

Calvin and Hobbes embodied the voice of the lonely child - samclemens
http://www.avclub.com/article/calvin-and-hobbes-embodied-voice-lonely-child-220226

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tathastu
C&H is about imagination, not loneliness.

Imagination is an intrinsic and essential part of the human experience,
especially in childhood, and to call it a 'coping mechanism' is completely
missing the point.

Bill Watterson's genius was showing that there's a magic world in all of us;
not that the world outside was not oppressive or unpleasant.

~~~
shkkmo
Yes, calling 'imagination' just a coping mechanism is missing the point. But
saying that C&H is not about loneliness is also missing the point.

C&H is about both imagination and loneliness. It explores the effect that
using your imagination has on loneliness and vice-versa.

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hyperion2010
I cannot tell you how meaningful the 3rd "KAZAM!" comic was for me as a child.
It isn't even loneliness due to isolation from other humans, it is eternal
isolation from the worlds in your imagination and the people you want to meet
there. They never have a life of their own outside your mind, it is a profound
kind of separation that no amount of companionship can remedy, you can be
distracted for a moment, or even a lifetime, but those worlds and all their
potential beauty and wonder are always there waiting. Maybe VR will someday be
good enough to synthesize those worlds and give expression to imaginations
like Calvin's.

~~~
shkkmo
Yet the difference between my imagination and reality, (both better and worse)
has always been the biggest force driving me to go out and explore as much of
the world as possible.

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thaumaturgy
Like all great art, Calvin and Hobbes was different things to different
people.

For me, Calvin and Hobbes ran throughout most of my childhood and contributed
as much to my growing up as anything else outside my own family. I saw Calvin
as a fellow outsider, but not exactly lonely, because his imagination was his
constant companion.

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walterbell
Calvin: _God put me on this earth to accomplish a certain number of things.
Right now I am so far behind that I will never die._

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Xcelerate
As a child, I would pour over Calvin and Hobbes for hours. In a world full of
people that I could never relate to, I felt like I could relate to those
comics.

~~~
phaemon
Just a note that the phrase is "pore over". It's from an old sense of the word
"pore" meaning "to study intently". Google Etymology suggests "Middle English:
perhaps related to peer."

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primelens
I found the "preachy" bootleg strip referred to in the first paragraph to be
rather poignant and wonderful.

