Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Looney Tunes references in other cartoons: Part 1

One topic I think is pertinent to "Misce-Looney-Ous" is "References to Looney Tunes in cartoons that aren't Looney Tunes". Bugs and the gang have been appearing officially and unofficially in series besides their own almost since the beginning. One of the earliest cameo appearances I know of is a 1940's George Pal Puppetoon entitled "Jasper Goes Hunting", in which Bugs pops out of a rabbit hole, realizing he's in the "Wrong Picture". We'll show you that clip later.

What we're about to show you is one of those "We'd better talk about this before the lawyers take it offline" subjects. We all know what a large part the Warner cartoons played in World War II, in everything from Army training films to government sales pitches to good ol' morale-boosters. When America entered World War II, Hollywood cartoons did too, and the characters wanted to win just as much as America did. On September 11, 2001, we entered a much different war. We're still in it. While most of the entertainment industry decided to be "sensitive" or ignore the attacks on New York and Washington, DC altogether, one cartoon dared to take on the subject in a different way. Their inspiration? The havoc Bugs Bunny and others, especially Daffy Duck, wreaked on the Axis dictators in World War II.

That cartoon was "South Park". This episode, which originally aired on November 7, 2001, is entitled "Osama Bin Laden Has Farty Pants", features one of the South Park kids, the smart-aleck Eric Cartman, taking on Bin Laden himself...and in the style of the masters. Regardless of your political views or your opinion of South Park, you'll enjoy this!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The Passion of the Jew is another South Park episode with major Looney Tunes references. Mel Gibson acts exactly like old school Daffy Duck, complete with the "WOO-HOO" noises.

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