ABSTRACT
American culture is certainly represented by and defined within the identity of one of its first animated national icons: Betty Boop. She is the embodiment of a bygone decade, a reflection of the hedonistic 1920s. Helen Kane, the singer, took the Fleischers and Paramount to court in the 1930s, claiming that their character stole her catchphrase 'boop-oop-a-doop', and attempted to sue them for $250,000. Class may offer a clear answer to Betty's identity. Her childlike vulnerability is always present in her performance, her neoteny contrasting with her womanly figure. The body remains a contestable and compelling presence within society and cinema and is important within identity politics. Film had become increasingly bold towards the end of the 1920s, fuelled by the lost generation of its youth and their anti-conservatism beliefs. Cinema is reactionary; it can only survive if it engages and feeds off its audience.
