This strip wouldn’t work with any other Peanuts character. Snoopy shows human behaviour, which allows him to draw insulting pictures. But he is also a dog, showing animosity against cats, which is seen as normal, not as problematic. If a human Peanuts character would do something similar, the message would be very different. Most people would find such behaviour disturbed or racist.
In my opinion this strip goes a bit deeper than the usual Peanuts strip. Charles Schulz explores what he can do with his Snoopy character and touches emotions which we usually deny and don’t allow others to show. The first reaction is to laugh about it, but on second thought you can also think about the fine line between funny and not funny.(If Charles Schulz wouldn’t explore that fine line, he wouldn’t be so funny).
This strip wouldn’t work with any other Peanuts character. Snoopy shows human behaviour, which allows him to draw insulting pictures. But he is also a dog, showing animosity against cats, which is seen as normal, not as problematic. If a human Peanuts character would do something similar, the message would be very different. Most people would find such behaviour disturbed or racist.
In my opinion this strip goes a bit deeper than the usual Peanuts strip. Charles Schulz explores what he can do with his Snoopy character and touches emotions which we usually deny and don’t allow others to show. The first reaction is to laugh about it, but on second thought you can also think about the fine line between funny and not funny.(If Charles Schulz wouldn’t explore that fine line, he wouldn’t be so funny).