Bad Bugs Bunny, a retrospective on censored Warner Bros. animation — animation review

by Chris   ⋅   June 11, 2007   ⋅   Comment now   ⋅    RSS

Arguably HoleHead’s biggest draw, Dennis Nyback’s Bad Bugs Bunny commanded packed houses and sold out showings. A collection of banned Warner Bros. cartoons, shelved for the most part due to their overtly racist, sexist, and violent material (some since 1967), are rarely, if ever screened publicly. In fact, for fear of litigation, audience members are forbidden to reveal exactly which films they viewed at the screening. A once in a lifetime chance to see banned films? Exciting to say the least.

So, with vows of silence, how is one to review this? Well, might note that Nyback never mentioned the vow at the start of the show. Still, I would like to err on the side of caution. Discussed below are only those films Nyback admitted to San Francisco news outlets as being staples in his production. Those that he did not, I shall not name.

For all Nyback’s honorable intentions of exposing censored films, there’s a bit of a problem in Bad Bugs Bunny’s presentation. Namely, Nyback presents these cartoons without any sort of historical or social context. Before our screening he made mention that his show is intended to raise the veil on corporate censorship, while preserving part of our history, but never really presented a discussion why these materials were banned in the first place. Granted, it’s understood that the racist and sexist elements on display did warrant criticism, from both the public and the evil-corporations, but Nyback only mentions the role of concerned mothers (those nagging nettys) in the disappearance of the cartoons from the public eye. Instead of prepping the audience for thought and introspection as to the ugly historic implications of racism and sexism, as well as its affect on their own biases, it instead gets them riled up to see “fucked up cartoons the moralists and corporate pigs didn’t want you to see!”

As such, the films on display, all equally shocking in their callous depictions of Native Americans, blacks (Daffy Duck “yes massa”-ing as Elmer Fudd’s slave), Japanese, Arabs, and other racial groups, prompted some rather alarming responses from the audience. As the racist and sexist material become more shocking and tempered (proceeding from the simply violent “Hare Ribbin’” to the overtly racist “Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips”) the audience only cheered and clapped louder. One sequence in one cartoon (not named in the SF Chronicle, so I’m not naming it here), involving a mouse pimp beating his former prostitute girlfriend elicited huge bouts of laughter. The only line that drew any sort of shocked intake of breath was Bugs Bunny’s calling a Japanese soldier “slant eyes.” It’s worth noting there were a few pockets of intellectual holdouts, observing and noting without applauding, but these were in the minority…

At the program’s close Nyback came out again for a Q&A session. He made no attempt to further explore the material. No effort to ask the audience why they applauded so during and following sequences of moral questionably material, and no effort to discuss how racism and sexism manifest themselves, albeit more subtly, in current entertainments (see: Bruckheimer and Tarantino, as well as the current state of the corporate hip-hop scene). Instead Nyback fielded questions regarding the acquisition of his cartoons, Walt Disney’s ass-fetish, and Warner Bros.’ attempts toward stopping his other shows. He did divulge one interesting bit of material, however: That one of the program’s most offensive entries, “Coal Black and de Sebbin Dwarves” was actually a creation made with the input of the then contemporary black community. The animation was a return to black-ensemble animations, and, like “Tin Pan Alley Cats” was also a tribute to the Jazz community, featuring the voices and caricatures of famous black musicians. This is exactly the type of discussion I would have liked to see more of. Hopefully this last San Francisco screening was simply an off night.

Nyback’s Bad Bugs Bunny is one of the most important festival features one could hope to see, noteworthy in its aggregation and presentation of historic censored material, but audiences shouldn’t expect an evening of thoughtful discussion. See it for your own knowledge, but don’t be surprised if afterwards the viewing experience leaves you a little more wary of your fellow man. Note: Those of you who are so inclined can find some of the cartoons mentioned on YouTube (I found three last night). However, don’t be surprised if they’re not there for long.

About the Author

Chris Nelson has been a film fanatic since age six. A random sampling of some of his favorite films include Bring me the Head of Alfredo Garcia, Lady Snowblood, Kikujiro, and The 400 Blows. A former film and English major, he is now a Software Engineer and contract Technical Writer living in the Silicon Valley.

Related Articles

• Vexille (aka: Bekushiru: 2077 Nihon sakoku) — dvd movie review — early!
• Dragon Ball Z Double Feature - The History of Trunks / Bardock the Father of Goku — anime — guest dvd review
• Ragnarok the Animation Volume 2 — guest anime review
• Tokyo Loop — movie review — screener!
• Imagination — movie review
• Dreamlogic.net’s Ninja Favorites List