The Betty Boop Snow White Slope Discourse
Pictogram
Rachel RICAFORT
Student of SM2105 Narrative Strategies and Aesthetics of Time-based Media
Abstract
The animation picture Betty Boop Snow White (1933) by Max Fleischer possesses a richly multifaceted oddness. The film seems barely coherent, despite its bearing the title of the all familiar tale of “Snow White”. Here and there disparate components in the pic bear similarity to the tale but its narrative discourse shows a raggedy and slippery slope. And this is the focus of my recreation.
My pictogram shows the film begins with a “three-act story structure” (left to right) with a touch of the “magical elements” whereby objects are turned malleable and personified. My pictogram then takes up each of the characters on its own course. Descriptive nouns of the overall narrative structure (e.g. Banishment, Derailment, refamiliarization etc.) are also added. The middle part of the pictogram shows what is to me the most outstanding part of the film, namely, the musical digression it goes through. The lyrics play a part on both the foreground and background, adding clever visual touches. Finally, the ending reverts back to the typical story structure; the big bad monster is faced by the characters, only for it to fail and ultimately giving it a “happy” but abrupt, and perhaps rushed ending.
