Toot - Drawn Together

I really enjoyed watching some of the original Betty Boop cartoons. It was fun to see Betty as a flapper and a right out sex symbol. It was very refreshing in a way to see animation that was intended for a grown-up audience.
While watching Betty Boop, I couldn't help but think of Toot on Drawn Together. Toot Braunstein references Betty in many ways: she is portrayed as a sex symbol from the 20's, always in black and white, she flirts, she dances and sings. She sports a hairdo, reminiscent of Betty's bop. However, unlike Betty, Toot is overweight (questionable...), she drinks and cuts herself. (Maybe a little insight into Betty's dark side behind the constant flirting and cheerfulness?) If you don't know the show, it is an animated tv series, that uses cartoon characters as participants in a "reality" show. It had three seasons on Comedy Central. It is a cel animated series (which was news to me as I was certain it was done on the computer). I would put the show in the same category as Family Guy, or South Park. It has been highly controversial. Some of the themes that pop up in the episodes include homosexuality, bisexuality, homophobia, xenophobia, racism, antisemitism, incest, bdsm, etc. There is a lot of explicit imagery, and uncensored dialogue and the show uses many stereotypes in its attempt to be satirical. Sometimes it works, other times they don't take it far enough...(or take it too far, some might argue). Here is a link to a video that used a song from Betty Boop and clips from Drawn Together to create a short montage of Toot.

posted by Eszter