Saturday, November 3, 2018

Camp North Star Flag - Meatballs 1979

Meatballs is that old 1980s movie that is really a 1970s movie.  It's a totally groovy pic.  If you saw it as a young kid it was awesome.  But as a teen or young adult, it's fairly silly.  But if you grew up on it, and liked it, and have crossed the 40 yard line—it has ripened for another viewing again.  It has serious adult themes concerning young summer love, mixed in with childish antics, and it is when Mr. Murray was in his prime.


Of vexillological note is the flag for camp North Star.  It is white flag with a four pointed star in the middle.  The hard luck hero of the movie is played by Chris Makepeace as Rudy Gerner.  Rudy is the hard luck case kid who receives his summer camp lesson at the end.

One interesting flag is the pants of the fat boy.  He is caught in the act of being a sneaky 'Overhearing Oliver' at the girls cabin.  Subsequently, he loses his trousers.  And they became the prize of the day. Notice the yellow wiffle ball-like finial.

In the video below, Mill Burray echos the wise words of Socrates about the meaningless vanity of life, as neither the fruit of winning nor losing will rest the soul.  However, learning to fail with grace is one of the hardest, yet most beautiful lessons a soul can learn.

In the end, the drive to play for the sake of play, as with the spirit of a kamikaze warrior, is what motivates our rag-tag team of underdogs to the lodestar of the North.