(courtesy IMP Awards)
One of the great joys of Peanuts, the warmly iconic comic strip by Charles M. Schulz, is how he always loved and revered the underdog.
He was realistic enough to know that underdogs didn’t always have the easiest time of it, but in Charlie Brown, Linus, and Marcie we were gifted characters on the margins who didn’t fit the mainstream but who nonetheless found their place even if it was hard won and more than a little fraught.
In the latest Peanuts animated special, One-of-a-kind Marcie, which sits very much in the mould of its revered and much-loved predecessors while still very much reflecting a lovely modern sensibility, Marcie (Arianna MacDonald) gets her moment to shine with her underdog status quietly but powerfully celebrated as she finds herself caught in all too-public-situation that doesn’t suit her and which she’s eager to escape at the earliest possible opportunity.
Voted in as Class President, not as a joke but because everyone genuinely appreciates her kind hear and problem-solving skills, Marcie finds herself in a role that can definitely get things done but which requires her to be far more in the spotlight that she’s even remotely comfortable with.
She loves helping people, LOVES IT, but as she explains to Charlie Brown (Etienne Kellici), she also finds it intimidating:
“There’s a lot of people out there who could use a hand, and I want to help them, but when I try to, all I want to do is run away.”
So, she’s happy to quietly work away in the background, helping Peppermint Patty (Lexi Perri) perfect her golf game for the school championship, orchestrating a piece of elusive pizza at the school canteen for Linus (Wyatt White) and sorting out the messiness of the newly-crowded school hallway so that everyone can move around without creating a human log jam.
She is the one, as one character observes, who works away quietly in the background to get things done and is simply happy that people are happy, not needing the accolades that might go with it.
Getting voted in as Class President then is her worst nightmare, and while she appreciates the motivation, her first inclination is to hide in her room – understandable since as Peppermint Patty observes, Marcie is an “invertebrate” … or could that be “introvert”? – and never emerge again.
But won’t work long-term, so what to do, WHAT TO DO …
What she does do must be left to the watching because it’s heartfelt and wonderful and comes with a soaring speech that will warm your heart and fire up the soul and which defies everyone’s expectations which is always fun to watch.
And that’s what One-of-a-kind Marcie does beautifully well during its 40-minute or so runtime.
It celebrates the fact that not everyone wants to live in the limelight and that there are people with good hearts who are content to labour away in the background, make things better for those they care about, and eschew any high praise for it.
They’re just happy that others are happy.
And that I think is the pure joy of Peanuts in general, and One-of-a-kind Marcie in particular; it always makes the point in a sweetly charming and non-heavy-handed way that there’s a place for everyone, and while people like Lucy (Isabella Leo), who sits happily and squarely in the mainstream, can’t understand why you’d want to be anywhere else that right in front of others being lauded for your achievements, specials like this highlight that not everyone wants to be in public view.
In fact, people like Marcie are happy to stay in the shadows, make things better and keep them working, and bathe in the effect of what they do.
As someone who never quite fit the mainstream growing up and who found himself bullied and mocked for not fitting the unforgiving mould, One-of-a-kind Marcie really speaks to me because it says you have a place, and while you may not be like everyone else, that’s more than okay and you will find your own valuable and loved place in this world.
In fact, this special and Peanuts as a whole, is all about people finding their niche, and while they may be mocked by the world at large, they will find where they belong if given the time and be perfectly happy there.
It’s a reassuringly inspiring message that like Marcie doesn’t shout itself from the rooftops but which occupies every quietly emboldening narrative heartbeat of One-of-a-kind Marcie, a special which loves the underdog, celebrates those who don’t quite fit the mainstream mould, and which says you have a place, you will be loved for that place and you will make everyone’s lives better as a result.