Peanuts ​​creator Charles Schulz once identified the “purpose” of his famous character Charlie Brown, perfectly encapsulating why the character has appealed to generations of readers, taking an indelible position in the world’s pop culture consciousness in the process. In other words, Schulz explained what made his creation an all-time great character.

In the 1977 the 1977 BBC documentary Everyman: Happiness is a Warm Puppy, Schulz used a personal anecdote to highlight the cultural impact of Charlie Brown, nearly three decades into Peanuts’ publication. As he explained, the way his secretary’s son related to Charlie Brown struck the character’s creator as the essential reason for the character’s existence.

Schulz compared Charlie Brown to “a line of poetry,” in that he had the ability to capture and express readers’ feelings for them. Just like any resonant piece of art, Charlie Brown – and by extension, Peanuts – could often speak for readers better than they could for themselves.

Charles Schulz’s Charlie Brown Became Synonymous With A Feeling

The “Purpose” Behind Peanuts’ Protagonist

Peanuts began publication in 1950; by the time the BBC produced the Everyman: Happiness is a Warm Puppy documentary special on Charles Schulz in 1977, the artist’s work had already been consumed by generations of fans. For countless individuals who grew up in the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s, Peanuts was a formative part of their cultural upbringing. Reflecting on his own work, Schulz effectively zeroed in on the thing that made the character of Charlie Brown, in particular, continually relevant to audiences.

Speaking in Everyman, Schulz eagerly articulated what made Peanuts an enduring success, at least in his estimation. He explained:

Recently, my secretary came to work one morning, and she said that her little boy had come home from school the previous afternoon, removed his jacket, and thrown it down on the living room couch, and had said, “Mom, I feel just like Charlie Brown.”

And all of a sudden it occurred to me, after all of these years, this is the purpose of Charlie Brown. Charlie Brown is somewhat like a line of poetry. That little boy then did not have to talk any more about his feelings. The mother knew exactly how he felt. And I suppose this could be the reason for Charlie Brown’s existence. If someone says to you, “boy, I feel just like Charlie Brown today,” you know how [they] feel.”

As Schulz noted with his connection to poetry, Charlie Brown’s “purpose” was far from specific to him, but was rather one of the core functions art, in any medium, is capable of. The way the author described it, his character was a spectacularly successful example of this artistic function. In a sense, Charlie Brown offered a kind of shorthand for a specific experience, especially for young readers.

In effect, Schulz acknowledged Charlie Brown’s evolution from a character into something more: a meme, a symbol, and an icon. As he illustrated in the story he shared about his secretary and her son, the comparison to Charlie Brown represented the way the boy felt, in that moment, more effectively than he could have articulated in words. “The mother knew exactly how he felt” Schulz said, attributing a profound – though not unwarranted –significance to the character and what he had come to represent.

Charlie Brown’s Perennial Suffering Made Him Incredibly Relatable

How The Character Became An Icon

Charlie Brown became iconic primarily because, as a character, he was desperately ordinary. Moreover, he was routinely hapless, and often pathetic; he was a put-upon figure, regularly maligned and at times outright mistreated by his peers. All of these characteristics were essential to his success, as he became synonymous with defeat. Peanuts was never too severe in its treatment of Charlie Brown, but as gentle as it was, he was consistently the butt of the joke – and as a result, he came to represent anyone who felt that way about themselves.

In his anecdotal story from Everyman: Happiness is a Warm Puppy, the frustration of Charles Schulz’ secretary’s son speaks to the fact that Charlie Brown, as a character, was regularly frustrated and stymied. Most often, he had little recourse to do anything about it beyond a deadpan quip in the final panel of that day’s Peanuts strip. Considering how widely familiar feelings of frustration and defeat are for many readers, this quickly made Charlie Brown one of the most relatable characters in 20th century popular culture, in any medium.

As memorable as Peanuts characters like Snoopy, Woodstock, Lucy, and the rest of the Peanuts Gang may be, what distinguishes Charlie Brown is the way he has become representative of a specific feeling. Charlie Brown became shorthand for a state of being in a way none of the other Peanuts characters did, and moreover, on a level that few fictional characters ever reach. In that way, it is not only a remarkable achievement, but it is incredible that Charles Schulz recognized it when he did.

Charlie Brown’s “Purpose” Is Peanuts’ Greatest Success

Defining Charles Schulz’ Legacy

It’s fairly safe to say that even without Charlie Brown fulfilling his central “purpose,” Peanuts still would have been widely syndicated, reaching a significant audience and appealing to readers across decades. That said, it is worth wondering how its impact on audiences would have been different. It may be a question without a clear-cut answer, but it is one that can bring to light readers’ own conceptions of the effect Peanuts did have on American culture. For this reason alone, it is worth meditating on.

As Charles Schulz noted, the “reason for Charlie Brown’s existence” was a lofty one; as a result, it is important to consider how effectively Charlie Brown fulfilled what Schulz determined to be his purpose, and on a daily basis over the course of decades, when trying to quantify the artist’s legacy. Beyond commercial success, the fact that Schulz work came to be charged with such meaning is his true artistic achievement. It both stemmed from, and enabled, everything else that came with Peanuts as a cultural phenomenon.

Charles Schulz once noted that the reason fans rooted for Charlie Brown was because, despite his near-constant failures, he never stopped trying. For decades, Charlie Brown has been synonymous with that feeling, giving countless readers a proxy for their own feelings, a character they could identify with, who symbolized something to them. In this way, Peanuts creator Charles Schulz stands as a remarkable artistic role model, one whose work holds lessons for creators of all kinds seeking to replicate his success.

Source: BBC Archives (Youtube)