Betty Boop was the first female human character in the entire history of cartoons, she was also the first woman to have the leading role in a cartoon. Born in 1930 with gorgeous legs, huge bedroom eyes, a soft singer voice, Betty Boop was a hit! As she blows out 90 candles in 2020, the sexy little brunette and her legendary Boop-oop-a-doop has never grown old, still an enigma. To the society of the 1930’s of her birth to today’s society which put her on the front page of the New Yorker as a way to denounce sexual harassment and saw the birth of the #Metoo movement: what image of the modern woman does Betty Boop project?

 

Helped by beautiful archives, we immerse into a 30s jazzy world and this entertaining and feminist documentary counts Betty Boop’s own story. The documentary takes another look at the myth of the cartoon icon with the interviews of: Jeni Mahoney, Max Fleischer’s great-granddaughter (he is Betty’s creator), Oscar awarded producer Lili Zanuch, famous stylist Chantal Thomass, and young committed artists Melissa Laveaux & Viktoria Modesta