Last night I went to dinner with some friends in Shenzhen including a Scottish expat, his Chinese wife and a few of the girls who work in one of the bars they own. The restaurant turned out to be a very good Italian place with a decent wine list and plenty of pasta and risotto options - a welcome change. While perusing the menu, what do you suppose I saw...
Really? Popeye again? Surely I figured this use of Popeye's name was meant to appeal to the largely western patrons in this restaurant, but after learning that this cartoon was so popular in Japan (see this post), I had to ask. I assumed correctly that the Scotsman would know about Popeye, so I went straight to the Chinese girls and sure enough, everyone of them, excepting the two who had no TV or electricity at home had seen, and apparently greatly enjoyed Popeye cartoons when they were younger. One of the girls said "Yes, I know this one. He get trouble and he eat the spinach to beat up bad guys." I think that pretty well sums up the plot of every Popeye the Sailor cartoon ever made.
Really? Popeye again? Surely I figured this use of Popeye's name was meant to appeal to the largely western patrons in this restaurant, but after learning that this cartoon was so popular in Japan (see this post), I had to ask. I assumed correctly that the Scotsman would know about Popeye, so I went straight to the Chinese girls and sure enough, everyone of them, excepting the two who had no TV or electricity at home had seen, and apparently greatly enjoyed Popeye cartoons when they were younger. One of the girls said "Yes, I know this one. He get trouble and he eat the spinach to beat up bad guys." I think that pretty well sums up the plot of every Popeye the Sailor cartoon ever made.
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