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Romanian Instances in US Animations: Scooby-Doo Part 1 - What’s New, Scooby-Doo, Season 2, episode 5

Usually, the instances of Romanian presence in cartoons, not necessarily the one I am talking about, are mainly those of Dracula and Transylvania. Of course, no one is concerned with the accuracy of the Romanian environment, realities or history, as I am willing to show in at least three posts. I believe that happens because no one actually knows what else Romania has to offer, besides a history of backwardness and communism, which obviously cannot be shown in an animated movie, and a history of vampires and supernatural which us, as Romanians, had to adopt it since others have created it for us.

In this episode of Scooby – Doo (I have always been a fan of it), to no surprise, there is a focus on Dracula’s castle. We all know that if it’s Scooby-Doo, there must be something creepy, looking all supernatural and mysterious, since this is the focus of the entire saga of Scooby – Doo. That means that the castle must look terribly old, as dating from the early Middle Ages. It also needs to be on a cliff, surrounded by terrifying surroundings, bad weather, which include the classic thunders and flashes lightning. All these “effects” are meant to make the place look as creepy as possible. And there is also a cemetery nearby, owned by the owners of the castle. This family bears the name of “Fortescu”, name which sounds very Romanian due to the “-escu” suffix which characterizes Romanian family names so well.

The Fortescu use the legend of the vampire (Dracula, of course) which is related to their castle to scare everyone off. For this, they disguise themselves in vampires, with the aid of makeup and fancy looking clothes, including a cape.

I do not condemn anyone for not paying too much attention to the history or the social realities of Romania in the case of cartoons, such as this one, since children do not really care about how real it looks. As long as it is fun to watch, I like it, just like any other child.

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