Sep 24 2004
Calvin And His Dad
Calvin’s dad answering questions, quoted from various Calvin and Hobbes books by Bill Watterson.
A collection of memorable dialogues:
Q. How come old photographs are always black and white? Didn’t they have color film back then?
A. Sure they did. In fact, those old photographs are in color. It’s just that the world was black and white then. The world didn’t turn color until sometime in the 1930s, and it was pretty grainy color for a while, too.
Q. But then why are old paintings in color?! If the world was black and white, wouldn’t artists have painted it that way?
A. Not necessarily. A lot of great artists were insane.
Q. But… But how could they have painted in color anyway? Wouldn’t their paints have been shades of gray back then?
A. Of course, but they turned colors like everything else did in the ’30s.
Q. So why didn’t old black and white photos turn color too?
A. Because they were color pictures of black and white, remember?
A. Sure they did. In fact, those old photographs are in color. It’s just that the world was black and white then. The world didn’t turn color until sometime in the 1930s, and it was pretty grainy color for a while, too.
Q. But then why are old paintings in color?! If the world was black and white, wouldn’t artists have painted it that way?
A. Not necessarily. A lot of great artists were insane.
Q. But… But how could they have painted in color anyway? Wouldn’t their paints have been shades of gray back then?
A. Of course, but they turned colors like everything else did in the ’30s.
Q. So why didn’t old black and white photos turn color too?
A. Because they were color pictures of black and white, remember?
There’s one not included where Calvin asks why the sky is blue, I think, and his Dad doesn’t know and Calvin says something like “I take it there’s no qualifying exam to be a Dad.”
I *distinctly* remember this strip - I had it hanging on my door for three years in college. There was another great one where Calvin’s dad points out to him the fact that a point on the outside of a record and the inside of a record must be traveling at different speeds in order to both go around at the same time - the last panel shows a darkened room with Calvin in bed, eyes wide open, mind blown. I miss Calvin and Hobbes.
I was writing up a new post today with this same topic, when I thought: “I must’ve posted about this before”, then found this.
Over 2000 posts on this site. Man!