Movies - McDull

	Movies - McDull

McDull (麥兜) is a cartoon pig character that was created in Hong Kong by Alice Mak and Brian Tse (who also created another cartoon pig called McMug). Although McDull made his first appearances as a supporting character in the McMug comics, McDull has since become a central character in his own right, attracting a huge following in Hong Kong.

McDull's background

McDull is a male pig who can be distinguished by a birthmark on his right eye. He has a heart of gold, but his brain is not very good. He is an ordinary pig in every aspect, but he has lots of dreams. Every time he tries, he fails; he is disappointed but tries again, exploring other dreams. By this, he creates his own colourful world. He lives his life simply and naturally. He is not perfect, but his attitude towards life, namely of never giving up, makes him a popular character.

Family of McDull

His mother's name is Mrs. Mak Tam Yuk Lin and his father's is Mak Bing. After the birth of McDull, his father disappeared and therefore Mrs. Mak had to raise McDull as a single mother. Despite their mutual love, mother and son have many conflicts. Mrs. Mak is a typical Hong Kong mother, expecting her son to get good grades, to enter the University of Hong Kong, and to become a respected professional. McDull tries very hard to fulfill his mother's wishes, but always fails.

Earlier stories suggested that McMug is a distant (probably paternal) cousin of McDull.

McDull and Excreman

One Christmas day, McDull produced a load of human-shaped dung called Excreman. After giving Excreman a scarf (made out of toilet paper) and a hat (actually a spittoon), he was brought by Excreman to dung-world. There, Excreman shares his wish with him: to become fertilizer for flowers.

When the next morning came, Excreman brought McDull back to his room and went to fulfill his goal. Before leaving, Excreman left a message to McDull: Remember us whenever you see the humblest, the deserted and the despised.

(Note the similarity of Excreman with South Park's Mr. Hankey, another dung-shaped cartoon character associated with Christmas.)

School life of McDull

McDull is now studying in Springfield Flowers Kindergarten with McMug. Compared with children of the same age, he is a bit foolish and not as bright. He tends to spell words incorrectly, like misspelling umbrella as umbanana. Therefore he gets bad grades in all subjects except in singing: He got an 'A' in singing as he can sing like Jacky Cheung.

Apart from McMug, McDull has different 'animal classmates' in the kindergarten.

Darby is a tomcat. However McDull's mother once thought that he's a girl and had made a joke that Darby was dating her son.
Goosie is a duck who is very kind-hearted. The author admitted that she has mixed up the English names for duck and goose when she was naming this character. By the time she realised she's made the mistake it was far too late.
Fai is a tortoise who is not smart but is loyal and truthful to his friends.
May is a cow, a very good friend of McDull. Once McDull was very sad about the examination results, May gave him a lily to encourage him and cheer him up.
June is a female hippopotamus who always sticks with May; the duo keeps fit together.

Besides the 'animal classmates' in the kindergarten, the principal, and the class teacher Miss Chan, were also friends of McDull.

How can McDull encourage Hong Kong people in adversity?

As mentioned above, although McDull is silly and always makes mistakes, this little pig has the courage to face his failures; given the current economic recession in Hong Kong, this is actually what Hong Kong people nowadays need to learn. As a result, McDull is not merely a simple cartoon character, but it is also a sign of hope and faith, of never giving up in the face of adversity.

Products of McDull

McDull movies

There was a movie about McDull called My Life as McDull
. The main theme of the movie is to show the whole life of McDull and the love between him and his mother.

As in the comics, McDull is a piglet who lives with his mother, Mrs. Mak, in Hong Kong. He is a kindergarten student. He has a happy school life with his classmates including gooses, tortoises and other pigs. McDull and his mum love each other very much. McDull tries his best to make his mother proud of him and his mother tries hard to give McDull a happy childhood.

In the movie, McDull wants to go to the Maldives. His mother cannot afford a trip to there but she cheats him by taking him to the peak by tram. The tram has a sign "Go to the Maldives". It makes McDull very happy as he thinks that he can really go to the Maldives.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for McDull ]

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