Bugs Bunny

The prototype of Bugs Bunny is the nameless rabbit featured in the 1938 film Porky's Hare Hunt. Directed by Ben Hardaway and Col Dalton (who is not listed in the credits, but is nevertheless the initiator of the development of the rabbit character), this tape practically repeated the plot of the movie Porky's Duck Hunt, which was released a year earlier, directed by Tex Avery, with the exception that black the duckling was replaced by a white rabbit. The rabbit's character was expressive, and the actor Mel Blanck initially endowed him with a voice and crazy laughter, which he later used to voice Woody's Woodpecker (Woodpecker) .

Remaining nameless, the rabbit in 1939 appeared in two more films: “Prest-O Change-O” (directed by Chuck Jones) and “Hare-um Scare-um” (co-directed by Hardaway and Dalton). In the last cartoon, the color of the rabbit changed from white to gray. The main animator of the film, Charlie Thorson, was the first to give this character a name. He wrote “Bugs' Bunny” on a character sample ^[2] , which he painted for Hardaway, implying a rabbit (“Bugs rabbit” ^[3] ). Over time, the apostrophe and quotation marks were omitted, the nickname became a proper name, and the Bugs rabbit became the Bugs Bunny.

Animation historian Joe Adamson considers the first official appearance of Bugs Bunny on the screen to be short animated film by Tex Avery "A Wild Hare", released July 27, 1940 ^[4] . This tape first used the image of a rabbit that emerged from a rabbit hole and asked Elmer Fudd (in the role of a hunter): “What's the matter, Doc?” It was also the first meeting of both characters in their fully established design. In addition, the voiceover option used by Mel Blanc for Bugs in this film later became the standard and lasted forty-nine years until Blanc died in 1989.

Rabbits are the common name for several genera of mammals from the hare family. Rabbits are usually distinguished by the fact that their cubs are born blind and hairless, as well as shorter ears. Perhaps Bugs is a hare, as the name hare appears in the name of some cartoons. On the other hand, the word hare (in English “hare”) allows you to arrange a play on words (“hair”, “herr”, etc.). The word “bunny” will not help with the answer to this question, since this word refers to young growth of the order rabbit-like, however, in Russian literature it is most often translated as “rabbit”.

He personally tells the story of Bugs’s life and elevation on the screen in the animated cartoon “ What's up, Doc? ". He was born in an ordinary hospital in a family of rabbits whose names are not mentioned. Already when he was just starting to walk, he had a talent for music, and he was already professionally playing the piano, albeit a toy one. In a few months, Bugs entered a dance school, at school performances he was always chosen to demonstrate different dances. After graduating from school, Bugs decided to go to the actors, but initially only sang in the opening choir, and always the same song. But suddenly the star of the performance fell ill, and it was Bugs who was chosen to replace him. He squeezed everything out that night, but no one applauded him. He was returned back to the choir, but Bugs quit the theater, as he was only looking for a decent role.

The turning point in life was the day when Bugs met Elmer Fudd - the big star of Vaudeville, who at that time was looking for a partner for a new comedy number. Next to Bugs there were 4 more unemployed actors who tried to attract Elmer’s attention by improvisation, but he unexpectedly chose Bugs, who sat sadly on the bench and did nothing. Of course, Bugs agreed to cooperate. At first, Bugs was the object of jokes in the performances, but in New York he improvised improvised and avenged Elmer by doing all the jokes on him that he had made on Bugs earlier. Elmer immediately aimed Bugzu in the mouth of a gun (causing laughter from the audience), and he suddenly said out of fear, "What's the matter, dock?" This phrase made the audience applaud, after which Elmer and Bugs became Hollywood stars.

Lola first appeared in the cartoon Space Jam and was considered a romantic interest by Bugs according to the canon, where she was a beautiful sportswoman and a kind of sex symbol. True, the very incarnation of Lola has since appeared only in comics and a couple of games.

Everything changed with the introduction of Lola into the cartoon of the Looney Tunes Show , where not only Lola’s appearance radically changed (thanks mainly to the style of drawing), but also her character. Now she is an eccentric, crazy rabbit with a wild imagination and just the same obsessive love for Bugs (whom she affectionately calls Ban Ban). Bugs really liked her at their first meeting, when he still did not know anything about her; he just called it his ideal, and ... he made a big mistake in the end. At the very first date, Lola showed her strange jumps and Bugs decided that they should never meet again. Lola, however, was delighted with Bugs, and therefore it turned out to be such a great difficulty to get rid of her. As a result, having practically forced him to marry herself, the rabbit suddenly changed her mind right at the wedding, and said that she was in love with another.

Then, Lola returned to the series, and Bugs had to put up with it somehow. After long habits and humility, they nevertheless became a couple, where the sarcastic and calm Bugs was balanced by an abnormal rabbit. As it turned out, Bugs still retained feelings for Lola.

Fans of her character were divided into two fronts - the first liked the old incarnation of Lola from Space Jam, as she is a much more intelligent and attractive girl, in whose strength to fend for herself. The other half argued that Lola from SJ didn’t have a character and sexuality - that’s all that attracted fans. While Lola from LTS is really a funny, lively character and, which justifies the word "Looney", is pretty crazy. Disputes are ongoing to this day.

• 1988 - “ Who Framed Roger Rabbit ”
• 1990-1995 - The Adventures of Toons
• 1996 - Space Jam
• 2003 - “ Looney Tunes is back in business ”
• 2011-2015 - The Looney Tunes Show
• 2015-present - " Kvolik "

"What's the matter, doc" is a very simple thing. This is funny only because she is in a situation. It was a complete replica of Bugs Bunny. She was not funny. If you draw an analogy with people; one night you come home late, go to the gate in the yard, go through the gate and right into the front door, the door is half open and someone shoots in your living room. So what are you doing? You run away if you have even a drop of common sense, at least you can call the cops. But what if you come up, knock on his shoulder, look in and say, "What's the matter, doc?" You wonder what he does there. This is ridiculous. This is not what you say at such a time. So, I think that's why it's funny. In other words, this asks a perfectly reasonable question in a perfectly inappropriate situation.

- Chuck Jones ^[5]

Games with Bugs Bunny as the main character

• "The Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle" - a platform puzzle for NES , released by Kemko in February (in the US market in July) 1989
• "The Bugs Bunny Birthday Blowout" - an arcade game for NES , released for the 50th anniversary of Bugs Bunny Kemko in August (in the US market in September) 1990
• "The Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle 2" - an arcade game for Game Boy , released by Kemko / Nintendo in September 1991
• “ Bugs Bunny Rabbit Rampage ” is an arcade game for Super NES released by Sunsoft in February 1994.
• “Bugs Bunny in Double Trouble” is an arcade game for Sega Mega Drive and Sega Game Gear released by Probe Entertainment Ltd. / Atod AB / SEGA in 1996
• Carrot Crazy is an arcade game for Game Boy Color released by Infogrames Inc. in November 1998
• "Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle 3" - an arcade game for Game Boy Color , released by Kemko / Nintendo in 1999
• “Bugs Bunny: Lost in Time” is an arcade game for PlayStation and PC released by Behavior Interactive / Infogrames Inc. in 1999
• Bugs Bunny & Taz: Time Busters is an arcade for PlayStation and PC released by Artificial Mind and Movement / Infogrames Inc. in 2000
• “Looney Tunes Collector: Alert!” Is an RPG for Game Boy Color released by Infogrames Inc. in June 2000

Other Bugs Bunny Games

• "Acme Animation Factory" - a cartoon designer for Super NES , released by Sunsoft in November 1994
• “Looney Tunes B-Ball” is a sports simulator ( basketball ) for Super NES released by Sculptured Software, Inc. / Sunsoft in May 1995
• Space Jam is a sports simulator (basketball) for PC , Sega Saturn and PlayStation , released by Sculptured Software / Acclaim Entertainment in November 1996
• Looney Tunes Racing is a racing simulator for PlayStation and Game Boy Color released by Infogrames Inc. in November 2000
• “Looney Tunes: Space Race” is a racing simulator for Dreamcast and PlayStation 2 released by Infogrames Inc. in November 2000 (version for PS2 was released in March 2002 )
• “Looney Tunes Collector: Martian Revenge” is an RPG for Game Boy Color released by Infogrames Inc. in January 2001
• “Loons: The Fight for Fame” is an Xbox fighting game released by Infogrames Inc. in September 2002
• “Looney Tunes: Back in Action” is an arcade game for PlayStation 2 , Game Boy Advance and GameCube released by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment / Electronic Arts in November 2003
• “ Looney Tunes: Acme Arsenal ” is an arcade game for Wii , PlayStation 2, and Xbox 360 released by Redtribe / Warner Bros. Games in October 2007

• Lola bunny
• Duffy duck
• Woody Woodpecker