestly, if there's any Peanuts character who I could see as a female Trump, it's Lucy.

Lucy's continual refrain with Schroeder does tend to be about whether or not he'll be able to make any money as a musician. And I recall in A Boy Named Charlie Brown how she tried to make herself Charlie Brown's manager once he started winning spelling bees.

Not really? The refrain is "will you marry me?". She either doesn't care about the money, or just assumes that he will get rich being a musician.

I'd say the refrain is more often "you will marry me," as in she takes it for granted that he will, or at least wants to project that she does—though she does sometimes ask him if he thinks they'll ever get married. When she does take it for granted, she then engages in the question of whether or not he'll be able to support her.

Oh, yes, she is doing the typical Peanuts girl thing of relentlessly badgering a boy she likes who has no interest in her at all. Sally does the same thing with Linus, as does Patty to some extent with Charlie.

This comic sure has odd gender dynamics like that. It's always the girl chasing the boy, and the boy is never interested. Makes you wonder where that comes from.

That's just the old 'boys think girls have cooties' trope. Charlie Brown isn't entirely like that as his attraction to the red haired girl tells us, but then again he appears to be the oldest of the gang.

But they never think the girls have cooties. They are simply not interested, at all.

Also, I find that argument a little disingenuous. No one would say "oh, it's just girls being scared of cooties" if it was the other way around.

Peppermint Patty is too overbearing for Charlie Brown, and Marcie is too passive—by this I mean not that these traits make him dislike them, only that they make him unsure of how to relate to either girl.

The boys are interested in girls (the exception may be Schroeder, who never expresses an interest in any girl, though he does miss Lucy when she and Linus briefly move away); Linus and Charlie Brown have had various crushes on various girls, they're just not interested in the girls who are pursuing them. Sally embarrasses Linus, and Peppermint Patty, I think, makes Charlie Brown uncomfortable.

Most of the girls end up being overbearing—too sure of themselves—and most of the boys are awkward—unsure of themselves. In either case, love frequently makes them behave like twits, which I think is the actual point that Schulz was trying to make.

Edited by Robbery on Jan 15th 2024 at 3:54:08 AM

Charles Schulz was odd about women.

It’s definitively noticeable that - especially in the love matchups - most male characters in Peanuts were awkward and pensive but contemplative or intellectual introverts, while most female characters were dimwitted or at least generally ignorant but overbearing or narcissistic, with most relationships consisting of the girls aggressively trying to forcing the more passive boys to go along with whatever they wanted.

Marcie, who is explicitly based on a specific person, is the exception. And even then, she would fall into this from time to time.

Schulz projects a lot. Supposedly Peppermint Patty and her relationship with Charlie is based on his relationship with his second wife, and was presumably intended to be perceived as positive but flawed.

I don't think that's possible, as Peppermint Patty was introduced in 1966, and Schulz met his second wife in the early 70's.

And the strip then ran for another thirty years, during his entire marriage (until the day before his death).

Schulz didn’t decide everything he was going to do with the characters for the next few decades only the moment they were introduced.

Edited by KnownUnknown on Jan 17th 2024 at 1:52:32 AM

Indeed, and Patty's romantic interest only starts after a while.

Linus got a new girl he's interested in around 1986, she's always telling him "aren't you too old for me?" (she's only two months younger).

Okay, I see what you're saying now. You're right of course, their relationship evolved over time. I beg your pardon, as I misread "based their relationship" as "based the character on."

Edited by Robbery on Jan 17th 2024 at 3:53:36 AM

There's this odd couple of comics in 1987 where Lucy demands Snoopy salute to "superior women" like her, and I really don't know what Schultz is on about here with this gag.

Just Lucy being Lucy, I expect. It's the kind of thing she'd demand.

Edited by Robbery on Jan 31st 2024 at 2:30:54 AM

I guess, but it just stood out to me as the kind of joke Schultz doesn't tend to go for.

Huh, in March 1988, the comic suddenly drops a panel and gets a few centimeters narrower. And it seems to stay like that in later books, too, with the comics now being three panels instead of four. Only the Sunday comics stay the original width.

Edited by Redmess on Feb 4th 2024 at 10:33:31 AM

Around the late 80's Schulz finally got his syndicate to contractually agree to present the strip as a horizontal strip—prior to that, some papers would present it as a four-panel "box," which necessitated that each strip be four panels of equal size. As such, he started experimenting with layout—doing strips that were one panel, 3 panels, 5 panels, etc. He'd also shortly start using gray tones, too (to mixed success, in my opinion).

Yeah, I noticed that too.

May 1988, and it's finally here:

Old Man Complains About Loud Music!

I recall back in the '50's, he had a strip where Charlie Brown and, I think, Violet complained about the song Stardust being made over as a popular song. I confess that when I first encountered that strip, I had no idea what it was even talking about.

Yeah, that happens when old works reference current people and media. I have no idea who most of the people they talk about are either.

For context, this comic had Snoopy complain about someone carrying around a loud ghettoblaster, and his ears start to cry.

Edited by Redmess on Feb 6th 2024 at 10:03:53 AM

Looking at our Peanuts character page, anyone else think Peppermint Patty ought to be moved to the Main Characters page, given that she's one of the most utilized characters in the strip? It's hard to argue against her becoming a core member of the cast by the middle of the 70's.

Edited by KnownUnknown on Feb 22nd 2024 at 1:27:47 AM