Princess Clara
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| Drawn Together character | |
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| Princess Clara | |
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| Gender: | Female |
| Race: | Caucasian |
| Hair: | Auburn |
| Age: | 20 |
| Job: | Princess |
| Sexuality: | Heterosexual |
| Religion: | Roman Catholic |
| Voiced by: | Tara Strong |
Princess Clara is a fictional character in the animated series Drawn Together. She is one of the eight housemates who are the focus of the show.
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[edit] Background
Princess Clara is a pampered, naïve, racist member of royalty, and a spoof on Disney/storybook characters. Her features (her hair and eyes in particular) are based on Ariel from The Little Mermaid, while her outfit suggests Princess Aurora from Sleeping Beauty; another noticeable influence is Belle from Beauty and the Beast. Like many Disney princesses, Clara has a beautiful singing voice, and has many animal friends who like to join her while she sings — at least until Spanky Ham kills most of them for food. Clara is also the only character drawn without a black outline, another reference to her Disney pedigree. She has a "special" cousin named Bleh, who is severely mentally retarded and must wear a football helmet at all times to protect her skull. Clara is initially ashamed of her cousin until the other housemates come to accept Bleh. Clara then becomes overprotective of Bleh when she realizes that the men of the house- particularly Captain Hero- consider her sexually desirable. Clara seems to have inherited many of her basic personality traits from her father, the King, but has become more independent since she has been living in the Drawn Together house, and with the help of her housemates (particularly Foxxy Love), she has worked on correcting many of her character flaws.
Clara's father, the King, is the ruler of a magical kingdom, but he is apparently not popular, as he has extensive secret service protection at all times. Her mother died when Clara was still an infant, as a result of her father driving a carriage while intoxicated. The King remarried, and for reasons unknown, Clara's new stepmother placed a curse on Clara's vagina, causing it to turn into a giant, tentacled monster (called the Octopussoir) which can speak, and appears to have its own personality. Her attempt to remove the curse resulted in Prince Charming's genitals turning into a similar monstrous creature. Though it becomes hysterical and vicious when frightened by loud noises, the Octopussoir for the most part, is quite gentle and kind. In "Alzheimer's That Ends Well", Clara had Octopussoir surgically removed, but after undergoing numerous plastic surgeries to correct every little flaw she perceived her vagina as having, she ended up with a vagina resembling Joan Rivers. Clara tried to get Octopussoir back, but he had graduated from college and married a Jewish woman in the time Clara was gone, and informed Clara that he was happy with his new life and did not wish to go back to her. Clara eventually came to accept her new Vajoana (as she calls it) after it saved the housemates from the murderous intentions of some angry senior citizens.
[edit] Personality
Clara represents a stereotypical upper class WASP, and is insensitive toward minorities and those less fortunate than her. She is also very anti-Semitic, which is ironic considering her voice actress is Jewish. In this manner, Clara often acts as the (also Jewish) producers' vehicle for Jewish humor on the show. Though she makes the occasional spiteful comment, on the whole, she doesn't seem to hate or look down on people of other races, but she cannot seem to let go of the stereotypes she holds; for the most part she is completely unaware that she is being racist. The episode "Hot Tub" suggests that these beliefs were ingrained in her by her father. Later episodes have furthered the notion that Clara maintains these attitudes because she is simply behind the times, and has yet to recognize the social advances recent years have brought. She overcomes her prejudice to form a friendship (and possibly more) with Foxxy Love, though her repeated mention of black stereotypes sometimes puts a strain on that friendship. In the first season, Clara's racism was the source of most of the character's humor; however, beginning in the second season, her racist tendencies would largely be de-emphasized, and instead, Clara's narrow and unbending religious views would become the character's driving force. (See Religion below.)
Though she is tolerant and supportive of her gay housemate Xandir (though at one point, when he was suicidal, she encouraged him to kill himself), Clara is also severely homophobic, her homophobia being the product of her conservative religious views. Ironically, Clara herself exhibited bisexual behavior at the very beginning of the series, though she does not seem to realize the implications of this (or realizes but is in denial). She is in a state of bliss after Foxxy Love kisses her in "Hot Tub". However, it becomes apparent that Clara is not actually bisexual herself; she was simply caught up in the moment because it was her first kiss, and did not yet understand the importance of gender roles in the romantic process, a fact which the second episode makes clear. In that episode, after learning the differences between men and women, Clara begins seeking love with the opposite sex. To date, there have been no further implications of bisexuality on Clara's part. (In "Ghostesses in the Slot Machine", she performs an erotic dance with Foxxy Love as part of a strip show, but in this instance, she is simply trying to make her father notice her.)
At the end of Season One, in what Foxxy called a case of "Daddy's girl falling for the bad boy", Clara begins a quasi-relationship with Spanky, though the relationship would prove to be short-lived. Though it has not been indicated there has been any activity between them, Clara's father, The King, behaves in such a way as to suggest he possesses sexual feelings for her. Clara doesn't seem to notice these feelings, equating his leering with paternal love. She is also extremely naïve when it comes to sex; after her lesbian kiss with Foxxy, she believes she is pregnant, and it takes a sex ed lesson from Foxxy to make her realize she isn't. Clara is the least promiscuous of the eight housemates, and the only one who seems to possess any sense of modesty about his or her body. In Season One, it was suggested that this was because of her character's innocence (and her unusual vagina situation), but as the series has progressed, her religious nature has also become a significant factor.
Aside from her prejudices, Clara is usually depicted as a very warm and caring person with a genuine love for most living creatures. She occasionally shows a quick temper and fits of anger, though these outbursts are seldom long in duration. Though she is frequently guilty of insensitivity and closed-mindedness, she usually realizes when she is wrong about something, and always tries to make amends. Clara is often characterized as being well-educated and sophisticated, but lacking in common sense. In this regard, she is the complete opposite of Foxxy Love, who is unsophisticated and poorly educated, but with a great deal of common sense and practical wisdom.
It should be noted that Executive Producer Bill Freiberger has stated, "While Clara is sometimes misguided out of ignorance or naïveté she is also very often misguided because she is a selfish, spoiled princess (figuratively and literally)." [1]
[edit] Clara's darker side
While the first episode of the series designates Toot as the house's "bitch" character, her malicious behavior has been toned down in more recent episodes, and the role has begun to shift over to Princess Clara.
Originally, while Clara was portrayed to be extremely bigoted (including being a member of the Ku Klux Klan), she never seemed to be genuinely hateful (for example, she seemed to get along with both Foxxy and Xandir despite being strongly racist and homphobic, and acted surprised and confused when they were offended by her behavior). However, later episodes have her as harsh, strident, and intolerant; concerned solely with crusading against sinfulness, her desire to quench sin is so strong that she shows no concern for the happiness or well-being of others. In "Foxxy vs. the Board of Education", she vows to stop Spanky's gay marriage to Xandir despite the fact Spanky's life is in danger without the insurance Xandir can provide. In "Clum Babies", she crusades against both Wooldoor's masturbation and the use of the Clum Babies to heal the sick despite the number of lives that are being saved.
This version of the Clara character is used to satirize the right wing conservative Christian side of society; thus, Clara goes into evangelical mode whenever that angle is needed for a story. To this purpose, she serves as the villain in these episodes, trying to foil whatever she objects to. In fact in some episodes, she is depicted as having witch-like powers (most notably the ability to teleport in a flash of black smoke).
In the episode "Ghostesses in the Slot Machine" Clara seems to be aware of how her behavior comes across to others, and she wants to let everyone know this is not all there is to her character. In that episode, when Foxxy thinks she plans to object to exotic dancing, Foxxy sarcastically says, "I know, there's probably something in the Bible about 'Thou shalt not grind thou's coochie into thy neighbor's boner tent'," to which Clara responds, "You have me all wrong- I'm more than just the same joke over and over! You're thinking of Toot," (in reference to her weight). Clara even parodies this aspect of her own character in the episode "Wooldoor Sockbat's Giggle-Wiggle Funny Tickle Non-Traditional Progressive Multicultural Roundtable!". Convinced that Wooldoor's new children's show will turn the world gay (a charge which turns out to be accurate), she angrily bursts onto the set of Wooldoor's show and shrieks, "What in the name of one-dimensional characters and predictable reactions is going on here?"
In the third season, Clara's characterization took on a decidedly negative turn. For several consecutive episodes at the beginning of the season, Clara was shown treating her housemates quite harshly. In the past, Clara had been sweet on the surface and insulted people mainly through ignorance. In Season Three, however, she was shown behaving with actual malice and spite. Additionally in the first two seasons, whenever Clara behaved badly toward one of the other housemates, she was usually allowed to realize she was wrong and given the chance to make amends; however, in Season Three, she shows little or no remorse for her behavior, and her character receives no real redemption. In "Spelling Applebee's", she coldly manipulates Captain Hero into satisfying her sexual fetish for car crashes, realizing- but not caring- that he actually has real feelings for her (see the "Spelling Applebee"'s article for Executive Producer Bill Freiberger's explanation on her character there). In "Unrestrainable Trainable", she mistakes Wooldoor for a Jew and pushes him into the pool in order to baptize him. When Wooldoor contracts hypothermia, Clara expresses a distinct disdain for being forced to take care of him, despite having played a big sister role to him in earlier episodes, and despite the fact that his condition is her fault to begin with. When she begins receiving accolades for taking care of him, Clara develops Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy and deliberately keeps him sick and/or injured in order to keep him in her care. In "N.R.A.y RAY", she spitefully insults Toot seemingly for no reason (though it should be noted that most of the roommates also treat Toot very poorly, making cruel comments about her weight, etc.).
No specific explanation is given for this trend in Clara's behavior, though the episode "Unrestrainable Trainable" gives some possible insight into Clara's mindset on the issue. When her housemates first begin praising her for taking such good care of Wooldoor, a surprised Clara exclaims, "Usually my roommates hate me." This seemingly indicates some ongoing tension between Clara and her housemates that the show has not yet fully explored.
[edit] Religion
Clara is extremely religious, sometimes to the point of fanaticism. The first mention of her religion was in the second episode, "Clara's Dirty Little Secret". When Foxxy mentions how gullible Clara is, the show cuts to a flashback of Clara accepting Jesus as her Savior. Though her faith is mentioned multiple times in the first season, it wasn't until Season Two that it became a defining part of her character. Clara is a devout Christian; she mentions Jesus often (in "The One Wherein There Is a Big Twist", she says that she loves Jesus as "more than a friend"), and on more than one occasion has gone off on crusades against things she considers abominations in God's eyes (see Clara's darker side above).
The episode "Clara's Dirty Little Secret" suggests that Clara may be a member of Jews for Jesus, a controversial organization dedicated to converting Jews to Christianity. In that episode, her monster vagina, while it was still attached, was shown writing a check to the organization.
Clara's specific denomination has not been explicitly stated, but there are numerous signs she is Roman Catholic.
- In both "Clum Babies" and "Xandir and Tim, Sitting in a Tree", Clara is shown observing forms of penance, the former instance involving corporal mortification, and the latter involving praying incessantly while barefoot and wearing a dress made of sack cloth.
- During the flashback sequence where Clara is shown accepting Jesus, Wooldoor is depicted as a priest; though Wooldoor's presence in this scene is just a gag and not series canon, the fact that a priest is depicted at all may be another sign Clara is Catholic.
- In "Lost in Parking Space, Part One", Clara is shown to own both a rosary and several crucifixes, two of the most common external trappings of the faith.
[edit] Target for violence
For some unexplained reason, Clara seems to be a natural target for violence by the other characters, having been subjected to numerous acts of deliberate (and often extreme) physical violence:
- In "Hot Tub", she is attacked twice by Foxxy after making unintentional racist remarks.
- In "Clara's Dirty Little Secret", she is pushed down several flights of stairs by Toot.
- In "The One Wherein There Is a Big Twist, Part II", she is punched out by both Foxxy and Captain Hero.
- In "Clum Babies", she is given electrical shocks by Foxxy. Later in the episode, Clara is kicked by Foxxy after collapsing to the ground. She is also the first victim of Bob the Cucumber's shooting spree at the end of the episode.
- In "Ghostesses in the Slot Machine", she is again attacked by Foxxy and then by a tree.
- In "A Tale of Two Cows" she is violently shoved to the ground by Captain Hero on two separate occasions.
- In "The Lemon-AIDS Walk", she and the rest of the housemates are brutally murdered by Captain Hero when they confront him about his steroid use.
- In "A Very Special Drawn Together Afterschool Special", she dies when Captain Hero throws her through the wall as part of an extended role-playing sequence the housemates are running.
- In "Alzheimer's That Ends Well", she is struck violently by Wooldoor countless times to anesthetize her before surgery. She is also burned with a cigarette by an orderly at a nursing home.
- In "Freaks & Greeks", she has her hair and the top of her scalp ripped off by Captain Hero.
- In "N.R.A.y RAY", Clara receives her most severe punishment to date. When Foxxy's grandson Ray-Ray falls in love with Toot, he sets out to give her anything she wishes for, often at Clara's expense. When Toot wishes for beautiful hair like Clara's, Ray-Ray rips off Clara's hair and scalp (marking the second time on the season Clara has suffered that fate) and gives it to Toot. After Clara threatens to have Toot kicked off the show for this, Toot wishes for Clara to be gone instead; Ray-Ray then murders Clara and hangs her lifeless body from the towel hook in the bathroom.
[edit] Original artwork
In old artwork before the show's release, Clara was originally drawn as a blonde, with a different dress and a lighter skin tone.
[edit] Prototype comparison
Ariel from The Little Mermaid (l); Princess Clara from Drawn Together (r)
| Drawn Together |
|---|
| Characters |
| Captain Hero | Foxxy Love | Ling-Ling | Princess Clara | Spanky Ham | Toot Braunstein | Wooldoor Sockbat | Xandir Recurring and guest characters |
| Episodes |
| Season One: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 Season Two: 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 Season Three: 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28| 29 |
| Other |
| Running gags on Drawn Together |
| Cast and creators |
| Dave Jeser | Matt Silverstein | Adam Carolla | Jess Harnell | Abbey McBride | Jack Plotnick | Tara Strong | Cree Summer James Arnold Taylor |
