By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, B&R
For decades, Elmer Fudd terrorized Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny with his rifle.
Daffy and the “wascally wabbit” probably couldn’t care less that Elmer Fudd’s rifle has been taken away. His bullets always missed.
Now, in a new “reboot” of the classic cartoons, Elmer Fudd can be seen wielding a farmer’s scythe. That’s a recipe for nightmares.
Not only did Elmer lose his rifle, Yosemite Sam (another Warner Bros. carton legend) has lost his pistols. The new cartoon’s executive producer, Peter Browngardt, told USA Today on June 8 that “We’re not doing guns.”
Yet, blowing up people with dynamite and dropping Acme anvils on their heads is not violent. Go figure.
Political correctness has entered the cartoon world with a bang. Excuse the pun.
I was never tempted by Elmer Fudd to chase a “wabbit” or anything else for that matter with a gun. In my day, it was simply “make believe.”
I’m not that distraught that Elmer lost his gun. I can’t wait to see the commercial that comes out from a lawyer seeking damages against the filmmaker for taking away Elmer Fudd’s constitutional “wight” to bear arms.
Whether Elmer or Yosemite Sam have guns or not probably doesn’t matter to today’s children. I would imagine the only people who watch Bugs and Elmer anymore are people my age.
As a grandparent of young children, I’m more concerned about the realistic violence found on video games that children and teenagers play nonstop and on television and movie screens. The depiction of people killing others is far more dangerous than a wacky cartoon character who couldn’t shoot straight anyway. B&R
