"One of the most beloved holiday specials ever made doesn't start with costumed pageants, joyful carols or snowmen come to life but with a self-aware declaration of seasonal depression. I think there must be something wrong with me, Linus, says Charlie Brown, shuffling through the snow as other kids frolic to a song about the holiday's happiness and cheer. Christmas is coming, but I'm not happy. I don't feel the way I'm supposed to feel."
"Charlie Brown is anxious and depressed during the rest of the year, so understandably, it gets heavier during the holidays. (I know nobody likes me. Why do we need a holiday season to emphasize it? he laments). The same is true for the rest of us. The collective grief a lot of us feel, whether it's our anxiety about the future or simply missing a world that once felt a bit kinder, is heightened when everyone else wants to slap a red and green bow on it."
A Charlie Brown Christmas premiered on Dec. 9, 1965, introducing Charlie Brown's seasonal melancholy as he searches for joy and the true meaning of Christmas. He receives no Christmas cards, struggles to direct an uncaring children's play, and faces a dog entering a commercialized decorating contest that prizes money. The special contrasts sincere feeling and commercial excess, making holiday grief visible and validating feelings of loneliness and anxiety during festive seasons. Holiday gloom appears across films, songs and essays, and the special provides uncomplicated language to acknowledge and name holiday sadness.
Read at www.mercurynews.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]