Icons of Popular Culture: Nerd Glasses and Betty Boop

What can you say about a society that has icons like the big,, black nerd glasses frames and Betty Boop figurines. We would seem to idolize the smart if socially inept man and the flighty, flirty woman. But, if you look at Ancient Egypt, they have a thing for crocodiles and hippopotamuses, which seems pretty strange to us since we don't have either in our hemisphere naturally.

The attraction of Betty Boop may come from her starting in a simpler time, before movies had sound or color. Everything had to be conveyed by facial expression and body language. Even after Betty Boop found her voice, she was not all that chatty. The strange pin-curled hair and simple makeup mark her as from another generation, an icon, not someone to be taken too seriously. But who takes cartoon characters seriously anyway?

If you want serious, then the nerd is the answer. Always in search of the answer, the nerd can only be sidetracked briefly before he returned to his objective. He may stop to stare at the Betty Boops of the world, or even coach one in academics, but then he is on his way to something serious. The black glasses frames are an indication of his pursuit of function over form, and his lack of worry about his outward appearance. Many a movie has his makeover into a appearance-conscious person as part of its plot, and generally the nerd reverts when he finds out that it is all appearance.

So, what is the verdict? What does this pair of separate but equal images tell us about us? Has stereotyping people by gender disappeared, or even started to make its way to the door? What will these images tell people a hundred years from now? I think I am glad I won't be there to hear it.

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