If you love “A Charlie Brown Christmas” as an ideal children’s story, you might not want to read this. Analyzing something beloved can take the magic out of it. If you’re afraid of that, you shouldn’t even look at this. Don’t peek.
***
SITUATION NORMAL: The Peanuts kids, in this case ice skating. Some children’s stories have children interacting with adults or magical creatures, but this will only have children.
CHARACTER IN A SITUATION WITH A PROBLEM: The situation was described above, with the overall context of Christmas. Our protagonist is CHARLIE BROWN. He feels depressed, but the deeper problem is he does not know the meaning of Christmas.
SIDEKICK: Linus, his friend who carries a security blanket, listens carefully to Charlie Brown. He will turn out to be the sidekick.
ANTAGONIST/EARLY CONFLICT: Snoopy, the antagonist, snaps Charlie Brown from ice skating into a tree. Note the importance of trees in this story.
MENTOR: Lucy plays a number of roles, but here as an amateur psychiatrist, she is the mentor. She tells Charlie Brown that his recognizing he has a problem is important.
HERALD/DENIAL OF CALL: Lucy is now outside her psychiatrist booth. She tells Charlie Brown he should be the director of the Christmas play. He is not sure.
DARKNESS PRESENTS ITSELF: Charlie Brown observes Snoopy decking out his doghouse with a multitude of decorations. Snoopy hands him a flier that announces the true meaning of Christmas is in decorations, and a contest will have “money, money, money” as the prize.
ACCEPTANCE OF CALL: Charlie Brown tells his little sister Sally that he will direct the Christmas play.
ALLY BECOMES ADVERSARY: Sally tells Charlie Brown she wants a multitude of gifts. As an alternative, she would accept a lot of money. Charlie Brown runs away in frustration.
FIRST INCITING INCIDENT: Charlie Brown arrives as the director.
THRESHOLD GUARDIAN: Snoopy howls disapprovingly at Charlie Brown.
FIRST TRY/FAIL: Charlie Brown tries to direct the play, but the children only want to do their own dances to music.
TRUE FACE OF DARKNESS: Lucy, as an antagonist, reveals to Charlie Brown that Christmas is a “big commercial racket. It’s run by a big eastern syndicate.”
MIDPOINT/SECOND INCITING EVENT: Charlie Brown decides to get a Christmas tree to establish the right mood. He sets out with his sidekick, Linus.
SECOND TRY/FAIL: Charlie Brown and Linus continue on their quest. Linus points out the numinous: searchlights in the distance. They enter the land of the fantastic: shiny aluminum Christmas trees. Charlie Brown sees a little wooden Christmas tree. He thinks it needs him, and out of compassion, chooses it.
Charlie Brown and
Linus return with the little tree. The other children react with anger. Then
they laugh at him.
REVELATION: Defeated, Charlie Brown cries out, asking if anyone knows what Christmas is all about.
Linus goes on
stage, and in a soliloquy, tells the actual Christmas story. (This is Luke 2:8-14.)
Charlie Brown
walks out with his little tree, happy.
REMINDER OF DARKNESS/THIRD INCITING INCIDENT: Charlie Brown sees Snoopy’s doghouse, which is extraordinarily decorated. He sees that Snoopy won first prize.
THIRD TRY/FAIL/DEATH:
Charlie Brown takes an ornament from the doghouse and puts it on top of the
little tree. The top of the tree keels over to the ground. Charlie Brown says,
“I’ve killed it.” More depressed than ever, he walks off.
CLIMAX:
Sacrifice; Linus,
the sidekick, sacrifices his security blanket to revive the little tree.
The children despoil
Snoopy’s doghouse and decorate the tree with it, turning it into a glorious
tree.
Adversary reverts
to ally: Charlie Brown’s sister Sally participates.
Antagonist become
ally: Snoopy allows his decorations to be transferred.
Charlie Brown
returns, and is astonished to see his little tree is now glorious.
The children cry
out, “Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown!”
RESOLUTION: The children sing “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing,” verse 1.
***
In writing this, I was not trying to make people mad by referring to Snoopy or Sally as adversaries. I am convinced that the staying power of “A Charlie Brown Christmas” is based on Charlie Brown going through a mini-hero’s journey. It is not just a series of cute scenes, like a couple of the lesser efforts of Peanuts’ specials.
So if you feel an irresistible desire to watch “A Charlie Brown Christmas” every year, there is a deep reason for it.
No comments:
Post a Comment