Calvin & Hobbes

[ayascythe]

There is something about Calvin & Hobbes fic that just ... pokes me the wrong way. You know, the stories in which Calvin grows up to be a troublesome teenager but somehow ends up being happy with Susy Derkins anyway despite himself being an idiot.

Don't get me wrong, the ones that I've dared reading were all incredibly well written and made it work, made me actually see the older version of Calvin. But they also left me feeling - wistful, almost to the point of sadness. Because, yes, he would grow up to be that troublesome teenager, having problems with school and authority, not knowing how to fit into a world that's too real and was never quite made for him in the first place.

It's about how, when you take the elements of the comic onto the next level, an overly active and hilarious imagination turns into ADHD, how Calvin's hate for Maths turns into really bad difficulties to finish school and how a kid like him will do outside his world of understanding people. His parents may yell and Susy may roll her eyes, but they all love Calvin and understand him. Will he find enough other people who do the same? What will he do as a grown-up? I can only imagine him to be something extraordinary, big and excentric, a comic artist or a prop man for horror flicks in Hollywood, or something of the complete opposite, working in warehouses and doing jobs he doesn't need to go to college for, because he can't muster up the will for more. Never anything inbetween, never anything "normal" like the desk jobs other grown-ups have.

And that's actually it, isn't it? That "grown-up" thing, that's really bugging me, because Calvin isn't supposed to grow up. Lose his innocence. Find out that the world outside isn't just dinosaurs and spacemen. Stop talking to Hobbes. (Oh dear god.) Because as long as he stays that crazy, fantastic kid, a part of yourself can stay that way, too. That part that you left between the pages when you read the comics as a child.

Or maybe it's just that fandom likes to make Calvin angst. I don't even know. I don't even know where this even came from. Maybe I should stop reading C&H fic. Not that I do it often. (Not that I would stop.)

Comments

[frau-nordwind.livejournal.com]

Warum auch immer, aber ich werde sicher keine C&H-Fic lesen. Wahrscheinlich, weil ich mit dir hier völlig übereinstimme:

because Calvin isn't supposed to grow up. Lose his innocence. Find out that the world outside isn't just dinosaurs and spacemen. Stop talking to Hobbes.

Weil es einem doch selbst irgendwann passiert ist: irgendwann hat sich der fiktionale Teil des Lebens aus der Realität verabschiedet. Irgendwann, als die Kindheit aufgehört hat. Und dann musste man eben auch erwachsen werden, irgendwie zumindest.

Außerdem: ja, du hast Recht. Wenn man ihn weiterdenkt, den Calvin, dann muss er an meine Schule. Dann ist er nur eines der Kinder, die eben ihren Platz in dieser ziemlich komischen Welt nicht finden können.
Für mich muss er einfach dieses Kind bleiben. Und mit der ganzen restlichen Scheiße nicht mehr in Berührung kommen als nötig.

[ayascythe.livejournal.com]

Ich meine, es gibt auch Fic, die von Calvin als Kind handelt und das sogar ganz charmant macht. Aber gerade diese Erwachsenen-Geschichten sind eben eine echte Gratwanderung. Aber manchmal ist die Neugier einfach zu groß und man klickt auf einen Link.^^

Für mich wird Calvin auch immer dieses Kind bleiben, weil er eben nur als solches diese Narrenfreiheit haben kann, die ihn ausmacht.