Poplore 101: What's up, Doc?
Bugs Bunny Instantly Becomes a Pop Culture Hero
It’s one of the most influential 8 minutes in American pop culture.
It begins with an iconic title sequence. A cartoon hunter with an endearing lisp turns to the camera to shush the fourth wall: “Be vewy, vewy quiet, I’m hunting rabbits.”
The hunter uses his folk wisdom to place a carrot in front of a hole in the ground. And that’s when we see him for the first time. Or more accurately, that’s when we see his anthropomorphized hand, inexplicably wearing a white glove…
After some misdirection, he raps Elmer Fudd on his bald head and asks “What’s up, Doc?”
It’s July 27, 1940, and America has just formally met Bugs Bunny. It’s not an exaggeration to say popular culture would never be the same. The list of characters that rival Bugs in enduring fame and popularity is a short one and even today his image and legacy are finding new forms of expression.
Bugs Bunny wasn’t just another cartoon character, he was a trickster god for a new pantheon, practically screaming out, “Lord, what fools these mortals be!”
It’s noteworthy that Bugs isn’t native to the forest in which Elmer hunts. In fact, Bugs is from Flatbush, New York (according to Mel Blanc), and his street-smart sarcasm feels much more at home in the urban jungle of the time. To wit: he’s a wiseguy. Elmer Fudd, whose name gives it away, is a salt-of-the-earth good ol’ boy jus’ tryna’ hunt him a wabbit. Rural vs. Urban, native vs. immigrant, WASP vs. Italian… these themes can’t be overlooked when considering the introduction of Bugs and Elmer.
But then World War II happened. And reflecting the social changes that were happening in real-time, Bugs and Elmer put down their antagonism to join the war effort. After all, Bugs Bunny was America and America didn’t back down from a fight.
And just like America, Bugs had no problem being a little racist in the process….
Emerging from World War II, a new national culture was coalescing and Bugs returned to his place as the king of the Warner Bros. pantheon.
In 1957, Bugs and Elmer were featured in an extended remake of Wagner’s classic opera, Der Ring des Nibelungen. The now-iconic short would be the first cartoon added to the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.
Through decades of reruns and media saturation, Bugs became one of the most popular characters in American culture, perhaps rivaling only Mickey Mouse. Each generation since 1940 grew up with Bugs Bunny and reimagined him as they deemed necessary. By the time of 1996’s SPACE JAM, it’s only appropriate that the first …uhhh… person…. Michael Jordan meets is Bugs Bunny.
Proving that traditional culture is not static, but dynamic, in the past few years, Bugs has taken on a new life as the subject of various memes.
Some, but not nearly all, examples:
and of course….
I loved Bugs Bunny! By the time I started watching in the post-WWII era, much of the overtly political themes had disappeared, or just went over my head. It was a smart comic, though, written/drawn so kids would take away (laugh at) one thing and adults another.