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CPS Cinema: The parents of Peanuts
Please don't take what follows as a shot at the Peanuts legacy. Charles Schulz was a genius, and he did more than anyone in the last 75 years to make the mainstream realize that comic strips are art. His characters were lovable despite their neurosis, and they will probably remain as darlings of popular culture for decades to come.
tvguide.com
Britney Spears's kids eat more balanced meals than this.
But you have to wonder what the hell the parents in that strip were thinking. Peanuts was basically "Children of the Corn," with no Peter Horton and a few less homicides.
True, a lot of children's entertainment is virtually devoid of adults. Part of the fantasy of everything from "Peter Pan" to "The Goonies" is a world without parental supervision. But the Peanuts adults practiced an insane amount of neglect. Let's allow our children to eat jelly beans for dinner! Let's allow our kids to ride motorcycles! Let's allow our 7-year-old son to spend the night in a pumpkin patch in the middle of October with nothing but a ratty blanket! All of which brings us to ...
CPS Cinema Vol. 2: The Parents of Peanuts Read More 'CPS Cinema: The parents of Peanuts' »
| July 28 2009 at 03:32 PM
CPS Cinema: "Stand By Me"
My friend Matt was remarking yesterday how terrible all the movie parents were when we were growing up. Kids were subjected to untold dangers, they could be seen smoking two packs a day at age 10 and were occasionally left unsupervised so they could bring the country to the brink of nuclear war. And let's not even talk about the schools. Were there even any teachers at this place?
salomar7.blogspot.com
It's 3 p.m. on a Saturday. Do you know what your kids are doing?
This conversation has inspired our new The Poop feature, CPS Cinema, where we get really judgmental about the fictitious parents in the movies of our youth. Should Child Protective Services have been called? What kind of response would be appropriate? Can you tell we thought this feature up on a slow news day? (And please don't take any of this too seriously. If for no other reason than all of the parents who will be mentioned here are completely fictitious.)
There will be no shortage of fodder, which you can suggest in the comments. The 1980s were filled with movies such as "The Goonies" or "E.T.," where the kids were running around like packs of wild dogs. The 1990s brought us the negligent parents from "Home Alone" and "Home Alone 2." (I would never wish Nancy Grace on anyone, but it's too bad she wasn't around when those idiots were galavanting off to France and leaving their 7-year-old to fend for himself in a crime-filled Chicago suburb.) And let's not even talk about the 1970s, where the lucky kids were experimented on by aliens and the unlucky ones were shark bait.
We'll start off with something easy. The year was 1986. Ronald Reagan was president, movie popcorn only cost $3.75 and Corey Feldman was still getting work that didn't involve a VH1 reality show ...
CPS Cinema Vol. 1: The parents of "Stand By Me" ... Read More 'CPS Cinema: "Stand By Me"' »
| April 30 2009 at 07:08 AM
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