Psychoanalyzing Calvin and Hobbes as a social critique and double autobiography

Wouldn’t it be funny if Calvin were not the only one imagining things?

Psychoanalysis doesn’t need to be real or reasonable. Here its make-believe meets the artist Bill Watterson’s make-believe.

At first glance, ‘Calvin and Hobbes,’ the comic strip, is about a six-year-old (Calvin) with as BFF a large toy tiger (Hobbes) he pretends to be alive.

This seems great fun for 6-year-olds whose voices are finally heard.

However, as many children have complained, these daily newspaper postings of ‘Calvin and Hobbes’ were full of long, too difficult words.

‘Calvin and Hobbes’ is not geared toward kids at all—though many kids still love it. Or, at least not toward those who want to understand every word.

At a second glance, the strip is funny because the 6-year-old does and says much of what we secretly desire to do. If only we’d dare, or would now.

At a ‘third glance’—a level not explored by many, I believe—these funnies may be about yet another person imagining things—not just Calvin.

Bill Watterson, the sole creator of the whole thing, may be imagining what he would do and say if he was 6 years old again: missed chances, nostalgic moments, letting his alter ego speak, and questioning supposedly fixed Laws of Nature and the world he now lives in. At the closure of the strip, he admits Calvin and Hobbes are having more fun now than ever.

Many of the tiger comments are cynical. Over the years, the artist must have developed a sarcastic streak. Bill imagines finally and freely being a spoiled, selfish, creative, absurd 6-year-old, to relive his youth, but then added with his grownup self-comments from the tiger. This is given away when Calvin calls Hobbes ‘a person’ or ‘someone,’ and not ‘some animal.’

Hobbes accompanies Calvin in time travels, since they exist in the present, past, and future. But you never see Hobbes together with Spaceman Spiff. We see a dinosaur in a fighter jet but never Hobbes in Spiff’s spaceship. Why is that? Well, his futuristic adventures are not time travels. They are really Calvin imagining life if he were an all-powerful grownup already.

Sometimes, Calvin becomes Hobbes’ twin cynic. Jointly, they make fun of artists, working men, caring mothers, or common human inferiority compared to animals. Two acerbic peas in a pod. Or twin playmate. They often become siblings when they argue and fight or reject humanity.

And the father, mother, teacher, and babysitter desperately try to steer the brat toward society’s wishes without seeing what he sees. When they appear, Hobbes turns into a stuffed tiger, since they will do the cynicism.

That all would explain a lot.

Dishonest, atheist, sexist, undisciplined, lazy, self-centered, and many more common vices get dealt with spot on. Only racism I find absent.

While some behavior is clearly portrayed as ridiculous, like selfishness, laziness, and environmental destruction, other acts appear as is without much condemnation, like homophobia (‘sissy’), sexism, and lying. Calvin appears quite an Atheist, except in the weeks before Christmas when his greed wishes he could claim being a living saint—and to have it snow.

Bill must have had quite a typical US-male upbringing because many people recognize themselves in these character traits and challenges. Yet, maybe not because the books were translated into many languages.

This series ended decades ago. A collection of it is now going through its umpteenth reprint. Will it ever become outdated, or is human nature so persistent it’ll stay in print forever, despite snow and landlines getting rare and AI and iPhones being absent? But, isn’t that the Bible’s secret success formula? Circumstances become dated, but human trials are forever.

His choice to stop adding more episodes may also resemble the Bible; the Biblical Canon was closed too. But differently, he has the copyright, and with it, he stops commercialization. I seldom find a ‘Calvin and Hobbes’ book in secondhand bookstores. Who’d do away with such albums?

Only 10 years. All of Vincent van Gogh’s works also spanned just 10 years.

I’m not saying that the above analysis is all there is to Calvin and Hobbes. There’s also much beauty, wisdom, philosophy, humor, puns, psychology, poetry, creativity, freshness, pleading for flexibility, and protest against and mocking of society, nature laws, and human nature in it (and silliness).

For instance, I’m a real expert in certain areas, and I found that Bill, when treating those subjects, ticked all the boxes. While ‘good’ newspaper reports make a lot of sense, except just not in your area of expertise …

There are a handful of books I read twice, but every volume of ‘Calvin and Hobbes’ I own, I read dozens of times, and I know most panels by heart.

I hope one day to produce an index of the complete works. So often, I’d like to show what Bill drew about something, but what page is that on?

Here’s an overview of the best English YouTube clips, in my opinion:

Reviews of All the Works:

Analyses:

Rare Artist Editions:

How to DIY:

About the Author

MM is a prolific and creative writer and thinker, previously a daily blog contributor to the TOI. He often makes his readers laugh, mad, or assume he's nuts—close to perfect blogging. He's proud that his analytical short comments are removed both from left-wing and right-wing news sites. None of his content is generated by the new bore on the block, AI. * As a frontier thinker, he sees things many don't yet. He's half a prophet. Half. Let's not exaggerate. Or not at all because he doesn't claim G^d talks to him. He gives him good ideas—that's all. MM doesn't believe that people observe and think in a vacuum. He, therefore, wanted a broad bio that readers interested can track a bit what (lack of) backgrounds, experiences, and educations contribute to his visions. * This year, he will prioritize getting his unpublished books published rather than just blog posts. Next year, he hopes to focus on activism against human extinction. To find less-recent posts on a subject XXX among his over 2000 archived ones, go to the right-top corner of a Times of Israel page, click on the search icon and search "zuiden, XXX". One can find a second, wilder blog, to which one may subscribe too, here: https://mmvanzuiden.wordpress.com/ or by clicking on the globe icon next to his picture on top. * Like most of his readers, he believes in being friendly, respectful, and loyal. However, if you think those are his absolute top priorities, you might end up disappointed. His first loyalty is to the truth. He will try to stay within the limits of democratic and Jewish law, but he won't lie to support opinions or people when don't deserve that. (Yet, we all make honest mistakes, which is just fine and does not justify losing support.) He admits that he sometimes exaggerates to make a point, which could have him come across as nasty, while in actuality, he's quite a lovely person to interact with. He holds - how Dutch - that a strong opinion doesn't imply intolerance of other views. * Sometimes he's misunderstood because his wide and diverse field of vision seldomly fits any specialist's box. But that's exactly what some love about him. He has written a lot about Psychology (including Sexuality and Abuse), Medicine (including physical immortality), Science (including basic statistics), Politics (Israel, the US, and the Netherlands, Activism - more than leftwing or rightwing, he hopes to highlight reality), Oppression and Liberation (intersectionally, for young people, the elderly, non-Whites, women, workers, Jews, LGBTQIA+, foreigners and anyone else who's dehumanized or exploited), Integrity, Philosophy, Jews (Judaism, Zionism, Holocaust and Jewish Liberation), the Climate Crisis, Ecology and Veganism, Affairs from the news, or the Torah Portion of the Week, or new insights that suddenly befell him. * Chronologically, his most influential teachers are his parents, Nico (natan) van Zuiden and Betty (beisye) Nieweg, Wim Kan, Mozart, Harvey Jackins, Marshal Rosenberg, Reb Shlomo Carlebach, and, lehavdil bein chayim lechayim, Rabbi Dr. Natan Lopes Cardozo, Rav Zev Leff, and Rav Meir Lubin. This short list doesn't mean to disrespect others who taught him a lot or a little. One of his rabbis calls him Mr. Innovation [Ish haChidushim]. Yet, his originalities seem to root deeply in traditional Judaism, though they may grow in unexpected directions. In fact, he claims he's modernizing nothing. Rather, mainly basing himself on the basic Hebrew Torah text, he tries to rediscover classical Jewish thought almost lost in thousands of years of stifling Gentile domination and Jewish assimilation. (He pleads for a close reading of the Torah instead of going by rough assumptions of what it would probably mean and before fleeing to Commentaries.) This, in all aspects of life, but prominently in the areas of Free Will, Activism, Homosexuality for men, and Redemption. * He hopes that his words will inspire and inform, and disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed. He aims to bring a fresh perspective rather than harp on the obvious and familiar. When he can, he loves to write encyclopedic overviews. He doesn't expect his readers to agree. Rather, original minds should be disputed. In short, his main political positions are among others: anti-Trumpism, for Zionism, Intersectionality, non-violence, anti those who abuse democratic liberties, anti the fake ME peace process, for original-Orthodoxy, pro-Science, pro-Free Will, anti-blaming-the-victim, and for down-to-earth, classical optimism, and happiness. Read his blog on how he attempts to bridge any tensions between those ideas or fields. * He is a fetal survivor of the pharmaceutical industry (https://diethylstilbestrol.co.uk/studies/des-and-psychological-health/), born in 1953 to his parents who were Dutch-Jewish Holocaust survivors who met in the largest concentration camp in the Netherlands, Westerbork. He grew up a humble listener. It took him decades to become a speaker too, and decades more to admit to being a genius. But his humility was his to keep. And so was his honesty. Bullies and con artists almost instantaneously envy and hate him. He hopes to bring new things and not just preach to the choir. * He holds a BA in medicine (University of Amsterdam) – is half a doctor. He practices Re-evaluation Co-counseling since 1977, is not an official teacher anymore, and became a friendly, powerful therapist. He became a social activist, became religious, made Aliyah, and raised three wonderful kids. Previously, for decades, he was known to the Jerusalem Post readers as a frequent letter writer. For a couple of years, he was active in hasbara to the Dutch-speaking public. He wrote an unpublished tome about Jewish Free Will. He's a strict vegan since 2008. He's an Orthodox Jew but not a rabbi. * His writing has been made possible by an allowance for second-generation Holocaust survivors from the Netherlands. It has been his dream since he was 38 to try to make a difference by teaching through writing. He had three times 9-out-of-10 for Dutch at his high school finals but is spending his days communicating in English and Hebrew - how ironic. G-d must have a fine sense of humor. In case you wonder - yes, he is a bit dyslectic. If you're a native English speaker and wonder why you should read from people whose English is only their second language, consider the advantage of having an original peek outside of your cultural bubble. * To send any personal reaction to him, scroll to the top of the blog post and click Contact Me. * His newest books you may find here: https://www.amazon.com/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_27%3AMoshe-Mordechai%2FMaurits+van+Zuiden&s=relevancerank&text=Moshe-Mordechai%2FMaurits+van+Zuiden&ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1