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.

Contents

1 Mcdull's background information 2 Family of McDull 3 McDull and Excreman 4 School life of McDull 5 How can McDull encourage Hong Kong people in adversity? 6 Products of McDull 6.1 McDull Movies 6.2 Movie Soundtrack of the Movie My life as McDull 6.3 McDull Comic Books 7 External links

Mcdull's background information

McDull is a male pig who can be distinguished by a birthmark on McDull's right eye. He has a heart of gold, but his brain is not particularly intelligent: although he is just ordinary among his counterparts, he has lots of dreams. Every time he tries, he fails; he is disappointed but he tries again and explores 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 - never give up - makes him a most loved character to readers.

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 became a single mother to raise McDull. Despite their love for one another, they have many conflicts. Mrs. Mak is a classic example of a Hong Kong mother, expecting her son to get good grades, enter the University of Hong Kong, and become a respected professional. McDull tries very hard to fulfill his mother's wishes, but always fails.

McDull and Excreman

McDull produced a load of human shaped dung called Excreman at one Christmas. After giving Excreman a scarf and a hat (actually it was a spittoon!!!), Excreman brought McDull to a fascinating dung-world. He saw much dung with commiserable fate and at the same time, Excreman shares his wish with McDull --- to become fertilizer of flowers.

When the next morning came, Excreman brought McDull back to his room and he 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. He always spells words wrongly, like misspelling umbrella as umbanana. Therefore he always gets bad grades in all subjects except in singing: He got A in singing as he can sing as undulated as 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 goose who is very kind-hearted.
• Fai is a tortoise. He is not smart but he is loyal and truthful to his friends.
• May is a cow who is a very good friend to 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 and keeps fit together.

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

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 so 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 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 Maldives.

After 'realizing' his dream, McDull sets another target to himself to become an Olympic champion just like female windsurfer Lee Lai San.

The McMug Story My life as McDull is also being translated into French and shown in France.

In 2004, there was another movie about McDull called McDull, Prince de la Bun(Chinese:麥兜菠蘿油王子 Lit. McDull, the prince of pineapple-favoured bun) shown in cinemas in Hong Kong.

Movie Soundtrack of the Movie My life as McDull

During 2002, the soundtrack of the movie was released, the producer of it is Steven Ho, a Hong Kong local musician, he won the Best Original Film Score of The 21st Hong Kong Film Awards. His creative blend of "Classical" and "Popular" styles in this film score prompted a sudden surge of interest in classical music amongst HK movie goers.

McDull Comic Books

As McDull is a character first appeared in comic books, there is a large number of books (comics or novels) about McDull. They are mainly about the daily life of McDull.

• Yellow Bus Megazine
• McDull's Touching Short Stories (麥兜感人至深小故事)
• McDull - From Honey to BBQ Pork (麥兜從蜜汁到叉燒)
• McDull's Stories (麥兜故事)
• Unplugged Version of Young McDull's Troubles (少年麥兜的煩惱)
• McDull's 'Tiny' Novels (麥兜 . 微小小說)
• McDull's Hundred Thousands Questions Collection (麥兜十萬個為什麼)
• McDull's 'Dam' 'Dam' Noodles (麥兜的擔擔麵)
• McDull's Fishball (麥兜的魚蛋)
• MuDull's Stitching - A Day of McDull (麥嘜縫縫縫——麥兜的一天)
• Dear McDull (麥肉兜兜)
• Mrs. Mac's Stories (麥太兜兜)
• Unplugged Version of Young McDull's Troubles (少年麥兜的煩惱版 (非賣品))

External links

• More about Springfield Kindergarten (http://home4u.hongkong.com/entertainment/comics/mcdull/school.htm)
• School rules, school song of Springfield Flowers Kindergarten (http://home4u.hongkong.com/entertainment/comics/mcdull/school.htm)
• Image of Mrs. Mak Tam Yuk Lin (http://home4u.hongkong.com/entertainment/comics/mcdull/pic/mrsmak.gif)
• Yellow Bus Magazine (http://www.iyellowbus.com)
• McDull Greeting Cards (http://pigpig.com/mcdull/)
• Pictures of McDull (http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/7220/picture/)
• Comics of McDull (http://www-personal.umich.edu/~fpw/mcmug/mcmug.html)
• McDull Startup screen (http://www.i-mya.com/kinderlandv3/coll_stuff1.html)
• The website of film My life As McDull (http://www.mcdull-lefilm.com)
• Excreman website (http://excreman.uhome.net/)
• Story of McMug (http://home.netvigator.com/~scyeunge/mcmug/part1.htm)