Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/06/09/elmer-fudds-gun-gone-in-new.html
…
3 Likes
Dare I say it… the issue was never about the gun but the violence overall? This is just as tone-deaf as before.
15 Likes
I’m sure this decision for a minor change to an accessory carried by a cartoon character in a children’s program will lead to a lot of level-headed and reasonable discussion overall.
28 Likes
As long as they didn’t CG in walkie-talkies, I’m cool with it. I’m sure some heads will explode with “PC gone mad!!!1!” nonsense. So, worth it.
4 Likes
Elmer actually failed a background check? who’da thunk it!
16 Likes
I’m trying to imagine Elmer Fudd searching the woods and saying, “Be vewy, vewy, quiet. I’m hunting wabbits,” while holding a magnifying glass in his hands. 
4 Likes
Regardless whether Elmer is armed, or not.
20 Likes
But we can do cartoony violence — TNT, the Acme stuff
Fudd chasing his nemesis Bugs Bunny with a scythe before the rabbit puts a stick of lit dynamite in the hunter’s mouth
It’s long bothered me that cartoons seem to use TNT and dynamite as synonyms.
5 Likes
“I used to hunt wabbits with a gun, but that was too viowent and scawy foah the chiwdwen. Now I hunt wabbits using my bayeh hands, and I stwangoh them untiow the wife fades fwom theyah eyes. Huh huh huh huh!”
34 Likes
And this… is my baggette-stick.
2 Likes
AC/DC must drive you up a wall
14 Likes
I … see?
Fudd’s gun never seemed to hit any target, Sam only fired his pistols in the air, never hitting anything. But, they gotta go, 'cause … “guns”.
On the other hand, Bugs can explode dynamite and TNT around Fudd, causing him bodily harm. And these are kept, 'cause … “grandfathered in”?
Sounds a mite hypocritical to me.
The Bugs Bunny / Looney Tunes / Merry Melodies cartoons were written primarily for adults (shown in movie theatres before the feature film) and adults understand that the actions performed by fictional, animated characters does not constitute “real life” violence. Children, not so much, I’m afraid. But, for the old cartoons, the “no guns” horse has left the barn, and it’s too late to make those films “correct” for modern times.
As for new Bugs Bunny videos, sure, remove the guns. But don’t be hypocritical about it; remove the bombs, dynamite, TNT, scythes, pitchforks, road races (Will E Coyote, I’m looking at you), and other “gratuitious violence”. That would be the “right” thing to do.
6 Likes
Welp, I just learned something.
Or wait, I guess the correct format is:
TIL that dynamite and TNT are not the same thing.
5 Likes
So… Bugs Bunny is no longer the lovable underdog but the bully?
He appears to be a bit of an ass in these cartoons especially to an unarmed Elmer.
5 Likes
New plots:
Fudd catches Bugs, then they sit together to sew a “Caring and Sharing Quilt.”
Bugs traps Fudd in a trap, makes him participate in a struggle session to acknowledge his privilege.
After a long chase, both find their safe spaces, listen to Holly Near albums together.
3 Likes
Yeah, Bugs was dominating the battle space pretty effectively.
4 Likes
goodunthink
Tom and Jerry’s gonna be fun.
2 Likes
Given the number of cartoons created in the past 20 years with major characters regularly involved in some form of battle (against aliens, monsters, other kids, etc.). I agree with you about the hypocrisy.
2 Likes
Well, I’d say the guns are a particular issue, but yeah, the violence overall was the problem and this doesn’t help. It actually is even worse than the cartoons I remembered - or at least the ones I liked. It’s at least far more gratuitous; there’s only the violence left. Fudd is no longer the bully with the firepower who Bugs must use his wits to survive and turn the tables on. Bugs is now just a heavily-armed bomber who responds to threats with a stream of attacks. Fudd is now reduced to a hapless half-wit who, for some reason, keeps running into danger despite facing a clearly better armed opponent.
The original cartoons, when they were good, were clever; if this is what they’re like now, they’re pretty dumb.
9 Likes
