[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyJJ8EyzVpY]
One typhoon season years ago, while flicking local channels in search of the “T8 icon” (aka Free Holiday In Hong Kong), I stumbled upon a conversation between two cartoon pigs in Cantonese:
Mummy Pig to Little Boy Pig by way of bedtime story:
“Once upon a time, there was a little boy pig. He told lies. He died.”
I was impressed. The little boy pig was one Mc Dull, he of the Prince De La Bun movie (but when I said that in English the way it probably sounds based on the spelling, a local friend corrected me: “Pineapple Bun” in Cantonese, “Por Lor Pow.”)
(On an aside, wonder if they decided to make McDull a pig because that’s one of the more desirable years in the chinese zodiac to have a baby here – have a pig, and he will never go hungry. (Rockstar’s a pig by fluke and being born near the end of the pig year equalled really crowded maternity ward full of other squalling “pigs” which is how we belatedly realized people want to give birth to little pigs here.))
“Dull” roughly sounds like “basin” in Cantonese – his mum saw a basin overhead (I’m guessing thanks to the crowded high rise flats typical of Hong Kong, like in this random pic we took while coursing down the highway flyover directly in front of those flats – and yes, people usually live in them even with the green netting up, when they finish construction in another 6 months or something they’ll just take it back down again) and took that as a sign to name her piglet.
But he’s also dull for real because he’s painfully “average”. In this competitive city, being “totally average” can sometimes almost be like you’re a lame duck.
Why is McDull dull?
He had the misfortune to be placed in the “control group” rather than the one where they play the Real McCoy when they tested the Mozart Effect in Hong Kong. (Is it just me or is that hilarious? Hongkies making fun of their push to excel, the relationship between Hongkie single mum and son where mum pressures son to do well in school.)
Oh, oh, and there’s another character – Mc Dull’s dung/ poop, named – wait for it – Excre Man. Except Mc Dull dresses him up like a snowman – and it’s based very loosely on Raymond Briggs’ The Snowman (thank you Wikipedia – I had no idea what the brown lump was about before you came along)
When I gush and quote the little I know of the cartoon, my Hongkie friends sniff, “They came up with better stuff in the early days.”
I love this pig. It’s such an example of Hongkie witticism. Like when the middle-aged guy I used to work with occasionally signs his name “Ball” on emails, as short for “Boris” (“Ah Bor,” get it?)
I used to sniff at the drawings back when I completely didn’t get how witty this cartoon is (think South Park in Cantonese and no F-words.) He makes an appearance at Hong Kong Wetland Park on occasion, with a duck and a turtle, delivering conservation messages.
McDull should try for world domination. He’s already doing weddings – don’t play play. Except he needs to bring along a translator. Can’t rule the world if no one knows what you’re saying.
Oh wait, if you get really big you get to make people learn Putonghua. Rockstar should be just about finishing his class today, so I can walk home now (God forbid he gets wind of me hiding in the bedroom while he’s in the living room with his tutor)
