How Bugs Bunny Became One of
America’s Most Enduring Style Icons
Inside Hook,
by
Elyssa Goodman
Original Article
Posted By: StormCnter,
9/24/2020 7:16:22 AM
Reaching for a plump carrot, a tiny white-gloved hand on a slim grey arm extends from a hole in the ground, and shortly after, a star is born.
This was how Bugs Bunny made his screen debut in the animated short “A Wild Hare” on July 27, 1940. It was then that his first and now-immortal phrase, “What’s up, doc?” passed through his buckteeth and entered American iconography forever. Bugs has been capturing the imaginations of generations pretty much since that moment. He became, and remains, an instant classic. But what makes our love for the “wascally wabbit” such an enduring one?
Reply 1 - Posted by:
PChristopher 9/24/2020 7:28:34 AM (No. 550648)
Thanks for this brief oasis amidst all of the political doom and gloom. No matter how bad your day's been, this rabbit could lighten it up. Pick any of the wartime cartoons, Hillbilly Hare, French Rarebit, Homeless Hare....there're too many favorites to name! Thanks again!
19 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
Clinger 9/24/2020 8:17:44 AM (No. 550707)
Bugs Bunny is the American spirit. Bugs was there when General MsAuliffe said "nuts" to the Germans at the battle of the Bulge.
11 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
Timber Queen 9/24/2020 8:18:35 AM (No. 550710)
#1 - I felt the same way until I got to the start of the third paragraph; "The story of how we came to latch onto the iconic cottontail actually starts with the rabbit Zomo, a character whose origins are in Central and East Africa." The paragraph ends with this doozy, "When slaves were brought from Africa to America, their stories traveled with them and evolved. Bugs is without a doubt Zomo’s, uh, hare apparent." Followed by the opening of the next paragraph, "Fast forward several hundred years to Los Angeles, where Bugs was born..." which finally leads us to the meat of the article and the story of the character's personality and look, but I couldn't read much further. I felt like I was just slimmed.
That third paragraph is just pandering to supposed bLACK contributions to society. Its made up horse puckey. Unnecessary and insulting, at least to me. A story that would have been interesting lost its flavor with that totally unnecessary and stupid propaganda. Yeah, sure, a bunch of white guys in Hollywood in the 1930's were somehow influenced by a mythical figure in Africa hundreds of years prior?
This stupid display of "kneeling" to bLACK lives matter in an article(!) is just too much for me. Horse puckey!
28 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
hurricanegirl 9/24/2020 8:22:55 AM (No. 550720)
I'm pretty sure cottontails and hares aren't the same thing, but nonetheless, this is an interesting read. Actually, I've pondered this question a lot myself (too much time on my hands, I guess). I love to watch Bugs Bunny cartoons even today, but I really don't much care for any of the other Loony Toon characters.
3 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
MickTurn 9/24/2020 8:24:04 AM (No. 550722)
Bugs Bunny was the Republican with common sense and a keen intellect...Elmer Fudd was the Democrat...it's really obvious!
18 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
Cherrybark 9/24/2020 8:39:39 AM (No. 550745)
Peculiar there is no mention of Uncle Remus' stories of Br'er Rabbit. Wonder why that is?
17 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
JunkYardDog 9/24/2020 8:59:05 AM (No. 550776)
Re #5
Replace 'Republican' with 'Donald Trump'. Until PDT came along there were no Repubs who could play the Dems and twist them into knots like he does. Also replace 'Elmer Fudd' with 'Daffy Duck'. I think Daffy trulyis the embodiment of the Democrats-selfish, sneaky, conniving, greedy. Elmer is slow but just wants to put food on the table.
Re #3
I did a google search for Zomo the rabbit and was direct to a children's author named Gerald McDermott who wrote Zomo The Rabbit: A Trickster Tale From West Africa, published by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich in 1992. 1992 is over 50 years after "A Wild Hare" debuted in 1940, so it would be interesting to ask if Ben Hardaway, Tex Avery, Friz Freleng, Bob Clampett, Chuck Jones, Robert McKimson, Mike Maltese, Arthur Davis had ever even heard of Zomo the rabbit. Do I doubt that Zomo is indeed a Nigerian folktale? No, it probably is. Did the Merrie Melodies crew know about Zomo? I doubt it.
14 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
Lawsy0 9/24/2020 9:08:33 AM (No. 550787)
Oh my! I can't read a lot about WB because I get all emotional. I bought The Carl Stalling Project book for my son when he was in high school. When he moved, he took the book with him and I had to buy my own copy. If you love animation, it is a great read. If you love musical accompaniment, you'll enjoy it. If you love hidden messages in the margins of books, you will love it.
6 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
Rather Read 9/24/2020 9:24:05 AM (No. 550812)
I used to teach Children's Literature and I always did a lesson about the Trickster figure in folk and fairy tales. The Trickster is always less powerful than the antagonist but prevails through wit or cunning. I usually gave the example of Jack from Jack and the Beanstalk or Brer Rabbit from Brer Rabbit and the Tarbaby. (that one would probably be challenged now). And every time I said, "what's an example of a modern Trickster" the first answer was always Bugs Bunny. I grew up on the Warner Brothers cartoons and love them still.
6 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
john56 9/24/2020 9:35:22 AM (No. 550821)
Hey, like most kids of the 60s, my first exposure to opera was from a cross-dressing rabbit.
Here's to Bugs, the Looney Toones, and (RIP) Mel Blanc.!
9 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
donnaclaire 9/24/2020 9:45:26 AM (No. 550833)
Bugs Bunny has always been my favorite cartoon character. He's cheerful, bold and unafraid. And besides that - he's so darned cute!
6 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
Flyball Dogs 9/24/2020 10:12:09 AM (No. 550862)
OP, I would love to meet you.
4 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
Chuzzles 9/24/2020 10:18:09 AM (No. 550881)
I think that along with the laughs, the Bugs Bunny cartoons also pass along some good life lessons as well. Bugs Bunny is timeless, and it is a true shame the Left is trying to destroy him by either editing the cartoons, or banning some of them altogether.
3 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
Penny Spencer 9/24/2020 11:03:19 AM (No. 550939)
Bugs Bunny is one of my favorite classic movie stars...right up there with William Powell and Lee Tracy! Some of the most sophisticated satire every written came out of Warner Brothers animation unit in the 40's and 50's. I just discovered Carrotblanca, the Looney Tunes version of Casablanca. Bugs plays the Bogart part, Pepe Le Pew is Captain Renault and Tweety does an amazing Peter Lorre impersonation. Chuck Jones and company were geniuses!
4 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
Right Time 9/24/2020 11:11:18 AM (No. 550951)
Seriously?? Trying to tie the concept of Bugs Bunny back to "Zomo", a mythical character from African lore and tales that were carried to America by black slaves is our BEE ESS. I find it highly doubtful that white, mostly Jewish cartoonists in the 1940's heard anything about Zomo.
The writer is totally ignorant. I can recall a black and white cartoon character of a rabbit that pre-dated Bugs Bunny, and even pre-dated talkies.
What is this, Black History Month?
3 people like this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
DaddyO 9/24/2020 11:43:28 AM (No. 550989)
Rabbit of Seville, Little Red Riding Rabbit (with Bea Benaderet as an annoying Little Red Riding Hood), Stage Door Cartoon (Elmer: "Off with your clothes, you trickster!" Sheriff: "You'll swing for this!"), Bugs and Thugs (Bugs Bunny : Now look, would I turn on this gas if my friend Rocky was in there? Um, you might, rabbit. You might.").. we knew all the dialog by heart.
5 people like this.
Reply 17 - Posted by:
KanCreeper 9/24/2020 1:34:06 PM (No. 551117)
It seems to me that the one burning question, left unanswered is in the last paragraph: See FTA: "...Chuck Jones would say, because they didn’t want him to be a bully — leading the meatheads that crossed his path, be they bald (Elmer), mustachioed (Yosemite Sam) or duck (Daffy) swiftly in his dust. Jones once called Bugs a combination of Professor Higgins — the paradoxical academic at the heart of Pygmalion/My Fair Lady — and first lady of wit Dorothy Parker, a combination of debonair traits he himself aspired to. Bugs was the quick wit you wanted to have, the comeback you wanted to make, the havoc you wanted to wreak, the triumph of cool over contention. He still is. And in Bugs, we see the kind of person — well, creature — we’d all like to be..."
Which leads to the Question: " IS BUGS BUNNY A REPUBLICAN ?
3 people like this.
Reply 18 - Posted by:
ROLFNader 9/24/2020 3:48:30 PM (No. 551239)
I'm pretty sure I read about ZOMO in the 1691 Project script.
0 people like this.
Reply 19 - Posted by:
Aubreyesque 9/24/2020 4:22:12 PM (No. 551273)
I dont know about this Zomo rabbit person...seems rather more a nod to the narcissistic millennial generation than anything else. BUT I have been hearing most of my 50 years on this earth that Bugs Bunny does have roots in African folk tale, an inhabitant of which happens to be a trickster rabbit. Most people my generation and up probably have heard about him as Brer Rabbit, which I think is a likelier "root." We just have ignoramous journos who thinks anything from the 70s is old that are claiming this '97 book as an origin.
If the Boomers were able to take hold of the Millennials and turn out such STOOOPID people, do you think its our turn to take hold of the next generation and tell them about President Reagan and Trump and how GOOD and wonderful America is? I gotta tell ya...Im really hoping for grandchildren...
0 people like this.
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