gideonbernstein wrote: |
At least Sam is the way she is because she is raised in poverty by a family of criminals who hardly care about her. Lucy has no excuse at all. Sam torment Freddie because he is a nice guy, and she once said that nice irritates her. She is only friends with Carly because Carly is the one person as though as she is, and even Carly often wonders she she is friends with her. |
_Flutterlight_ wrote: |
While it's true that Lucy is not quite that mean to Charlie Brown, it's impossible to say she's not as bad as Sam when you look at the way Lucy treats Linus, her own flesh and blood. Lucy punches Linus on numerous occasions, knocks him over with a moving television set, gives his room to a stray dog, and even kicks him out of the house! She even says to his face that she never wanted him to be born. (And then tries to replace him with Snoopy dressed up in baby clothes in an effort to out-do Charlie Brown after Sally is born). That's a heck of a lot meaner than anything Sam does to Freddy. Also, Lucy does physically hurt Charlie Brown in ways other than the football. She body-checks him in golf. And punches him at least once. |
Plus, whatever you say that Lucy does is a lot meaner than anything that Sam does to Freddie, they are at least more justifiable than every single thing that Sam does to Freddie. So before you speak otherwise, it is clear to me that Sam undoubtedly crossed the moral event horizon.
_Flutterlight_ wrote: |
The thinks Lucy did, (kicking Linus out of his own house), could have killed her brother too. And they would have killed him slowly, in a more painful way too. He could have died of hypothermia, been kidnapped and murdered, kidnapped and sexually assaulted and murdered, died of starvation, etc. Besides, if it was really that bad, wouldn't Freddy just stop hanging around her and Carly? He can always leave, like he did in that one episode where he and Sam kissed. Linus can't leave. He lives in the same house as Lucy, even though she verbally abuses her brother constantly. Do you know how damaging it is to have your own sister tell you she wishes you were never born? |
I do see what you're getting at, though. Lucy may not have learned about all the dangers in the world, but somebody could have kept reminding her over and over until she had the guts to do something about it.
_Flutterlight_ wrote: |
I've noticed, a lot of the "incidents" you guys have been pointing out are things that were meant to be jokes. But you're missing a crucial part to Sam's character: 85% or more of what she does is meant to be for comic relief. Sam isn't a "plot" character. She's never the one to set up the joke. That's either Carly or Freddie's job. Seriously, the laugh track plays for Sam WAY more often than it does for Carly and Freddie. You can't count the stuff Sam does for a joke. That's exaggerated for the purpose of being funny. (Emphasis on EXAGGERATED). It's not rational behavior. It's contrary to what is expected of that person, because that's how you write a joke. You make somebody do something that's unexpected. (Like Carly not helping Freddie). The reason you can't count jokes is because what's unexpected is going to change. Like how Drake's stupidity slowly got more and more pronounced throughout Drake and Josh. He clearly was not THAT inherently stupid, as seen in "Drake and Josh Really Big Shrimp" when he berates Josh for signing a contract without reading it first. It takes a certain level of intelligence to know to do that. The writers played up his idiocy for the show. Now, the thing about Lucy is that Lucy's actions are NOT played up for jokes. Lucy's actions set up the jokes in Peanuts, whether it's her punching Charlie Brown in the nose, or her throwing Linus out of his house. The strip starts, Lucy does something incredibly mean, and THEN you get the punch line. |
Another thing about the laugh track, if I were in charge of the show, I'd make it so that the laugh track doesn't play for Sam every time. It's almost like they're practically spoiling Sam. Of course, they never seem to spoil Lucy, which may be for the better. Plus, I think you gotta remember that Lucy did have some humorous moments herself, though I don't have time to list them.
I hope my words got across to you.