Who is the most famous beagle in the world? It must be Snoopy, whether you've seen Peanuts or not, you must recognize this fanciful dog who never thinks of himself as a dog.
Snoopy has been born for 65 years, as a veteran star dog, it used to be just a passer-by who runs the dragon suit, and now, in the 21st century, we can meet it on the big screen.
Peanuts Comics
Negative energy bursts to sell cuteness
Born half a century ago, Peanuts comics is a long-form American comic strip by Charles Schultz, drawn from 1950 to 2000 before his death.
Peanut Comics swept the United States from the beginning, serialized in seven newspapers in the United States, including the Washington Post, Chicago Forum and other newspapers with a large circulation, and then became popular all over the world, creating a series of miracles in the history of world comics: Peanut Comics was serialized in newspapers and periodicals every day for 50 years, publishing 18,000 comics; distributed in 75 countries; more than 2,600 newspaper serials; more than 350 million readers; and creating more than 1.2 billion U.S. dollars in the industry.
Today, the first batch of people who watched "Peanut Comics" are old, and few people know that it was once a small black comic.
Take a look at its first set of comics, where the characters are Shemmy and Petty.
"Look, Here comes Charlie Brown!"
"Harold Charlie Brown! Eh, sir! ”
"Harold Charlie Brown..."
"Hate to die of him."
The child's embarrassment and poisonous tongue are presented in four simple cartoons, after which Peanut Comics begins to show the dark world of children.
"It's not easy to be a kid... The outside world is so terrible, and going to school is also miserable, either the teacher is looking for trouble for you, or bullying the big classmates. If you grow up and forget these troubles, then adults will turn a blind eye to children's problems. In fact, children, like us, struggle to survive in real life. ”
"People are selfish, children are more selfish, more cruel to others"
"Loneliness is the only safe haven"
"The deepest desire in the heart can never be fulfilled"
"People always have unrealistic illusions about themselves"
—Charles Schultz
For the next 20 years (50s-70s), it was the "golden age" of Peanut Comics, and the darkness of the child's world and the despair of the adult world became the main ingredients of the comic, and black humor was its keynote. With the appearance of Snoopy and his good friend Confused, the style of painting began to sprout, which is known as the "Peanut Comics", cute and harmless.
In 2000, Schultz typed a farewell letter on the novelist Snoopy's typewriter in the comic, officially retired from the comic, and said that he did not want anyone else to continue the Peanuts Comics. Two months later, Schultz died.
Snoopy's ascension to the throne
From the protagonist to the supporting characters
On October 4, 1950, Snoopy made his debut in Peanuts Comics.
At the time, it was still a passerby— passing by Petty's door with little flowers, without a name. (On November 10, it was given the name "Snoopy" and was identified as a male.) ）
Snoopy's prototype is actually a personality puppy that Schultz raised as a teenager and can understand more than 50 commands.
Naturally, Snoopy gradually ran to anthropomorphism and never returned. It began to be able to walk upright, not sleeping on the kennel and sleeping on the roof, and thinking more and more activity.
Two years later, Snoopy has a small frame of thinking
Three years later, Snoopy began to be able to walk upright
In the early '60s, Snoopy slept on the roof
Anthropomorphism means the life of the protagonist. In almost all comics featuring animals, animals are actually anthropomorphic, or simply human beings in animal skin.
Beginning in 1954, Snoopy imitated a wide range of images, including snakes, rhinos, lions, beethoven, and of course, the most famous being world war i flying ace and joe cool.
In general, Snoopy is another Charlie Brown, who never admits to being a dog, is willing to be any other animal, and seriously feels that he is a human, while Charlie is just a "round-headed boy".
Unconsciously, some characters began to disappear, like the first Shemmy and Petty, Snoopy became more and more important, and even replaced everyone as the protagonist, and by the late 80s, Snoopy occupied most of the comic book, successfully ascended to the throne, had almost all personality traits, and began to step out of the business pace of selling cuteness.
However, from the perspective of the movie poster, the director did not abandon the past, and while selling cuteness, he also intends to tell another piece of past history.
Cosmic mascot
Don't be a normal dog
In addition to his successful ascension to the throne in Peanuts Comics, Snoopy is not a simple dog in reality.
It was on the cover of Time Magazine.
On April 9, 1965, Snoopy, along with Charlie Brown, Linus, Schilder, and Lucy, debuted on the cover of Time Magazine, standing shoulder to shoulder with world-renowned personalities such as Kennedy, Khrushchev, Che Guevara, Mao, Chiang Kai-shek, Deng Xiaoping, and the Beatles.
Titled "Comics: good grief," the cover story is subtitled "The World According to Peanuts," praising the work as "the best of a refreshing new genre that demonstrates this unprecedented interest in the basics of life." ”
It is the mascot of NASA.
In May 1969, in order to better establish NASA's image, they approached Schultz and asked him for Snoopy's copyright. The American Apollo 10 spacecraft named its command module and lunar module "Charlie Brown" and "Snoopy" respectively. In fact, on March 14, 1969, Snoopy in the comics had already landed on the moon. As the "first beagle to land on the moon", nasa looked for it to "guard flight".
Apollo 10 finally completed the mission without any danger, and after that, there was snoopy's mission, none of which failed, and people began to believe that Snoopy really had magic.
Before the expedition, the Apollo 10 astronauts touched Snoopy's nose.
That same year, NASA also established the Silver Snoopy Award, one of the highest awards in the U.S. aerospace field, to recognize people who have made outstanding contributions to the scientific exploration of the human universe. On the badge is Snoopy in a spacesuit.
Big movies
Loyal to Schultz
For peanut comics to be presented on the big screen in 3D for the first time, the task fell to Blue Sky Studios director Steve Martino.
This isn't actually Snoopy's first time on the big screen, but it's the first after the death of the original author, Schultz.
Moreover, the last Snoopy movie , Charlie Brown , was in 1980 , and for the world 's younger generation , Snoopy: The Peanuts Movie " will have a more far-reaching impact.
Making a feature film of Peanuts comics has always been Schultz's wish. However, his screenwriting workload was too great for him, and on the other hand, he did not want others to do it, and this wish was not fulfilled until his death.
So, the screenplay was co-written by Craig Schulz, son of Charles Schulz, and Bryan Schulz, the only son of Craig Schulz. They wanted the film to be true to Mr. Schultz's style.
Peanut Comics, which consists of short stories, can still find many classic bridges in the comics after adapting the script of the long film.
For example, in the comics, Snoopy often fantasizes about becoming a pilot. The script turns such a story into a more symbolic fantasy scene.
There are also Charlie Brown's never-ending kites and Snoopy's classic "joe cool" appearance, which have become small details in the movie that evoke the audience's memories.
The reason they chose Steve Martino as director was that they found his animated film Horton and The Unknown based on the novel refreshing and impressive. Steve himself is a loyal reader of Snoopy and is very happy to have the opportunity to direct big movies.
However, at first he thought that the set-up stage of the anime was very simple, because the original manga already provided everything he needed. However, when they modeled the characters, they found that Snoopy had changed a lot in the evolution of the comics over the past 50 years.
To this end, they created a "matrix" that brought together hundreds of images of Snoopy from various periods, from which the most suitable elements were selected.
Now we see the image of Snoopy in the movie. Based on the image of the 80s, we selected my favorite ears, head and body lines and combined them.
The same approach was applied to Charlie Brown and his friends.
The film's 3D animation format poses another conundrum. In the original 2D comic, the height of their eyes and ears is actually different in the side or front of each screen character. If you animate exactly from the original, when Charlie Brown turns his head or Snoopy looks up, it will have a very strange effect.
So, for the first time ever, Blue Sky Studios has built separate 3D models for different directions of the same character in an animation.
The director has a lovely daughter who is often the first viewer and critic of the "Snoopy" image. Steve sometimes continues to create animated stories at home, and sometimes he asks her daughter to see how well his new draft works.
In this way, we can see the animated image in the film that combines Mr. Schultz's hand-drawn style with today's high-tech CGI technology.
Take a look at the Snoopy comics that the director himself drew.
Give yourself a thumbs up.
Author | Muzong + Wind Easy
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