Making Research Fun
My frequent links to Calvin and Hobbes can be explained, if not excused. Over the last month I have explored more deeply the possibility of my graduate thesis being about this fabulous comic strip. Dr. Barrett, who is my first choice personally to be my committee chairman, is a specialist in humor studies. Though according to "serious" humor scholars, humor is not a funny subject, simply reading through the material has been quite enjoyable. Even the academic journal articles about Calvin and Hobbes (yes, there have been several) have been interesting because of my longstanding familiarity with the lovable tiger and his egotistical friend.I really enjoy the myriad levels of meaning which make this strip enjoyable for young and old. Its run in newspapers was from when I was four to when I was thirteen, and I loved it then. Now, under the influence of ten more years of education, I am still astonished at how well-crafted these comics are. Whether I agree with the point Watterson seems to be making or not, he always makes it subtly, without unnecessary spite or haughtiness.
Though I don't have a specific "so what" for my thesis, I find it interesting that each Calvin and Hobbes character has queemy own reality, and the behavior of others is explained based on queemy own belief system, regardless of what "really" happened. Though Watterson facilitates an interesting discussion of post-modernism, he obviously does not wholeheartedly embrace it himself. None can dispute that he successfully gets us all to laugh at the follies of our culture through a prickly, unlovable, yet typical in many ways, six-year-old.
Help me with my thesis by commenting on the weekly update of the "Thesis Research" link to your right. Or, just enjoy the brilliance of the sophisticated (or not-so-sophisticated) humor Watterson embraces.
posted by Lynn @ 7:12 AM
3 Comments:
"Please pardon my ignorance but what does "queemy own" mean? Even in my ignorance I REALLY DO love Calvin and Hobbs!"
"Oops!--red face and all--I didn't see the margin definitions. Where did that come from? Is that a Beekieism?"
"Queemy" is the result of an intersection of the need for neutral singular pronouns and a game of Word Yahtzee. I rolled the letters and my companions helped make short work of using such propitious letters for a desperately needed addition to the English language.
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