From his less that auspicious beginnings close by in Chester Illinois, Popeye has become a symbol of masculinity in cartoons. This spinach eating (steroids?), Olive Oyl loving, Bluto punching man is the representation about all that is good and pure in society, but at the same point represents a misconception of masculinity. If you are not ripped to shreds and saving women from bad men all the time, are you less of a man than Popeye?
Even as Popeye symbolizes masculinity, Superman continues the tradition of unrealistic representations of men in animation. Wells says in Understanding Animation that "Clark Kent is the helpless, well-meaning, inadequate, defined by the limitations of his human-ness [and] Superman is a mythic role model" (Wells, 193). Just as Popeye is a normal guy until he eats his spinach Clark Kent is normal until he unveils that he is Superman.
However, unlike other super heroes who don costumes to create their alter-ego who fights crime, Superman always wears a costume, and only becomes a crime fighter when he removes his costume. This is a significant point because Superman only actualizes his super-ness when he is not in costume, whereas other super heroes must put theirs on.
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All good points. I have always wondered the significance of the spinach as well. Why spinach was chosen to represent the super-human strength that is need to be a hero? I have never been able to understand this artistic choice of a device. In the late 1990's rapper E-40 dubbed "spinach" as one of many of his slang terms to represent marijuana. I always thought it would be hillarious to rework some of the old Popeye situations with pot smoking instead of eating canned spinach . . . although I guess Popeye probably wouldn't have saved the day at such a HIGH percentage.
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