Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Religious Music & Entertainment
Peanuts’ Lovable Losers

Peanuts’ Lovable Losers

Last updated on: June 19, 2015 at 9:47 am by Paul Asay

Peanuts’ Lovable Losers 2015-06-19T09:47:33-06:00 Paul Asay

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The new trailer for The Peanuts Movie came out a couple of days ago. And while trailers can be misleading, this feels promising. It looks like Charlie Brown, Snoopy and company are getting a fresh, 3-D coat of paint while still holding true to creator Charles M. Schulz’s original vision.

But if that’s true, we should feel a bit fatalistic about Charlie Brown’s determination to rebrand himself.

“I’m going to change who I am and become a winner!” Charlie Brown says in the trailer. It’s ironic, really: If Charlie Brown becomes a winner, he’ll cease to be Charlie Brown.

It’s not that Charlie Brown never wins. He does, but it is ever-so rare. The cartoonist said once that Charlie Brown loses so often because, in a way, he has to. He’s got to suffer “because he is a caricature of the average person. Most of us are much more acquainted with losing than winning.” For Schulz, it’s part of what it meant to be human. We suffer. And in truth, that suffering is a big reason why we lose faith, or keep it.

Schulz was a devout Christian for much of his life, and his faith often snuck into his strips. According to Dennis Hoover’s Religion in the News story “Peanuts for Christ,” as many as 10 percent of them had something to do with religion. Through Peanuts, Schulz quoted the Bible, made spiritual allusions and, most famously, had Linus tell the Christmas story in A Charlie Brown Christmas. In 1965, Presbyterian minister Robert L. Short published The Gospel According to Peanuts. It sold more than 10 million copies.

But for Schulz, faith was not a cure-all, feel-good panacea. It was a deeply mysterious thing, and I think his sense of faith helped create both Peanuts’ obvious heart and sometimes startling darkness. The world of Peanuts was a fallen one where trees eat kites and footballs are yanked and the Red Baron always gets away. As lovable as Schulz’s characters were, they weren’t winners. “People say Peanuts explored religion in our lives,” Tim Burke of the Philadelphia Inquirer once wrote. “Sure, if your definition of religion begins and ends with the book of Job.”

“Life is difficult, isn’t it, Charlie Brown?” Linus asks him one day.

“Yes, it is,” Charlie Brown says. “But I’ve developed a new philosophy. I only dread one day at a time.”

“Cartooning is preaching,” Schultz is quoted in Charles M. Schulz: Conversations. “And I think we have a right to do some preaching. I hate shallow humor. I hate shallow religious humor, I hate shallow sports humor, I hate shallowness of any kind.”

While Peanuts was simple, it was never shallow. For all its spiritual ruminations, Schulz never suggested there were easy answers or pat formulas for living or even happy endings. Charlie Brown suffered mightily under Schulz’s pen.

And yet for all of that, our enduring image of Charlie Brown is of him standing—still standing—wearing his yellow zig-zag shirt and his crooked smile. Life is hard, he seems to tell us. We all lose. But there’s still a lot of joy to be found in playing the game. In hanging out with our crazy dog. In living.

We follow Charlie Brown’s example. Sure, the fallen world may yank away our football. It may crush our pitch and send us spinning. But hey, that’s life, right? It involves its share of lumps. So we pick ourselves off the pitching mound, dust ourselves off and keep moving on, finding reasons to smile from time to time.

The world is fallen. Schulz knew that. We know it. We shouldn’t place our hope in it, but we should take what joys it offers when we can.

In one Sunday strip, Charlie Brown drags himself over to Lucy’s psychiatry stand in a serious funk.

“What can you do when you don’t fit in?” he asks. “What can you do when life seems to be passing you by?”

“Follow me,” Lucy says. “I want to show you something.

“See the horizon over there? See how big this world is? See how much room there is for everybody? Have you ever seen any other worlds?”

“No,” Charlie Brown says.

“As far as you know this is the only world there is … right?”

“Right.”

“You were born to live in this world … right?”

“Right.”

“Well, LIVE IN IT, THEN!” Lucy hollers. “Five cents, please.”

Previous Post

June 16, 2015

Game of Thrones: Naked and Ashamed

Next Post

June 23, 2015 Looking Inside Inside Out

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category books celebrities Editor's Choice games movies music news sports superheroes television Uncategorized

Select a Month May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 December 2025 October 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 September 2023 March 2023 February 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 December 2021 October 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 October 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What is a fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Pride Envy Kindness Greed

Books by This Author Books by Paul Asay

See All Titles »