decot@cwruecmp.UUCP (Dave Decot) (12/02/83)
The CWRU Film Society recently showed the Spielberg film "Poltergeist", the soundtrack of which begins with a complete playing of the United States' National Anthem. I was attending this showing with several friends, and, being an amateur singer all through high school and college, I automatically rose to my feet upon hearing the first three unison notes. Realizing that I was in a crowded auditorium watching a movie, I felt slightly silly, and was about to sit down, but then a startling thing happened. As they caught on to the music, a few viewers in front of me began to stand up, too! More and more people stood up, and soon almost everyone in the auditorium was on their feet, silently listening to the music. A warm feeling rushed through my body, and as the song drew to a close, everyone sat down and some began applauding and cheering. Then everyone started giggling. This experience was intensely invigorating, and I'm sure it added to my enjoyment of the film. Patriotism, pride, and fellowship were definately components of what I was feeling. I was proud of my country and of the audience. I do not know why. I suspect that I would feel the same upon hearing "O Canada" if I had been brought up on it. Dave Decot decvax!cwruecmp!decot (Decot.Case@rand-relay)
laura@utcsstat.UUCP (Laura Creighton) (12/03/83)
O Canada -- The first thing to remember is that Canadians *aren't* brought up on it. My generation has had both a flag and an anthem. Previous generations haven't. Before O Canada it was God Save the Queen. So any "Loyalty to the Flag" will not have very deep roots around here. Also we don't have flags in classrooms or classroom anthem singings... except in prparation for school concerts or soemthing. We still had to sing God Save the Queen about as often as O Canada. The Star Spangled Banner is a very difficult thing to sing. Anybody who can sing it *ought* to be getting a red glow inside -- just to accomplish the feat. O Canada is neither difficult, nor (in the first verse which is all that most people ever know anyway) very interesting. A few (10?) years ago they spruced up the anthem by replacing one of the repetitive "We Stand on Guard, We Stand on Guard" with "God Keep Our Land". This is official, but it hasn't gone over too well. Historically, dependance upon God has not been all that reliable. I think that a few extra "we stand on guard"s might help keeping Canada "glorious and free", though... patriotism is looked on as an American disease. it is not polite to draw attention to how wonderful you are, after all. In the apartment building I live in a new sign was errected beside the light switch "Be Patriotic -- Save energy!" I know three people (including myself) who laughed themselves silly when they saw it. However, there *is* real patriotism here, though you have to work hard to find it. I discovered that I was patriotic when it *really mattered* to me as a kid whether the Canadians beat the Russians in the Canada/USSR hockey challenge. At the time I remember wondering if I had some strange disease... Canadians also take pride in "not being Americans" which is a strange form of Patriotism. Despite this there is a strange ability on the part of Canadians to absorb American patriotism. thus I remember that after the Canadian athletes had been eliminated from the olympics in some competition, Canadians would root for the Americans. i still think that O Canada is primarily what they play to tell you that the hockey/football/baseball games has started. I have never felt the warmth that is talked about, except after the Canada USSR hockey challenge that i mentioned. I have not discussed this with other people, but I suspect that I am not very unusual in this respect. Thus American patriotism seems to be some sort of strange madness from my point of view. it is unfathomable -- but you do seem to get a lot of enjoyment out of it, don't you? There is always something to be said about that... Laura Creighton utzoo!utcsstat!laura
genji@ucbopal.CC.Berkeley.ARPA (12/05/83)
From: decot@cwruecmp.UUCP Posted: Thu Dec 1 19:06:21 1983 Organization: CWRU Computer Engr. Cleveland, Ohio << The CWRU Film Society recently showed ... "Poltergeist", which << begins with the ... United States' National Anthem. ... I << automatically rose to my feet upon hearing the first three << unison notes. << ... a few viewers in front of me began to stand up, too! << More and more people stood up, and soon almost everyone in the << auditorium was on their feet, silently listening to the music. << A warm feeling rushed through my body ... This experience was << intensely invigorating ... it added to my enjoyment of the << film. Patriotism, pride, and fellowship were definately << components of what I was feeling. I was proud of my country << and of the audience. I do not know why. << Dave Decot Spoken like a true patriot! Maybe you'll go off to war on the same unknowing emotional high. --Genji
genji@ucbopal.CC.Berkeley.ARPA (12/05/83)
References: <143@houxk.UUCP>, <2820@utcsrgv.UUCP>, <1093@rocksvax.UUCP>, <843@cwruecmp.UUCP> Relay-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site akgua.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83 v7 ucbopal-1.9 BSD 4.2; site ucbopal.CC.Berkeley.ARPA Path: akgua!clyde!floyd!harpo!decvax!tektronix!ucbcad!ucbvax!ucbtopaz!ucbopal!genji Message-ID: <124@ucbopal.CC.Berkeley.ARPA> Date: Mon, 5-Dec-83 09:26:03 EST Organization: Univ. of Calif., Berkeley CA USA From: decot@cwruecmp.UUCP Posted: Thu Dec 1 19:06:21 1983 Organization: CWRU Computer Engr. Cleveland, Ohio << The CWRU Film Society recently showed ... "Poltergeist", which << begins with the ... United States' National Anthem. ... I << automatically rose to my feet upon hearing the first three << unison notes. << ... a few viewers in front of me began to stand up, too! << More and more people stood up, and soon almost everyone in the << auditorium was on their feet, silently listening to the music. << A warm feeling rushed through my body ... This experience was << intensely invigorating ... it added to my enjoyment of the << film. Patriotism, pride, and fellowship were definately << components of what I was feeling. I was proud of my country << and of the audience. I do not know why. << Dave Decot Spoken like a true patriot! Maybe you'll go off to war on the same unknowing emotional high. --Genji
walsh@ihuxi.UUCP (12/06/83)
Hey Genji, What on earth does feeling patriotic on hearing the National Anthem have to do with going to war? Off the wall remarks are not necessary. B. Walsh
llf@houxz.UUCP (12/07/83)
In some countries, the "national anthem" is required in all schools and also before all movies. Beware! If you don't stand up, you can catch a LOT of flak. Does anybody know just HOW powerful music can be in suggestion?
Pucc-H:Pucc-I:Pucc-K:ags@CS-Mordred.UUCP (12/07/83)
When I saw "Poltergeist," which begins with the playing of the Star Spangled Banner, I found myself trying to imagine the confusion that would result whenever this film is shown on a U.S. Military base. As I recall from my Air Force days, military base theaters always precede movies by the playing of the national anthem (flag flying on screen), and of course everyone stands up. Imagine the scene when everyone is sitting down and the movie begins with a second complete playing of the anthem. Dave Seaman ..!pur-ee!pucc-k!ags
seifert@ihuxl.UUCP (12/07/83)
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> Does anybody know just HOW powerful music can be in suggestion?
Ever see "A Clockwork Orange"?
(mild spoiler warning)
A young man is conditioned to get sick whenever he has violent
thoughts. Alas, they had classical music playing in the
background and he also became conditioned to get sick when
he heard Beethovan. An interesting movie dispite excessive
violence.
Snoopy
--
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(
) from the mildly opinionated keyboard of
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|OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO| Dave Seifert
|OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO| ihnp4!ihuxl!seifert
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|------------------|wetcw@pyuxa.UUCP (12/08/83)
During WWII, every movie theatre ran the National Anthem before the regular program.