‘A Charlie Brown Christmas has become a staple during the Christmas season, both for secular and Christian parents. The movie, which features Charlie Brown and the gang as they strive to put on a Christmas play for the rest of the town, depicts scenes straight from the Bible and pairs those Christian messages with a playful soundtrack and some hilarious moments that have become iconic for generations.
According to Fox News, the inclusion of the play in the movie, which came directly from the New Testament, caused strife between the show’s creator and CBS executives. Charles M. Schulz, the “Peanuts” creator, stood his ground and insisted that the show must go on with a chronicle of Jesus’ birth in the film. Christmas is, after all, a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ.
The executives over at CBS were also worried about the slow production of the show, but these fears were quickly dashed away when the animated film was released. It quickly garnered high reviews and a fan base that immediately clamored for more showings of the holiday flick.
Charles M. Schulz may have even been taking a bit of his frustration out on the executives who told him his film was too unorthodox to succeed with no trained voice actors. Instead, he employed normal children to take over the roles of voicing the children in the scenes. Like Lucy, who said, “Look, Charlie, let’s face it. We all know Christmas is a big commercial racket. It’s run by a big eastern syndicate, you know.”
This year, it is going to be a little bit more difficult to watch the film, which debuted on December 9, 1965. No longer are the days that Charlie and the gang can be seen putting on their Christmas play on the usual cable channels. Now, this year, the movie will only be available in one place.
Apple+ has purchased the rights to be the exclusive streaming service that aires “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” a frustrating pill to swallow for consumers who already feel that they are paying for too many streaming services to watch too little content on them.
The movie, however, is a timeless masterpiece regardless of where it is being shown or how many people have access to its viewings. The film perfectly toes the line between fun, entertaining comedic moments between the Peanuts gang and a heartfelt Christmas message to remind us what the holiday is really about.
The crew doesn’t focus on Santa Claus, as other pieces of that time like “Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer” do. Instead, they point their praise upward to the Son of God and focus their thankfulness and celebration of Christmas on being about friends and family instead of gifts.
That’s what has made “A Charlie Brown Christmas” into such a prominent movie during the Christmas season. For many families, including my own, it has become a tradition to gather around the television and watch this masterpiece as we come closer together with our loved ones.
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