Summary
Peanutscreator Charles Schulz was notoriously not a fan of overtly politicized humor, leading him to develop a profound distaste for his strip’s contemporary, Garry Trudeau’sDoonesbury. Trudeau’s strip was – in more ways than one – the polar opposite ofPeanuts.Though the two maintained a cordial professional relationship,Schulz was deeply averse to the content ofDoonesbury, exposing a sharp divide in the two influential artists' careers.
According to scholar Blake Scott Ball, Charles Schulz sought tocapture the “timeless” and “eternal” qualities of childhood, whileDoonesburywas deliberately of-the-moment, with Garry Trudeau crafting his strip as a conscious response to the time and place of its creation.
Both approaches produced iconic works that spanned decades;Peanutsran continuously for fifty years until Schulz' death, whileDoonesburycontinues to be published to this day, more than half a century after its debut in newspapers. Exploring the difference in Schulz and Trudeau’s approaches offers a fascinating insight into how both creators' comics resonated with audiences.
The Very First PEANUTS Comic Set The Saddest Part of Charlie Brown’s Character in Stone
Charlie Brown’s appearance in the very first Peanuts strip may have been an inauspicious start, but it heralded everything to come for the character.
Charles Schulz' “Peanuts” Was Diametrically Opposed To Garry Trudeau’s “Doonesbury”
Schulz Disliked Political Humor
DoonsburyandPeanutsexemplify two sides of an ongoing artistic debate, one that has anything but a clear-cut answer.
In his bookCharlie Brown’s America: The Politicsof Peanuts, academic Blake Scott Ball effectively argues the case thatCharles Schulz' longrunning comic stripcontained more of the author’s politics than most readers – and the author himself – acknowledged duringPeanuts’time in publication. As part of an essay adapted from the book published online, Ball raised the issue of Schulz' opinion on the overtly political comic stripDoonesbury, writing:
In the fall of 1970, as Schulz celebrated the [twentieth] anniversary ofPeanuts, a young artist named Gary Trudeau launchedDoonesbury. A comic strip filled with unrepentant, cold sarcasm, it became the voice of a new, more openly political generation in the same wayPeanutsonce had spoken to the alienated and discontented — but genial – 1950s.
Unsurprisingly, Schulz despisedDoonesbury. Aside from seeming unprofessional and downright disrespectful, in the aging cartoonist’s estimation, Trudeau’s work rested on what Schulz believed was the cheapest and least durable form of humor: political commentary.
What makes this notable, in large part, is how it reflects on the respective success ofDoonesburyandPeanuts.
According to Ball, Charles Schulz specifically dislikedDoonesbury, but thiswas undergirded by a more abstract negative attitude toward political humor.Schulz opinion was not shared by critics in the 1970s, however; just five years into its publication,Doonesburywas awarded the Pulitzer Prive for Editorial Cartooning for its social critique. That said, fifty years later,Doonesburyis not fixed in the public consciousness to any degree resemblingthe enduring popularity ofPeanuts. In other words,DoonesburyandPeanutsexemplify two sides of an ongoing artistic debate, one that has anything but a clear-cut answer.
For Charles Schulz, the political humor ofDoonesburywas “low-hanging fruit,” so to speak, while his aims with the gentle, straightforward humor ofPeanutswere much loftier. By contrast, Garry Trudeau’s work could be praised for its ambition, while Schulz' work could dismissively be called “simple” – though readers who seek to refrain from being reductive will readily acknowledge that any ongoing artistic project that lasts fifty years is anything but. In any case, the distinctions between the two, and their positions on art and cultural relevance, are ripe for further exploration.
Charles Schulz And Garry Trudeau Were Artistic Polar Opposites
DoonesburyAndPeanuts’Ran Parallel For Decades
Despite their significant differences in perspectives on humor, it seems [Charles Schulz and Garry Trudeau] maintained at least a professional relationship.
Born in 1948, Garry Trudeau was just two years old whenPeanutsentered publication. By the timeDoonesburybegan appearing in newspapers,Peanutshad been a staple of the comic section for two decades. For theremainder of the 20th century, they coexisted; in a sense, the two can be looked at as the two extreme poles of the comic strip continuum. While Charles Schulz may not have appreciatedDoonesbury’sapproach to humor, Trudeau was more positive aboutPeanuts’influence on the medium.
Considering how wide-ranging and inclusiveDoonesbury’ssubject material was, it was inevitable that it would touch on the monolithic presence in the medium,Peanuts. On the occasions Trudeau referencedPeanuts, he did so gently, with a degree of reverence. Despite their significant differences in perspectives on humor, it seems the two maintained at least a professional relationship.A 1985Washington Postarticledescribes them working on a fundraiser together. Later, Trudeau wrote the Introduction for theComplete Peanutsvolume covering 1987 to 1990.
It is also worth emphasizing that there was much more toDoonesburythan just the political aspect of its humor, which was just one dimension of a larger overall picturesque account of American reality. Garry Trudeau’s strip offered a large cast of characters, with a diverse set of opinions, navigating contemporary American adult life. Much of its day-to-day material, and much of its humor, was not expressly political – it was just that Trudeau considered politics inseparable from contemporary life, and therefore unavoidable in an honest, complete depiction of adulthood.
Charles Schulz Couldn’t Avoid Dating His Comic Completely
A Subtle Reflection Of Its Time
The debate about whether art should strive to be timeless, or if it should capture the moment of its creation, remains as urgent as ever. As it turns out,DoonesburyandPeanutsare two perfect proxies in that battle of artistic perspectives.
As author Blake Scott Ball noted in his essay, Charles Schulz could not avoid politics, culture, andthe occasional dated reference entirely. As with any ongoing narrative,Peanutsevolved over the decades, reflecting the growth in American culture in subtle, yet crucial ways. It can be said thatwhile Garry Trudeau’sDoonesburyshouted, Schulz’sPeanutsspoke softly, but that both authors unequivocally had something to say, something that readers gravitated toward. Modern readers may have different experiences returning to each comic, but both will give some impression of the era they were composed in.
In essence, the fundamental distinction betweenDoonesburyandPeanutsis this: Charles Schulz' offered readers an escape into an eternal childhood, while Garry Trudeau gave them the opportunity to grapple with the realities of adulthood. Both served the vital artistic purpose of showing the audience that they are not alone, and giving them momentary relief from the stress and frustration of life. Each did this strikingly differently, but even considering Charles Schulz' feelings aboutDoonesbury, both did so effectively.
Despite Charles Schulz' distaste for political humor, Garry Trudeau’s success withDoonesburyserved as proof there was an appetite for it; at the same time, thecompounding generational appeal ofPeanutsvalidated Schulz approach to his own work. Modern readers can still find humor in both, and the debate about whether art should strive to be timeless, or if it should capture the moment of its creation, remains as urgent as ever. As it turns out,DoonesburyandPeanutsare two perfect proxies in that battle of artistic perspectives.
Source:PublicSeminar.org (Blake Scott Bell essay);Washington Post (9/16/85)
Peanuts
Created by Charles M. Schulz, Peanuts is a multimedia franchise that began as a comic strip in the 1950s and eventually expanded to include films and a television series. Peanuts follows the daily adventures of the Peanuts gang, with Charlie Brown and his dog Snoopy at the center of them. Aside from the film released in 2015, the franchise also has several Holiday specials that air regularly on U.S. Television during their appropriate seasons.
