COMM 3560 Assignment 7

COMM 3560 Assignment 7 | Tulane University

According to Paul Wells, the Looney Toons cartoons address new ideas and new pursuitsin the ideological realm.  The characters of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck interact with theaudience which was an experimental form compared to Disney’s more popular cartoons.Schlesinger became interested in the changes of the inner persona of his characters along withthe changes of society.  They are actors in their animations, not just the character the animatorassigns them in one episode.  According to Wells, “the ‘narrative’ and the ‘text’ often evidencinga contradictory or ambivalent stance in its embrace of what was essentially a reactionaryagenda.”  It has to do with this gap between text and narrative.  Each reader brings a differentversion of the novel to life as they read it.  According to Wells, “a literary work lies halfwaybetween the text written by the author and the ‘realisation’ of that text by the reader.”  The readermust fill in the gaps of the text for themselves.  Each individual reader will fill in the gaps his orher way.  When analyzing a cartoon, the focus cannot only be on the animator's intention, butalso on the viewer's response.  Many creators have deliberately pushed the gap, encouraging theiraudience to interact with the production continuously.  A common practice for cartoons is toleave the narrative unfinished.  While the animation ends, it does not provide a full narrativeclosure.  This allows more room for the viewer’s ‘realisation’ of the text in their mind.In “You Ought to be in Pictures,” it uses live-action film as the background and hasanimated cells on top.  It also gives live action actors cartoon voices, such as the security guard.

The overall piece puts on a specific dialogue with Hollywood.  This could be due to the WarnerBros trying to establish their identity within Hollywood.  Although there is a solid narrative, theanimation contains a lot of elements beyond the narrative, such as the excessiveness in the gags.For example, Daffy Duck sings “Figaro” in opera for a pretty long time in the short.In “Duck Amuck,” the short uses the background as a key plot point.  Daffy Duck goesfrom a colorful background to white space.  Daffy even asks the animator “where is the scenery.”As Daffy continues through the animator’s different scenes, he continues to change outfits andspeak to the animator.  The animator interacts with Daffy by erasing him and redrawing him.The short plays with the sound effects and edits it from sound to sound as Daffy tries to talk.  Atone point, Daffy asked for a close-up, and the animator cleverly does the literal meaning of hisrequest.  At another point, Daffy physically stops the well-known end title sequence. He interactswith the actual elements of the Merry Melodies series.  In the end, the camera pans out to revealBugs Bunny is the animator leaving the question of who is Bugs’ animator.  Not only are Bugsand Daffy actors in their animations, but also aware that they are performers.  They play the partsthey are cast for by the animator.