Semiotic analysis of cartoons: The example of Popeye

Abstract

This study, based on Greimas’s actantial model and semiotic square, aims to examine the function of the “spinach” object within the narrative of the cartoon Popeye. The main question of the study is how spinach assumes a function within the flow of characters and events. It also explores how this function is related to the meanings of “strong” and “weak.” Two complementary stages are employed as the method. First, through the actantial model, roles such as subject, object, helper, opponent, sender, and receiver in the cartoon are identified. Then, using the semiotic square, the function of spinach is demonstrated. As research material, images taken from two different previously published episodes are used as evidence. Based on these images, the “power” cycle in Popeye’s narrative is exemplified through diagrams. In the interpretation of visuals, the readable sign (l’obvie) level explained by Roland Barthes in L’Obvie et l’Obtus is taken as a basis. In this regard, the “spinach can,” which stands at the center of the narrative, is analyzed through the readable sign. It is also explained in terms of the meaning and effects it evokes in the viewer. Within this framework, the study aims to examine the function of spinach in the narrative of the Popeye cartoon series. The scope is limited to two selected episodes and the images taken from them. The analysis focuses on the readable sign (l’obvie) present in the narrative. In this context, the spinach example is applied to Greimas’s actantial model and semiotic square to demonstrate its function within the narrative.