Cartoons and Culture
What is the relationship between
civilization and self-discipline?
How do we learn self-discipline?
Where does popular culture fit into this
process?
The Hays Office
Sex sells, but it must be packaged in socially
acceptable ways
Reinforcing gender roles is an important way
of teaching people to repress natural
impulses in order to learn self-discipline
In patriarchal societies, women and men who
step outside their roles are particularly
threatening to order, so institutions are
created to restrict such representations in
popular culture: in Hollywood, the Hays office
Disney and Sexuality
Steamboat Willie (1929)
The Hays Office (1933)
The Nifty Nineties (1941)
Safely Sexy Women
Foreign, non-European women (the
harem or the child of nature)
American tendency to see other
cultures as havens for sexual
experience forbidden at home
Good girls vs. bad girls
Serpentine Dances (1895)
A Good Time for a Dime (1941)
Betty Boop
Introduced in 1930 (pre-Code), Betty
appears comfortable with her sexuality
and enjoys flaunting it
She has no fixed boyfriend, but rather a
series of romantic/sexual adventures
Her trademark is the flirtatious wink with
which she manipulates her male co-stars
(and, presumably, viewers)
Betty Boop and the Little King (1936)
Betty Boop
She appeals to women who see themselves
as liberated in the 1920s: she’s a flapper
The Hays office insists that women (and their
sexuality) stay properly in the home
By the later ’30s, Betty has become more
domestic, but still can’t compete with
heroines like Snow White and Lois Lane;
female ideal images have changed
Snow White (1933)
Snow White (1938)
Up in the Sky . . .
Superman makes the world safe
for democracy (as well as for
racism and patriarchy)
Jungle Drums (1943)
WWII: Who stole that cell?
Censored at Home!
Shown Uncut to the Troops!
Swing Shift Cinderella (1945)