American Masters, Charles Schulz

This weekend I watched the nearly hour and half long American Masters episode on Charles Schulz. Like most programs on PBS, I did find its tone a bit dull and portentous. They seemed to ignore the fun and funny aspects of the strip in favor of a psychological reading - viewing the strip as a sort of self-portrait of the "troubled" artist's inner life. It's my feeling that this kind of psychological examination of an artist's life and work, by nature, oversimplifies and usually misses the point. They want to be able to make an interesting story, that goes from point a to point b, that can be sold, more than get at the truth. The best parts of the documentary were the archival footage they dug up of old TV show appearances of Schulz at home and the brief comments of Jules Feiffer, the only talking head who managed to convey some of the mystery, magic and joy of the comic strip and of somebody who dedicated the greater part of their life to creating an imaginary world.