A infância representada em tiras de jornal: uma leitura de Peanuts, de Charles Schulz, e Calvin e Haroldo, de Bill Watterson

Abstract

This thesis aims to investigate the representation of childhood in comic strips that have children as protagonists, focusing on the close reading of Peanuts, written by Charles Schulz, and Calvin and Hobbes, created by Bill Watterson. In this regard, we sought to apprehend the implied meanings of the presence of a kid as the main character of a newspaper comic strip, specifically in the kid strips. Our research has as theoretical premises the notions articulated by Ramos (2010) and Marschall (1989) concerning the format of the comic strip. Having these concepts as starting points, we established conjectures about the relation between children and comic strips, uncovering how the childish world has been progressively associated with the aforementioned medium. In order to construct these formulations, we used the contributions of authors such as Eco (1970), García (2012) and Oliveira and Palo (1986). In the analysis of Peanuts and Calvin and Hobbes, we sought to identify the permanence of childhood as a form, studying the influences and resonances that permeate both works. Also, we performed a comparative reading between these two kid strips, observing the ways in which childhood is represented in each one and how they distinctively innovate the thematic and the compositional aspects of comic strips. Thus, we utilized as crucial references selected works of Harvey (1994,1998), Marschall (1989), Paz (2012) and Benjamin (1994).