Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips

Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips is a 1944 Merrie Melodies short directed by I. Freleng.
== Plot ==
Somewhere in the Pacific, Bugs is floating inside a box, singing to himself. He encounters an island, swims towards it, and praises the peace and quiet, until bombs suddenly begin exploding. Bugs ducks into a haystack, but comes face-to-face with a Japanese soldier. The soldier chases Bugs all the way to a rabbit hole, where the soldier dumps a bomb inside. However, Bugs blows the soldier up with the bomb that he used. When the soldier tries to swing a sword at Bugs, Bugs appears as a Japanese general, but is soon recognized by his trademark carrot eating, prompting the soldier to ask him, "What's up, Honorable Doc?"
Bugs jumps into a plane and the soldier also jumps into a plane. However, Bugs ties the soldier's plane to a tree, causing the plane to be yanked out from under him. The soldier parachutes down, but is met by Bugs in mid-air, who hands "Moto" some 'scrap iron' which causes the soldier to fall. Bugs paints a Japanese flag on a tree to denote one soldier down. Bugs runs into a sumo wrestler, whom he confidently faces off against. After being beaten by the sumo wrestler, Bugs dresses as a geisha girl and knocks the wrestler out, who paints a second flag on the tree before passing out.
Seeing a bunch of Japanese landing craft making their way to the island, Bugs thinks of a plan to get rid of all of them. He comes out in a 'Good Rumor' truck, which plays Mozart. Bugs hands each of the Japanese an ice cream bar with a grenade inside it, calling them racial slurs whilst doing so. All the Japanese are then killed by the explosions, except for one who was later killed after redeeming a 'free' ice cream bar from Bugs. Having painted dozens of Japanese flags on the trees denoting all the downed enemy, Bugs comments again about the peace and quiet saying "And if there's one thing I CAN'T stand, it's peace and quiet!"
Bugs spots an American battleship in the distance and raises a white flag, yelling for them to come get him, but they keep going. Bugs is then furious about it and then says "Do they think I want to spend the rest of my life on this island?" With this remark, a female rabbit dressed in a more Hawaiian outfit appears saying, "It's a possibility!" Finally, Bugs then lets out a wolf howl, pulls down the distress flag, and goes running after her.
== Musical Cues ==
* "Someone's Rocking My Dream Boat" by Leon and Otis René
* “Aria: Der Vogelfänger bin ich ja (Papageno, the Bird Catcher)” from Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
== Caricatures ==
* Hideki Tojo
* Dorothy Lamour
== Availability ==
Golden Age LT Vol 1.jpg|(1991) LaserDisc The Golden Age of Looney Tunes Volume 1, Side 7, Bugs Bunny by Each Director (original version, recalled)
The golden age of looney tunes vhs 7.jpg|(1992) VHS The Golden Age of Looney Tunes Vol. 7: Bugs Bunny by Each Director (original version, recalled)
== Goofs ==
* As Bugs jumps into a hole while running from the Japanese soldier, he somehow misses the hole and passes right through the ground.
== Censorship ==
In February 1995, four years after the release of the first volume of The Golden Age of Looney Tunes, The Japanese American Citizens League protested the short's inclusion on the Bugs Bunny by Each Director VHS, feeling it was inappropriate to market it among the more standard, family-friendly shorts included on the set. While MGM/UA initially defended their decision, they later voluntarily pulled the tape and the box set containing it from distribution while recalling preexisting sets. Later printings of The Golden Age of Looney Tunes Volume 1 LaserDisc set replaced the short with "Racketeer Rabbit".https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1995/02/17/wwii-cartoons-pulled/f190dd30-5da9-4e7a-ba92-52edb9fd2f45/?utm_term=.a818041b7f8c Approximately 8,000 copies of the aforementioned LaserDisc set with this short were sold.
As a result of the LaserDisc withdrawal, Turner Entertainment withheld the cartoon from airing on television since 1995. Likewise, this cartoon was part of the "Twelve Missing Hares" that were barred from airing on Cartoon Network's June 2001 Bugs marathon due to heavy Japanese ethnic stereotyping and World War II references.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHNTv3oQoE8 As with the other members of the "Twelve Missing Hares" as described in the unreleased ToonHeads episode, it was originally intended to air in the marathon, but was pulled due to executive backlash from AOL Time Warner.
In spite of this, the short did see limited broadcast on ToonHeads during a special on World War II cartoons entitled "The Wartime Cartoons", but only in clips for three montages:https://archive.org/details/toonheadsthewartimecartoons 
*One about how World War II cartoons had gags about and references to scrap metal recycling (the clip used was Bugs handing an anvil to a Japanese pilot parachuting down and saying, "Here's some scrap iron for Japan, Moto!").
*Another that showed how Japanese caricatures in cartoons were unflattering and cruel (the clip used was Bugs handing a Japanese soldier a round bomb).
*The montage at the end that explains that, because of the outdated references and outrageous stereotypes, most WWII-era cartoons from Warner Bros., MGM, and Fleischer Studios are rarely shown on American television (the clip used was Bugs dressed as a geisha and flirting with the sumo wrestler).
==Notes==
*This cartoon lacks a visible MPPDA number on screen.
*The sequence of Bugs adrift on the ocean would later be reused in "Gorilla My Dreams" and "Rabbitson Crusoe", the latter also being directed by Friz Freleng.
*This is the final Friz Freleng short to feature Bugs' original 1940 design created by Bob Givens, though director Chuck Jones would continue using his modified version of this early Bugs design up until "Hair-Raising Hare". Likewise, it is the last appearance of Bugs Bunny's original animation for the Warner Bros. shield animation in the opening rings, although it would later be reused, albeit reanimated, in "Hare Trigger".
*In the segment from Saturday Night Live's TV Funhouse, The X-Presidents, the segment paid homage to this cartoon when satirizing the pros and cons of propaganda cartoons.https://youtu.be/fTxI3mRWTSw?si=3pf1NwYB72fQyEot
== Gallery==
BugsBunnyNipstheNips Lobby Card.png|Lobby card
196550 10150149476588926 223597233925 6497382 5370863 n.jpg|Lobby card
Tumblr mw0vam4amW1s92nono1 1280.jpg|Model sheet
File:Nips the Nips.jpg|Animation drawing
File:BugsBunnyNips0284 25 980.png|Animation drawing
File:Screenshot 2024-02-03 111248.png|Animation drawing
File:Screenshot 2024-02-03 111252.png|Animation drawing
File:Screenshot 2024-02-03 111255.png|Animation drawing
File:Screenshot 2024-02-03 111258.png|Animation drawing
File:Screenshot 2024-02-03 111302.png|Animation drawing
File:Screenshot 2024-02-03 111306.png|Animation drawing
==References==
es:Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips
Category:Bugs Bunny Cartoons
Category:Cartoons directed by Friz Freleng
Category:Shorts
Category:1944
Category:Wartime Shorts
Category:Merrie Melodies Shorts
Category:Cartoons written by Tedd Pierce
Category:Cartoons with music by Carl W. Stalling
Category:Cartoons with layouts by Owen Fitzgerald
Category:Cartoons with orchestrations by Milt Franklyn
Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Mel Blanc
Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Bea Benaderet
Category:Cartoons with film editing by Treg Brown
Category:Cartoons with sound effects edited by Treg Brown
Category:Cartoons produced by Leon Schlesinger
Category:Cartoons in a.a.p. package