Looney Tunes' Place in Contemporary Culture

[frizfrelengfan]

Anyone who doubts the impact of Looney Tunes on modern culture should just go to Google and click on "Language Tools". Google's interface is available in many languages. From the language tools page, scroll down to "Use the Google Interface in Your Language" - one of the available languages is Elmer Fudd. (Also available are Klingon and "Bork, bork, bork!", the Swedish chef on Sesame Street.)

[Daffysleftfoot]

Well, Looney Tunes' impact on society goes way beyond that Google setting. You just have to look at ALMOST EVERY FILM, TV SHOW, AND CARTOON MADE IN THE PAST 60-SOME YEARS to see it.

And anyone who can't see it or tries to deny it has no idea what they're talking about.

[Jaime_Weinman]

This is a little off the original subject, but with Looney Tunes having so much less of a presence on TV than they used to, and with plans to create new theatrical shorts constantly going under, I'm increasingly suspecting that these characters' primary place in contemporary culture may be in merchandising. That is, I think I see a generation of kids whose first exposure to the LT/MM characters is on merchandise, be it toys or shirts or lunchboxes. The characters are well-drawn and appealing and kids like them even if they haven't seen their cartoons.

I think that Looney Tunes Back in Action may have actually paid off for the studio in the long run by helping to keep the characters viable for merchandising (after stuff like Space Jam watered them down and made them seem less hip). I'm not saying this is a good thing, but I think there are kids today who will be watching the DVD sets and encountering characters they like, even though they haven't seen their cartoons, because they know them from their merchandise.

Or to misquote Bobby Hill (he was speaking about Jeff Gordon, but the principle applies): "Bugs Bunny's a cartoon star? I thought he was just a T-shirt model." :)

[frizfrelengfan]

It's sad. Kind of like what King Features and Fleischer Studios are doing with Betty Boop. Merchandise with Betty's picture are hot sellers, but you can't find the original cartoons on TV.