Be My
Valentine Charlie Brown
In several cases, Peanuts has shown that love is hard,
meaning that finding love is one of life’s most difficult tasks. This fact, along with the franchise’s
tendency to make a special of any holiday, offers us a Valentine’s Day
special.
What makes it as great as it is involves how the day relates to the harsh difficulties of finding love some people face. We mostly see it in the main plot of Charlie Brown hoping to get a single solidary Valentine. This includes waiting at the mailbox all day for a card to drop off, which shows just how desperate he is for someone to think well of him. The special becomes heavy and emotional in a sense.
The real kicker comes in when during a Valentine’s Day party at school, he’s completely left out while everyone else receives a handful of cards. It’s way harsh that Charlie Brown has to deal with this neglect. Him throwing the Valentine box out the window and kicking the mailbox he constantly waited at just sell how unloved he feels. Really, can you blame him? Anyone would probably feel the same way if they got snubbed like that. This trend of love’s hardships don’t just apply to Charlie Brown. Much of the special also gives a lot of attention to Linus. He falls victim to the constant trope of a student getting a crush on a teacher. Specifically, he finds himself being particularly fond of his teacher, Ms. Othmar through everything she does be it calling his name or giving him something to do. In fact, Linus gets hit with so much admiration for Ms. Othmar, he buys a big heart-shaped box of candy for her to show how much he likes her. In keeping with the special’s theme of tough love though, Linus learns the downsides of crushing on an older person the hard way. Just as he’s all set up to give Ms. Othmar the heart-shaped box of candy, she leaves with her boyfriend. Linus is unable to give it to her and becomes driven to major depression in a powerful scene of him throwing every chocolate in the box over a bridge with a display of heartbreak.
As you can see, these plots of the special paint it as a depressing one by going into great detail of how being denied love and care affect the characters involved. However, it also has enough levity to not make the special a total downer in scenes that don’t really connect to the main story, but fit the Valentine’s Day feel. Lucy goes into a hilarious long-winded rant about lost love while destroying Schroeder’s piano. Sally reads a long passage about love on a small Valentine candy. Snoopy performs a puppet show of a love story, with Lucy getting beaten by the violent aspects. This is certainly a fine balance of the upsides and downsides of Valentine’s Day which anyone can relate to, not just on the holiday, but when dealing with love matters in general.
Plus, the conclusion is a decent payoff to the depressing elements, at least with Charlie Brown. The kids give him a used Valentine out of pity. It’s basically a leftover and Schroeder gives a reasonable rant on how they should’ve given Charlie Brown a Valentine in the first place. Nevertheless, it brings reasonable hope for the future. Linus, however, leaves the special with no such hope. While sad, it’s accurate for the situation considering that his teacher is too old for him, so the audience shouldn’t take it too hard. Personally, I’d say that the way things wrap up is satisfying.
In all, the special has a lot of value in its atmosphere of Valentine’s Day through the character moments showing its lighter side, and not holding back on the day’s harsher side.
What makes it as great as it is involves how the day relates to the harsh difficulties of finding love some people face. We mostly see it in the main plot of Charlie Brown hoping to get a single solidary Valentine. This includes waiting at the mailbox all day for a card to drop off, which shows just how desperate he is for someone to think well of him. The special becomes heavy and emotional in a sense.
The real kicker comes in when during a Valentine’s Day party at school, he’s completely left out while everyone else receives a handful of cards. It’s way harsh that Charlie Brown has to deal with this neglect. Him throwing the Valentine box out the window and kicking the mailbox he constantly waited at just sell how unloved he feels. Really, can you blame him? Anyone would probably feel the same way if they got snubbed like that. This trend of love’s hardships don’t just apply to Charlie Brown. Much of the special also gives a lot of attention to Linus. He falls victim to the constant trope of a student getting a crush on a teacher. Specifically, he finds himself being particularly fond of his teacher, Ms. Othmar through everything she does be it calling his name or giving him something to do. In fact, Linus gets hit with so much admiration for Ms. Othmar, he buys a big heart-shaped box of candy for her to show how much he likes her. In keeping with the special’s theme of tough love though, Linus learns the downsides of crushing on an older person the hard way. Just as he’s all set up to give Ms. Othmar the heart-shaped box of candy, she leaves with her boyfriend. Linus is unable to give it to her and becomes driven to major depression in a powerful scene of him throwing every chocolate in the box over a bridge with a display of heartbreak.
As you can see, these plots of the special paint it as a depressing one by going into great detail of how being denied love and care affect the characters involved. However, it also has enough levity to not make the special a total downer in scenes that don’t really connect to the main story, but fit the Valentine’s Day feel. Lucy goes into a hilarious long-winded rant about lost love while destroying Schroeder’s piano. Sally reads a long passage about love on a small Valentine candy. Snoopy performs a puppet show of a love story, with Lucy getting beaten by the violent aspects. This is certainly a fine balance of the upsides and downsides of Valentine’s Day which anyone can relate to, not just on the holiday, but when dealing with love matters in general.
Plus, the conclusion is a decent payoff to the depressing elements, at least with Charlie Brown. The kids give him a used Valentine out of pity. It’s basically a leftover and Schroeder gives a reasonable rant on how they should’ve given Charlie Brown a Valentine in the first place. Nevertheless, it brings reasonable hope for the future. Linus, however, leaves the special with no such hope. While sad, it’s accurate for the situation considering that his teacher is too old for him, so the audience shouldn’t take it too hard. Personally, I’d say that the way things wrap up is satisfying.
In all, the special has a lot of value in its atmosphere of Valentine’s Day through the character moments showing its lighter side, and not holding back on the day’s harsher side.
Highly Recommended
The Ranking
- There’s No Time for Love Charlie Brown
- It’s the Easter Beagle Charlie Brown
- You’re Not Elected Charlie Brown
- A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving
- Be My Valentine Charlie Brown
- Play it Again Charlie Brown
- It’s a Mystery Charlie Brown
Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next special featuring one of Charlie Brown's most triumphant moments in "You're a Good Sport Charlie Brown."
If you would like to check out other Peanuts special reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.
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