Essay on Existentialism in Bill Watterson’s Comic Strips

Bill Watterson is an American cartoonist, author of the famous comic strips â€Å"Calvin and Hobbes† syndicated from 1985 to 1995. In these short-stories, Calvin is a creative kid full of childish pranks, and together with Hobbes, a deep-thinking stuffed tiger, they both stand as examples of existentialism in comic strips. Through Calvin’s desperate choices and decisions over many circumstances in the stories, he struggles against a continually changing world. The characters’ actions portray the humanity disorder; people who are controlled in a worthless way of life against a ruthless nature, a cruel world, and inevitable death. All through these modern comic strips, Bill Watterson created Calvin as a unique character contrasting with any†¦show more content†¦People are able to compare their own situations to Calvin’s, and understand the ironies of making a desperate forced decision. His incredible sarcasm and defiance appeal to people’s inner sense of injustice. Calvin makes people’s own desperate choices seem not so desperate (The Calvin and Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book). The picture of life as being uncontrollable, brings people back into their own world, and makes them grateful not to be in Calvin’s existential condition (Calvin and Hobbes and the Moral Sense: A Farewell). Therefore, Calvin character’s judgment is strong; he knows he is stuck in a world of chain reactions (Calvin and Hobbes and the Moral Sense: A Farewell). It’s simple to follow, and to demonstrate, how large the existentialism influence is in Bill Watterson’s â€Å"Calvin and Hobbes† comics. In existentialism theory, this means that choices people make are a consequence their previous decisions, and each one’s decision determines the variety of the next choices people will face (The Humanism of Existentialism II). One great cartoon example is when Calvin is in his speedy red wagon tumbling down a hill, and randomly chooses to go left. Without a doubt, this sudden decision of him creates a chain reaction of choices, which ultimately causes Calvin to jump from the mountain into a river (The Calvin and Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book). These