Tuca & Bertie
Typographic Appreciation by Leyla Gokcek
Imagine a show where you watch animals talk about themes of trauma and friendship in an imagined world. Now add another layer of bright colors and drawings that revisit a lost time period of cartoons where messiness is the style. In the beginning of the show Bertie moves in with her boyfriend Speckle, while Tuca moves out of the apartment and lives a floor down. Taking place in New York, this show is about two friends who conquer the realities of adulthood. We continue to see the relationship between Bertie and Speckle unravel. And then we see how Tuca and Bertie accompany each other throughout their emotional endeavours in finding out who they are and they reconquer past traumatic memories. Their friendship is one that I admired throughout the plot. (For more information on the plot of the show visit Kate Abbot’s article on the Guardian)
In the first episode of Tuca and Bertie, typefaces created another layer of expression. Animated cartoon shows don’t use a lot of typographic expressions when a character is directing a thought. However, I appreciate Tuca and Bertie’s versatile hand drawn letters that represent the character’s thoughts. For example, when Tuca is first introducing Bertie’s personality (episode 1) she talks about how Bertie is a “people pleaser”. In that frame, Bertie is posing next to words saying “people pleaser”, with an added smile below. I admired the added expression the words represent when talking about the character’s personality traits.Â
The style of the hand drawn letters reminded me of lettering I would doodle in my old composition books. I felt a new layer of intimacy when words would pop up in a frame with a cartoon character. The intimacy I’m describing are old notebooks that would become personalized with someone else’s art style. Almost like you’ve entered someone else’s world and their art is what encompasses another expression of their personality.
