This could possibly be the GREATEST DEBATE ON A BLOG BASED ON A TV SHOW THAT WILL BECOME A BOOK THAT COULD SOMEHOW BECOME A MOVIE of our generation.

As you surely know, I’m of the firm belief that Betty’s European makeover is based on sex kitten Brigette Bardot. The Other Natasha posits the following:

Ah, Rome. A perfect place for Betty and Don to rekindle the romance — who needs Paris, anyway? Betty, in complete control of herself and Don for once, effortlessly breezes through the place and captures the hearts of several men, including her husband’s. For that purpose, she gets dressed up at the Hilton’s beauty parlor, in an outfit aesthetically similar to one of the greatest Italian films of all time, Federico Fellini’s La Dolce Vita.

In the film, Anita Ekberg plays a Swedish (but basically an American representation) movie star, Sylvia, who sweeps into Rome and carries away several men. Her most famous scene? The one of her jumping into the Trevi Fountain. Framing Betty against a fountain calls the image to mind immediately. Both outfits both play with black and white and involve similar makeup; the difference is that while Sylvia is unadorned and effortlessly beautiful, Betty’s creation is one of direct manipulation, with many baroque effects (the hair bow, the necklace). While Sylvia is unaware of the effect she has on her own strong-jawed man (Marcello Mastroianni), Betty couldn’t be more conscious of Don’s reaction to her flirtations.

The character of Sylvia is intended by Fellini to represent a modern American intrusion into the ancient city of Rome, which is trying desperately to play catch up. Whereas she has more of an effect on Rome than it does on her, we see by the end of “Souvenir” that the opposite is true for Betty.

What say you, Internet?