intertextuality in calvin and hobbes
Calvin and Hobbes, published between 1985 and 1996 has become a modern classic. It has received an almost unanimous favor by critics and by the public, Watterson has a great drawing ability, very superior to what is usually seen in comics today, his strip has a critical and ironic view toward the world in which his characters live, and it has become a sort of summary of popular culture (popular or not) of the 20th century, few comics summarized a century better than Calvin and Hobbes.References to Popular Culture in Calvin and Hobbes
References are not free in Calvin and Hobbes, it integrates itself with the comic, becoming a part of it, achieving a specific function for the story.
Fig.1 a reference to "Alice in Wonderland"
They serve as an homage to a series of texts (fig.1) and demonstrate the author's experience as a reader.
Fig.2 Remembering Duchamp.
At the same time they signal the traditions in which the text is seen. Let's think that, for example, the archetypical figure of a boy that Calvin represents has been used in adventure novels of XIX (Huckleberry Finn, Oliver Twist, Treasure Island...) , in the same way, the sub genre of comics with funny animals has become a sort of tradition (Peanuts, Krazy Kat, Pogo, etc.)
It serves to reflect upon culture and art and their relation to society. An example we have is the recreation in the comic, by Calvin's snowman, of the cubist painting of Duchamp naked, descending a staircase. (Fig.2)
These relations between culture (high culture, pop culture or of the masses) and society are reflected in different aspects in the strip: television, music, comics, paintings and art in general...Fig.3 Art levels according to Calvin.
These references operate on different levels in Calvin and Hobbes: a dialogue from which directly a reference is made, for example when Calvin disguises himself as Stupendous Man and exclaims "This is a job for Stupendous Man!". It can also come from the actions of the characters, creating an analogy between what the character does and the action of the reference. A clear example is Fig.4, where the bath situation takes on Moby Dick and Captain Ahab.
Fig.4 Captain Ahab
Modern Art
Watterson uses the references toward modern art normally to reflect on it, not without a certain bit of irony, though, he tests it's limits, the capacity of comprehension [of the public] and it's place in today's market. The Duchamp reference in Fig.2 is not the only one: on another occasion, Calvin parallels the incomprehension of the cubist artist' work, with his own naked parade down the stairs after a bath.
Fig.5
It is no only about a textual cite, the strips dedicated to Calvin and the snowmen revolve around the topic of conception and value of art as a mean of communication for the masses and its transcendence, perdurability (as observed in Fig.5), which does not stop from being ironic, realizing that the base of these reflections are snowmen that can last only a few days.
The Comic
References to other comics in Calvin and Hobbes are of two types: homage or criticizing parodies. In first place, we can consider the apparitions of references that to master pieces of comics, to which Watterson makes an homage. An example could be the strip where Calvin becomes gigantic in size, in references to Winsor McKay's Little Nemo in Slumber land, one of the first comics in America (1905). The wagon or sleigh rides in Calvin and Hobbes [in which Watterson, gets existential] remember Little Nemo.
Fig.6 Calvin as Captain Spiff
The transformations of Calvin into Spaceman Spiff, can be considered an homage to adventure comics, such as Flash Gordon. In the comic it's function is to provide a way of evasion to a situation that Calvin is living at the moment: for example in Fig.6 we can see the motive of the apparition of Spaceman Spiff, as an excuse to leave school. At the same time, he uses the style of those comics [panel 4: "Tomorrow or is he?]
Another reference/homage is made toward Peanuts by Charles M. Shultz. In different moments of the strip, Calvin recreates typical scenes of the comic, as an homage to the author who created a new style of comics in his time.
Fig.7 Calvin and Hobbes homage to Peanuts
In some of the first strips of the comic, Shultz' technique of abandoning the perspective of space and situating the characters behind a wall. [Fig.7]
Fig.8 Stupendous Man in a clear reference to Batman.
The rest of the references to other, more modern texts, are more of a parody toward them. The parody and/ or criticism is directed at the world of superheroes, at which Watterson parodies, using the style of Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller (1986) and excessively criticizing the violence in them. These can be clearly seen in the Sunday strip, with a very visual violence sequence, short texts, simple syntaxes (characteristics of Miller), notes at the foot of the panel to indicate the context of the actions, the model of an exuberant female [body], habitual of the Image comics, a liking for huge weapons, etc...
Watterson also plays with the superhero genre when Calvin turns into Stupendous Man, a reference to either Superman, Batman, or both. In Fig.8 this is very clear: Calvin's face with the clenched teeth, angry eyes are characteristics of comic superheroes. The radar that Calvin uses is similar to Daredevil or Spiderman. "This is a job for Stupendous Man" is another clear reference to what Superman says before going into action.
There is another superhero element that Watterson plants in Calvin's Stupendous Man: the two identities that characterize superheroes like Spiderman, Superman, Batman, Thor, etc.
Literature
Most references are not only for Calvin's personality, but to also Watterson's experience as a reader. References to Kafka, Moby Dick, are made and the inspiration for Ms. Wormwood's name (named after a character in the Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. Some of these references relate to the situation Calvin is living, with a similar one in a literary work. For example: in a typical situation in which Calvin does not want to eat, the doubt with eating or not is personified in the food, that comes to life and begins to recite the famous monologue in Hamlet.
Fig.9 Watterson's time machine
Another reference is time travel, adopted from The Time Machine by H. G. Wells (Fig.9). Many times Calvin and Hobbes travel through time, take for example the time he travels to get a homework paper from his future self. Watterson uses this to introduce a lesson (that the original book conserves also): time traveling brings more headaches, than it does benefits. The conclusion (like that of the time travel by Nobita in the series Doraemon by Fujio- Fujiko) is that it is better to do things at goodtime and to not transfer the responsiblity to others.
Movies
Movies, as a visual art, one of the arts from whichcomics takes many resources, to configure its language. Also a constant inventor of figures, myths and clichés that go into popular culture.
Fig.10 Frankenstein
Fig.11 Godzilla
References to Frankenstein (Fig.10), some however are not only references to movies, but, sometimes also literature. References are also made to: the invisible man, the zombie, Godzilla (Fig.11), Jaws by Spielberg, and black and white police movies(Fig.12), etc. Besides establishing Calvin as an imaginative and almost hyperactive child, it also takes the myths, heroes, and monsters and makes them modern.
Fig.12 A Calvin- Bogart in moments of academic tension
The Spirit of Cervantes
The biggest lesson here is, that of the dualism of the two main characters. Calvin and Hobbes are a bipolar model, a dialectic conception of reality that has a along literary tradition, like Quijote and Sancho Panza and in more modern times -according to Riley- Mr.Pickwick and Sam Weller, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, and C3PO and R2D2.
If we look closer at our protagonists, they have much of Cervantes spirit: Calvin is idealistic,the spirit of imagination, liberty... Hobbes, is more intuitive, the ideal friend for Calvin, because, he knows when to criticize him, when to give advice, and when to let him go on with his plans. They form a unit that complement each other perfectly. An example are their responses [different] to a same subject (Fig.13).This is a very common thing in the comic and indicate high value to the different attitudes on life of the characters.
Fig.13 Cervant-ism (and a reference to Shakespeare)BACK TO TOP
