Sunday, September 17, 2006

Bugs Bunny, Racist

In the 1945 cartoon Hare Tonic, there's a moment where Bugs Bunny checks himself for B.O. and says, "Don't tell me I oh-fend." Well, he may not have in his day, but he had a few moments that make him one of the major offenders in animated cartoondom. I'm posting a couple here, but with Warner Bros. being quite vigilant about protecting their copyrights, I promise you that they won't be here long, so watch them while you can.

The first is a propaganda film from 1942 where Bugs encourages the audience to buy war bonds. An interesting curiousity, in that it's so short, it has Bugs, Elmer, and Porky altogether, and for fifteen seconds, it has Bugs in blackface.



But that's nothing compared to this. Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips was released in 1944, at the height of anti-Japan sentiment, and it finds Bugs doing battle on a deserted island. Here's a sampling. If you don't know what's coming, I'm going to warn you, this is not the Bugs Bunny you grew up with.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

You're right, this Bugs is even funnier than the watered down version I grew up with. Thank you very much for sharing this video with us!