Behind the spinach

Behind the spinach

By J. Iglesias and M. Mediavilla.
Monday 14 August 2015.

     What is exactly behind the most famous spinach fan? For decades, millions of children have enjoyed the funny “Popeye, the sailor” in different formats, and lot of us have dreamed of becoming as strong as Popeye, or falling in love with a beautiful Olivia. But were these the only messages conveyed?
     Popeye and Olivia seem to love() each other, but if we check this relationship deeply, is Olivia free and happy? Is she treated by Popeye as a beloved woman?  The apparently love story and the funny actions make the characters entertain the audience, but behind the famous spinach there is a clear chauvinistic message.
     The physical appearances of the main characters represent a negative view over females. While Popeye and Brutus’ drawings are big and strong, Olivia is drawn very thin and she hasn’t got any curves. Females are shown weak and shy while males are presented as vigorous.
In addition, we can see in this cartoon that Olivia is treated as an object. Over all the episodes there are two men always fighting for the jackpot: Olivia, but is she considered as an independent and strong woman, or does she always need the presence of Popeye and his spinach to keep her safe(coherence)? We can see how males are always over females.

      We cannot help paying attention to who feeds Popeye with spinaches to make him stronger.  Of course, it’s our heroine Olivia. The cartoon also points out that women’s role is to feed men and to assist them in all circumstances. Why doesn’t Olivia eat the spinach and defend herself? Male is again over female. The cartoon shows us that women can’t defend themselves. On the contrary, women need a man to protect them from danger.
     Popeye is not only the love story and violent cartoon that most of us enjoyed while young, it’s a chauvinist propaganda camouflaged over decades that spreads its chauvinistic message over millions and millions of kids.