MovieChat Forums > A Boy Named Charlie Brown (1969) Discussion > What was the point of the National Anthe...

What was the point of the National Anthem scene?

posted 16 years ago by crazydude1989
10 replies | jump to latest

I'm not trying to criticize my country, but that scene where Snoopy takes his record player to the ballpark and plays the Star Spangled Banner and there's all these American Flag stripes and fireworks and stars flashing on the screen, seemed really random. Maybe, since it was one of their baseball games, Snoopy always played the National Anthem for them? Maybe I just answered my own question, lol. I thought it was really random, but maybe it's because they always play it at the start of sports events.

Don't Genius Live in a Lamp?-Patrick Star

[–] uruseiranma 16 years ago

I figured because it is generally a tradition to do so before baseball games.

It's me, your lovable dictator! Uh-oh. -Bender, Futurama

[–] novastar_6 16 years ago

When I was younger I wasn't sure why he did it, but I liked it...then when I was about 7 I found out that the national anthem is always played before a baseball game during which time it's only proper for you to stand and salute.

[–] rwsmith29456 16 years ago

It's set in the late 60's which explains why I thought the national anthem scene reminded me of 'Yellow Submarine'. The Beethoven thing was pretty trippy, too.

[–] dtdbiz 16 years ago

I'm gonna take a different angle. I saw the movie in the theater, albeit I was only 6 at the time. But I remember those days quite well. Our babysitter and her boyfriend took us, but the boyfriend had long hair. I remember being slightly afraid of him because my conservative parents had injected those feelings into us kids.

See, those were different times back then -- '69 and the generation gap was steaming. It was all about the Vietnam War and patriotism. You were un-American if you opposed the war or had long hair or did drugs, etc. And young people resented the WWII generation and their hypocritical flag-waving.

Charles Schulz was an old-school crewcut conservative from Minnesota -- he'd probably be characterized as "Christian right" by today's standards. Anyway, I believe the anthem and flags were intended as an in-your-face statement by Schulz to "God Bless America, kids, land that I love ... now back to the comedy."

Interesting historical footage, I find. My opinion anyway...

[–] 16 years ago

[deleted]

[–] mcfly-31 14 years ago

"What was the point of the National Anthem scene?"

Padding. Much like the Schroeder or Snoopy ice rink sequences. Great imagery, sure, but completely needless to the story other than to get the film to a theatrical release running time.

[–] Jetfire59 13 years ago

You're right, of course, but that didn't keep me from getting a laugh from the red & white stripes moving to the music and the star that vibrates to the ending symbol hit. As another poster mentioned it was "in your face patriotism", but to this ten year old, it was like that because Snoopy had it turned up so loud. It was even more "in your face" on the big screen and I truly found it very funny. When Snoopy does something, he doesn't mess around. As for the skating sequence, it has always been among my favorite animated scenes ever since I first saw it in 1969. It was indeed padding, but it was well done padding. I didn't care much for Scroeder's sequence as a kid but I do like it now. The bus sequences could be called padding as well, but I love them anyway.

Have fun. Lifes' too friggin' short.

[–] novastar_6 13 years ago

Oh man as a kid, I loved that whole part with Schroeder and his piano but it freaked me out, he's a little kid and his piano replaced by that HUGE one and why is it all drawn so weird? That used to creep me out, but I loved the whole movie and loved Snoopy at the ice rink though I didn't get why he was loafing off when he was supposed to be helping Linus look for his blanket...and I loved the bus scenes with Snoopy playing his Jews harp, I have an authentic Boy Named Charlie Brown Snoopy's Jew Harp actually, LOL!

[–] stevewyzard (1282) 10 months ago

Yes, they had to make the movie at least 90 minutes long, but they also had a much larger budget than they had for the 22-minute TV specials they were making at the time. This could be described as "padding", or it could be viewed that they finally were able to go "all out" with the animation. The TV specials were made lightning fast and dirt cheap, and with the movie the bar was set much higher. Even when I first saw this at a very young age, it seemed obvious that the animators viewed the movie as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to throw in everything but the proverbial kitchen sink.

I've always felt that the much-complained-about piano and skating scenes were character fantasies for Schroeder and Snoopy. Of course, when the film was shown on TV and had to be chopped up for commercial breaks, most of these scenes (and many of the songs) ended up on the cutting room floor. Truth be told, even many of the TV specials felt padded out with scenes that were obviously there to fill up the running time.

[–] stevenackerman69 9 years ago

Well, probably because they sing the NA before a game begins. But I did feel that some of the musical stuff was not needed.