Exploring Calvin and Hobbes: Comic Strip Illuminates Issues Surrounding Family Recreation
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Brigham Young University BYU ScholarsArchive Theses and Dissertations 2009-05-14 Exploring Calvin and Hobbes: Comic Strip Illuminates Issues Surrounding Family Recreation Christijan D. Draper Brigham Young University - Provo Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd Part of the Recreation Business Commons BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Draper, Christijan D., "Exploring Calvin and Hobbes: Comic Strip Illuminates Issues Surrounding Family Recreation" (2009). Theses and Dissertations. 1688. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/1688 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. EXPLORING CALVIN AND HOBBES: COMIC STRIP ILLUMINATES ISSUES SURROUNDING FAMILY RECREATION by Christijan D. Draper A thesis submitted to the faculty of Brigham Young University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science Department of Recreation Management and Youth Leadership Brigham Young University August 2009 Copyright © 2009 Christijan D. Draper All Rights Reserved BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY GRADUATE COMMITTEE APPROVAL of a thesis submitted by Christijan D. Draper This thesis has been read by each member of the following graduate committee and by majority vote has been found to be satisfactory. Date Patti A. Freeman, Chair Date Stacy T. Taniguchi Date Kerry D. Soper BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY As chair of the candidate‘s graduate committee, I have read the thesis of Christijan D. Draper in its final form and have found that (1) its format, citations, and bibliographical style are consistent and acceptable and fulfill university and department style requirements; (2) its illustrative materials including figures, tables, and charts are in place; and (3) the final manuscript is satisfactory to the graduate committee and is ready for submission to the university library. Date Patti A. Freeman Chair, Graduate Committee Accepted for the Department Patti A. Freeman Chair, Department of Recreation Management and Youth Leadership Accepted for the College Gordon B. Lindsay, Associate Dean College of Health and Human Performance ABSTRACT EXPLORING CALVIN AND HOBBES: COMIC STRIP ILLUMINATES ISSUES SURROUNDING FAMILY RECREATION Christijan D. Draper Department of Recreation Management and Youth Leadership Master of Science The purpose of this study was to inductively examine the content of the popular comic strip Calvin and Hobbes by analyzing its latent and subjective meaning to discover basic social psychological issues associated with family recreation. The entire collection of 1,360 Calvin and Hobbes strips was evaluated using Grounded Theory techniques influenced by the art scholarship evaluation tool iconography. Review of the strip suggests one way to assess the meaning associated with time use is through preemptive retrospection by which a person looks at current experiences through the lens of an anticipated future to estimate how meaningful that time will be. Overall, Calvin and Hobbes suggests that meaningful time use is a key attribute of a life well lived. One key element of meaningful time use is time spent with family. The strip also helps us see the value in continuing to seek that meaning with family despite apparent setbacks. This analysis brought to light issues associated with gathering meaning from comic strips, which are also discussed. Recommendations are made for future research in the field. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank Universal Press Syndicate for their cooperation with me in my research and for their permission to reproduce a few of the Calvin and Hobbes strips in this publication. Thanks also to Patti Freeman for her guidance, thoughtfulness, and for giving me the opportunities for growth I had in the department. Thanks also go to Patti and my other committee members, Stacy Taniguchi and Kerry Soper, for their willingness to support me in this unconventional project. The entire faculty of the Recreation Management and Youth Leadership Department has been stellar. Thanks to my mom, dad, and siblings for creating a home environment of trust, faith, and kindness. Lastly, I would like to thank my wife, Valorie, and our children, Matthew, Aurora, Thomas, and Daniel for their patience and encouragement. They are my foundation and joy. Life is good. Table of Contents List of Figures ................................................................................................................... ix Exploring Calvin and Hobbes: Comic Strip Illuminates Issues Surrounding Family Recreation Abstract .................................................................................................................. 2 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 3 Review of Literature .............................................................................................. 6 Methods .................................................................................................................20 Results .................................................................................................................. 23 Discussion and Implications .................................................................................38 Conclusion ............................................................................................................42 References .............................................................................................................43 Appendix A Prospectus .....................................................................................................55 Introduction ...........................................................................................................56 Review of Literature .............................................................................................65 Methods .................................................................................................................79 References .............................................................................................................88 viii List of Figures Figure Page 1 ―Insidious social programming.‖ .................................................................. 50 2 ―Bowl of lukewarm tapioca.‖ ........................................................................50 3 ―Corn mush between every tooth.‖ .............................................................. 51 4 ―Still eating dinner.‖ ......................................................................................51 5 ―All my friends have been imaginary.‖ ........................................................ 52 6 ―Isn‘t this the life?‖ .......................................................................................52 7 ―Consider this day seized.‖ ...........................................................................53 ix Calvin and Hobbes 1 Running head: CALVIN AND HOBBES Exploring Calvin and Hobbes: Comic Strip Illuminates Issues Surrounding Family Recreation Christijan D. Draper 2 Calvin and Hobbes Abstract The purpose of this study was to inductively examine the content of the popular comic strip Calvin and Hobbes by analyzing its latent and subjective meaning to discover basic social psychological issues associated with family recreation. The entire collection of 1,360 Calvin and Hobbes strips was evaluated using Grounded Theory techniques influenced by the art scholarship evaluation tool iconography. Review of the strip suggests one way to assess the meaning associated with time use is through preemptive retrospection by which a person looks at current experiences through the lens of an anticipated future to estimate how meaningful that time will be. Overall, Calvin and Hobbes suggests that meaningful time use is a key attribute of a life well lived. One key element of meaningful time use is time spent with family. The strip also helps us see the value in continuing to seek that meaning with family despite apparent setbacks. This analysis brought to light issues associated with gathering meaning from comic strips, which are also discussed. Recommendations are made for future research in the field. Key Words: Grounded theory, iconography, comic strip, Bill Watterson, family recreation, time use Calvin and Hobbes 3 Introduction In concluding his assessment of the state of family recreation research, John Kelly (1997) urged family recreation researchers to pay attention to the seemingly mundane aspects of family recreation. Life is not composed of theme parks and cruises. It is composed of dinnertable talk, vacations together, getting the home and yard in shape, kidding around, caring for each other, goofing off, dreaming, and all the minutiae of the day and the hour. That is the real life in real conditions that is important to us all. (p. 134) Researchers have been exploring these concepts as they relate to the family since the early 20th Century (Hawks, 1991); yet, some scholars suggest there still remains much to be understood about the problems and issues surrounding family recreation (Hawks; Orthner & Mancini, 1991). For decades, researchers have addressed many facets of family recreation and in myriad ways. Hawks (1991) reviewed literature of major, systematic studies on family recreation issues from the 1930s to the late 1980s. His review