Frigid Hare

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Frigid1.jpg

Frigid Hare is a Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies short, released on October 8, 1949. This short directed by Chuck Jones and written by Michael Maltese, and features Bugs Bunny. This cartoon has been largely barred from TV showings because of complaints about its treatment of Inuit peoples, both in the (perceived) stereotypical way the hunter is drawn and when Bugs insults him by calling him a "big baboon" and an "Eskimo pie-head"[1]

Frigid7.jpg

Plot

While traveling to Miami Beach, Bugs Bunny misses the left turn at Albuquerque and ends up at the South Pole. As Bugs studied a map, a young penguin fled as an Inuit hunter knocked him down, then disappeared into the distance. The Inuit does the same, but he immediately returns to ask Bugs which way the penguin went. Bugs sends the hunter to the opposite direction. Bugs then finds that the penguin has grown attached to him. Desperately wanting to get back to his vacation, Bugs fools the penguin into thinking they will spend part of it together, Bugs then distracts the penguin and pushes the penguin down a snow slide. Unfortunately the penguin slides into the hunter's bag. Bugs starts to resume his journey, suggesting to himself that he isn't responsible for what happens, but is quickly overcome by his better nature ("Oh, always somethin'! I'll never get to Miami!") and, Bugs disguising himself as a female Inuit and followed by a chase and a close-call, he rescues the penguin. Bugs protests in grumbles because he only has four days of vacation left. Bugs learns from the penguin at the South Pole, the day is six months long. By that, means Bugs can stretch his four-day vacation until July 1953, Bugs go and accompanies the penguin on "a nice long formal vacation."[2]

The Controversy

The Inuit in "Frigid Hare" is not much different from other character that would chase after Bugs Bunny. He has the same scowls and bad temperament. It's just that he's an Inuit because the place set in South Pole, but the real Inuit doesn't lives in South pole. Unlike the treatment to black characters shown in previous Looney Toons, in this cartoon doesn't appear too much stereotyping. The Inuit isn't shown in a heavy racist manner as blacks were using a black-skinned look. He doesn't have some stereotypically racist preoccupation like gambling that often used for black characters but still portrayed as a bad guy who kidnaped an animal. Also the black skin color and big lips shown as stereotype.

Censorship

Despite being labelled as one of the 12 banned Bugs Bunny cartoons pulled from airing during the 2001 June Bugs marathon that was supposed to air every Bugs Bunny cartoon ever made, "Frigid Hare" was first aired on Cartoon Network during a special four hour installment of The Looney Tunes Show in February 2002 dedicated to Chuck Jones (who had died), albeit with minor cuts. When Cartoon Network first aired the short around that time, the "What an Eskimo pie-head" line was left uncensored. What was cut, was Bugs' line about not having to go back to work until July of 1953 after learning that the polar days and nights are six months long (it's commonly believed that the line was cut to keep the short from being dated, though other dated references in other Warner Bros.[3]

External Link

Watch Frigid Hare at Dailymotion
Frigid Hare at IMDb

References

  1. IMDB Trivia. Retrieved December 21, 2020
  2. Frigid Hare. Retrieved December 21, 2020
  3. Warner Bros Fandom. Retrieved December 21, 2020