After viewing the 2002 American Masters program on PBS last night, I started early this morning looking for more information on what I now recognize in Peanuts as the single most important cultural feature influencing my youth and quest for maturity. Sounds impressive and self important, huh?
In grade school and high school, I was Charlie Brown – always happy with 2nd place, the A- was good enough, the self deprecating style seemed to keep the bullies at bay, the Sunday night paralysis of facing another Monday without confidence in my self or an inkling of my worth. The only high school graduation card I remember was one of those giant jobs, sporting Good Ole Charlie Brown on the front and the punch line inside, “There’s no greater burden than a great potential.” I laughed and smiled the Mona Lisa smirk at the time, but in retrospect, it was an amazing epiphany.
The PBS show and a new book about a great artist happening to be human, has spawned a great deal of comment. The current thread on Cartoon Brew is an amazing testament to the tenuous nature of truth in the form of facts, but points out that real truth is the product of a very complex process of experience, opinion, emotion, and humor. 5 cents please…
Another blog about Schulz and the PBS show. BorgBlog
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