Every year, it has been my family’s tradition to sit down to watch “It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!” The special’s quirks have long been embedded in my life to the point where I can practically recite the whole special word for word. I have always loved the endearing Snoopy as the World War I flying ace, the absurdity in using Charlie Brown’s head as a jack-o-lantern model, the naïve Linus anxiously awaiting the nonexistent Great Pumpkin.
However, the scene that sticks in my mind year-round is when the gang makes their trick-or-treating rounds. Various candies are seen dispensed out the front doors, landing neatly into each kid’s bag. At every single house, Charlie Brown, instead of receiving candy, always gets a rock. For some reason, I love that pitiful scene so much; I even have a Redbubble sticker of Charlie Brown in his haphazardly-made ghost costume on my tumbler. As I get older, I take it more seriously. Perhaps there is a deeper reason why.
I used to love Halloween, not only as a kid but as a teenager as well. For years, I would spend the night of October 31 trick-or-treating around the rich neighborhoods with my best friend. A good amount of thought went into the costumes: Holly Golightly, a hippie, Madonna. It would be reasonable to assume that college and friends moving away would affect my attitude towards Halloween. I don’t think that’s quite it, though.
I have begun to view Halloween the same way that I view birthdays. There is less of a conscious effort put into celebrating them as a kid. Parties. Costumes. If one is fortunate enough, those are pretty much a given. As time goes on, it is more clear how much money and effort goes into celebrating these days. Less of this becomes on parents and friends as much as it is on you.
There is also the fact that Halloween has become commodified in a whole new way. I understand that “spooky szn” is a way for Gen Z to put a new take on celebrating Halloween as they too grow beyond the age that is considered conventionally acceptable to celebrate the holiday. There is something about it, however, that puts me off. Perhaps because it is everywhere. Perhaps because as someone who does not spend much time on multiple social media platforms where this is nothing new, it comes as a surprise.
As a contrast, Christmas has been easier to celebrate over the years because I have realized through the accompanying TV specials (Charlie Brown, The Grinch, etc.) that the true meaning of the holiday is about family, togetherness, giving, and goodwill. I do not think that I can put this much deep thought into Halloween, nor am I really meant to. I wonder, is it just me? Have I become embittered by apathy towards celebrating holidays? Was this supposed to happen as I grew up? Or is it because it reminds me of relatively simpler times, times that cannot be exactly like that again?