Kite-Eating Tree

{{short description|Peanuts comic strip character}}

{{For|the related theme park rides|Kite Eating Tree (disambiguation)}}

File:Kite_eating_tree_and_Charlie_brown.jpeg|access-date=8 November 2015}}]]

Image:Camp Snoopy.jpg in the Mall of America before the rebrand in 2006.]]

The Kite-Eating Tree is a fictional tree in the Peanuts comic strip created by Charles M. Schulz.{{cite book|last=Schulz|first=Charles M.|title=Celebrating Peanuts: 60 Years|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1lSNvWVziOEC&pg=PA4|access-date=8 November 2015|date=2009-10-20|publisher=Andrews McMeel Publishing|isbn=9780740785481|page=4}} In the comics, when Charlie Brown attempts to fly a kite, the kite always ends up tangled in the tree. In an editorial from 1964, the U.S. Catholic stated that Charlie Brown's encounters with the Kite-Eating Tree represent "defeat, but not capitulation" because Charlie Brown "refuses to concede that the impossible won’t someday happen—that he will manage to get the kite in the sky, where it belongs."{{cite news|url=http://www.uscatholic.org/articles/201401/50-years-ago-us-catholic-what-makes-peanuts-run-28407|title=50 years ago in U.S. Catholic: What makes Peanuts run?|last=Martin Jezer|date=February 1964|work=US Catholic|pages=Vol. 29, No. 2, pages 15–18|access-date=8 November 2015}}

Schulz considered the tree one of the series' 12 major set pieces.{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/rhodri-marsdens-interesting-objects-linuss-blanket-9419909.html|title=Rhodri Marsden's Interesting Objects: Linus's blanket|last=Rhodri Marsden|date=22 May 2014|work=The Independent|access-date=8 November 2015}}{{cite book|last=Harvey|first=Robert C.|title=The Art of the Funnies: An Aesthetic History|url=https://archive.org/details/artoffunniesaest0000harv|url-access=registration|access-date=29 August 2015|year=1994|publisher=Univ. Press of Mississippi|isbn=9780878056125|pages=[https://archive.org/details/artoffunniesaest0000harv/page/216 216]–}} He created the tree in response to his experiences with kites getting caught in trees, both as a child and when flying kites with his children. He stated that the kite "usually disappears over a period of several weeks. Now obviously the kite had to go someplace, so it seemed to me that the tree must be eating it."{{cite book|last=Commrie|first=Anne|title=Something about the Author|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XWwYAAAAIAAJ|access-date=29 August 2015|date=1976-11-17|publisher=Gale|isbn=9780810300682}}

In the first series featuring the Kite-Eating Tree, which ran in April 1956, Charlie Brown's anger is directed at the kite, with the punch line that he is satisfied only when he and the kite are both soaked in a downpour. This instance was cited as demonstrating that the "humor of Peanuts lies in the extremity of bad luck the characters" face.{{cite magazine|url=https://time.com/3445127/peanuts/|title=Peanuts Comic Strip Debut October 2 1950|last=Jennifer Latson|date=Oct 2, 2014|magazine=Time|access-date=8 November 2015}} In a 1977 series, Charlie Brown bit the tree, after which he received a legal notification from the Environmental Protection Agency.{{cite book|last1=Bergman|first1=Gregory|last2=Lambert|first2=Josh|title=Geektionary: From Anime to Zettabyte, An A to Z Guide to All Things Geek|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yS93YWFWXBYC&pg=PA63|access-date=29 August 2015|date=2010-12-18|publisher=Adams Media|isbn=9781440511899|pages=63–}}{{cite news|url=http://www.cnet.com/news/celebrating-60-years-of-peanuts/|title=Celebrating 60 years of 'Peanuts'|last=Daniel Terdiman|date=October 2, 2010|work=CNET|access-date=8 November 2015}}{{cite news|url=http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/Book-Reviews/2010/0925/The-Complete-Peanuts-1977-1978|title=The Complete Peanuts 1977-1978 - CSMonitor.com|last=Rich Clabaugh|date=September 25, 2010|work=The Christian Science Monitor|access-date=8 November 2015}} In yet another series in January 1969, Lucy becomes so enraged at Schroeder continually ignoring her that she seizes his piano and throws it up into the tree, which proceeds to devour it.{{cite web|url=https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1969/01/24 |title=Peanuts by Charles Schulz for January 24, 1969 |publisher=GoComics |date= |accessdate=2022-08-31}} In later comics and animation the tree appeared with a visible mouth, at times grinning or reacting to Charlie Brown's tirades.

The Kite-Eating Tree has played a part in adaptations of the comic strip, including the musical You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown (1967){{cite news|url=http://entertainment.inquirer.net/32709/happiness-is-watching-%E2%80%98peanuts%E2%80%99-gang-onstage|title=Happiness is watching 'Peanuts' gang onstage|last=Lea Salonga|date=March 7, 2012|newspaper=Philippine Daily Inquirer|access-date=8 November 2015}} and The Peanuts Movie (2015).{{cite news|url=https://www.wired.com/2015/11/peanuts-movie-not-sellout/|title=A CGI Peanuts Movie Shouldn't Be Surprising at All|last=K.M. McFarland|date=November 6, 2015|work=Wired|access-date=8 November 2015}} And it is featured as part of a ride at Camp Snoopy, the Peanuts-themed area within Knott's Berry Farm.{{cite news|url=http://www.ocregister.com/articles/snoopy-597316-camp-ride.html|title=Knott's announces 3 new Camp Snoopy rides|last=REBECCA KHEEL|date=January 14, 2014|work=Orange County Register|access-date=8 November 2015}} At the Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center, a tree in the courtyard is designated as a representation of the Kite-Eating Tree.{{cite news|url=http://www.postbulletin.com/life/travel/good-grief-schulz-museum-preserves-legacy-of-laughter/article_f5e957fb-8827-5ce6-ab7b-f450d7d82dc1.html|title=Good grief! Schulz museum preserves legacy of laughter - PostBulletin.com: Travel|last=Mary Lu Laffey|date=March 28, 2014|work=Post Bulletin|access-date=8 November 2015}}