August 9, 1930
Betty Boop makes her cartoon debut. Does anyone think it’s kind of weird that Betty Boop still has any type of cultural relevance? Do I think that? Maybe. Maybe not, though. Does she even have cultural relevance? If you say “Betty Boop” everybody knows what you’re talking about. That’s cultural relevance, right? I’ve never thought very much about Betty Boop until this moment. I’ve always been aware of her existence and known a few things about her, such as the fact that she is a weird cartoon that was a sort of sex symbol in the 1930s, which is also weird when you think about it because a) cartoon sex symbols are weird, and b) Betty Boop is not very attractive, even as a cartoon? I mean, I know that things were different back in the ‘30s, but Betty Boop does not even really look that much like a person. Her head is basically a square and her eyes are perfect circles and her nose and mouth are dots. Did they not realize in the 1930s that things didn’t have to be basic shapes? She does have nice legs, but, frankly, the face really throws you off. All I’m saying is that one could make a cartoon that is a realistic representation of an attractive woman NOT THAT I HAVE EVER BEEN ATTRACTED TO A CARTOON, NO CARTOONO, but, you know, if I were attracted to cartoons WHICH I’M NOT BECAUSE I’M NORMAL then Jessica Rabbit or most Japanese anime would be good examples of ones that work NOT THAT I WOULD KNOW.
That might have gotten off track a little bit. Sorry I flipped out. But, lest you think that I’m the weird one, from 1930 to 1933 Betty Boop had a boyfriend named Bimbo who was a dog. So there’s that.
