• Light/Dark
  • Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.

‘Charlie Brown Thanksgiving’ Viewers Upset by "Racist" Scene

  • Thread starter Deleted member 23850
  • Start date
Steeped in a Sea of Games

Steeped in a Sea of Games

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
6,948
PeakPointMatrix said:
Sorry. But I dont really buy that this is racist.
peanutsthanksgiving.jpg


Marcie is sitting by herself, so is Linus. The only reason that Charlie/Patty/Snoppy are sitting squished together is for the staging requirements of the scene. (Patty's "who cooked this?!", Snoopy sinking, then her berating Charlie Brown, and he leaves). They both had to be next to eachother for the joke/berating to land.

The rest is due to the askew Peanuts brand perspective, and if you look closely *everyone's* chair is different. The reason they likely gave Franklin the lawn chair was to at least get ONE gag out of him. Franklin historically has some of the least personality traits of all the peanuts gang next to maybe Shermy. Everyone at the dinner gets a moment, Franklin sinking into the chair is literally the only time they cut to him in the dinner.

That said, this is one of the worst Peanuts specials for other reasons.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Yeah, people are going way overboard with this. It's silly.
 
Poyunch

Poyunch

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
2,359
Oh man I remember this scene,. As a kid I was actually kind of jealous of Franklin getting the lawn chair, it always looked the most comfortable.
 
carlsojo

carlsojo

Member
Oct 28, 2017
33,770
San Francisco
CrimzonSamurai said:
Huh.. I never actually noticed that before. Geez.

Schultz went to bat for Franklin, several newspapers threatened and did actually drop the strip for a while when he was introduced as a character on equal footing with the white cast. I don't know how much input Schultz had on the Thanksgiving Special or that scene in particular but I would imagine this is more of a thing that TV execs at the time are responsible for. Sad to see Schultz' legacy take a hit like that. Hopefully they edit that scene for future broadcasts.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Context is king
 
Megatron

Megatron

Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,445
Imagine if they put him where Marcy is sitting. People would be even more outraged. "He's the only one who's face you can't see!"
 
Lundren

Lundren

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,745
Imagery like this can do harm to children. Whatever the history of the character may be, having the one black character be separate from the rest of the characters looks shitty.

You can agree or disagree about the words used to describe how this scene looks without busting out the "professional outrage brigade" or "identity politics" strawmen. Kids notice this stuff. I have children and have been asked questions about why things are the way they are in media.
 
InfiniDragon

InfiniDragon

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,306
lenovox1 said:
Hmm, the way everyone is arranged makes sense in the context of the comic strip without necessarily bringing in a racial perspective, if I remember everyone's relationship to each other properly. Sally would sit next to her brother. Snoopy would sit next to Charlie, too. Etc.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Yeah, I can see that also. Sally, Patty (especially her lol) and Snoopy would all want to sit near Charlie if given the choice.
 
faceless

faceless

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
4,198
outrage culture defense culture at its finest.

the level of privilege to be able to say "this is how it was at the time and you're lucky that you were allowed to even have table scraps" with a straight face is astounding.

no, this is not ok anymore.

maybe if they run a disclaimer beforehand like those other problematic old cartoons?
 
Koo

Koo

Member
Dec 10, 2017
1,863
I brought this up to a friend of mine so many years ago I can't even count. It was in the context of; 'How I feel on Thanksgiving' as I'm the only black person in my family and I tend to stick out in pics and things like that.

In any case this isn't racist. I always found it funny that they cram 4 kids on one side and then Franklin just has a whole side of the table to himself.
 
GeoGonzo

GeoGonzo

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
4,328
Madrid, Spain
Megatron said:
Imagine if they put him where Marcy is sitting. People would be even more outraged. "He's the only one who's face you can't see!"
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
The fact that something could be arguably worse doesn't make actual events better. It isn't a good look.

There are some plausible explanations already posted, but damn... how did nobody look at the final shot and go "Wait, this doesn't look right"
 
Nazo

Nazo

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,830
How..how have I never seen and heard of this character before in my life. I really don't care much about The Peanuts but how have I literally never seen him before. This shit is blowing my mind right now.
 
KimiNewt

KimiNewt

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
1,749
One out of context picture and suddenly the whole 100+ episodes series is racist. Even if it is, people should stop jumping to consequences and rage about anything.

Take a deep breath, read a bit and figure shit out. That Daily Show clip covers at least the comic part of it.
 
The Adder

The Adder

Member
Oct 25, 2017
18,094
EvilChameleon said:
Not good. Although I think the chick at the bottom (Marcie?) is in a garbage folding chair, so I'd say Franklin has the better chair here.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
It's the better chair for relaxing. It sucks for eating though. And folding chairs are actually a little better for that than real chairs. Marcie's the smart one. Of course she got the best seat.
 

JealousKenny

Banned
Jul 17, 2018
1,231
Seems like people are saying it isn't racist simply because they adore Peanuts. Franklin really has no reason to be there other than being a token and him sitting alone on one side is very striking, noticed it as a young kid almost immediately. Why is Franklin there but not Lucy, Schroeder, or Pig Pen as well? Maybe the networks wouldn't air it if he wasn't by himself, whatever the reason that seating arrangement wasn't an accident.
 
Kayotix

Kayotix

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,312
Franklin has the best chair to be honest, those are comfortable as hell compared to everyone else's chairs.

Him by himself isn't a great look but the show was made in the 70s.... It's like watching older movies and complaining about them also. If this causes backlash they will prolly drop it like everything else.
 
SapientWolf

SapientWolf

Member
Nov 6, 2017
6,565
faceless said:
outrage culture defense culture at its finest.

the level of privilege to be able to say "this is how it was at the time and you're lucky that you were allowed to even have table scraps" with a straight face is astounding.

no, this is not ok anymore.

maybe if they run a disclaimer beforehand like those other problematic old cartoons?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
The "problem" was literally manufactured by misinterpreting the artist's intent.
 

Deleted member 25712

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 29, 2017
1,803
faceless said:
outrage culture defense culture at its finest.

the level of privilege to be able to say "this is how it was at the time and you're lucky that you were allowed to even have table scraps" with a straight face is astounding.

no, this is not ok anymore.

maybe if they run a disclaimer beforehand like those other problematic old cartoons?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Dude, lumping this in with overtly racist/offensive cartoons meant to ridicule stereotypes is pretty ridiculous. And if you want to dilute the meaning of having privilege to the point that it can be applied to anyone not fanning themselves liken a southern belle in outrage at what seems like a fairly innocuous scene from a Charlie Brown special then congrats, you just made the whole concept seem absurd and useless.
 

Deleted member 16657

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
10,198
faceless said:
outrage culture defense culture at its finest.

the level of privilege to be able to say "this is how it was at the time and you're lucky that you were allowed to even have table scraps" with a straight face is astounding.

no, this is not ok anymore.

maybe if they run a disclaimer beforehand like those other problematic old cartoons?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

If by "disclaimer" you mean adding a message that says "Schultz went out of his way to add Franklin against the wishes of the newspapers" then by all means.
 
DigitalOp

DigitalOp

Member
Nov 16, 2017
9,277
Surprised nobody can understand the sensitivity..

Seeing as the country voted for a White Supremacist who's leading a public resurgence of overt racism in America...

That's causing alot of people to take a step back and relook at all of the dominoes that lead to such a moment, one of then being media portrayal and image.

Being that it's 2018, and this stuff is happening, that's going to overide the original context that Shultz has sadly (groundbreaking as it was) and the image that remains is a lone black kid that is otherized to the other side of the table.

Context is key and uh.... There's alot of new context that's at play here as well.
 
ZeldaGalaxy94

ZeldaGalaxy94

The Fallen
Nov 6, 2017
2,577
Sweden
User banned (48 hours): Trolling, dismissing concerns of racism with false equivalencies.
The Charlie Brown gang need a person in a wheelchair any day now

Isn't that more racist to not have?
 
F34R

F34R

Member
Oct 27, 2017
11,989
DigitalOp said:
Surprised nobody can understand the sensitivity..

Seeing as the country voted for a White Supremacist who's leading a public resurgence of overt racism in America...

That's causing alot of people to take a step back and relook at all of the dominoes that lead to such a moment, one of then being media portrayal and image.

Being that it's 2018, and this stuff is happening, that's going to overide the original context that Shultz has sadly (groundbreaking as it was) and the image that remains is a lone black kid that is otherized to the other side of the table.

Context is key and uh.... There's alot of new context that's at play here as well.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
This issue is brought up every year at this time. It was on the news before I had internet, and it's been on the Internet since. Every single year since the mid 90's I can remember.
 
chainlinkspiral

chainlinkspiral

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,573
It looks weird. Also, that lawn chair looks like the comfiest of the bunch. Thanksgiving is all about the recline and nod off while supping. Tryptofantastic.
 

Deleted member 12790

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
24,537
CrimzonSamurai said:
Huh.. I never actually noticed that before. Geez.

Schultz went to bat for Franklin, several newspapers threatened and did actually drop the strip for a while when he was introduced as a character on equal footing with the white cast. I don't know how much input Schultz had on the Thanksgiving Special or that scene in particular but I would imagine this is more of a thing that TV execs at the time are responsible for. Sad to see Schultz' legacy take a hit like that. Hopefully they edit that scene for future broadcasts.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Schultz was super respectful about the creation of Franklin, too. He created the character at the request of a little girl who wrote in saying she loved Peanuts, but as a black child, she didn't have anybody in the strip that looked like her. Schultz, in a small editorial, wrote that he wanted to give that child someone to identify with, but wasn't sure if he, a white man, creating a black character in the strip, would be offensive to black people. As in, he wasn't sure if it was offensive or not for him to assume he could understand black heritage being a white man, and wanted to have readers chime in either way. He got an overwhelming response from the black community sanctioning him, and that was that, he never looked back. Financial situation never once played into the issue, it was always about respect for his readers.

I love peanuts so much. Shame about this special in general. Even beyond this scene, the special itself is pretty bad.
 
OP
OP

Deleted member 23850

Oct 28, 2017
8,689
Krejlooc said:
Schultz was super respectful about the creation of Franklin, too. He created the character at the request of a little girl who wrote in saying she loved Peanuts, but as a black child, she didn't have anybody in the strip that looked like her. Schultz, in a small editorial, wrote that he wanted to give that child someone to identify with, but wasn't sure if he, a white man, creating a black character in the strip, would be offensive to black people. As in, he wasn't sure if it was offensive or not for him to assume he could understand black heritage being a white man, and wanted to have readers chime in either way. He got an overwhelming response from the black community sanctioning him, and that was that, he never looked back. Financial situation never once played into the issue, it was always about respect for his readers.

I love peanuts so much. Shame about this special in general. Even beyond this scene, the special itself is pretty bad.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Great story as well.
 

Deleted member 12790

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
24,537
Andrew Korenchkin said:
Great story as well.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

http%3A%2F%2Fmashable.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2014%2F11%2FCharles-Schulz-1-peanuts.jpg


Franklin's introduction in Peanuts is charming, too. It wasn't just one strip, it was a series of strips (an arc, if you will -- peanuts would frequently go into arcs that would last weeks) where Frankling got introduced to every character personally:


franklin-peanuts.jpg


2OkbxiF.jpg


ax8pqcj9urdec0hzdc3l.jpg


That last one is the one that caused all sorts of hell, because he was shown in school.
 
Thequietone

Thequietone

Member
Oct 26, 2017
4,052
They could have had Patty sitting next to Franklin and near her girlfriend Marcy. Would have made more sense than sandwiched between Charlie and Snoopy.
 

Deleted member 12790

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
24,537
Also, I don't think Schultz wrote or had very much involvement with the Thanksgiving Special. Some of the specials are taken verbatim from his strips, but I'm pretty sure the Thanksgiving one wasn't.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.