+
+ 
+ 
+ 
+ 
+ 
+ Nostalgic memories of mine popped up and brought me back to the contemplation of Betty Boop’s symbolism. What does it mean to reappropriate her image today? How did the reproduction of the golden era cartoon derive from an institutionalized, patriarchal interpretation of times and its people, to eventually be re-interpreted by individuals to correspond to other times and people?
++ The symbolic character is a case study that illustrates a broader fascinating topic: the realm of the body of women as a weapon for the expression of our independence. As a collectible object too, its value confesses a fetishist fantasy. +
+There’s a funny image of my childhood. I must be 7 years old. I look like a tomboy. Short hair, not so girly jacket and I’m holding that plastic submachine gun. On the wall behind hang some children’s drawings. + I still feel very close to the young girl I perceive in this picture; I’ve pretty much always had a rebellious spirit showing through the way I perform, expressed through my clothes, through the music and the people that turned me on. +
+She became an infinitely reproduced symbol of femininity. I aim to + explore her representation used in high and low culture, by + professionals and amateurs. I hope to find new ways to re-interpret her + cult from a contemporary perspective, and what it would mean to + re-contextualize her figure once more. I want to give a new stage to her + story.
+To do so I elucidate the events that led to her fame, and their + historical context. Later I question their significance for the + participation in its image. I delved online communities like fan blogs + that unveil the most concealed of Betty’s secrets, as well as various + extensive image banks. While watching the very firsts Boop movies, I let + myself experience how these archival materials reflect.
+Beside my writing, I contribute, in various methods, and demand other + people to contribute to the reinterpretation of her image.
+My relation to BB’s image today is partly shaped by my graphic + design/art studies. And my position as a white heterosexual female, born + in 2000, determines my understanding of the story.
+I have discovered precious facts that concern the Behind the + Scenes of Betty’s creation. And I am pleased to share them, in my + own way.
+To assume popular culutre is the same for everyone is a + misconception, what we consider universal in European societies are not + always crossing borders.
+For the people who are not familiar with Betty Boop: It’s an early cartoon female character created in the late 20’s by + Fleisher Studio in New York. Her appearance on screens did not + continually persist. Nonetheless, today, almost a century after its + debut in cinema, her face still carries on new adventures.
+The representation of its image resurfaced in contemporary setups, + but much more as a merch or a reference magnified by a nostalgic + embellishment of the past. Her destiny is no more in Fleishers’s hands, + henceforth anyone can (un)dress her the way they like. Through editing, + people participate in updating her portrayal to our times.
+Her destiny followed this path naturally with the existence of images + in contemporary times. To pursue her authentic mindset, she had to + become cocky and glittered.
+
+ 
+ As a European young girl born in 2000, I always felt the need to + blend my femininity with my masculinity. One day I liked to wear my + mother’s high heels, and another my grandfather’s «suit and tie». In + fact, as a little girl I had a boyish haircut. It wasn’t my decision, + but as a result I was sometimes mistaken for a little boy. It didn’t + especially get to me.
+ +
+
+ There’s a funny image of my childhood. I must be 7 years old. I look + like a tomboy. Short hair, not so girly jacket and I’m holding + that plastic submachine gun. On the wall behind hang some children’s + drawings.
+I still feel very close to the young girl I perceive on this picture; + I’ve pretty much always had a rebellious spirit showing through the way + I perform, expressed through my clothes, through the music and the + people that turned me on.
+It was only later, as my girlfriends’ femininity was developing, that + it started to bother me. It became a topic since boy were succumbing to + the societal obsession with big breasts, which I never had. Yet I’ve + always loved their feminity, and that of people using their erotic + power1.
+I remember seeing Betty Boop’s face everywhere as a child. Maybe she + was more of a phenomenon than now. It was exiting to find her on the + store’s shelves. I was mesmerized by her cute face and ultra-feminine + attitude, while the merchandise wasn’t too childish. Her image evoked + something mature, elegant, something more like a woman than a child.
+It was around the same time that she enjoyed her fame as a pop icon + online. Some of her films entered the public domain. I wasn’t using + social media yet, but I glimpsed these animated GIFs and subliminal + messages, with her body shape dressed up in unlimited different + styles.
+Some of her devoted fans edited and covered her image over and over + with persistence. They were becoming co-authors.2 + Online she appeared as an illicit fifth-generation bastard. In the shops + too -- except the objects on the shelves, tagged with trademark signs, + elevated her with an economical value.
+The masses craved for more intensity and glitter and transformed her + endlessly. Till extreme. The little girl I was, sometimes loved glitter, + sometimes hated them. But now I grasp the reason behind the love and the + hate. I appreciate the attitude of excessive girliness because I + understand a provocative intention that ironically resemble punk + attitude. Refusing to be invisible. Refusing to pretend to fit the + standards of imperial “high culture”. Loud and shameless.
+ +
+
+ But let’s go back: who was she supposed to perform originally?
+ For her very first appearance she was designed to be a dog, the idea
+ was to provide a girlfriend to Bimbo. But her look already resembling a
+ lady, her creators decided she would be a human. An odd start to her
+ successful future but there she is, the first woman in history of
+ cartoon. Consequently, she is the only one surrounded by only male
+ characters. Which means constantly targeted by the male gaze
+ 3
+ trying to seize her objectified and
+ desirable body.
+
+ My perception of BB differs from what I heard from most people + considering BB a sex symbol, enticing, with a floozy outfit. While the + scenario was only implying the sexual act, the doubt is settling and + engender tension. Her persona is then a euphemism; the sexual act + slightly blurred, her performance becomes erotica, «porno chic». Because + the producers were part of the elitist industry of cinema, their image + couldn’t be considered as unwashed pornography.4 + That fine line is blurred by the absurdity, the metaphors, the + ambiguity.
+
+ As highlighted in Betty Boop For Ever5, + the authors took great pleasure in undressing her, Betty’s image + depended on their goodwill. Betty’s name says it all, the slangy term + was referring to a «hot chick». The men owned her like a doll, she was + meant to be played with.
+ +Her films have always encouraged viewers to scrutinize her luscious
+ body from top to bottom. She exists to be looked at. The cinematic point
+ of view forces us to experience what it is to pick out someone from the
+ room6. Laura Mulvey describes
+ the
+ Hollywood tendency to overvalue woman in such a way that they do no
+ longer appear as humans.
+ 7
+ 
Betty
+ also is a cinema Pin-Up
+ overvalued; her body is fragments into idealized parts.
+ 
+
+ But her case is an exception to the rule: even if she is extremely + objectified, she shares direct intimacy with the audience without + intermediate body. She is the protagonist that make up the story. It can + be empowering to identify to her. She has an illimited number of skills + and above all, she is a boss, a great one. Betty’s ‘fathers’ endowed her + of a stubborn temperament: she wouldn’t let herself be pushed + around.
+
+ The American activist Ellen Willis ironic tone simply points it out: + “Men want us a little bit free: it’s more exciting”.8
+In her early movies she is a very spontaneous woman who likes to have + fun with an ounce of rascality. But at the end of the story, she depends + on others, needs to be saved.
+Even if my instinct rejects the idea of a weak woman, we can also
+ identify to the feeling of helplessness. Her complexity is relatable.
+ The message transmitted by the Fleisher’s evoked a ‘sort of’ solidarity
+ with feminists. Funnily enough, after the Hays code9
+ that censored every little ambiguity, most of Betty’s spiciness, they
+ had to react
+ and stripped her foolishness away.
As a matter of fact, she was in tune with her time: the late
+ 20’s
+ were growing times for the young white New Yorkers ladies. Betty was
+ representative of the Flappers, these independent women who would allow
+ themselves to party at night and drink. Who wore shorter dresses and
+ haircuts. They owed their empowerment to the legacy of the
+ Suffragettes.10
+ The Fleisher brothers, originally from Poland, grew up in the Bronx + were innovators from a very young age. In the 20s cartoons were at a + very early stage, most of them were very stiff. Among other technical + aspects, the Fleisher’s were the firsts ones to modernize the industry. + They invented the rotoscope, a tool that filmed movements frame by + frame, so they could trace them back on paper and create smoother + animations. In addition, to get even closer to a real experience, sound + was added to the moving image. The use of jazz in their movies couldn’t + be a better match. The music created perfect rhythms for the body + movements, in harmony with the social context of the Roaring Twenties in + the US. The combination of sound and image was avant-garde.
+You get the idea; these short films had every assets needed to be the + most fashionable attraction. But let’s face it, BB was designed by a + gang of white supremacists, from the top of their studio in Broadway. A + powerful position to be influential.
+The story of Fleisher cartoons reveals a broader and well-known canon + based on power relations. The prevalent manifestation of racism in the + construction of contemporary western society is an undeniable factor + that participated to modern white entertainment media.
+The reality of Betty Boop, the beloved cartoon, has a violent history + that I feel the need to understand better, because I think she is + representative of the culture I grew up in. I aim to look beyond my + innocence. To analyze and deconstruct this inherited story. I still + interrogate how my geopolitical construction impacts my cultural points + of view.
+While I have/my culture has taken Betty for granted as a popular icon + present everywhere, Betty is the result of a tale of the Western world, + crossed by racial and sexual violence, but also the need for a female + icon in film.
+To create a heroine and future icon loved by the people, Max Fleisher + and his disciples had to capture the caricatural attributes of the + booming society in which they lived.
+They managed to harness the most promising ideas and turn them into + an infallible recipe for commercial entertainment. The energy of New + York during Prohibition and the Great Depression seemed to convey an + arduous, slightly murky but brilliant will to allow lustful revelry to + reign eternally. Max was a precursor, playing one step ahead. «They were + the original Bad Boys of animation.»11
+The Fleisher studio revolutionized cartooning shortly ahead Disney + with “steamboat willie”.12 + Walt Disney and Max + Fleischer were competitors, but their differences were glaring. Whereas + Disney’s attitude represented the midwestern lifestyle in a rather + cheerful way, the descendants of Polish-Jewish immigrants, who grew up + in the Bronx and Queens, transcribed their urban environment in rough, + realistic cartoons.
+The Harlem club scene propelled the careers of some of the era’s most + renowned musicians. Glorious years for jazz and its fast-paced rhythms, + to which the scat dancers thrilled the crowds. The reality of these + festivities was not only exciting, it was also quite outrageous. The + spectators at most of these clubs where jazz was thriving, well, they + were white people who had no shortage of stereotypically racist ideas. + But they loved to get their kicks in the underground nights, as Black + artists entertained the gallery. «For the white public, this music was + considered exotic, but also intuitive.»13 I + was confused by the presence of this music in the Fleisher’s’ + animations; when I discovered them, I believed unmindfully that they, as + much as their peers, were being respectful of the jazz scene because + they must have admired it and understood the essence of its transcendent + music. Even-though I questioned this intriguing fact, my first + impression didn’t acknowledge that they were using the obscure + connotations of the sounds and lyrics to invoke once more the popular + idea of a dangerous African American culture.
+The Fleisher’s had the audacity to be the first to incorporate these + well-known jazz tracks into films aimed at the movie theaters, one most + appreciated activity back then. At the time, black music was nearly + absent from the media.
+Although, it was trendy among some white partygoers who were ardent + about the underground feelings that nightclubs provided.
+«During the 3 first years of BB cartoon, most of the musicians + employed were non-white.»14 + The lyrics of the + tunes functioned as ground to embody the script. They conducted a + controversial message, it gave an obscure appeal to the cartoons, which + suited the Great Depression atmosphere. The emotions were coming + nonetheless from a place of resistance.
+Nothing and no one stood in Fleisher’s way. It’s the same power + dynamics that evolved. Jazz rhythm and spirit did not belong to them, + but they stole it, and it became the key to their success. It made their + animations so real and endearing. I still relate to the nocturnal, + mysterious attitude that wakes our best unconscious desires up.
+Cab Callaway sang several tunes for Betty’s episodes. The episode + Minnie the Moocher15 + bears the name he gave + to the theme song for this episode. It’s based on «Willie the Weeper», a + vaudeville song about drug addiction. +
+++” Oh well this is the story about Willie the Weeper
+Now Willie the Weeper was a chimney sweeper
+He had the habit, boy, he had it bad
+Let me tell you bout a dream he had ” 16
+
The introduction to the episode opens with a film of the singer and + his musicians playing the song, Cab dancing his famous Scat move. This + cartoon is seen as one of the first videoclips.
+
+
+ The episode starts with young Betty sitting at the dinner table, with + her angry dad reproaching her and her distraught mother trying to calm + him down. Betty flees to her room to write a farewell letter before + escaping out the window to join Bimbo the dog. They set off in long + strides and lose themselves in supernatural, dark settings that + transform as they go. The combination of the song’s moody atmosphere, + illustrated by mysterious nocturnal drawings, is effective in instilling + fear. Using this technique, the Fleisher’s label Callaway’s music, and + perhaps the whole of Black music, as scary.
+ +Louis Armstrong sings and performs with his musicians for the episode + I’ll Be Glad When You’re Dead You Rascal You,17 + in which racist mockery is further accentuated at the center of the + narrative. Betty is captured by cannibals: «There is no room for doubt: + these men are depicted as cannibalistic savages [...] By morphing the + floating animated head of one of the savages chasing Bimbo and Koko + smoothly into the filmed head of a singing Armstrong».18 +
+ +
+ This cinematic trick invites the spectator to compare Louis and their + musicians to the mobster, kidnapers and rapists that threaten Betty and + her friends. In this way, it conveys the message that black people, and + their ‘amusing’ music are dangerous enemies.
+...
+In her chapter on the Myth of the Black rapist, Angela Davis
+ retraces history to understand how this myth was a construction made up
+ by white supremacy. She explains that white supremacy needed new
+ arguments for the lynching of the black community, which was becoming
+ menacing for those whose goal was to oppress them.
+ « Rape charge turned out to be the most powerful of several attempts to
+ justify the lynching of Black people. »
The world of animation gravely suffered from racist stereotypes, + which made it become a considerable tool of propaganda for + discriminatory ideas. The charming, simplified drawings are great + manipulators, though their lens it seems common sense who are the hero + versus the threat.
+It’s so badly insane... The Fleishers - surely like most of the white + cultural milieu of the time - could appreciate this bewitching music, + deeply filled with heartfelt emotions, and simultaneously feel justified + in using it to ignore the humanity of these artists.
+The hegemony of their social and commercial status could precisely + have enabled them to break these sordid codes of domination. Didn’t they + recognize the beauty of this music and the credit it deserved? Credit is + not the only point, whatever the splendor of the music, it’s the + neglection of the artist’s intellect. Apart from disregarding their + humanity, they turned their music into a weapon against them.
+
+ Betty was supposed to reflect a woman from that time, to make her + stories resemble reality, so that people could recognize themselves in + her adventures -- accompanied by her sidekicks Bimbo and Coco. In her + case, the creators and authors of these films resorted once again to the + art of imitation.
+Helen Kane sueded the studio and Paramount, their distribution + company, for plagiarism. She proclaimed that the Betty character was + simply a caricatural reproduction of her own performative image. Her + facial features, her haircut and round eyes, right down to her + distinctive attitude. The comparison is obvious. (A courageous act for a + woman at that time.)
+When the cartoon was born, Helene was at the height of her success, + so it’s inconceivable that the Fleishers weren’t influenced by her + presence. However, Helene’s accusations have been discredited, made + light of, and even ridiculed. Particularly when the analysis needed to + bring the court case to a conclusion consisted of dissecting the + differences between «Boop», «Boop Boop» or « Boop-a-Doop».
+One of the reasons for her defeat was — apart from the evidence that + attacking an institution like Paramount was a risky idea — that the + style Helene performed through her mimics, voice and appearance, was + clearly part of a larger trend in show business at the time.
+The story goes19 that Helene
+ adapted the Scat
+ sounds20 to her own hits,
+ after attending in
+ 1928 a show by Esther Jones, a young dance prodigy who went on to
+ 
+ international success at the extremely young age of 5... She performed
+ mostly in Europe and Brazil after her first’s steps to success in USA.
+ She owed her reputation in part to the comparison between her
+ performance and that of the famous Florence Mills. But once she returned
+ from her long tours, her fame in the USA came to an end. This gradually
+ led to a total absence of information about the rest of her life. Her
+ non-intentional involvement in Helene’s defeat and the unclarity makes
+ the tragedy embarrassing. Little Esther may never have known about this
+ affair. And in the end, she doesn’t have so much to do with the cartoon.
+ What an absurdity… Justice neither gave recognition to Esther nor
+ acknowledged Kane’s claim.
The scandalous record went viral online a few years ago. It is now + part of a long list of whitewashing denunciations. Unfortunately, like + many of the stories circulating among social networks, it ended up being + partially transformed into misinformation, a glitch. Some photos have + been mistaken for Little Esther, leading to more confusion. Nonetheless, + some dedicated individuals have managed to gather archival material to + carry out an accurate investigation. The lawsuit was real and the + appropriation by the Fleisher’s was obviously real.
+
+ 
+ Today globally widespread, the use of cartoons born from the golden + ages of American capitalism became symbolic, their essence is detached + from the original context. They became graphic material used to ironical + communicate, sometimes political messages. It’s a common-ground vessel + that allows its user to mold it according to the role it occupies.
+On the Internet, the creation of social media became a place where + borderless communities are born. Thanks to today’s means of + communication, blogs in particular, people can join forces for a cause + they hold dear, to pay homage by sharing their admiration.
+Re-editing tools such as Photoshop or the simplest open-source + software's have enabled these amateur22 + authors and enthusiasts of forgotten stories, in need of + recontextualization, to reinvent new meanings for the dead heroes who + once upon a time marked media culture.23
+++As we cover or bootleg we also update, evolve, shift, deconstruct: at + times we even destroy.24
+While it [bootlegging] enables the users’ active participation in the + creation and distribution of content, it also drafts them into + production. Users become the editors, the critics, translators and + co-authors of the images.25 +
+
For this research I found a lot of the information on blogs such as + bettyboop.fandom.com written by anonymous authors who generously + committed to gather and preserve the heritage of this history. And I + feel thankful for it.
+Information online isn’t (always) filtered to match the controlled + mainstream media discourse. It is then possible to share and become + aware of certain truths «silenced» by the policy of censorship that + suits the power structures in place. Through digital images we tell our + own stories, and today we can decide collectively, to a certain extent, + on our own platforms of distribution. With a few clicks, we speculate on + the alternatives and what they mean.
+
+ With the spread of Little Esther’s story on the internet, a new + generation of BB emerged. She resurrected once again. On a very + different image quality than during the early GIFs era, the ai generated + images manifest pride. I feel a much more provocative intention behind + the participation of that image today: it has become a statement.
+Every time I type “Betty Boop” in the search bar of image banks, I + see the web page displaying a group of pixelized bodies, an excessively + feminine, overwhelming crowd of clones. Yet all singularly different. + Like the shelves of the + trinket shop, they stand next to each other as commodity items.
+
+ 
+ As the interview26 between + the Spice Girls and Kathy + Acker broadcasts: a gang of ladies is a group of individual people + believing in power of that very group without no toxic comparison, each + of them giving the best of themselves.
+ +The meaning of the old cartoon has shifted. It has not so much to do + with the original Fleisher’s property anymore but more with the + possibility for anyone to take part in its representation. What is left + from the original, is precisely the need to be transformed.
+Young generations no longer identify to her as the idealized cinema + icon, we identify to the ambiguous personality. We are conditioned to + trust in unstable representations; the confusion coming from ongoing + renewal of blending trends is consciously translated in performative + identities. BB reflects people but differently than she used to. Using + her as a reference, implies to realize the impact of the society she + comes from, a white supremacist society.
+I recently made experiments that consisted in collecting images that + relate to my vision of BB’s case. The visual research still in process, + is a way for me to trigger my admiration to the topic.
+Next to my findings, I shared my interest to other people, and + invited some to be participators in my collection. I presented the + different sources are mixed up in archival sheets, piled up, because + they are all clues to the investigation.
+To change is at the core of what it means to exist.27 For the youth, co-existence between + ‘online’ and ‘irl’ is rooted in the consideration of ourselves. In the + same way, the existence of the 100 years old Betty appears on screens as + tangible as our selfies.
+Image makers, amateurs or not, guarantee the dynamic resistance of + evolving ideas. Meanwhile, she is also a result of mass production, that + the anonymous artists don’t benefit from. People who make money from + branding don’t implement the power of resistance that I try to defend. + Nevertheless, the fashionable accessories also takes part in the + ‘renaissance’ of Betty Boop. Contradictory to the pixelized image she + embodies, the rare commodities strived by obsesed collectors.
+Steyel suggests: ‘Why not affirm it?’28 + ‘Why not be a thing?’ . I think this affirmation is a very contemporary + feeling; accepting to be objectified by identifying to an image and + therefore to its material aspect, to what it refers to. Behind an iconic + image there is a person. But in Betty’s case the reference is finely + more of an idea, a socio-political and artistic movement.
+++I've named this one JPEG, because I like JPEGs, uh
+For the resolution, the color, the size and the
+Everything about JPEGs I like
+Check 29
+
+Y en aura d'autres, des Betty Boop
+(There will be others, Betty Boop)30
+
+ 
+ 
+ 
+ 
+
+I still question whether embracing the aesthetic of the good + girl that was somehow imposed on us is really a deliverance. Or is + it the only choice we have to feel important?
+++It is difficult to determine the effects on children viewing these + stereotypes on television because it is difficult to entangle what + precisely a child attends to, remembers, and how it affects his or her + existing knowledge.31
+
The mediatic industry have gone a long way since the age of cinema. + We must deal now with an intractable noise that accompany too much of + our thoughts, words and deeds.
+++I see a part of Beyonce that is in fact anti-feminist, that is + assaulting, that is a terrorist. Especially in terms of the impact on + young girls. I actually feel like the major assault on feminism in our + society has come from visual media and from television and videos. Just + think, do we even know of late any powerful man of any color who's come + out with some tirade against feminism? The tirade against feminism + occurs so much in the image making business, in what we see. [...] what + I'm concerned about constantly in my critical imagination is why is it + that we don't have liberator images that are away from an inversion of + what society has told us but that are our own sense of what am I what am + I looking like when I am free[...]32
+
To feel more in charge, we need reassuring figures to look up to. I + desire to continue to feel enlightened by former and new feminists to + gain precision for the standing point I choose, to contemplate the past + and envision what is next.
+
+ Lorde, Audre (1934-1992) ,The use of Erotic: The + Erotic as Power, 1978, Crossing Press Berkeley.↩︎
+Steyerl, Hito (1966), In defense of the poor image - + Journal #10. (2008, November).E-flux. Retrieved February 25, 2024, from + https://www.e-flux.com/journal/10/61362/in-defense-of-the-poor-image/.↩︎
+The male gaze is the act of depicting women and the + world in the visual arts and in literatur from a masculine, heterosexual + perspective that presents and represents women as sexual objects for the + pleasure of the heterosexual male viewer. (Wikipedia definition) Used + firstly by John Berger and Laura Mulvey.↩︎
+Term used by Ellen Willis (1941-2006) in Up from + Radicalism: A Feminist Journal (1969), translated in Sex et + Liberté, Audimat Edition, 2022↩︎
+Duget, Claire (1977), Betty Boop for Ever, + telefilm 2020, Joparige Films and Schuch Productions.↩︎
+Introduction to Laura Mulvey's "Visual Pleasure and + Narrative Cinema", Film & Media Studies, Feb 26, 2021, + Youtube↩︎
+Mulvey's "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" Part + Two: Identification, ", Film & Media Studies, Feb 27 2021, + Youtube↩︎
+Willis, Ellen (1941-2006), Up from Radicalism: A + Feminist Journal (1969), translated in Sex et Liberté, 2022, Audimat + Edition↩︎
+The Motion Picture Production Code was a set of industry + guidelines for the self-censorship of content that was applied to most + motion pictures released by major studios in the United States from 1934 + to 1968. (Wikipedia)↩︎
+Both groups were white middle-class women fighting for + equality between man and woman in the USA. Some of the Suffragettes were + also active in the fight for abolition. And some got offended when black + men obtained the right to vote before white women.↩︎
+2:00 Out of the Inkwell: The Fleischer Story, + Documentary, Aug 2 2020, Youtube↩︎
+Steamboat willie is a Disney short film from 1928, the + debut of Mickey and Minnie Mouse.↩︎
+Benjaminson, Peter, The Life and Times of Betty Boop: + The 100-year History of an Animated Icon, November 2023↩︎
+Benjaminson, Peter, The Life and Times of Betty Boop: + The 100-year History of an Animated Icon, November 2023↩︎
+Fleisher Studio, Minnie the Moocher, 1932, Oct + 19, 2016, Youtube, + https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7VUU_VPI1E&t=386s↩︎
+Lyrics fron Willie the Weeper, + https://genius.com/Dave-van-ronk-willie-the-weeper-lyrics↩︎
+Fleisher Studio, I’ll Be Glad When You’re Dead You + Rascal You, 1932, Oct 19, 2016, youtube + https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-FaEYyo6T4↩︎ +
+Critique of Violence, admin: anonym author, Louis + Armstrong: I’ll Be Glad When You’re Dead You Rascal You, published + on Jan 9 2023, + https://www.violencemixtape.humanities.uva.nl/racial-vio-lence-and-representation/louis-armstrong-ill-be-glad-when-youre-dead-you-rascal-you/↩︎
+https://bettyboop.fandom.com/wiki/Baby_Esther_Jones↩︎
+Originating in vocal jazz, scat singing or scatting is + vocal improvisation with wordless vocables, nonsense syllables or + without words at all. In scat singing, the singer improvises melodies + and rhythms using the voice solely as an instrument rather than a + speaking medium. [...] Ella Fitzgerald is considered to be one of the + greatest scat singers in jazz history. (Wikipedia)↩︎
+Gang: The original meaning was ‘going, a journey’, + later in Middle English ‘a way’, also ‘set of things or people which go + together’.↩︎
+Amateur sounds pejorative, and I percieve the webside + non-professional because we are conditioned that way. But the + distinctipn will hopefully become something of the past. (Pater, + Ruben)↩︎
+Steyerl, Hito (1966), A Thing Like You and Me, + Issue #15, April 2010, E-flux, + https://www.e-flux.com/journal/15/61298/a-thing-like-you-and-me/↩︎
+Unlicensed: Bootlegging as Creative Practice, Ben + Schwartz, Valiz with Source Type 2023↩︎
+Steyerl, Hito (1966), In defense of the poor image - + Journal #10. (2008, November).E-flux. Retrieved February 25, 2024, from + https://www.e-flux.com/journal/10/61362/in-defense-of-the-poor-image/.↩︎
+'The world is infested with evil!' When Kathy Acker met + the Spice Girls, TheGuardian.com, 26 february 2018, + https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/feb/26/when-kathy-acker-met-the-spice-girls↩︎
+Unlicensed: Bootlegging as Creative Practice, Ben + Schwartz, Valiz with Source Type 2023↩︎
+Steyerl, Hito (1966), A Thing Like You and Me, + Issue #15, April 2010, E-flux, + https://www.e-flux.com/journal/15/61298/a-thing-like-you-and-me/↩︎
+Sample I heard in the latest album of Armand Harmor, in + track 2: Woke Up and Asked Siri How I'm Gonna Die, 2024, Fat + Possum Records. firstly used by Jpegmafia and Danny Brown in + Hermanos, 2023, Peggy. Traced by Jeg elsker Death Grips, “JPEG, + because i like JPEGs” JPEGMAFIA original sample, Youtube, + Octobre 18 2023 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McDDq8txBzs)↩︎ +
+Lyrics from Nekfeu, La Cour des Miracles, + 2024, MI6/All Points.↩︎
+The "Good Girls": Exploring Features of Female + Characters in Children's Animated Television + https://sites.tufts.edu/ctvresearch/files/2017/11/ICA_Final.pdf↩︎
+Transcript from bell hooks talk bell hooks - Are + You Still a Slave? Liberating the Black Female Body | Eugene Lang + College, 47:41', May 7, 2014 Youtube↩︎ +
+Picture of my taken by my mother, date unknown.↩︎
+The Boop-Boop-a-Doop Girl, Screenshot from Dizzy Dishes, 1930, https://bettyboop.fandom.com/ + wiki/Betty_Boop_(Dizzy_Dishes)↩︎
+Screenshot from Chess-Nuts (1932), https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kIJNqigidoY/VrfFA8rA0EI/ + AAAAAAAAI2M/d46FEqDuiSQ/s1600/Chess-Nuts_1933_35_undies_f.jpg↩︎
+Screenshot from Chess-Nuts (1932), https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kIJNqigidoY/VrfFA8rA0EI/ + AAAAAAAAI2M/d46FEqDuiSQ/s1600/Chess-Nuts_1933_35_undies_f.jpg↩︎
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