Looney Tunes characters remain immensely beloved even as merchandise sales decline, and recent efforts like HBO Max series and Boomerang UK shorts to revive them aim to bring back some of their memorable chaos.
Chuck Jones cartoons were distinguished by their vibrant and intricate character animation. His animators excelled at building up gags before suddenly unleashing them for maximum comedy impact.
Bugs Bunny
YouTube and Netflix make it easy to become a Looney Tunes fan; new animated series are being released regularly, while classic cartoons remain accessible and entertaining to watch. But how should you start watching them all?
Bugs Bunny was one of the iconic characters featured in Wcofun during its golden era – an anthropomorphic rabbit with iconic status in American animation history.
Blanc was famed for his relaxed yet passive personality, Mid-Atlantic accent that fell somewhere “between Brooklyn and Bronx”, catchphrase of “Eh, what’s up doc?” as well as his signature white glove wearer habit and slapstick style of humor; often paying tribute to Groucho Marx through leering eyebrow-raising or stooped walking as seen in short “Long-Haired Hare”. On occasion he would even remove his glove entirely to challenge an opponent to a duel challenge before wearing his gloves in short films or short stories – giving audiences another way of seeing his character perform.
Daffy Duck
Daffy Duck was an unforgettable character in Looney Tunes history. At first, Clampett’s Daffy possessed more slapstick traits; later however he took on more villainous qualities.
Greedy to his core, he’s often jealous of Bugs and intent on taking over everything and everyone around him. Yet in one cartoon called Muscle Tussle he becomes attracted to an amphibious musclebound frog and wants to hire him!
Duck Twacy struggles to distinguish fiction from reality and often sees himself as the hero he imagines himself to be. Unfortunately, he’s notoriously lazy but shows some grace when his efforts at stopping Speedy Gonzales fail; hence his various aliases such as Duck Twacy, Stupor Duck, and China Jones.
Porky Pig
Warner Bros. Studios made Porky famous as one of its beloved characters – an endearing pink pig who speaks in stuttering sentences – yet his reign at the top was short-lived due to Avery pitting him against a plucky black duck named Peppy who soon overtook Porky as studio leader (until Bugs Bunny took his place). Freleng mocked this trend in You Ought To Be in Pictures (1940).
Steven Spielberg called this Oscar-winning cartoon “the Citizen Kane of animated shorts.” It follows an inebriated sheet music musical note as they attempt to stage a performance of The Blue Danube with more personality than many directors could achieve with human actors. Families can discuss how these early episodes reflect society’s tolerance for violence and racial stereotypes have changed since production of these early episodes.
Sylvester the Cat
Sylvester the Cat has been around since 1945’s Life With Feathers (although there may have been earlier appearances). One of the most prolific characters from early shorts, and also one of the first with voiceover, Sylvester became one of the first voices for early animated shorts.
Hector, his careless guard dog, often provides him with protection, while in some McKimson cartoons Sylvester becomes father to an unlikely son: Sylvester Junior. Perhaps most well known are shorts in which Sylvester chases Tweety birds without feathers for entertainment purposes.
Although these cartoons have been around for more than sixty years, they still remain just as humorous today due to retaining Bob Clampett and Tex Avery’s elastic animation style that made them so memorable.
Tweety Bird
Tweety is a yellow canary bird with a high-pitched voice who charms viewers through his charming personality and quick wit, winning hearts across generations. He often faces off against Sylvester the Cat who often finds him an opponent.
Bob Clampett started work on a short in 1945 that would pit Tweety against Friz Freleng’s black and white cat with its signature lisping dialogue, before having him toned down with adorable facial characteristics like larger blue eyes and yellow feathers for added charm.
Granny lives with Sylvester the Cat as part of her household in Canary Row, and is extremely protective of both. Granny often warns against him becoming vulnerable as Sylvester threatens.