Where Popeye Is a Scary Sailor Man

On January 1st, a long list of films, songs, and books from 1929 lost their copyright protection. As a result, in addition to Popeye the Sailor Man, we can watch Popeye the Slayer Man.

The Popeye Story

Predictably, the Popeye horror story unfolds in a spinach factory. Haunted by Popeye, the abandoned factory and the local docks become scary places.

Very different from a horror film, the Popeye we know first appeared in this 1929 cartoon:

Now, 95 years later, its copyright has expired.

To see Popeye in action, do watch the entire two minutes and 20 seconds. The end is worth it:

The Public Domain

According to U.S. law, we have 95 years to enjoy a copyright before it expires. Then, after almost a century of being able to control and charge for its reproduction, the book, song, or film enters the public domain. Territory owned by no one (or everyone), the public domain requires no permission to use what had been private property.

The images in this graphic from the Duke Center for the Study of the Public Domain display some of the expiring copyrights:

Our Bottom Line: The Tragedy of the Commons

57 years ago, economist Garrett Hardin first told us about the tragedy of the commons. While his focus was population growth, he is remembered for the broader meaning of his essay. Insightfully, he told us that we abuse shared resources. “Owned” by no one, the air gets polluted, and the oceans are overfished because the incentives we need to preserve and protect them come from private property. After all, stated by Lawrence Summers long ago, no one washes a rented car.

At this point, we should note that Elinor Ostrom became a Nobel economics laureate through research that contradicted the tragedy of the commons. She displayed that we really have a problem of the commons that voluntary community cooperation can solve.

So, where are we? Returning to where we began, we can say that the public domain creates a commons. Consequently, is the Popeye public domain abused when people use it as a springboard for Popeye the Slayer Man?

My sources and more: To discover the new Popeye movie’s details, this website is a possibility. More crucially, for a public domain treasure trove, I recommend the Library of Congress Juke Box (who knew?) and the Duke Center for the Study of the Public Domain. Then, taking the next step, we can assess the public domain through a Garrett Hardin lens and this NPR article. But for still more, we discussed Mickey Mouse in this past post and the Music Modernization Law that extends some songs’ copyright territory.