“If it seems too complicated, make it easy on yourself: just send money.”
One of my favorite family traditions is to sit down on Thanksgiving night and watch “A Charlie Brown Christmas”. With a runtime of only 30 minutes, it’s an easy watch to squeeze in between pie, clean-up, and bedtime for those who would rather sleep early. The music and old-fashioned dialogue are charming to experience again and again each year. The holiday special tackles themes of commercialization and interpersonal relationships, as well as the importance of togetherness and childhood fascination with the holiday season. From top to bottom, “A Charlie Brown Christmas” handles messages that were relevant when it came out 59 years ago and remain at the forefront of the holiday season in 2024.
I feel like most Christmas movies these days examine the idea of the holiday morphing into a commercial scheme, with the ideas of gifts and decorations existing just as a money-grab for bigger corporations. Even in 1965, people were grappling with the “changing” holiday. Charlie Brown struggles with the idea that his peers seem to only care about the material goods that come with the holiday season. When he reads about a decorating competition and sees his dog, Snoopy, going all out to decorate his dog house in hopes of winning first prize (“BIG $$$!” according to the ad), he groans, recognizing that Snoopy’s motivation for festivity lies in the possibility of a large cash prize.Â
One of the most memorable parts of the special is when Charlie’s little sister, Sally, asks for his help writing a letter to Santa Claus. She begins in a very cute, formal tone of voice (“How are you doing? How is your wife?”) before naming a list of gifts she would like him to bring her. At the end comes her most famous line: “If it seems too complicated, make it easy on yourself: just send money.”Â
Charlie Brown exclaims in dismay, “Even my baby sister has gone commercial!” Sentiments like this one haven’t gone anywhere in the last 60 years.Â
In Elf, Buddy is puzzled by the frank commercial motivations behind having “Santa” make an appearance at the mall. In “Prep and Landing,” longtime Christmas elf, Wayne, loses motivation to do his job because kids just “don’t care about Christmas anymore.”
However, all of these specials have one more thing in common: they all end with the uplifting message that no matter how “commercialized” the holidays may seem, the act of coming together and celebrating as a community will always trump the ideas of gifts. Creating memories is always what sticks with us long after the holiday seasons pass.
Another standout moment in “A Charlie Brown Christmas” is Lucy’s yearly dilemma. She confesses to Charlie Brown that, while she always gets a lot of nice toys, clothes, and other things for Christmas, she’s yet to get what she really wants.Â
“What’s that, Lucy?” asks Charlie Brown.Â
“Real estate,” she says.Â
While at first this may seem like a lighthearted joke in classic Peanuts style, where our cast of children make surprisingly adult observations about how the world works, it’s actually a great examination of the fears of younger generations as the cost of living goes up, but minimum wage stays relatively the same. I know that for myself and many others in Gen Z, the fear of never owning our own homes and businesses is very real. Most real estate is either already owned by or only affordable to the older generations, who have already established wealth through high-paying jobs and investments, something that is becoming increasingly difficult for younger generations to find. As the upper one-percent holds 30% of the nation’s wealth, young people are facing the very real possibility that owning property, or “real estate” as Lucy so bluntly puts it, may be an unattainable goal.Â
While the kind of adult-based humor was simply a laugh for audiences in 1965, there’s an extra level of realness with this joke for the newer generations, who may see themselves wishing for the exact same thing, without the irony.
One of Lucy’s other memorable bits is her “Psychiatric Help” booth. Though it’s a recurring joke throughout the Peanuts comics, this episode of “therapist Lucy” is especially relevant today. As Charlie Brown sits down at the booth, Lucy shakes her can and asks him for a nickel as payment before he starts to speak. As he relays his anxiety about the commercialization of the holidays, she frequently interrupts him to tell him about another disorder that he may have, completely disregarding what he’s actually saying. She says that if he’s afraid of the ocean, he may have thalassophobia. If he’s afraid of cats, he has ailurophasia. Finally, he might have pantophobia, which is the fear of everything.Â
“THAT’S IT!” he says.Â
This scene is especially relevant today because of its examination of the commercialization of mental health services. Lucy expresses how her number one priority is being paid, refusing to even talk to Charlie until he pays up. Then, once he does, her exaggeratedly long soliloquy about the “beautiful, beautiful” sound of nickels only furthers her monetary motivation. When she finally starts to listen, she simply rattles off a variety of diagnoses without seriously considering what he’s saying.Â
This can reflect modern media’s treatment of mental health, which often prioritizes wanting to put a label on what’s “wrong with someone” above finding actual, comprehensive help for that person. I remember my therapist telling me once that she had to put down a random diagnosis for me, just so that my insurance would continue to pay for my appointments. This is a gross distortion of what modern mental health care should look like, and this special from 1965 somehow constructs the perfect metaphor for why.
While much of the special may appear nihilistic at first glance, the Peanuts gang manages to pull off a heartwarming ending, as usual. By using Snoopy’s decorations (for which he won first prize!) the gang puts together a beautiful Christmas tree at the last moment, proving to Charlie Brown and to the audience that, despite how commercialized the holidays may be, the feeling of community togetherness will always be here, as long as we are still human. The special ends with this final bit of memorable dialogue:
Linus Van Pelt: [seeing Charlie Brown’s drooped-over Christmas tree] I never thought it was such a bad little tree.
[straightens it up]
Linus Van Pelt: It’s not bad at all, really.
[wraps his blanket around it for a skirt]
Linus Van Pelt: Maybe it just needs a little love.