Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

'Calvin and Hobbes' at 40

npr.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

141–150 of 153 posts

Re: 'Calvin and Hobbes' at 40

#141

Post by robertlagrant »

aidenn0 wrote: post #58
robertlagrant wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Some shows and movies seem harmless, initially, but then we noticed in so many kids movies (e.g., Zootopia, Sing), they're always yelling at each other, expressing anger, frustration, and hostility towards one another. My kids are similar. Years ago I actually just unplugged the TV and put it behind some furniture for 3 months because I was so fed up. It calmed them down a lot (this was after Covid lockdowns, when…

Don't forget that in most shows where kids are the main-characters, adults in general (and particularly parents) are either absent or less mature than the kids. This is the easiest way to make the kids shine, but certainly communicates a particular message. I really respected Netflix's The Baby Sitters Club for not falling into that trap.

Yes - that's a really good way of putting it.

Re: 'Calvin and Hobbes' at 40

#142

Post by drob518 »

My personal favorite and my grandfather’s personal favorite (“What’s that boy and his tiger going to do next?”). My son learned to read at age 5 using Calvin and Hobbes books (lots of funny conversations of the form, “Dad, what does X mean?” where X was a rather grown-up concept of some sort because Watterson had a great vocabulary and wasn’t afraid to use it). Good times. I wish it still ran.

Re: 'Calvin and Hobbes' at 40

#143

Post by drob518 »

sebastos wrote: post #102
NiloCK wrote: post #26

That is just two years after I burst onto the page. Calvin and Hobbes was a major part of my childhood - I loved it. For something casually consumed on the daily at the breakfast table, it was so earnestly, so obviously, smarter than the median cultural offering. Smarter also then the local nightly news broadcasts. Smarter also than the median educational intervention I experienced through elementary and middle schoo…

I see what you're getting at, and your sentiment is thoughtfully expressed, but come on... it's Calvin and Hobbes! It's part of that rarefied echelon of media that taps into something true about the human condition. Calvin doesn't need to be a manual for how to live your life - it's enough to be an island you can sometimes visit when you're in a Calvin mood.

Well said. In fact Calvin shouldn’t be a manual for life, I think. What makes it so funny is we know that Calvin is way off base all the time, but he’s got a great imagination and we’ve all struggled in the same ways, with the same things, and wish we could just wander off with our imaginary tiger and leave the world’s problems behind, too.

Re: 'Calvin and Hobbes' at 40

#144

Post by littlecorner »

paradox460 wrote: post #118
bombcar wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Once you realize the "dead parent trick" you see it everywhere (with variations of single parent, etc). It makes things like Bluey stand out - wow, a show that is entertaining and fun where you don't have to kill one or more parents to make it work!

My mother used to call it the "Disney story," due to it's utter prevalence in their media. Be it death or divorce, seems like you cant throw a rock at the Disney catalog without hitting it

Many of the fairy tales have it too. Maybe its something deeper common to humanity

Re: 'Calvin and Hobbes' at 40

#145

Post by mcphage »

bell-cot wrote: post #112
mikkupikku wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It could have been so much worse, and did become so. Late 90s / early 00s had Cartman being a role model to kids.

Vs. the fine, upstanding young Beavis and Butt-Head were from the early 90's...

Hey, Butt-Head became a senator in his later years: https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd....

Re: 'Calvin and Hobbes' at 40

#146

Post by WillAdams »

SanjayMehta wrote: post #139
WillAdams wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe that's what I'm recalling. This one? https://www.scribd.com/document/848787362/Calvin

Probably. Can't see the full thing without jumping through hoops but it looks like it.

The weird thing is, I distinctly remember art to go with it.... maybe I was conflating the other homages which I found. Drat that uncertain organic memory.

Re: 'Calvin and Hobbes' at 40

#147

Post by adidoit »

The older i get the more I see watterson's comics as a form of philsophical commentary on the state and evolution of the world

it's art and meaning and entertainment all in one

if it's been a while you should read them again with fresh eyes.

Re: 'Calvin and Hobbes' at 40

#148

Post by Zanni »

autoexec wrote: post #92
rkomorn wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't have kids so I never thought about it from that angle, but I really dislike how yell-y so many modern animated shows are. Couldn't make it through a single episode of Rick and Morty. I'd never thought how it might impact kids, but now that you mention it, I can only dislike the trend more.

Invader Zim (2006) was a great cartoon but every character was basically screaming every line of dialogue

Jhonen Vasquez was previously best known for Johnny The Homicidal Maniac, an insanely dark graphic novel. I'm still stunned that the powers that be thought he should write an animated children's show. That said, I love Invader Zim. Taquitos!

Re: 'Calvin and Hobbes' at 40

#149

Post by chaostheory »

d-us-vb wrote: post #91
chaostheory wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They’re not supposed to be pro-social. The characters are supposed to represent the philosophers, John Calvin (predestination) and Thomas Hobbes (man is an animal). Watterson is probably making fun of them.

Watterson explicitly stated that the names have no relation to the characters' personalities or philosophical views. As someone familiar with John Calvin's views and writings, I can say safely that Calvin is not much in any way similar in personality or spirit to anything John Calvin ever taught or expressed. At best, Watterson is projecting the typical libertine caricature of John Calvin as a cantankerous and disagr…

Disagreeing with the idea that your fate has already been sealed no matter what, and that you have no real agency in the end has nothing to do with being anti-religious. Furthermore, I am not anti-religious

Re: 'Calvin and Hobbes' at 40

#150

Post by SanjayMehta »

WillAdams wrote: post #146
SanjayMehta wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably. Can't see the full thing without jumping through hoops but it looks like it.

The weird thing is, I distinctly remember art to go with it.... maybe I was conflating the other homages which I found. Drat that uncertain organic memory.

When I used to read fiction, I would visualise the story as a movie. I don't know if there's a name for this effect. Sometimes I can rewind the story in my head as a movie. Maybe that's whats going on? I don't know.

Found a non-scribd link:

https://www.coachmyrna.org/blog/in-the-final-moments-of-his-...

Post reply on HN