The Real Inspiration And Evolution Of The Betty Boop Cartoon

The National Legion Of Decency Steps In

In 1934, Fleischer Studios was targeted by the National Legion of Decency and the Production Code. The result? Betty Boop was forced to tone down Betty’s sexuality and she became a housewife with a new, prudish wardrobe. This is because the original Betty Boop was thought to be “suggestive of immortality.”

According to Mental Floss, the studio believed her new image would no longer appeal to her original audience, so they started to aim the cartoons at a more juvenile crowd. Unfortunately, this only made the series decline even faster. Towards the end of the Betty Boop series, they tried to make her relevant to modern audiences by including instances of the swing era, but this didn’t work either.