Bugs Bunny

**Bugs Bunny** is the iconic main protagonist of the Looney Tunes franchise.

## Personality

He is a cunning, charismatic, and smart rabbit. These personality traits are what gives him an advantage over his enemies, rivals, and opponents. He is also known for his famous catchphrase; "Eh, what's up, doc?", which he typically uses as a greeting to anyone he encounters (usually while munching a carrot). Bugs is characterized as being clever and capable of outsmarting anyone who antagonizes him, including Elmer Fudd, Yosemite Sam, Willoughby, Marvin the Martian, Beaky Buzzard, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, the Tasmanian Devil, Cecil Turtle, Witch Hazel, Rocky and Mugsy, Wile E. Coyote, The Crusher, The Gremlin, Count Bloodcount, and a whole bunch of others. Bugs almost always wins these contentions, a story pattern which recurs in *Looney Tunes* cartoons directed by Chuck Jones. Concerned that viewers would lose sympathy for an aggressive protagonist who always won, Jones arranged for Bugs to be bullied, cheated, or threatened by the antagonists while minding his own business, justifying his subsequent antics as retaliation or self-defense. He's also been known to break The 4th Wall by "communicating" with the audience, either by explaining the situation (e.g. "Be with you in a minute, folks!"), describing someone to the audience (e.g. "Feisty, ain't they?"), clueing in on the story (e.g. "That happens to him all during the picture, folks."), explaining that one of his antagonists' actions have pushed him to the breaking point ("Of course you know, this means war."), admitting his own deviousness toward his antagonists ("Gee, ain't I a stinker?"), etc.

When Bugs made his appearance, he promptly replaced Daffy Duck as the most popular Warner Bros. character. Daffy, jealous of his cartoon counterpart's ascension to fame, has on many occasions attempted to dethrone the rabbit. But he has never truly succeeded, always being outsmarted by the clever hare.

However, as time passed on, Bugs and Daffy's rivalry has turned friendlier in nature as the two usually hang out together in most cartoons and Bugs considers Daffy his best friend despite his faults, to which Daffy says the same thing.

Bugs will usually try to placate the antagonist and avoid contention, but when a villain pushes him too far, Bugs may address the audience and invoke his catchphrase "Of course you realize this means war!" before he retaliates, and the retaliation will be devastating. This line was taken from Groucho Marx and others in the 1933 film *Duck Soup* and was also used in the 1935 Marx film *A Night at the Opera.*[57] Bugs would pay homage to Groucho in other ways, such as occasionally adopting his stooped walk or leering eyebrow-raising (in *Hair-Raising Hare,* for example) or sometimes with a direct impersonation (as in *Slick Hare*).

Other directors, such as Friz Freleng, characterized Bugs as altruistic. When Bugs meets other successful characters (such as Cecil Turtle in *Tortoise Beats Hare*, or, in World War II, the Gremlin of *Falling Hare*), his overconfidence becomes a disadvantage. Most of Bugs' adversaries are extremely dim-witted, and Bugs is easily able to outwit and torment them, although on occasion they will manage to get the best of Bugs. Daffy Duck, who is arguably more intelligent but less clever, is unaffected by Bugs' usual schemes, which usually results in the two trying to outsmart the other with Bugs always triumphing in the end. However, there are only 4 antagonists that successfully defeats Bugs in the end of the cartoon, such as Cecil Turtle, the Gremlin from *Falling Hare,* the unnamed mouse from *Rhapsody Rabbit,* and the fly from *Baton Bunny.*

During the 1940s, Bugs started off immature and wild (similar to Daffy), but by the 1950s his personality matured and his attitude became more refined and less frenetic. Although often shown as highly clever, Bugs is never actually malicious, and only acts as such in self-defense against his aggressors.

The only exceptions where Bugs ever serves as an antagonist are the following: *Elmer's Pet Rabbit*, *Wabbit Twouble*, *The Wacky Wabbit*, *Buckaroo Bugs,*and *Duck Amuck*; *Elmer's Pet Rabbit* depicts him completely out-of-character with a more aggressive, selfish, arrogant, almost thuggish personality. *Wabbit Twouble* and *The Wacky Wabbit* depict him as a prankster harassing Elmer Fudd in the vein of early Daffy Duck/Porky Pig cartoons featuring the screwball Daffy as the tormentor. *Buckaroo Bugs* depicts him as a true villain, while *Duck Amuck* depicts him as far more sadistic than usual, as he becomes an animator and uses his newfound powers to torture Daffy.

## Trivia

* Bugs and Daffy guest star in Thomas and Twilight Sparkle's Adventures Series.

## Gallery

Bugs with his Disney rival Mickey Mouse in Who Framed Roger RabbitBugs outsmarts Daffy and Elmer in Rabbit Seasoning.Bugs Bunny (New Looney Tunes)The Evolution of Bugs Bunny