![]() ![]() And different again from canon - what’s actually in the book, the movie, the series. This is different from fanon, which is agreed upon by a large camp within a fandom. Headcanons, if you’re an old fart, are what happen when fans fill in narrative gaps with plot and character information. You discover that you have become a practitioner of a dark fandom art. You discover - that is, if you are me - that you have become a practitioner of a dark fandom art. But in the Betty Boop series, we see her as she really is, a human. He, being attracted to Betty, sees her as a dog like himself. If you are me, and have inadvertently become the leading expert in the Betty Boop mythos, you know she has changed appearance because the Talkartoons present us with reality from Bimbo’s subjective viewpoint. But in “Stopping the Show” (1932), the first time she headlines, Betty’s floppy ears have been transformed into hoop earrings, and her nose is a human one. In “Bimbo’s Initiation” (1931), for example, Betty has dog ears and a black button nose. Makes sense: she exists in an anthropomorphic world and is romantically involved with another dog-person, Bimbo, the song-and-dance man. As most cartoon historians know, in the Talkartoons, she’s an anthropomorphic dog. You decide that, when Betty, a supporting character in the Talkartoons series (1930–1932), is given her own series, there’s a reason for the character redesign. ![]() Despite the fact that these cartoons were never meant to have continuity, you assign them continuity. You insist that the bearded babies in “The Old Man of the Mountain” (1933) are the result of a rape. You’re pretty sure Betty and Koko the Clown have a thing going on the side. You debate with your wife whether Betty’s father, in “Minnie the Moocher” (1932), is wearing a kippah. One of your son’s first words is “boop boop be-doop.” This is not so bad.īut I’ll tell you what else. After you watch every Betty Boop cartoon that exists for the fiftieth time, what happens? In short, these cartoons were never meant to be watched over and over again, back to back, for months. These cartoons are trying to outdo the competition, upping the ante with physical comedy and sexiness and straight-up weirdness, to ensure their continued purchase and distribution. These cartoons are decidedly not for children. Take a series of animated cartoons developed for a certain situation: movie theaters where folks are filtering in, chatting, finding their seats, trying to escape the reality of the Great Depression. Your brain needs something full of contradictions. When you’re a literary analyst and it’s stupid o’clock, you need something to chew on. They creatively collaborated with African American musicians - but also played up racist stereotypes for laughs.) Whereas something meant for infants, like those soporific Baby Einstein videos, is going to melt your brain faster than Darth Vader armed with Van Halen on a Walkman. Your brain needs something full of contradictions (the Fleischers, for instance, were Jewish, and included Jewish in-jokes in some cartoons - but also flagrant antisemitism in others. ![]() Black-and-white cartoons are a history, in miniature, of racial and patriarchal oppression.īecause when you’re a literary analyst and it’s stupid o’clock, you need something to chew on. ![]() Let’s ignore for a moment the fact that showing a child cartoons from the 1930s is unconscionable. (You know - discomfort leads to crying, leads to mucus, leads to more discomfort, leads to crying harder, and so on.) Jack calms down enough to exit the Snot Cycle. Then I start singing the theme song to Betty Boop: “Made of pen and ink, she can win you with a wink…”įinally our playlist of pixelated Fleischer cartoons, both public domain and pirated, loads. The YouTube app on the TV is stuck on its loading screen. As I take over for my wife and settle with him on the couch, I see why he hasn’t yet calmed down. He’s in the midst of a whopper of an ear infection. It’s two in the morning, and my son wakes up howling. Sign up for our newsletter to get submission announcements and stay on top of our best work. ![]()
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