Looney Tunes has been some of the least woke and most entertaining television content to occupy young skulls full of mush over the last half century or so. Yosemite Sam’s six-shooters and Elmer Fudd’s rifle were Saturday morning fixtures. Kids watched and loved them because they were dumb and funny, constantly outsmarted by their smart-assed prey.
But that wasn’t good enough for the people Warner Brothers animation. Last year, as Americans were buying record numbers of guns and ammo, corporate America was buying into the idea that toxic masculinity, the patriarchy, and white supremacy were what really ail this country. So WB’s wokesters decided that cartoon characters with guns just wasn’t in keeping with modern sensibilities.
The decision was made to do away with the ballistics and give ol’ Elmer a scythe instead. Because dismembering Bugs with a razor-sharp blade is far less damaging to young psyches than shooting the adorable bunny with a gun. Right?
Anyway, that was then…this is now. When the latest season of Looney Tunes Cartoons reappeared on HBO Max last week, there was Elmer chasing Bugs as he always had, boomstick back in hand.
The folks at movieweb.com don’t seem sure about the decision . . .
For better or for worse, the decision was made to give Mr. Fudd his guns back, and it wasn’t long before he put them to use. In the “Rotund Rabbit” segment of the season’s sixth episode, Elmer Fudd goes back to his roots by chasing after Bugs Bunny with his old hunting rifle. He shoots at the speedy rabbit, but because Bugs is so fast, the bullet stops itself in midair before announcing, “That’s it, I quit!” The bullet then puts on a hat and storms off with its briefcase.
New Looney Tunes Cartoons out today! Now with guns! https://t.co/YG2dJU1AaT
— Pete Browngardt (@peebgardt) July 8, 2021
Oh, the humanity!
It seems like only yesterday that series producer Pete Browngardt announced that “We’re not doing guns.” Apparently, we are again.
Maybe it was the metric f@ck-tons of ridicule that were heaped on Warner Brothers and HBO for disarming one of popular culture’s most-loved characters. Or maybe the stupidity of a hunter carrying a farming implement as he chased rabbits and ducks was too much even for seven-year-olds…and they decided to watch something else. Nothing changes corporate moral preening attitudes faster than a sudden drop in revenue.
Whatever altered the wokenistas’ minds at Warner, it’s good to see Elmer back tromping through the flora, rifle in hand once again. He isn’t any more likely to bag himself a wise-cracking wascally wabbit or a duck with a slight speech impediment, but it’s good to know he’s still trying. And doing it with the right tool for the job.