I also enjoy when many things I like can be found in one place. The combination of many things I like causes an exponential growth of enjoyment and love for said combination.
The best combination of Art, humor, and philosophy I have ever come across is Calvin and Hobbes. This sounds a bit odd to most of you, I'm sure. What about Catch-22 for example? It is funny, encroaches on the subject of a couple of philosophies, and is definitely a piece of literary art. Well, it is one of my favorite books. But I caught on to Calvin and Hobbes much earlier in life. Plus I'm a lot like both Calvin and Hobbes, and almost nothing like Yossarian, Major^4, Milo or any of the characters from C-22.
1) In it's later years, Bill Watterson was able to gain artistic independence of his strip due to its popularity. This only increased its popularity in that it differed from your usual Sunday strips and toed the line of mini-graphic novel. Anyone who has read his collections may have read the opening epic poems. The artwork in a couple of them are superb.
2) Sarcasm, wit, satire, metaphor, and downright stupidity are the forms of humor found in this creation. With that eclectic sense of humor, how could I not fall in love with it?
3) Philosophy. The characters of the comic are named after philosophers. "The philosophy of Thomas Hobbes is perhaps the most complete materialist philosophy of the 17th century. Hobbes rejects 'Cartesian dualism' and believes in the mortality of the soul. He rejects free will in favor of determinism, a determinism which treats freedom as being able to do what one desires."
(http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/philosophers/hobbes.html)
John Calvin or Jean Cauven "emphasizes that man is incapable of adding anything from himself to obtain salvation and that God alone is the initiator at every stage of salvation, including the formation of faith and every decision to follow Christ."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvinism)
So not only did the comic cause me to look into the philosophies of these men, but it also portrayed the philosophies and observations of Bill Watterson himself, which I identify with readily. At some points in my life I wonder if it mirrors my thoughts, or helped shape them...
4) You know how many times I had to consult a dictionary to determine the meaning of words used in the comic?
5) You know how many times i had to consult and adult about the meaning of some sayings like,
'It says here religion is the opiate of the masses, what do you think that means?' and the TV set replies, '..it means Karl Marx hadn't seen anything yet...' C'mon, that's hilarious...
So, to make a long story short, in honor of this wonderful comic, that is so much more than just a comic, I am going to share my favorite quotes, musings, and words to live by, words to heed and learn by, etc. from Calvin and Hobbes. Collection by collection over who knows how many days. Here are the entries from the first and earliest collection, the self titled,
Calvin and Hobbes -
Foreward : Garry Trudeau (author of Doonesbury strip)
There are few wellsprings of humor more consistently reliable than the mind of a child. Most cartoonists, being childlike, recognize this, but when they set out to capture the hurly-burly of the very young, they almost always cheat, shamelessly creating not recognizable children, but highly annoying, wisecracking, miniature adults. Chalk it up to either indolence or defective recall, but most people who write comic dialogue for minors (up to and including the perpetrators of the Cosby "kids") demonstrate surprisingly little feel for -or faith in- the original source material, that is, childhood, in all its unfettered and winsome glory.
It is in this respect that Bill Watterson has proved as unusual as his feckless creations, Calvin and Hobbes. Watterson is the reporter who's gotten it right; childhood as it actually is, with its constantly shifting frames of reference. Anyone who's done time with a small child knows that reality can be highly situational. The utterance which an adult knows to be a "lie"; may well reflect a child's deepest conviction, at least at the moment it pops out. Fantasy is so accessible, and it is joined with such force and frequency, that resentful parents like Calvin's assume they are being manipulated, when the truth is far more frightening: they don't even exist. The child is both king and keeper of this realm, and he can be very choosey about the company he keeps.
Of course this exclusivity only provokes many grown-ups into trying to regain the serendipity of youth for themselves, to, in effect, retrieve the irretrievable. A desperate few do things that later land them in the Betty Ford Center.
The rest of us, more sensibly, read Calvin and Hobbes.
Quotes:
- You know you'll hate something when they won't tell you what it is.
- They lie. I lie.
- C - Do you believe in fate?
H - You mean, that our lives are predestined?
C - Yeah...that the things we do are inevitable.
H - What a scary thought!
- Leave it to a girl to take all the fun out of sex discrimination.
- Sometimes I think I learn more when I stay home from school.
- Ask a simple question, and get all your television privileges revoked.
- 2+7= I can not answer this question as it is against my religious principles.
- Girls have more delicate heinies.
- Never argue with a six-year-old who shaves.
- Tigers wreck the grade curve.
- What's a little extortion among friends?
- Maybe I can get a point for originality.
- You can never tell if they're listening or not.
- 5th Period - 'Studies in Contemporary State-Sponsored Terrorism' ...also known as gym class.
- Never criticize a guy with a razor.
- H ow come we play war and not peace? Too few role models.
- Little kids have no sense of humor.
- The world isn't fair. I know, but why isn't it ever unfair in my favor?
- It's hard to argue with someone who looks so happy.
- There's an inverse relationship between how good something is for you, and how much fun it is.
- If you can't win by reason, go for volume.
- Do you think there's a God? Well somebody's out to get me.
- This is what entertainment is all about...idiots, explosives, and falling anvils.
- Look, it says you have to be 18 to buy cigarettes. Eighteen?!? By then I'll know better!
- Trusting parents can be hazardous to your health.
- There's no problem so awful that you can't add some guilt to it and make it
even worse.
Reasons I identify with Hobbes:
From the strip a dog steals Hobbes.
-writ - Lost: My Tiger Hobbes.
-mom - Maybe you should describe him.
-writ - On the quiet side. Somewhat peculiar. A good companion in a weird sort of way.
- There's no sense impressing girls and then getting killed.
- I can never stay on a diet in a restaurant.
- That's the trouble with weapons technology. It becomes obsolete so quickly.
- You know what I like about summer days? They're just made for doing things, even if it's nothing. Especially if it's nothing.
- It's fun to mess with their minds.
- ...what I put up with to pay for college...
- Who needs jerks like him anyway? I don't need him for a friend. I can have fun by myself. Poop.
- I always forget. If you ask a mom, you get a worse case scenario.
Well, that's it so far. Should I keep going? Let me know what you think...
