Reminds me of that meme comic (NOT OFFICIAL) where Calvin is talking to Hobbes while doing his homework, says his parents are saying "the pills must be working," and both their imaginations are being dulled as to what else to do that day, Calvin tells him to be quiet so he can finish, Hobbes says no more, and the last panel is Hobbes as just a plush tiger doll, symbolizing that Calvin's imagination has been neutered by the "medication."
It was a really sad comic. Very Watterson-like. I'm glad it wasn't the real last comic, though.
As someone who used to be on Ritalin as a kid, it's completely true. It kills your imagination and turns you into just another drone.
Having done the SSRI “route” for a bit, I would honestly say that I believe that is the aim of most, if not all, such meds…
Because when the world and/or your life is messed up, “chemicals” aren’t going to correct for that. Nor for loneliness. Nor for boredom.
But they do turn you into a nice, numb, unquestioning slave, so there’s that, I guess…
Having said that, unmedicated (and undiagnosed) ADHD has probably ruined my life, and now it’s probably too late to get a diagnosis (in this country), so eh. I kind of wish there was a “happy median” between both extremes…
I forgot about that strip until you told me, but I've seen it before.
I think it's actually much worse because Hobbes is imaginary. However, that imaginary aspect isn't just Calvin's creativity. Hobbes is the manifestation of the other parts of Calvin's personality. See, Calvin's actually a bit of an egotistic, troublemaking, little shit. He gets himself into more trouble than anyone or anything else. Hobbes would be someone else's "Jungian Shadow", but he's more like Calvin's Jungian ""Conscience"". This is mostly because Calvin and Hobbes are meant to literally represent rival philosophies, but for our purposes we'll keep seeing Calvin as a 6 year old little boy. Hobbes is still Calvin's passion, optimism, sense of humor, and reasoning to counter Calvin's more cynical and pathological tendencies.
Not only is that dulling his imagination, it's dulling the parts of his personality that actually balance him out. It's damaging some of the best parts of him.
Watterson himself said he doesn't consider Hobbes part of Calvin's imagination, and that Hobbes was more about "the subjective nature of reality" than about dolls coming to life.
Source: the Tenth Anniversary Book, possibly the only publication where Watterson talks at length about each character.
God, that was disappointing to read. Reality is objective.
Reminds me of that meme comic (NOT OFFICIAL) where Calvin is talking to Hobbes while doing his homework, says his parents are saying "the pills must be working," and both their imaginations are being dulled as to what else to do that day, Calvin tells him to be quiet so he can finish, Hobbes says no more, and the last panel is Hobbes as just a plush tiger doll, symbolizing that Calvin's imagination has been neutered by the "medication."
It was a really sad comic. Very Watterson-like. I'm glad it wasn't the real last comic, though.
As someone who used to be on Ritalin as a kid, it's completely true. It kills your imagination and turns you into just another drone.
Having done the SSRI “route” for a bit, I would honestly say that I believe that is the aim of most, if not all, such meds…
Because when the world and/or your life is messed up, “chemicals” aren’t going to correct for that. Nor for loneliness. Nor for boredom.
But they do turn you into a nice, numb, unquestioning slave, so there’s that, I guess…
Having said that, unmedicated (and undiagnosed) ADHD has probably ruined my life, and now it’s probably too late to get a diagnosis (in this country), so eh. I kind of wish there was a “happy median” between both extremes…
I forgot about that strip until you told me, but I've seen it before.
I think it's actually much worse because Hobbes is imaginary. However, that imaginary aspect isn't just Calvin's creativity. Hobbes is the manifestation of the other parts of Calvin's personality. See, Calvin's actually a bit of an egotistic, troublemaking, little shit. He gets himself into more trouble than anyone or anything else. Hobbes would be someone else's "Jungian Shadow", but he's more like Calvin's Jungian ""Conscience"". This is mostly because Calvin and Hobbes are meant to literally represent rival philosophies, but for our purposes we'll keep seeing Calvin as a 6 year old little boy. Hobbes is still Calvin's passion, optimism, sense of humor, and reasoning to counter Calvin's more cynical and pathological tendencies.
Not only is that dulling his imagination, it's dulling the parts of his personality that actually balance him out. It's damaging some of the best parts of him.
Watterson himself said he doesn't consider Hobbes part of Calvin's imagination, and that Hobbes was more about "the subjective nature of reality" than about dolls coming to life.
Source: the Tenth Anniversary Book, possibly the only publication where Watterson talks at length about each character.
God, that was disappointing to read. Reality is objective.