Ok, there's some "product" out there to give women more energy and sexual desire and, for some unknown reason, Betty Boop is the mascot. They have a pretty thin explanation, somehow linking Betty's "confident, sassy, and carefree" life with this pill. In a sense, I guess it's no more ridiculous than many other pills and the angle their ads take, but this just seems especially stupid. It would be like Bugs Bunny shilling Viagra because he sometimes dresses as a woman and arouses Elmer Fudd.
Showing posts with label Betty Boop. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Betty Boop. Show all posts
Friday, January 7, 2011
WTF?
Ok, there's some "product" out there to give women more energy and sexual desire and, for some unknown reason, Betty Boop is the mascot. They have a pretty thin explanation, somehow linking Betty's "confident, sassy, and carefree" life with this pill. In a sense, I guess it's no more ridiculous than many other pills and the angle their ads take, but this just seems especially stupid. It would be like Bugs Bunny shilling Viagra because he sometimes dresses as a woman and arouses Elmer Fudd.
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Betty Boop Film Class
Betty Boop's Bamboo Isle is one that I absolutely had to cover. For one, it's really funny. It has some great sight gags. I especially like the swarm of swimming islanders chasing Betty and Bimbo's boat around the hemisphere.
But what people truly remember the film for is accusations of racism, with which I don't agree, and one of the most memorably risque moments in all of Betty Boop where Betty dances topless, with naught but a lay covering her nipples. As with most Fleischer, the set-up is thin and actually a bit weird (Bimbo's just motoring around the planet playing a lute? Poorly?) and is little more than an excuse to have funny stuff happen.
I found this one in high-def!
About the argument for racism, I don't buy it. Yes. It's a horribly stereotyped portrayal of islanders, but it's a stereotype that pervades Western culture and literature, and IT'S FUNNY. Not because it's true, it's funny because of the culture that fostered the idea. The actual islanders are unfunny, our perceptions of them are funny. Fleischer wasn't making a statement about Hawaiian or Polynesian islanders being retarded savages, he was exploiting an idea that persists to this day. Look at Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. That was purposely and explicitly imitating the old Saturday serials. When making comedy, you take things that are common in culture and exaggerate or comment on them. To call this racist is to liken it to the portrayal of the Japanese in WWII-era cartoons, which is silly.
But what people truly remember the film for is accusations of racism, with which I don't agree, and one of the most memorably risque moments in all of Betty Boop where Betty dances topless, with naught but a lay covering her nipples. As with most Fleischer, the set-up is thin and actually a bit weird (Bimbo's just motoring around the planet playing a lute? Poorly?) and is little more than an excuse to have funny stuff happen.
I found this one in high-def!
About the argument for racism, I don't buy it. Yes. It's a horribly stereotyped portrayal of islanders, but it's a stereotype that pervades Western culture and literature, and IT'S FUNNY. Not because it's true, it's funny because of the culture that fostered the idea. The actual islanders are unfunny, our perceptions of them are funny. Fleischer wasn't making a statement about Hawaiian or Polynesian islanders being retarded savages, he was exploiting an idea that persists to this day. Look at Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. That was purposely and explicitly imitating the old Saturday serials. When making comedy, you take things that are common in culture and exaggerate or comment on them. To call this racist is to liken it to the portrayal of the Japanese in WWII-era cartoons, which is silly.
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Betty Boop Film Class
Betty Boop M.D. is rather par for the course by Fleischer standards. I just want to touch on most of Betty's episodes if they have even a small amount of worthwhile material.
I said that M.D. is standard fare in the sense that Fleischer's cartoons are complete chaos. The world is literally alive, which is something that neither Disney nor Warner Bros. would experiment with for decades. Disney sort of set the tone for cartoons going forward with a well-defined narrative, events, backgrounds, and characters. Fleischer obviously rejected that concept. He rejected narratives in favor of fun... stuff, and preferred to have a world that was alive with motion. Look at the first shot, you don't simply see a vehicle driving down the road, you see a vehicle driving down the road while the road, composed of water-like waves, lift and drop the car, all the while the car is dancing to the beat of whatever Fleischer was drumming. I think that if Fleischer could have afforded it or found the time, everything on the frame would be moving at all times.
Again, like Bizzy Bee, the staging is essentially an excuse to have weird stuff happen. We have about two minutes of weird stuff, one of dialog, and then the picture abandons narrative in favor of three and a half minutes of scat singing, weird imagery, and end credits.
A few interesting points: Fleischer still spent little time on lip-syncing, only doing it when absolutely necessary, with Betty. I also find it interesting how the concept of the traveling snake-oil salesman used to be so universal. Much like the junk collector from Any Rags, this used to be a cultural touchstone. It isn't just Betty that this theme appears. It was in westerns, cartoons from other studios, and even early TV, although by the age of TV this was replaced by the door-to-door salesman. Perhaps it was made more viable as people moved into cities and suburbs in increasing numbers after the war, thus negating the need for carts and stages to sell. Finally, the baby at the very end turns into Mr. Hyde from the 1931 version of the film. This film was very famous, partially for being risque by the day's standards, and would have still been in wide circulation by the time that M.D. was released almost a year later.
I said that M.D. is standard fare in the sense that Fleischer's cartoons are complete chaos. The world is literally alive, which is something that neither Disney nor Warner Bros. would experiment with for decades. Disney sort of set the tone for cartoons going forward with a well-defined narrative, events, backgrounds, and characters. Fleischer obviously rejected that concept. He rejected narratives in favor of fun... stuff, and preferred to have a world that was alive with motion. Look at the first shot, you don't simply see a vehicle driving down the road, you see a vehicle driving down the road while the road, composed of water-like waves, lift and drop the car, all the while the car is dancing to the beat of whatever Fleischer was drumming. I think that if Fleischer could have afforded it or found the time, everything on the frame would be moving at all times.
Again, like Bizzy Bee, the staging is essentially an excuse to have weird stuff happen. We have about two minutes of weird stuff, one of dialog, and then the picture abandons narrative in favor of three and a half minutes of scat singing, weird imagery, and end credits.
A few interesting points: Fleischer still spent little time on lip-syncing, only doing it when absolutely necessary, with Betty. I also find it interesting how the concept of the traveling snake-oil salesman used to be so universal. Much like the junk collector from Any Rags, this used to be a cultural touchstone. It isn't just Betty that this theme appears. It was in westerns, cartoons from other studios, and even early TV, although by the age of TV this was replaced by the door-to-door salesman. Perhaps it was made more viable as people moved into cities and suburbs in increasing numbers after the war, thus negating the need for carts and stages to sell. Finally, the baby at the very end turns into Mr. Hyde from the 1931 version of the film. This film was very famous, partially for being risque by the day's standards, and would have still been in wide circulation by the time that M.D. was released almost a year later.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Betty Boop Film Class 11
This will be a very short class, I'm only posting this because it so perfectly embodies Fleischer's early philosophy of cartoon production. It was something that was both brilliant, and his ultimate downfall.
This cartoon makes NO sense. There's essentially no plot. It's just Betty and company put into an environment, wacky shit takes place, and it's over. No narrative. No script. Basically no dialog. It is cartoon entertainment brought to its most basic. Unfortunately, unlike Disney, Fleischer was never able to leave this paradigm behind and move towards a more refined concept of animation. Now, with hindsight and 100 years of animation development, we can see that both ideas are legitimate. Hell, Fleischer's paradigm is what damn-near all television cartoons follow (Hello, Spongebob). But at the time, Disney is what pushed the evolution of animation while Fleischer stagnated. And in a nascent industry, the company that evolves is the company that dominates.
This cartoon makes NO sense. There's essentially no plot. It's just Betty and company put into an environment, wacky shit takes place, and it's over. No narrative. No script. Basically no dialog. It is cartoon entertainment brought to its most basic. Unfortunately, unlike Disney, Fleischer was never able to leave this paradigm behind and move towards a more refined concept of animation. Now, with hindsight and 100 years of animation development, we can see that both ideas are legitimate. Hell, Fleischer's paradigm is what damn-near all television cartoons follow (Hello, Spongebob). But at the time, Disney is what pushed the evolution of animation while Fleischer stagnated. And in a nascent industry, the company that evolves is the company that dominates.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Betty Boop, M.D.
Though it never received the same notoriety and recognition as "Snow White" or "Bimbo's Initiation", "Betty Boop, M.D." deserves the place among the best Betty Boop cartoons. This cartoon released on 2nd September 1932 and animated by Willard Bowsky's unit, is certainly one of the weirdest and most surreal entries in Betty Boop's entire filmography. Some people find it rather unsettling and disturbing, especially because of the ending. It's a cult favorite, and definitely not the kiddie stuff :)
Betty, KoKo and Bimbo are having a travelling medicine show, selling Jippo - a miracle cure for every known ailment.
Some of the miraculous benefits of Jippo:
Who wants to buy Jippo?
"If you're feeling wealthy, and want to be healthy,
Now's the time to buy Jippo..."
Now the things are starting to get *really* weird...
Bimbo's song "Nobody's Sweetheart" (with lyrics about a prostitute) is followed by some delightfully deranged "effin" scat singing. This final part of cartoon is a truly amazing marriage of music, animation and crazy gags in the best Fleischers tradition.
There's some debate about a recording artist who performed the singing and vocal effects. For many years, the voice used to be credited to Cliff Edwards aka "Ukulele Ike", known to animation fans also as the voice of Jiminy Cricket in Disney's Pinocchio. This was never fully confirmed, and it's now believed that a Cliff Edwards impersonator is responsible for singing. Some sources claim it's William Costello, who will a year later become the first voice of Popeye. That's a very good possibility especially since a proto-Popeye voice is briefly heard during this section.
And now... the infamous ending.
By the way, this is not a racist caricature as some people claim. Baby's transformation is a direct reference to "Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde", a movie adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's novel with Fredric March in the title role(s). This excellent film released in early 1932 became a huge hit for Paramount, the same studio that distributed Fleischer's cartoons.
Now you can watch the whole cartoon, though the YouTube video quality doesn't really give it a justice:
***
Do you want to see a complete Betty Boop collection released on DVD? "Lions Gate Home Entertainment" is a company that currently holds the video rights for Betty Boop cartoons. Unfortunately, they don't have plans to release Betty or any other Fleischer cartoons in their possession (Talkartoons, Screen Songs, Color Classics). However, there might be a possibility for another company to licence this material from Lion's Gate.
"Shout! Factory" is a very good independent company that made great job with their music, TV and cartoon collections. The company is taking requests and suggestions for the possible future releases, and one thing that you can do is to join their forum, and give a vote for the classic cartoon collections. There are already several threads dedicated to Betty Boop and Terrytoons. This worthy initiative was started at GAC forums two weeks ago.
***
And finally, here's my own tribute to Betty Boop and Fleischer cartoons. It's a drawing I made for The Autumn Society of Philadelphia's upcoming Golden age of Comics and Animation art show. Click the picture to see it in full size on my blog HammersonLand:
Betty, KoKo and Bimbo are having a travelling medicine show, selling Jippo - a miracle cure for every known ailment.
Some of the miraculous benefits of Jippo:
Who wants to buy Jippo?
"If you're feeling wealthy, and want to be healthy,
Now's the time to buy Jippo..."
Now the things are starting to get *really* weird...
Bimbo's song "Nobody's Sweetheart" (with lyrics about a prostitute) is followed by some delightfully deranged "effin" scat singing. This final part of cartoon is a truly amazing marriage of music, animation and crazy gags in the best Fleischers tradition.
There's some debate about a recording artist who performed the singing and vocal effects. For many years, the voice used to be credited to Cliff Edwards aka "Ukulele Ike", known to animation fans also as the voice of Jiminy Cricket in Disney's Pinocchio. This was never fully confirmed, and it's now believed that a Cliff Edwards impersonator is responsible for singing. Some sources claim it's William Costello, who will a year later become the first voice of Popeye. That's a very good possibility especially since a proto-Popeye voice is briefly heard during this section.
And now... the infamous ending.
By the way, this is not a racist caricature as some people claim. Baby's transformation is a direct reference to "Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde", a movie adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's novel with Fredric March in the title role(s). This excellent film released in early 1932 became a huge hit for Paramount, the same studio that distributed Fleischer's cartoons.
Now you can watch the whole cartoon, though the YouTube video quality doesn't really give it a justice:
***
Do you want to see a complete Betty Boop collection released on DVD? "Lions Gate Home Entertainment" is a company that currently holds the video rights for Betty Boop cartoons. Unfortunately, they don't have plans to release Betty or any other Fleischer cartoons in their possession (Talkartoons, Screen Songs, Color Classics). However, there might be a possibility for another company to licence this material from Lion's Gate.
"Shout! Factory" is a very good independent company that made great job with their music, TV and cartoon collections. The company is taking requests and suggestions for the possible future releases, and one thing that you can do is to join their forum, and give a vote for the classic cartoon collections. There are already several threads dedicated to Betty Boop and Terrytoons. This worthy initiative was started at GAC forums two weeks ago.
***
And finally, here's my own tribute to Betty Boop and Fleischer cartoons. It's a drawing I made for The Autumn Society of Philadelphia's upcoming Golden age of Comics and Animation art show. Click the picture to see it in full size on my blog HammersonLand:
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