Betty White is nothing but a...

Novelty item now.

I just don't get the phenomenon.  It's not that i don't like Betty White, I think she has had an amazing career, and it's good to see her getting work after not seeing her for so long, but it all seems to be stuff that just trivializes her.  It seems that every time i see her, she is just a caricature of herself.  I just wonder if you told the Betty White forty years ago that she would get tackled in a snickers commercial, or how her only real jokes in 2010 revolve around how old and dusty her vagina is, what that Betty White would think.

Maybe past Betty White would just be happy that she would still be relevant in the year 2010.  Maybe she would just be surprised that she would still be alive in the year 2010.  I would probably leave the fact out that she would outlive all of the other Golden Girls.  Regardless, i would like to think that she would have hoped that her career would not be reduced to just being one long punchline on how she's old.

I guess the joke is really on all of the studio heads and producers that are trying to capitalize on the Betty White phenomenon.  I can just see advertising agencies and studio casting directors trying to fit her into their project to bank on the Betty White craze.  Meanwhile, Betty is laughing all the way to the bank.  I mean seriously, i'm sure Betty White is no fool, and understands that her name within the past few years has basically become some strange brand.  For example, she is going to be in that movie You Again.  The thing that's funny to me, is that it's a part that can be essentially played by any elderly actress (and probably for cheaper).  In reality, she isn't bringing anything to the table other than the fact that she is Betty White.  Get any grand motherly actress in there and they can do the same things that she is.  You want an old lady to hit on a significantly younger guy, while at the same time being abnormally hip with the most latest social networking tools, BUT you also want her to show how out of touch she is by adding the word "the" to said social network devices like only an elderly person would do (i.e. the Twitter)?  I can assure you that although i'm only making a really brash generalization based solely off the trailer, i guarantee that it's a part that any senior actress could play.

I digress...

Good for Betty White.  She has become some strange pop icon, and i think she is going to ride that gravy train until it runs out of gas... or until she dies.  Anybody in their right mind would do the exact same thing in that position.  Still, i just don't get it.

Arrested Development/Fight Club/East of Eden