A strip I passed up, from December 30, 1952:
Another strip I passed up, from January 8, 1953:
Now today's strip:
I think we need a name for that expression Charlie Brown has in the first strip, second panel, and Linus, Lucy and Charlie Brown wear in the last panel of the other strips. It definitely isn't a full "smile." "Smirk" doesn't work because it implies derisiveness. I guess it's a kind of grimace, but
It's a rueful expression. Schulz uses it when a character's plans haven't worked out as he or she wants, or he suffers some reverse. It's not an angry expression, and it doesn't seem to represent straight frustration. One could almost always tie the word "sigh" to it, which hasn't been used an awful lot so far.
I think it needs to be named because it's going to crop up again and again. And ideas?
In each, their hopes have been dashed. Plus it looks kind of like a dash (albeit angled), so I would go with "dashed."
ReplyDeletechagrin
ReplyDeleteI believe that on the Internet, that expression is known as :\
ReplyDeleteWah-wah (sad trombone).
ReplyDeleteAll break "the fourth wall," too--A shared experience with the reader.
ReplyDeleteYou didn't pass up the second strip. You covered it last week, on July 6.
ReplyDeleteThe emotion it's conveying is definitely "chagrin", but I can't quite make a stab at a name for the expression.
@Your Obedient Serpent - how about a "chagrimace"?
ReplyDelete