The Advocate
By The Advocate Business Writer
Organizers of the recently concluded Red Stick Animation Festival in Baton Rouge hope that the festival will encourage a local animation industry.
Coincidentally, up the road in Jackson, Miss., the University of Mississippi Press has released "Chuck Jones: Conversations," a collection of interviews with the cartoonist who perfected such Warner Bros. icons as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Wile E. Coyote and Pepé le Pew.
These interviews with Jones, who was 89 when he died in 2002, are a reminder of the laughter that Jones spread around the world.
Jones' early Warner Bros. cartoons were first shown as shorts in movie theaters. They later landed on television, where they became mandatory Saturday morning viewing for generations of youngsters. The cartoons continue on TV today, enjoyed by viewers of all ages.
"I dream about being Bugs Bunny," Jones once confessed, "but when I wake up, I'm Daffy Duck ... or the Coyote." Millions of us no doubt felt the same way, which explains the enduring appeal of Jones' artistry.
Who would not, after all, want to be Bugs Bunny, the animated rabbit who was always armed with the perfect rejoinder, the cunning comic line, the flawless scheme for extricating himself from a tight spot?
We admired Bugs, but we empathized with Daffy and Wile E. Coyote, two sad sacks whose foibles and foiled plans seemed all too human.
Daffy -- manic, vain, daring and, yes, daffy --found fellow travelers among all who've gone out on a limb, only to have it sawed off by a smarter adversary. And who has not secretly hoped that Wile E. Coyote, who endures repeated failures as he tries to engineer the perfect Road Runner trap, would one day get his prey?
Daffy and the coyote were healthy antidotes to the American religion of optimism, the Dale Carnegie philosophy that all things are possible, if only we try hard enough.
Jones popularized losers who nevertheless managed to win our hearts. He was, despite his modesty, every bit the equal of Bugs Bunny.
Publish Date:
05-04-2005
