Boop-Boop-A-Don't
I’ve been bemused for quite some time by the modern mania for Betty Boop. She has all the merchandise of a character from a current hit cartoon without the current hit cartoon itself. She’s been cut adrift from her place in the animation archives; a cultural signifier that doesn’t signify anything. Somehow – and I would kill to know why – she’s achieved a critical mass of cachet that makes her image desirable to bogan women for no appreciable reason. She is simply The Thing To Have, with no further justification.
As a result, it is possible to find things like this on gumtree.com.au:
The tone is set by the Care Bear in the background, who seems to have been anally impaled on some sort of plastic spire, and the Jim Beam bar fridge with an appallingly low energy efficiency rating. And is that a replica sword on a wooden plaque hanging on the wall? I certainly hope it is. But let’s concentrate on Betty herself, as covered by the reluctant vendor:
reluctant sale i have decided to sell my beautiful betty boop statue she is in as new condition she costs my husband over $2000 when he bought it for me she is stamped on the bottom of her foot i am not prepared for her to go down in price as i stated she cost over $2000 when my husband bought her for my birthday ,to a collector this is a must have i have other statues of betty boop but i am not prepared to let them go as yet ,,, i just made the decision today to sell my beautiful statue ,so please contact only if your interested ,, please only genuine people reply no dreamers please ,, $1200 is the price no lower ,,,
It would be easy to sneer and scoff at these people, but I’m going to look for the positives in this situation. And hey, I’ve found three!
1. There is a man out there who is not simply willing to spend $2000 on a giant resin statue of Betty Boop for his subliterate wife, but willing to do it more than once. That’s true love, my friends.
2. You have to admire the tenacity of a woman who has managed to produce a sales blurb despite the fact that both the shift key and the full stop on her keyboard don’t work. I suspect that Betty Boop’s moxie is contagious.
3. There are two types of buyers who might want a giant Betty Boop statue – genuine people and dreamers. This implies that, for some people, owning a giant Betty Boop statue is a long term, carefully considered life goal, not just some idle fancy that occurred to them in the moment. I envy those people. If only my life goals could be met with $1200, a few square feet of spare space, and a severe head injury.
As a result, it is possible to find things like this on gumtree.com.au:
The tone is set by the Care Bear in the background, who seems to have been anally impaled on some sort of plastic spire, and the Jim Beam bar fridge with an appallingly low energy efficiency rating. And is that a replica sword on a wooden plaque hanging on the wall? I certainly hope it is. But let’s concentrate on Betty herself, as covered by the reluctant vendor:
reluctant sale i have decided to sell my beautiful betty boop statue she is in as new condition she costs my husband over $2000 when he bought it for me she is stamped on the bottom of her foot i am not prepared for her to go down in price as i stated she cost over $2000 when my husband bought her for my birthday ,to a collector this is a must have i have other statues of betty boop but i am not prepared to let them go as yet ,,, i just made the decision today to sell my beautiful statue ,so please contact only if your interested ,, please only genuine people reply no dreamers please ,, $1200 is the price no lower ,,,
It would be easy to sneer and scoff at these people, but I’m going to look for the positives in this situation. And hey, I’ve found three!
1. There is a man out there who is not simply willing to spend $2000 on a giant resin statue of Betty Boop for his subliterate wife, but willing to do it more than once. That’s true love, my friends.
2. You have to admire the tenacity of a woman who has managed to produce a sales blurb despite the fact that both the shift key and the full stop on her keyboard don’t work. I suspect that Betty Boop’s moxie is contagious.
3. There are two types of buyers who might want a giant Betty Boop statue – genuine people and dreamers. This implies that, for some people, owning a giant Betty Boop statue is a long term, carefully considered life goal, not just some idle fancy that occurred to them in the moment. I envy those people. If only my life goals could be met with $1200, a few square feet of spare space, and a severe head injury.
posted by Blandwagon at 2:16 PM
2 Comments:
Aw, I wanted sneers and scoffing.
I love Betty Boop!
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