對不熟悉史努比的朋友介紹一下，史努比 (Snoopy) 是美國漫畫家查爾斯·舒茲從1950年代起連載的漫畫作品《Peanuts》中的角色，史努比是該本作品主角查理布朗 (Charles Brown) 的愛犬，品種為黑白花紋的米格魯獵兔犬，史努比是一隻個性乖僻的小狗，它總是端坐在自己紅色狗屋的屋頂上，整日幻想，它的樂趣便是變身為不同的人物，一下變成飛行員，一下又化身為外科醫師，它最討厭的是一頭住在隔壁、名叫二次大戰 (World War II) 的貓，不知為何，外表可愛，但個性孤僻龜毛的史努比，異常受到人們的喜愛。
之前我在史努比快閃店的文章中提到，我有位一位朋友，非常喜歡史努比，總是到處在收集史努比的周邊產品，之前和她去逛街時，她也無時不刻地注意是否店家有史努比的商品，假如要送她生日禮物的話，很好挑禮物，只要送她史努比相關周邊商品，就絕對是安全牌，這次出遊時，入住的房間，是店家隨機幫我安排的，之前不知道，店家居然還有史努比主題房，還給我住到了，雖然我不算是史努比粉絲，但看到房內的史努比圖案，再搭配著房內的黑白簡約風格，也覺得蠻新奇的，也覺得店家蠻有巧思的。
可惜的是，漫畫在2000年2月13日，因為作者查爾斯·舒茲的去世，而結束近五十年的連載，聽說作者不願意讓其他漫畫家接手這部漫畫。他認為這樣可以保持作品的原創性和純粹性，雖然如此，人們還是可以在日常生活中，看到或聽到史努比的新聞，要不然我之前也不會去逛史努比快閃店，漫畫本身傳達的純真的童心，讓人心之嚮往，而為何像史努比這樣一隻個性孤僻龜毛的小狗，會受到全世界人們的歡迎，大概是每個人內心中都住著一個與世界格格不入，而總是想要化身為他人的自己吧。
For friends who aren’t familiar with Snoopy, he’s a character from the comic strip Peanuts created by American cartoonist Charles Schulz. The comic started in the 1950s, and Snoopy is the pet dog of the main character, Charlie Brown. Snoopy is a black-and-white beagle with a quirky personality. He’s always sitting on the roof of his red doghouse, daydreaming about being all sorts of things—one moment he’s a pilot, the next he’s a surgeon. He’s not a fan of the cat next door, which for some reason is named “World War II.” Despite being cute in appearance, Snoopy has a pretty eccentric and fussy personality, but for some reason, people absolutely love him.
I mentioned in a post about a Snoopy pop-up store before that I have a friend who’s a huge Snoopy fan. She’s always collecting Snoopy merchandise and, whenever we go shopping together, she’s constantly on the lookout for stores selling Snoopy-related items. Honestly, buying her a birthday present is super easy—just get her something Snoopy-related, and it’s guaranteed to be a hit. On a recent trip, I randomly got assigned a room in a hotel, and to my surprise, it was a Snoopy-themed room! I had no idea they even had such a room. Even though I’m not a Snoopy fan myself, I thought the Snoopy designs in the room paired with the sleek black-and-white decor were pretty cool. The hotel definitely put some thought into it.
It’s a bit of a shame that the Peanuts comic stopped running on February 13, 2000, after Charles Schulz passed away. Apparently, Schulz didn’t want anyone else to take over the comic because he felt that keeping it as his own creation would maintain its originality and authenticity. Even so, Snoopy is still everywhere in daily life—you see him in stores, hear about him in the news, and, well, that’s why I ended up visiting a Snoopy pop-up store. The comic itself carries a sense of pure childlike wonder that resonates with people. Maybe the reason Snoopy, this quirky, fussy little dog, is so universally loved is that deep down, all of us have a part of ourselves that feels a little out of place in the world and dreams of being someone else.