New Peanuts Special Addresses Thanksgiving Special Controversy

Shifting cultural perspectives often means reflecting on pieces of media that might not have raised any eyebrows when they were released, though get recontextualized in a modern lens, which includes the Peanuts special A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. With some viewers considering one scene in the film to be racist, as it appears to ostracize Franklin from the rest of the animated gang, the filmmakers behind the new special Snoopy Presents: Welcome Home, Franklin found an opportunity to reference that scene and showcase the kids in the group offering Franklin a seat alongside them as one of their peers. Snoopy Presents: Welcome Home, Franklin and A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving are now streaming on Apple TV+.

In the original 1973 special, when the Peanuts gang get together for Thanksgiving dinner, Franklin sits on one side of the table while three of his white friends sit on the other side of the table. Despite the family of creator Charles Schulz often saying that there was nothing intentional either on their part of the part of the animators, viewers on social media claim that Franklin is being segregated intentionally. 

In the new special, which explores how Franklin first became friends with the Peanuts crew, a scene at a pizza parlor replicates the composition of the Thanksgiving scene exactly, though sees Franklin’s friends inviting him to a different seat alongside them.

“It was very important to my son Bryan,” producer Craig Schulz, son of Charles Schulz, shared with The Daily Beast. “He said, ‘This is our chance to kind of rectify the whole thing.’”

“To make it have the most impact, [I suggested that we] match the shot exactly to what it was in the Thanksgiving special,” director Raymond S. Persi described. “So, we looked at the original frame. You’ll see [in the special] it’s even that same weird, wonky perspective of the table. We put it in there just so that it would immediately get people to connect to that moment.”

Back in 2020, Schulz’s widow Jean Schulz also attempted to address the modern backlash.

“The scene would not have had nothing to do with [Charles], because it was purely the animators and the directors working on it,” Jean explained to Yahoo!. “The director parcels out the scenes to the animators, and the animators who drew that scene aren’t alive anymore or we don’t know how to find them. The [controversy] first popped up a couple of years ago. I’ve probably watched the special a dozen times, and I hadn’t noticed it. But I wouldn’t notice it: It’s to be noticed now.”

Snoopy Presents: Welcome Home, Franklin is described, “The origin story for one of Peanuts’ most beloved characters, the special follows Franklin as he moves to a new town and navigates new friendships. Franklin’s family is always on the move with his dad’s military job, and everywhere he goes Franklin finds support in a notebook filled with his grandfather’s advice on friendship. But when Franklin tries his usual strategies with the Peanuts gang, he has trouble fitting in. That’s until he learns about the neighborhood Soap Box Derby race — according to his grandfather, everyone loves a winner! He’s sure that winning the race will also mean winning over some new friends. All he needs is a partner, which he finds in Charlie Brown. Franklin and Charlie Brown work together to build a car and in the process become good buddies. But as the race nears, the pressure mounts — can their car and their newfound friendship make it to the finish line?”

Snoopy Presents: Welcome Home, Franklin and A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving are now streaming on Apple TV+.

What do you think of the controversy? Let us know in the comments!