If you didn’t watch It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown before getting ready to go trick-or-treating, was it even Halloween? Just one of many Peanuts movies inspired by the Charles M. Schulz comic strips, It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, portrays the whole group celebrating Halloween in a variety of ways. Although Charlie Brown’s name is in the title like other short films in this series, the Halloween special seems to focus the most on Linus, Charlie Brown’s blanket-carrying friend, giving him the perfect spotlight to let everyone know that the Great Pumpkin is coming.
Overview
The movie opens with Lucy, the bossiest of the Peanuts characters, directing her brother Linus around the pumpkin patch. Usually, Lucy picks on Charlie Brown, but it seems to be Linus’ turn in this edition as he struggles to carry a pumpkin through the fence. He rolls it all the way up to Lucy’s doorstep, and she isn’t pleased. Is she ever, though? To Linus’ dismay, he realizes he was carrying the pumpkin to its “death” when Lucy produces a large knife and begins to carve the pumpkin, emptying the seeds out. This is because Linus believes in the Great Pumpkin and thus this future jack-o-lantern could have been a relative, a thought that moves Linus to tears. Keep this in mind as we await the arrival of the Great Pumpkin…
Linus is back on screen drafting his letter to the Great Pumpkin. According to Linus, the Great Pumpkin is a pumpkin that rises out of the pumpkin patch on Halloween night and gives away toys to kids. Sounds familiar to Santa Claus, doesn’t it? Linus doesn’t seem to believe in Santa, however, and gives Charlie Brown a hard time for comparing the two. Snoopy finds all of this hilarious, which prompts a scolding from Lucy, annoyed that Linus is sending another letter this year. A few scenes later, some characters talk about how he’s in the pumpkin patch and misses trick-or-treating and the Halloween party yet again, so they know that this is typical of him.
Analysis
This scene is integral to the entire show and leaves me with a lot of questions. If Linus doesn’t believe in Santa, what makes him believe in the Great Pumpkin? The Great Pumpkin, who Linus refers to as a “he,” is based on the same ideals as Santa and the Easter Bunny. So, what are his thoughts on leaving out Easter baskets? Does Linus believe in other holiday figures that “don’t get as much publicity”? For example, is there a special or “great” turkey for Thanksgiving? There isn’t one featured in “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving,” so I’m curious as to why Linus has a strong emotional attachment to Halloween and creates a figure to idolize the holiday. The basis of Halloween is trick-or-treating, but he skips that year after year to sit in the pumpkin patch.
When everyone else heads out, that’s exactly where Linus is, sitting amongst other pumpkins with his sign welcoming the Great Pumpkin. As they pass him, he asks if they want to sing pumpkin carols, again in a comparison of Christmas to Halloween. Yet, Linus doesn’t sing one himself. What would this sound like? An ode to Halloween or the Great Pumpkin directly? Perhaps both? Are these “carols” songs that Linus wrote or someone else? Viewers never get a sense of what pumpkin carols really are, which is unfortunate because this could’ve helped Linus’ case for helping generate publicity. Linus convinces Sally, Charlie Brown’s little sister, to stay but this is largely in part due to her crush on him. This prompts Linus to explain more about the Great Pumpkin. The audience learns that the Great Pumpkin both flys yet also rises up out of the pumpkin patch, but not just any tangle of vines; only the “most sincere.”
Contradictions
Whether Linus realizes it or just needs to explain it further, there are a few contradictions here. How can a pumpkin both fly and rise? Where’s the starting point? Is there a pumpkin patch in the sky that he flies out of and then down into another patch to rise up? If he does fly, what is the flight mechanism? There would have to be some sort of wings but then he needs support to land and rise. Legs would assist with this, but are they made out of pumpkin or stems and vines? After all, for a pumpkin to grow, it must be connected to roots that develop a pumpkin plant and then a pumpkin itself. Knowing this, the pumpkin must’ve originated from a pumpkin patch probably similar to the one that Linus is in. Like most plants, this takes a significant amount of time and care. Also, the progression of growth is quite visible. Logically, Linus would be able to see the Great Pumpkin growing unless this is an immortal pumpkin that grew in a patch years ago and then just magically reappears each year; this seems most likely.
The other contradiction Linus makes is when he says that the Great Pumpkin “gives toys to ALL the boys and girls” but then later explains that he only rises out of the “most sincere” pumpkin patch. Perhaps all children get toys from the Great Pumpkin but the squash himself only physically appears in the sincerest patch? This may be the case, except no Great Pumpkin appears and Linus ends up falling asleep. Lucy, who so graciously set an alarm in the middle of the night, goes out to get him and take him to bed.
Conclusion
Will Linus ever put his belief in the Great Pumpkin to bed? It seems as likely as Charlie Brown getting candy while trick-or-treating. Nonetheless, It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown is a Halloween classic and a great escape from horror movies. As with most Peanuts movies, the scariest part is just Lucy! This year, it’s also pretty frightening that PBS won’t be airing the Halloween special, but have no fear — you can watch it on YouTube for free to have a happy Halloween!