CHARLES M. SCHULZ

Is there anyone on this globe who doesn‘t know this group of young kids? All of them seem to be very emotional and moody thinking about life and what is going on in the world. These kiddos are loved and admired, doesn‘t matter in which language, but they have become cult figures and are simply celebrated for who they are or at least what they do: showing their feelings and being as human

as they can be.

But let‘s start from the beginning. We need to go back here to 1950, when America was in postwar celebration and the emotion of being unhappy was considered to be rather antisocial. Back then, a cartoonist from Minnesota was ready to shake up the classic cartoon and bring some emotional and real life vibes to creating newspaper comic strips. His name was Charles M. Schulz and he introduced the world to some kids called Charlie Brown, Lucy, and Linus. „I have deep feelings of depression,“ Charlie Brown said to Lucy. „What can I do about it? Snap out of it,“ advised Lucy.

Talking emotions and especially negative emotions like depression in a comic was something new and Schulz was clever enough to speak from his own experiences and draw about the things he knows such as insecurity and inferiority. In his backpack where plenty of taboo themes to be discussed such as faith, intolerance, loneliness, cruelty, and despair. His chosen characters on the other hand where sharp and obser ved every situation well, talking about literature, art, psychiatry, law, or classical music.

Schulz‘ way of communication is crystal clear, yet brave, too. He distilled human emotion to its essence. How beautiful it is to capture so much truth and knowledge in a tiny square with some circles and lines—catching the reader and student. Emotions being portrayed without judging, hiding, or making it look sweet—it‘s honest and this is what made the reader curious and supportive.

Even though Charlie Brown and his friends don‘t exist in real life, it feels like Charlie Brown is a person we know, maybe showing a side of us, too. At the end, he felt to be taken seriously just like a human being, because he shows openly his real psyche and his problems. Charlie Brown said the things many kids where feeling at that time, but they weren‘t able to express these out loud.

"All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt."

- C h a r l e s M . S c h u l z

With Charlie and his friends being eac h others pick ups, therapists, and simply coping buddies, this new era of story telling, showing therapeutic patterns in form of art, and using real emotions to connect, was essential and important at that time and place. It was a breakthrough and until today this little insecure Charlie Brown is being celebrated as this brave kid who never hides his emotions.

Many can identify with the c haracters that Charles M. Sc hulz used and created. It looks so simple and the topics are not even that abstract, but through a comic it looks more approac hable and understandable. We all feel empathy with this kid and his ups and downs—but in real life we struggle a lot with our own communication and showing feelings. We tend to hide it more and suffer in silence. Would a comic help us translating our feelings? Again, it is beautiful to see that over 70 years,

there has been a little boy who is trying to tell us that it is very okay to feel and to care.