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Watterson could offer some biting social commentary, but towards the end of C&H's run he had also become a sort of curmudgeonly old man. For example, there are
by Mediterraneo10 6y ago
Watterson could offer some biting social commentary, but towards the end of C&H's run he had also become a sort of curmudgeonly old man. For example, there are strips where he depicts modern art as being just as bunch of phoneys trying to hoodwink one another, but I know a few abstract artists personally and they are very sincere about the work they are creating (primarily for themselves, to scratch an inner itch), even if it isn't to everyone's taste.
It might be for the best that he retired near what everyone felt was a peak. Had he kept going, he could have even ended up like certain other long-running comic strips where the polemic takes over and the humor is an afterthought.
- MontyCarloHall 6y agoI know people who write like this[0] and are very sincere about their writing. One can be sincere about anything, even meaningless pretension. [0] https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1993/02/11 https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1993/02/11
- sebmellen 6y agoGreat comic. It seems this way of writing has proliferated massively, even among younger (non-academic) groups like high-school students.
- Mediterraneo10 6y agoYeah, I consider complaining about academic writing like this to be just as curmudgeonly. I remember when I first got access to a good university library and could read all the criticism written about books and authors I had read – knowing that people like Watterson, Gene Wolfe, or Victor Davis Hanson had tarred it – and I found the vast majority to actually be valid and insightful, giving me an expanded appreciation of the book or an understanding of its place in the greater social discourse. Yes, literary criticism often focuses on highly specialized concerns and not everyone is interested in e.g. queer perspectives, but can't we be happy that it exists for those who do want to read it?
- michaelpb 6y agoI took this as more as poking fun at Calvin's common theme of superficially imitating "high art", opaque writing styles, and so on, in a very self-aware or cynical way, as a grift, since that's just what Calvin always does -- E.g. in the comics where Calvin sets up a lemonade stand, it superficially imitates a business, but is really just a scam. An alternative or additional interpretation of his "curmudgeonliness" would be these are intended to tie into his bigger theme of critiquing those who gate-keep "high art". It's been a long time since I read any of these, but I do remember his biggest bone to pick wasn't with abstract art or anything in particular, but with the perception that comics / "graphic novels" could never be considered "high art". So, having his kid scribble some nonsense and call it "high art" is a bit of a middle-finger to art critics who relegate his work to the "funny papers" As bizarre as this sounds, I actually do think there are legitimate criticisms of the mid-century abstract art movement -- notably, the CIA's involvement. However, that is pretty off-topic here and I highly doubt that Watterson has ever made a reference to this! Edit: I'm not necessarily even disagreeing you, I think all of this can be true at once
- slibhb 6y agoNot everyone has a sense of humor.
- tracerbulletx 6y agoDo you have an example of that? It's a pretty niche topic to decide he was being curmudgeonly. A lot of people think that about modern art whether they're wrong or not they're usually pretty normal people.
- eastbayjake 6y agoIf only someone would build a Calvin and Hobbes Search Engine where someone could look for "Modern Art" references in the text: https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1990/11/02 https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1990/11/02
- trynton 6y agoBanksy the pretend street artist?
- OpieCunningham 6y agoYou mean Not Banksy the pretend street artist, or Not Not Banksy the pretend commercial street artist, or Mr. Brainwash?
- tclancy 6y agoBut how does someone read that as a criticism of modern art (whatever that is) and not Watterson resisting the commercialization of his work?
- Mediterraneo10 6y agoThat isn't one of the strips I was referring to, and that one is mid-period Watterson and not late-period Watterson anyway. But since my original post got the reception it did here, I am not going to dig through the archive to find the ones I meant.
- tracerbulletx 6y agoI was asking for the ones he was thinking of when making his case about Waterson. The one you linked for example does not seem very harsh to me so I'd assume he wasn't referring to that one. I can't know that without him providing it directly.
- WalterBright 6y agoFunky Winkerbean spent a couple decades being a humorous take on life in high school. Then it changed into a message strip about Important Issues, and I stopped reading it.
- jhbadger 6y agoThere's even a musical based on the high school version named "Funky Winkerbean's Homecoming" which probably would confuse readers of the current strip, as cancer, alcoholism, and suicide don't play a part.
- sjg007 6y agoI mean, to paraphrase the Big Lebowski, everyone is entitled to their opinion man. Banksy sort of rides the fine line of that deliniation as a legitimate critic of modern art phoney and yet himself is modern art and sold out.
- ChrisMarshallNY 6y agoWatterson was always a bit of a cynic (I assume, still is), but I have always felt that he has a great heart. One thing that he never did, was license his IP, so every "pissing Calvin" is a ripoff. https://www.theonion.com/peeing-calvin-decals-now-recognized-as-vital-channel-of-1819565534 https://www.theonion.com/peeing-calvin-decals-now-recognized...
- darkerside 6y agoAnd even worse, it's out of character
- pugworthy 6y agoReally? We are voting some guy into oblivion because we don't like his take on Calvin and Hobbes? Let people have their opinions and interpretations, even if you don't agree.