Cold on the heels of our last article, another one claiming Bugs Bunny for the Jews. The ancient and semi-Yiddish Forward newspaper printed a column last year discussing the concern:

Can we find the rabbi in the rabbit? As far as I can tell, Bugs never uses a word of Yiddish, but he does have a yidisher kop. He has the gift of gab as well as a fine command of Acme products. Poor Elmer — was there ever a Jew named Elmer? — never stands a chance. Of course, it is well known that Bugs comes from a long line of tricksters. He is an Eastern Anansi, an American Hershele Ostropoler. He’s even distantly related to Isaac Babel’s Odessa gangster, Benya Krik.

Carrot and Shtick >Catena Ex Situ

Posted in Bugs Bunny, ethnicity, ex situ, stereotypes Tagged: shtick, yidisher kop ]]> http://cartoonoveranalyzations.com/2008/11/04/ex-situ-carrot-and-shtick/feed/ 0 The Editor bugs_bar_11 http://cartoonoveranalyzations.com/2008/10/23/from-the-archives-bugs-bunny-is-jewish/ http://cartoonoveranalyzations.com/2008/10/23/from-the-archives-bugs-bunny-is-jewish/#comments Fri, 24 Oct 2008 02:53:55 +0000 The Editor http://cartoonoveranalyzations.wordpress.com/?p=405 ]]>

Contributed by Krissy N.

Me and my friends were recently watching a Bugs Bunny cartoon, a take on the “Tortoise and the Hare”, when we began to notice some things about his behavior:

He was stereotypically Jewish.

It first came to notice at the beginning of the cartoon, when Bugs is reading a book. He reading it backwards, from right to left, turning the pages in that manner as well. Of course, one can read Hebrew or Japanese in this manner, and Bugs is definitely not Japanese.

We then begin to notice other things. Like Bugs’ Brooklyn accent. The stereotypical Jewish person always has a Brooklyn accent.

He kisses people a lot. My Jewish friends pointed this out as something their relatives do often, as well as people they just met. Bugs is awfully friendly…

He’s cheap. There’s a point in the cartoon where he has to cross a river, and instead of paying the bridge toll, he swims across the river.

Of course, being smart asses, we have to add that RABBIT - T = RABBI.

Not to say that Jewish people exhibit any of these characteristics, but they are common stereotypes.

COMMENT: Another thing altogether. In reference to what someone wrote about Bugs Bunny being stereotypically Jewish, one must also note that there is a Bugs Bunny cartoon showing Bugs reminiscing about when he was growing up (as a young rabbit either in the late thirties or early forties) in the Lower East Side. This also implies stereotype to being Jewish.
- Comment by Bugssbunni

COMMENT: Bugs does not have a Brooklyn accent. He has a Bronx accent. Just ask Mel Blanc. Oh wait, he’s dead. But I did hear him say that in an interview. As I long-time NYC area resident (not a native though), I must agree.
- Comment by JasonH2084

COMMENT: Just would like to comment on what someone said about Bugs Bunny have a Bronx accent, and not a Brooklyn one. I have read in several places that Bugs Bunny had a combination of a Brooklyn and Bronx accent.
– Comment by Mameshmeshuga

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Contributed by BugssBunni.

Usually, Bugs Bunny is always the good guy and he triumphs in the end. Yet there are a few exceptions. I wish to discuss the cartoons in which Bugs Bunny is defeated in a race by a turtle. I know that one of them is “Tortoise Beats Hare,” the other I’m not sure what it is called.

In these two cartoons, Bugs Bunny is pictured as an arrogant rabbit who has TOO much confidence in himself. He is outraged by the thought that a turtle can beat him in a race. He finds it insulting and embarrassing to all rabbits. We see a side of Bugs Bunny hardly ever shown — it seems in this cartoon that he is slightly conceited and over-sensitive. These two character traits are inferred in Bugs Bunny’s character only once before, in the Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde episode. When Dr. Jekyll/Hyde asks Bugs if he drank the formula, Bugs Bunny become overly defensive and has the attitude of “how can you think of such a thing about me.”

In “Tortoise Beats Hare,” we all cannot help being slightly upset with Bugs Bunny. We are not used to him acting arrogant and we are disappointed. I think it is the only cartoon in which Bugs appears to be “the bad guy.”

I noticed another thing. In most cartoons, we all feel triumphant for Bugs when he defeats a “maroon” such as Yosemite Sam or Daffy Duck or Elmer Fudd. And yet we never actually are upset with the “maroons” even though they are the bad guys. Honestly, how many of you out there hate Elmer Fudd? It doesn’t seem like Bugs Bunny himself actually hates Elmer, just loves playing tricks on him. I don’t think anyone hates Elmer, despite that on numerous occasions he has actually tried to murder or heroic rabbit. But even though no one hates the bad guys, we still feel that it is justice when Bugs Bunny defeats him. No one ever feel mad at Bugs for being nasty to Elmer Fudd. We always feel triumph for the victor and sort of an affectionate feeling for the antagonist. No one feels upset at the bad guy.

However, in “Tortoise Beats Hare,” the theme is entirely different. Bugs Bunny seems like the antagonist, and we cannot help feeling slightly disgusted with him. We are not used to his arrogance and we are annoyed — we all know that he knows better. It is one of the only times where we are upset with the antagonist.

Yet, even stranger, we cannot help feeling even more disgusted with the tortoise. We all feel contempt to him and that it was unfair the way he tricked Bugs Bunny, and we are upset when Bugs loses the race. Yet when Bugs Bunny tricks people and the bad guy loses, we are not upset with Bugs, and we don’t say, “I wish Elmer won!” Why in this case are we upset with the protagonist?

The answer is that even though we are annoyed with Bugs Bunny in this animated short, we easily forgive him. We know that it is not usual of Bugs, so even though he acted conceitedly, we are biased towards him because we all like him. Even though we all know he deserves to lose the race, we can’t help thinking that he should win anyway. Why should he win? Because he’s Bugs, Bugs our favorite rabbit, and he always wins. We can’t help feeling that he should win just because he’s Bugs. We expect him to be the good guy, so we are upset that he isn’t, but we still wish he was.

This is also why we are mad at the tortoise. We feel that Bugs Bunny should have won, and the tortoise stole that position. That is the difference between this cartoon and others. We never want Elmer to defeat Bugs Bunny, so we don’t mind when Bugs defeats him. That doesn’t mean we always want the protagonist to win, because here the protagonist is the tortoise, but we want Bugs Bunny to win. We feel Bugs has the right to win, and we all can’t help loathing the tortoise for grabbing the limelight.

We usually don’t like to post two Ex Sitibus in a row, but several readers sent this one in (thanks!), and it is too good to delay. Derek Zumsteg has written an exhaustively detailed account of the famous Gas House Gorillas vs. Tea Totallers baseball game of 1946 which was featured in the short film “Baseball Bugs.” (For reference, the fermentable Cartoon Brew has posted a video of the film.) Here are two short excerpts:

We next learn that Bunny has taken the lead, 96-95. This means that at some point during the game, the official scorer ruled at least one of the Gorillas’ runs invalid, as we had previously established that they had scored 96 runs when Bunny took over for the Teatotallers. The cause and resolution of the disputed run is not documented in available footage.

Consider that given fifteen outs, Bunny scored 96 times. His RC/27 would be 173. Now of course Bunny could not always face a team so ill-equipped to deal with his high-percentage take-all-four-bases running style and bean-all-nine-fielders hitting ability, but even dramatic penalties placed on him would still make him the greatest offensive player of all time.

Bugs Bunny, Greatest Banned Player Ever >Catena Ex Situ

Contributed by Tracy D.

I’m agreeing with the general flow of the conversation about Bugs and his penchant for frilly little things from Victoria’s Secret. But I think a lot of posters try to equate him to modern standards of sexuality. Remember, Bugs was one of the biggest box-office draws of the late 30′s, 40′s, & 50′s who was grounded in the great vaudevillian tradition. An obviously male star donning female garb and then confounding the boobs and society was a guaranteed laugh-getter. Bugs’ genius (and star vanity) is that he must take on the  complete persona of what ever he’s trying to be. (the first Method actor?) So, he can’t just slap on a skirt to distract Elmer for a second or two, he’s gotta be Carmen Miranda with a bowl of fruit on his head, or one of the Andrews sisters, or Brynhildr of the flowing braids. I think his closest contemporary was the actor Danny Kaye (who also spawned many rumours about his sexuality). To both of them there is a bit of New-Yorker-sons-of-immigrants brassiness combined with a whole-hearted willingness to take a character to its most absurd extreme.

Contributed by “Szann”

It disturbed me as a child to witness Bugs Bunny’s preference for women’s underwear. When I bring this up in my classroom students are often oblivious to the fact that though they’ve been watching Bugs forever they never realized he was a cross dresser with a particular fancy for lipstick and lacy women’s underthings.

Contributed by Sean C.

Your take on Bugs’ cross dressing was very negative. Bugs didn’t like to cross dress. He did it because it was life or death. Think about it: he was usually being chased by that redneck Elmer Fudd. I mean, Elmer Fudd: typical redneck, stupid, uneducated (the speech impediment says it all), brought up in the back woods tradition of superiority through the killing of poor defenseless woodland creatures, and because bugs dressed up in womens clothing it threw that dumb redneck off. I mean, put yourself in Bugs’ shoes, he is being chased through the woods by this lunatic shooting at him, his adrenaline is pumping and he has to think on his feet. Bugs quickly throws on women’s clothing and stupid Elmer is thrown off guard. Bugs was a genius and was secure in his sexuality. As for Bugs kissing that just keeps those homophobes away. It bought him time. But after he kissed those guys, Sam, Fudd, and the rest, they never stopped chasing him indicating that they are gay bashers. If a male rabbit kissed me I would definitely leave him be and go kill Foghorn Leghorn, who is the epitome of redneck white trash. Slack-jawed down south accent, never mind the redneck calling everyone “boy,” picking on the dog cause he was half black and white, picking on Henry Hawke because he was brown, always picking on Eggbert the nerd kid because he believed in science and was not a Southern Baptist. Foghorn hated Eggbert because he was different.

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