It Was a Short Summer, Charlie Brown

Sixth animated special based on the cartoon strips of Charles M. Schulz deals with Charlie Brown's attempts to write a report on what he did this past summer, and Charlie tells how Lucy signed everyone up for summer camp, where it was the boys against the girls, and the girls won every time, until the last match, which was an arm-wrestling competition between Lucy and the Masked Marvel(Snoopy) that ends quite unexpectedly, but decisively. The problem still remains if poor talentless Charlie Brown can still get a good grade on his report! OK tale is mostly routine until the bright finish with the Masked Marvel. The last one aired during the 1960's.

'It Was a Short Summer, Charlie Brown' is one of those specials that get better every scene with the ending being an outright classic. I did not grow up when this special was released nor did I ever watch it growing up, but this special is pretty good.

The whole premise is centered around the Peanuts gang at summer camp with a boys vs girls style that has you loving every minute of it. I'll admit it was a slow start but the special quickly gets itself together like Charlie Brown and the boys do. Character interactions are classic and Snoopy is getting his spectacular character written as you watch.

Its an underrated classic that should be watched seasonally along with the other classic Peanut specials!

This makes the 7th Charlie Brown television special, where tempered character Lucy Van Pelt drags all the boys to summer camp, wrecking everyone's ideal summer plans.

Charlie Brown seems to be the personification of suffering, giving a pessimistic tone yet a hopeful, positive, never-give up attitude that he tries to convey to the rest of the boys troop as their leader.

This short film special presents an ideal, simple and safe world in which the kids seem to be in charge, in short, it's a kids world, where in the movie, the oldest person to make a appearance, seems to be not much older and taller that the other little kids.

It's a safe kids world, yet we feel it and experience it through poor Charlie Brown's suffering.

Unlike Snoopy, who seems to have the one enjoying his time the most.

What lesson could be there to learn?

Specially for the boys, where competition is something that lots of little kids can experience in childhood, adding to the old fashioned idea that boys have to be stronger than girls, and or are supposed to be better than girls at sports.

The wisdom that someone could take from this, is that it's be that it's okey to lose, and yes even to a girl, because even in this era of more visible feminism, we should remind ourselves that yes girls can do pretty much anything a boy can, and there's nothing wrong with that.

But that Lucy can for sure cool it down a little with the trash-talk can't she?

In conclusion, it's about the innocence of the kids, the insignificance of the competition and the absurd idea that someone always has to be better than someone else.