How I Would have had the Fleischer Cartoon Series Different

WARNING: The following post talks about old cartoon series which are more adult-aimed at times, so viewer discretion is advised. Thank you.

DISCLAIMER: This is an opinion-based post only. So, no one HAS to agree with any of it unless you simply want to.

Now, people may or may not know who Max and Dave Fleischer were, yet surely more of them would indeed be familiar with THESE characters…

Oh yeah, that is right, the world famous Betty Boop, along with her original, most well-known co-stars: Koko the Clown & Bimbo the Dog (the bug and horse, of course, are just extra characters for this picture here). Interestingly, there were times when Koko & Bimbo were each the leading star of a cartoon series as well.

Who could forget Popeye the Sailor, either?

And certainly everyone knows THIS superhero. But what he exactly has to do with Betty or Popeye here? If ya don’t already know, I’ll explain that to you, no problem.

Well, Max Fleischer & Dave, his younger brother, were who brought not only the original theatrical Betty Boop and Popeye cartoons to life, but fairly more, including a series pretty much from the silent era, Out of the Inkwell (1918-1929) (not to be confused with the 1938 Betty Boop short), starring Koko the Clown, plus their very own Superman series (1941-1943) also! Both brothers had alike and different roles while working on their cartoons. Furthermore, oh yes, it was Max who created Koko & Betty, while Dave co-created Bimbo with Max, etc. The main Popeye characters, however, were NOT created by either brother; rather, they originated from a comic strip, itself named Popeye (originally Thimble Theatre), that’s been running for almost a century since 1929 (though its daily run ended in 1992; it’s been running on Sundays only, with reruns on the other 6 days of the week, since then).

However, these old Fleischer shorts, overall, haven’t been without certain issues. For one thing, if you well know the Betty cartoons, then you’ve probably also heard/read they sadly went downhill because of a specific Hollywood Code getting enforced in 1934. But that is not all: even BB’s pre-Code shorts (yes, their better era), Popeye, & so forth have been considered to have certain issues with them, as well. Therefore, if I myself were to have had those very Fleischer shorts, I’d have them different, and this post will be explaining how.

Throughout this post, I’ll be talking about different Fleischer cartoon series, pretty much from oldest to newest, in this order: 1. Out of the Inkwell starring Koko, 2. Screen Songs (1929-1938), 3. Talkartoons (1929-1932), 4. Betty Boop (1932-1939), 5. Popeye (1933-1957), 6. More Fleischer color shorts, and, last but not least, 7. The Fleischer Superman cartoons.

That said, we’ll now begin with, you know it, Out of the Inkwell.

Um-hmm, OftI was a groundbreaking milestone in animated history, with it also introducing the innovative rotoscope technique. And yet, it’s gotten a fair amount of criticisms, too; here’s how I would’ve had them addressed…

First, one thing I’d have improved here is specific racial tropes being used in these shorts. Yes, as bothering as it sounds nowadays, tropes which are considered racist (or stereotypical) were painfully commonly featured in cartoons from the early and mid-20th century, Out of the Inkwell & multiple other classic Fleischer cartoons included. Furthermore, as you might or might not know, people were rather less considerate of stereotypes’ harmfulness in those times than they are today. This was for a number of reasons, including the perspectives of ignored race groups only rarely being represented in writer’s rooms/studio boardrooms. Though, of course, it did gradually change later on over time; part of that had to do with the 1954-1968 Civil Rights Movement.

Still, I understand how harmful stereotypes really are to others. For instance, by reducing a complex culture or race to a few exaggerated visual and behavior traits, like exaggerated lips, savage behavior, or accents, the media can quite well strip away their humanity. Plus, this can effect how people perceive reality, make people in the stereotyped group see themselves present as just the joke, subservient sidekick, or villain, & so forth. Thus, I’d have fixed the situation of this series having harmful racial tropes. Exactly how? Koko, as well as various inkwell monsters here, utilized exaggerated white lips, pitch-black skin, and unkempt hair styles on occasions, which were derived from certain racist 19th-century minstrel tropes; I would have replaced them with clean, neutral clown makeup lines. Another thing would’ve been eliminating specific “humorous” depictions of marginalized groups (e.g. Native American, Black, or Asian caricatures) which occasionally popped up as magical transformations or background characters, too.

Here is Fritz the Dog, Koko’s pet, used in this series from 1923 until its 1929 end. Though, he too is one of the things I’d definitely have had improved here.

Having lost its pre-Code charm, as well as Betty’s original co-stars, the Betty Boop series still continued for the rest of that decade while increasingly declining in theaters, until it finally succumbed in August 1939, with “Yip Yip Yippy” being its last short. Thing is, however, while not quite the worst BB post-Code short of all, “Yip Yip Yippy” ironically doesn’t feature Betty herself! (Her final classic cartoon appearance, “Rhythm on the Reservation,” had been released a month earlier; “Yip Yip Yippy” was just put to fulfill both the release schedule & contract.) There WERE plans for more Betty cartoons after this one, however they ended up being scrapped, thus ultimately bringing her series to an end. Times had changed. Not only was Betty Boop unable to have the much fuller charm (with Betty’s famous image, Bimbo, Koko, etc.) it once did, but it’d already lost too much commercial success by then after having been badly affected by the Hays Code for years.

Yes, Olive Oyl here would have to be the most well-known Popeye character apart from him! Unfortunately, she’s also been known for having criticized changes to her in the classic Popeye shorts, especially, by far, later in their Famous Studios era.

Another certain issue with the Popeye shorts? Just are overly repetitive/formulaic they are. If you’re familiar with these cartoons, you should know they rather constantly use this same old plot formula: Bluto steals the damsel-in-distress incarnation of Olive, beats up Popeye, who then eats his (Popeye’s) spinach, before Popeye manages to defeat Bluto and rescue Olive. One such format, for instance, was used in Popeye’s 1933 self-titled debut short (surely it did have its unique aspects, including having him and Betty Boop actually appear, even dance together for the only time in a classic Fleischer cartoon, but still, I’m just saying people).

P.S. Do forever Rest in Peace:

Fleischer brothers Max (July 19, 1883 – September 11, 1972) and Dave (July 14, 1894 – June 25, 1979).

All the deceased people who ever worked on the Popeye comic strip, as well as for DC Comics.

Also, of course, any other deceased person who worked the Fleischer cartoons too.