Calvin And Hobbes Satire

But before he gained recognition as a brilliant cartoonist with Calvin and Hobbes, Bill Watterson worked on art and comics of a more political nature. These pieces, which included work for his college newspaper and Target magazine, were markedly different than Calvin and Hobbes. Nevertheless, Watterson's use of discerning wit and sharp satire is just as apparent, and just as funny:

However, it is in Calvin and Hobbes where Watterson's brilliance fully shines through. Calvin and Hobbes revolves around Calvin, whose imaginative world is populated by his ideas and fueled by curiosity, and Hobbes, Calvin’s stuffed tiger. Calvin, though young, reveals himself through successive comic strips to be actually wiser beyond his years; although that is

complemented by his equally apparent impatience, his impulsiveness, and his characteristic bluntness. In contrast, Hobbes is the more rational counterpart of Calvin: generous and wise, he is much gentler and much more patient than Calvin. The essential quality of Calvin and Hobbes is Watterson’s penchant for consummately examining the nature of reality through the medium of these two characters. Watterson juxtaposes the six-year-old vision of Calvin, which can at times appear rudimentary on the surface, but in fact is more often than not, sharply sardonic and insightful – next to that of the more rational and balanced vision of Hobbes, his counterpart. As opposed to Calvin, Hobbes’s ideas about the world are more grounded in reality and inclusive of the practical aspects of living and dealing with the harsher realities of the world. The principal characters are named after two prominent European philosophers, John Calvin and Thomas Hobbes.

Calvin And The American Dream

Calvin is a product of capitalism and the post-50's era America of world-weariness and disenchantment, yet retaining the want and need for luxury and indulgence.

Being brought up and having lived his life in the unnamed part of a US town, Calvin’s sense of impatience and need for self-validation is emphasised throughout the comic. Calvin has no work ethic, yet he is busy round the clock with his head full of schemes and plans and dreams that, more often than not, have a tendency of being perpetually out of sync with reality. Calvin’s sense of having the need to live life the way he wantsto, much in vein of the American dream, is underscored by Watterson on several counts. Firstly, Calvin’s difference of opinion and subsequent disdain to its criticism by his father; and secondly, Calvin’s constant need of vying for a non-conformist life – yet, he is constantly thwarted time and again by the deeply conformist nature of society. In the context of the American cultural convention of being successful and setting oneself apart from the crowd, Calvin harbours those very aspirations, which is evened out by his apparent apathy in the face of American consumerism. The persona of Calvin is brought out by comics varying in tone. Snarky, wry observations of the real world by Calvin, for

example:

At the same time, the comic often is really about and brings out, a boy of six years who is at odds with a confusing and contradicting world, ranging from the uncompromisingly real and angry to the curious and empathetic character who shares his vision of the world with Hobbes.

With Hobbes, we find ourselves in a peculiar situation.To everyone except Calvin, he is a stuffed animal who just accompanies Calvin wherever he goes. Having got his name from the English philosopher Thomas Hobbes, who had a ‘dim view of human nature’, Watterson fittingly brings out the persona of Hobbes as he often lends himself to dry, sarcastic and witty remarks which at the same time, more often than not, are insightful:

Calvin and Hobbes is influenced as much by the life and times its cartoonist lived in, as it is by the wild dreams and thoughts inside a six year old boy’s imagination. Although Watterson does not make references to any names or events in the real world, the same apprehensions, aspirations, and fears are brought out by the characters that are shared by the people inhabiting the real world. One of this is the need to feel important, and the pressures of being successful, as constantly endorsed by modern society. For example, in one particularly memorable comic, Calvin shouts ‘I am significant!’ to a starry sky, and then supplements the humble afterthought, ‘screamed the dust speck.’

In his last ever Calvin and Hobbes comic, Bill Watterson bid farewell to two of the most beloved cartoon characters on a positive note.

'It's a magical world, Hobbes buddy! Let's go exploring!' This always makes me tear up for some reason. No, I didn't just say that.