The episode Fresh Hare of the Loony Tunes is a classic interactive situation between a white, ambitious, American named Elmer FUD and Bugs Bunny, the comical, laid- back, carrot-eating bunny rabbit. It entirely involves Elmer trying to catch the UN- catchalls Bugs while Bugs sets up obstacles and traps for Elmer to amuse himself and make the chase more interesting. The creators manage to make an episode that Is both laughable to little children viewers and capable of Ralston profound questions about human nature to any group of adults viewers.
The focus of this episode Is merely to demonstrate how superior and in-control Bugs Bunny is over Elmer FUD. By using a delusional world where physics and common sense are completely skewed, Loony Tunes’ shows that having a Jocular, light-hearted outlook on life could be the key to happiness, or at least that it is for Bugs Bunny. In adult terms, Elmer FUD Is a mentally challenged Mounted guard who was given orders to hunt down a potentially dangerous public enemy: Bugs Bunny.
Rather than Just running away as he could easily do, Bugs amuses himself by messing with Elmer in the same way that n Orca plays its meal before eating it. It seems as if he needs brainless folk like Elmer to compliment his own wit and give purpose to his life, which appears to be all too easy. The episode takes place in the northern united States taiga. Winter has the trees and mountains covered in snow. In the opening seen, Elmer FUD mentions the arm of the war stretching out but doesn’t specify which war. However, his uniform and rifle imply that the scene is happening sometime around the end of the 19th century.
On the trees are warrant posters for the arrest of Bugs Bunny, dead or alive. Elm’s quote about the war stretching out gave me the impression that this, previously peaceful and abundant, land had been Bugs’ home for his entire life but was now being overtaken by power-seeking humans with guns; perhaps a mockery of a classic situation seen throughout human history. Knowing a little bit about Bugs Bunny, It Is presumable that, while the military was claiming the land for themselves, Bugs showed some resistance which resulted In his death sentence.
It Is made clear from the beginning that Bugs humors these people who want to kill him as he draws mustaches and other random doodles on his own “wanted” posters. There’s never a time when he gives any hint of fear or even displeasure at Elm’s attempts to catch him. While there is a very vague plot to this episode, Bug’s superiority over Elmer remains the focus. Bugs Bunny has something Like an intimate relationship with the world around him which allows for his manipulation It while Elmer FUD Is basically brainless and incapable of performing as well as Bugs.
For example, at one point Elmer is chasing Bugs, both of them under the snow, Bugs’ ears sticking out and Elm’s head completely under. As Bugs comes across a tree his ears simply split part, moving to both sides of the stump and avoiding a collision. Elmer, however, is stopped as he runs straight Into the tree, unable to magically split himself around It episode and there’s really no telling how it’s possible. On top of this control over physical laws, Loony Tunes touches on how manipulate and vulnerable someone with low brain-power really is.
My favorite instance of Bugs feeding on Elm’s stupidity is when he substitutes himself as Elm’s gun. Elmer FUD is so stupid that he attempts to shoot Bugs whom he thought was hiding in a tree, unaware that the file he grabbed from behind him is the stiffened Bunny, making gunshot sounds with his mouth. This scene, to me, is pure genius. It is a perfect example of how helpless Elmer really is. While he was thinking to himself that all he needed to do was aim correctly and fire enough rounds, the truth was that the thing he thought empowered him was exactly what was controlling him.
I don’t think it was Loony Tunes’ intention to make a political statement, but this scene could be used as satire to illustrate how it is possible to create a false sense of empowerment for someone, hat sense of empowerment being the greatest tool of empowerment for someone else. Loony Tunes released this episode over 70 years ago, in 1942. Watching it in 2014, I was a little shocked by a few particular moments in the episode. The creators threw in some content that would now be considered offensive, especially for a children’s cartoon.
There is a moment in the episode that would now certainly be deemed sexist by some in which Bugs and Elmer are running through snow piles one after the other, leaving silhouettes of their bodies behind them. Soon enough, the suggestive silhouette of a woman appears in the snow. At the sight of it Elmer stops in his tracks, points to the silhouette, looks at the audience and whistles. These kinds of scenes make it obvious that the cartoon focuses on men and their issues while woman only enter the story as a references to sex.
Something else that happens in the episode that is a common occurrence for Bugs Bunny is for him to take his enemy by the head and deliver them a giant kiss on the mouth, putting them in a state of total rage. I’m not sure why the creators decided to make Bugs do this because it sort of touches on a homosexual side of his. It’s possible that Loony Tunes was ahead of its time as this motion could be mocking homophobia, instead of disusing homosexuality. It shows that the best way to push a man’s buttons is to challenge his sexuality, something that I think was very likely to be true back in the ass’s.
Bugs Bunny is commonly thought of as a children’s cartoon. The logic used in it is more like child logic and its physics might make sense to an undeveloped mind. By child logic I mean that a situation might seem a certain way with only one or two possible foreseeable outcomes until, all of the sudden, something completely random and unexplained comes of it which somehow now seems like an obvious outcome. To give an example, at one point Elmer has Bugs’ arm handcuffed to his and is trying to pull him out of his hole.
The audience thinks to themselves that there are only two options: Bugs will be pulled out of the hole or Elmer will be pulled in. After a short tug-of-war, however, Elmer pulls out the handcuffs and finds that they are attached to a bomb. This is child logic; it is understandable why Bugs would strap Elmer to a bomb and the cartoon is happening too quickly to question how it was possible, therefore it appears to make sense. However, while, to the children, the Loony Tunes just makes sense, to an older audience, these twisting of logic can be the most perplexing, fascinating things to watch.
Bugs Bunny primarily targets kids, but it is aspect about Bugs is that, despite the fact that he can be seen as an abusive, exploiting bully in the way he plays on Elm’s stupidity, he always has the audience’s favor. Bugs Bunny’s actions are all very playful and flippant, making him the favored one among the kids. He behaves kind of like a guide to the viewers, occasionally paying them attention and making Jokes. He’s quick, witty and always a step ahead. His crowd vote comes from his looks as well. His puffy cheeks, buck teeth, Jovial walk, soft, uplifted ears and slim, fluffy body make him an extremely likable character.
There’s nothing to not like about Bugs Bunny. Elmer FUD is purely business; he doesn’t care to entertain himself or the audience. He cares too much about his own task for anyone else to give him positive thought. He’s bald, plain, oddly proportioned, can barely speak and is nothing more to the viewers than something to laugh at. In this cartoon, rather than the success of Bugs Bunny, what we really want is the failure of Elmer FUD. Bugs Bunny has no goals to achieve, he’s already content. We continue to back him, however, as he screws with someone who’s cause we dislike.
We know Bugs will be safe from Elmer, but we want Elmer to be ridiculed times after time for being the person that he is and the all-lovable Bugs Bunny is there to make that happen for us. Visual, or slapstick humor is what’s primarily used in Loony Tunes. This particular episode also has a very minute amount of history in it as an effort to spice things up. I watched the episode multiple times without sound and the experience was still very powerful. The high energy, exaggerated motion and ridiculous actions make for a highly visually entertaining video.
The movement is fluid, colorful and clear, obviously created without the use of any digital animation technology which I think makes for a much more artistically appealing work. The sound plays its part as well. By itself, the sound is chaotic, random and unpleasant but when synced with the video we see that it adds a whole new level of depth to the cartoon. The sounds seem to match the video exactly, immersing the viewer farther into this Loony Tunes fantasy world. All told, Fresh Hare is a well rounded, genius ice of art suitable for any age at almost any point in time.
A message is sent through the cartoon that can either be laughed at or taken seriously. The message that I received from the episode is the following: Some people are smart, some people are dumb. While the Dumb people take life seriously and try their very hardest to achieve a specific goal (in this case Elmer wanted to arrest Bugs), the intelligent ones sit back, relax, and get as much of a laugh as possible out of the vanity of others and life itself. The message is so simple that it Just looks ridiculous, but with a little contemplation it is extremely intimidating.
This is the genius of Bugs Bunny. It can be enjoyed brainlessly but also opens he blinds on over-looked aspects of human nature. In the end of the episode, after Bugs Bunny Jocularly gave himself in out of pity because Elmer was in so much despair, we see Bugs about to get executed by a firing squad. Bugs Bunny, in his last moments, when given a chance to speak, takes the opportunity to sing and Bunny is delusional or if he found the key to eternal happiness somewhere in the ground, but his attitude of not having the slightest care for what happens to him has a strong impact on me, as a viewer.
