Why this scene in 'A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving' prompts allegations of racism

[Potoooooooo]

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment...ial-prompts-allegations-racism-225923227.html

Charles Schulz’s A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving is a classic Peanuts special from 1973 that airs during the holidays. But one particular scene has been stirring up controversy in recent years.

In the scene, Franklin, who is the only Black character, is sitting by himself on one side of a Thanksgiving table, while most of the other kids sit together on the other side (Linus is seated at the head of the table). Some people consider the scene problematic and even racist, arguing that Franklin is separated from the rest of the characters, who are white.

 

[Politesse]

As usual, no one is making half a big a deal of this as the article itself. Are people not allowed to talk about their genuine emotions in response to a work of media, without it being taken as a sign of some sort of political conspiracy?

 

[Keith&Co.]

Heh.
He's at the same table, eating the same food, using the same flatware.

This was, what, '75? For the 70s, this is inclusive.

An interracial couple in Idaho about that time, if they went out, had to sit at separate tables in restaurants or they might be ignored, or asked to leave.

 

[TV and credit cards]

Heh.
He's at the same table, eating the same food, using the same flatware.

This was, what, '75? For the 70s, this is inclusive.

An interracial couple in Idaho about that time, if they went out, had to sit at separate tables in restaurants or they might be ignored, or asked to leave.

Actually, Franklin is the only one with flatware. I guess the ignant white kids eat with their hands. And what's with Sally not getting any desert? Fat shaming the girl, I suspect.

 

[ideologyhunter]

If I remember the episode correctly, the scene starts with Franklin objecting to the Peanuts theme as "the most cracker-ass shit I ever heard. Get some Miles Davis up in this bitch!" He then purposely tells Charlie to "sit on your side of the damn table with your uppity white hoes", and, referring to Snoopy, says, "You aint kissin that thing on the mouth like the other white folks, is you?"
The only racial faux pas occurs when the lid is lifted off the casserole, revealing Massasoit's head, steam-broiled with a persimmon in its mouth.
I laughed at this stuff as a kid. I still like it -- guilty pleasure, I guess. And Franklin was right about the theme music. Very meta to put it in the script.

 

[Gospel]

Just putting one black persons vote in. NO. It's not racists to anyone who knows the history of the piece. Well, by history I mean what was handed down from Aunts and Uncles and their parents. Which is, it was done during a time when racial tensions was significantly high (things deteriorated after Martin Luther King was Killed) and this scene was an attempt to bring people together. I can't put it any better than that I'm just going off a childhood memory when I asked elders about it in the early 80's.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Franklin's inclusion into Peanuts was allegedly at the behest of an African American kid that wrote to Schulz. That Franklin is there at all was a bit unusual, and far from racist.

 

[repoman]

 

[repoman]

If I remember the episode correctly, the scene starts with Franklin objecting to the Peanuts theme as "the most cracker-ass shit I ever heard. Get some Miles Davis up in this bitch!" He then purposely tells Charlie to "sit on your side of the damn table with your uppity white hoes", and, referring to Snoopy, says, "You aint kissin that thing on the mouth like the other white folks, is you?"
The only racial faux pas occurs when the lid is lifted off the casserole, revealing Massasoit's head, steam-broiled with a persimmon in its mouth.
I laughed at this stuff as a kid. I still like it -- guilty pleasure, I guess. And Franklin was right about the theme music. Very meta to put it in the script.

Oh, it's done even without Franklin

 

[southernhybrid]

I would feel honored to be given the entire side of the table to myself, so I don't see it as an insult. I see it as a compliment. He can hold court in that position and get the attention of those sitting across from him.

But, considering that we are discussing a cartoon from the 70s, tells me that we have way too much time on our hands.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

I would feel honored to be given the entire side of the table to myself, so I don't see it as an insult. I see it as a compliment. He can hold court in that position and get the attention of those sitting across from him.

But, considering that we are discussing a cartoon from the 70s, tells me that we have way too much time on our hands.

I think what is being missed is the black kid is in the chair that tried to kill Snoopy, so clearly, they want Franklin to die, which also explains the space they've given him, so as not to be assaulted by the chair as well.

 

[Politesse]

I would feel honored to be given the entire side of the table to myself, so I don't see it as an insult. I see it as a compliment. He can hold court in that position and get the attention of those sitting across from him.

Did you used to also feel envious of Blacks for their "special section" at the back of the bus?

 

[thebeave]

I would feel honored to be given the entire side of the table to myself, so I don't see it as an insult. I see it as a compliment. He can hold court in that position and get the attention of those sitting across from him.

But, considering that we are discussing a cartoon from the 70s, tells me that we have way too much time on our hands.

Agreed. It could be that Franklin is the most interesting kid in the group, and that all the other kids want to be able to talk to him face to face, rather than leaning into the table and talking past others. Besides, if the white characters were so racist, why would they invite him to a Thanksgiving dinner in the first place? Or make him sit at his own table by himself (kind of like the "Kids Table" concept, except its the "Black Table"). Or serve chicken and black eyed peas just to him, while everyone else gets turkey and stuffing? Besides its pretty clear the Peanuts kids are not the bigoted type, considering they are friends with the suspected lesbian couple of Peppermint Patty and Marcy. Not to mention the rather obvious clues that Peppermint Patty is very likely trans.

 

[ronburgundy]

Not to throw gas on this imaginary fire, but it's a bit weird that he's also sitting in a beach style chair rather than a wood dining chair like all the others.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Not to throw gas on this imaginary fire, but it's a bit weird that he's also sitting in a beach style chair rather than a wood dining chair like all the others.

The chair that tried to kill Snoopy.

 

[Lion IRC]

[Darrin] Bell, who won a Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning, said that a lot of cartoons are like Rorschach tests....