This has been bothering me something terrible since I noticed it yesterday.
Wilma Flintstone and Barney Rubble have only black disks for eyes. Fred Flintstone and Betty Rubble have eyes with whites and pupils. Even their pet Dino has whites and pupils.
Why?
Wilma and Barney have severe cases of glaucoma that have caused their eyes to darken. They find their way around through the use of echolocation.
Barney and Wilma are Canadian, of course.
IANA Cartoonist.
However, the way I always took it was that it provided a nice contrast between whichever two characters were together in the scene. Most scenes featured only two characters, and the breakdowns were usually:
[ul]
[li]Fred and Wilma[/li][li]Wilma and Betty[/li][li]Fred and Barney[/li][li]Barney and Betty[/li][/ul]
This means that no matter the scene, you end up with one cartoony-eyed character and one disc-eyed character. It’s more visually pleasing that way.
With their hockey hullabaloo
and that bitch Anne Murray, too!
Okay, but why does Barney blink so much? Blinking - always the blinking. Why?
Quoth Weird Al:
“Barney Rubble, laughin’ like a hyena
Barney Rubble, what a little weiner”