Mickey or Bugs?
Reading the latest issue of Commentary just now, I started a book review, found myself thinking that it offered the most irresistible opening grafs I'd read in a couple of months, and then realized that the author was--of course!--Rob Long. The article lies behind the Commentary paywall, but here's the way our inimitable Mr. Long opens his review of The Oxford Book of Parodies:
For decades, comedy writers have puzzled over a
mystery: Why is Mickey Mouse more famous than Bugs Bunny? Mickey isn't funny or interesting. He cannot produce an anvil or a Carmina Miranda hat out of the air. All in all, his "good mouse" act is a toothless, nice-guy bore.
But Bugs, on the other hand, can do accetns, knows how to use basic weaponry, and looks terrific in drag....
And yet Mickey is the superstar, while Bugs is the comic character actor. Mickey is nice. Bugs is funny. You cannot, obviously, be both.
Gorgeous, no?
But I confess to wondering just a little about Rob's premise.
Which is it for you, O good people of Ricochet? Mickey or Bugs?
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Comments :
May '10
Re: Mickey or Bugs?
Bugs...or more specifically Looney Tunes instead of Disney. I am particular to Foghorn Leghorn and his pithy sayings..."That boy's about as sharp as a sack of wet mice!"
May '10
Re: Mickey or Bugs?
Is this the first Ricochet double post?
I grew up not really liking anything Disney much (ok, in 1972, I briefly wanted a MM watch, but...). Just never like the aesthetics of the color Disney characters--sue me. I still remember being traumatized by Disney cartoons being shown in a classroom during recess on rainy days in 5th Grade--just painful. I didn't like the last generation of Bugs Bunny cartoons either, but at least on local NY television, the older ones were on Channel 5 all the time. Bugs Bunny is clever, funny, and the artwork is interesting. So, Bugs Bunny eleventy!
Edited on Mar 5, 2011 at 10:44amJul '10
Re: Mickey or Bugs?
It's certainly possible to be both nice and funny.
I mean, not me personally. Just, you know, hypothetically.
Feb '11
Re: Mickey or Bugs?
When I was a kid, I never could understand why there was a Walt Disney World but no Bug Bunny world. Mickey sucked. All those princess stories were lame, etc. etc. Bugs could best gangsters, foil foolish hunters, outwit "Super Geniuses", defy gravity, and save the earth from annihilation. Mickey? Nice song kid. Next.
Then I grew up and became a parent. Now I understand why I don't want to glorify a wisecracking wascally wabbit to my kids.
Bugs is still waaayyy cooler tho.
Dec '10
Re: Mickey or Bugs?
Lil Baby Huey. As a matter of fact, that is what I was dubbed on my HS rugby team.
Nov '10
Re: Mickey or Bugs?
I would definitely prefer to watch a Bugs Bunny over a Mickey Mouse cartoon. In fact, I'm not sure if I've ever seen a Mickey Mouse cartoon. Why then, is Mickey's fame greater than Bugs? Simple. Whereas Bugs is truly an entertainer, Mickey is an accomplished corporate pitchman. Mickey Mouse is the friendly face of the Disney empire. When people think fondly of Mickey, they aren't thinking of any movies or TV shows that Mickey has actually been in. They are thinking of the fun they had at Disney World, or of some great movie (usually Pixar) that DIDN"T star Mickey. Bugs Bunny is hugely entertaining by himself, but he's eclipsed by the mouse who is the face of a beloved part of Americana the world over.
Aug '10
Re: Mickey or Bugs?
As I mentioned earlier. Mickey is graphically designed to solicit more empathy and fills the role of the "Everyman" in his cartoons. Bugs, on the other hand, is a manifestation of the Coyote/Loki myth. Never is his role as Trickster/Loki better exhibited than in his "Kill the Wabbit" and "Barber of Seville" skits.
Coyote/Loki is a more interesting character than Jack of Jack and the Beanstalk.
That said, with rare exception ("Iron Giant"), the Disney movies are vastly superior to the Warner animated film offerings. Movies like "Lilo and Stitch," "Sleeping Beauty," "Tarzan," "Snow White," and "Cinderella" are wonderful and sincere in their narratives.
BTW, there is a "Bug Bunny Land" it's called Six Flags Magic Mountain.
Re: Mickey or Bugs?
Folks, I apologize: James Lileks just sent me an email pointing out, in a very friendly way, as is, of course, his want, that Ricochet already did the Mickey versus Bugs thing this past week. That would have been during the several days I was bouncing around Washington, so busy that--I admit--I failed to check the site.
On the other hand, my post just now has already produced five wonderful comments, so what the heck. I wouldn't make a practice of this, but Mickey and Bugs? Evidently they stand up to the repetition.
Jun '10
Re: Mickey or Bugs?
Bugs is the typically, wise-cracking New Yorker complete with accent and attitude that was so appropriate for WWII anti-Nazi propaganda. In Casablanca, Rick Blane's lines to the Nazis could easily have been spoken by Bugs: "Are my eyes really brown?" and "There are some sections of New York I'd advise you not to try to invade." Of course, both were products of the same studio. "What's Opera, Doc?" certainly my favorite.
Mickey went through numerous physical changes over time (very Darwinian...couldn't resist) and was the straight man to Goofy, Donald, Pluto, etc. The Disney studio realized that Mickey was getting rather boring even early on which is why Walt and the animators surrounded him with other more "animated" characters. But it's difficult not to have a soft spot in one's heart for Mickey, given that, as legend has it Walt came up with him on train to California with only a few dollars in his pocket and then built an empire with the cute little rodent. And of course, Walt was the voice of Mickey for several decades and watching film of him doing the voice work is priceless.
Edited on Mar 5, 2011 at 11:00amMar '11
Re: Mickey or Bugs?
Who's the leader of the band that plays for you and me [sic]? M -I -C -K -E -Y M -O- U -S -E! It's still fun to say after 55 years. Is there any other song you can remember from when you were four like it? Is there another song you can remember from when you were four, period? Is there any TV singer sexier than Annette Funicello? I am a member of the Mickey Mouse Club since 1954, still proud of it and have a picture of myself with my new official Mickey Mouse to prove it. These kind of lit-crit debates about Mickey vs Bugs can get tedious if you're not careful. But singing, "Who's the leader ..." never does. I dare you to rey it and prove me wrong. Well, everyone admits Disney was a genius. Who can explain genius? Maybe that's part of the explanation for Mickey's poularity. Maybe we can forget the lit-crit for a while and just enjoy our enjoyment of a creative genius.
Jul '10
Re: Mickey or Bugs?
Peter, never, ever apologize. When we smell weakness, it sends us into a feeding frenzy.
Jul '10
Re: Mickey or Bugs?
Having been introduced to television quite a bit later than other kids, I never got the cartoon thing. I'd be visiting someone's house and the kids would be gathered around watching cartoons and I just felt so alien. It seemed like they all knew some language I didn't because they'd laugh at something that just totally went right past me.
Same thing with comic books. The only one that interested me was Archie, but frankly, that was because I could make naughty tracings of Betty and Veronica.
Feb '11
Re: Mickey or Bugs?
Kenneth
Peter, never, ever apologize. When we smell weakness, it sends us into a feeding frenzy. · Mar 5 at 11:15am
As soon as I saw that comment I actually took out my knife and fork
Dec '10
Re: Mickey or Bugs?
Let's recall that both Mickey and Bugs came out of the shorts that were supposed to entertain film audiences between features. Walt Disney and Warner-Vitaphone went head to head when films gained sound, Disney with "Silly Symphonies" and Warners with "Merrie Melodies," both innocuous ways to show off cartooning with music. (Max Fleischer was already way ahead in presenting adult-targeted characters like Betty Boop dancing to popular jazz tunes, with choreography based on rotoscoping Cab Calloway and other trend-setters.)
Disney kept its cartoons more G-rated, while Warners went for a zanier, snappier, more sarcastic PG vibe, with wilder visuals. And Walt Disney decided to bet his company on the notion that the movie-going public would sit through a feature-length cartoon, and chose a fairy tale. The only other person willing to make an animated feature was Fleischer, and he also chose a children's story about Raggedy Ann and Andy.
Warners and M-G-M both stuck to shorts and went even harder for adult-friendly humor. But in the 1950s, they were stuck in movie theaters while Walt Disney took Mickey onto the new medium of television.
Jun '10
Re: Mickey or Bugs?
Bugs, not even close. And despite Mel Blanc's incredible ability to mimic the classic New York accent, he was born in San Francisco and raised in my hometown of Portland, Oregon. He and Matt Groening (of The Simpson's fame) both grew up in Portland and went to the same high school. How that happened, I don't know. The old story goes that teachers were driven crazy by Blanc because he used to do the Woody Woodpecker laugh everyday in the halls of the school. I don't see how anyone could ever top him. His range was incredible. And nowadays, don't you just wince when you hear the modern voices of the Warner Brothers characters? His son gave it a shot at some of them, but it is impossible to duplicate the master.
Dec '10
Re: Mickey or Bugs?
Bugs Bunny hands down. The mouse had more seniority and better marketing, but I always preferred the humor of bugs and his gang to Disney.
Dec '10
Re: Mickey or Bugs?
Neither, frankly. At the risk of sounding snobby, I stopped being interested in cartoons when I discovered girls. Around the age of twelve.
Nov '10
Re: Mickey or Bugs?
Another layer of the onion falls away...lol. (They were pretty hot)
Jul '10
Re: Mickey or Bugs?
Risky
Another layer of the onion falls away...lol. (They were pretty hot) · Mar 5 at 12:15pm
Pulchritudinous, even. I suspect they were modeled on Betty Gable and Veronica Lake. Given that the thing was essentially a paper sitcom, the illustrators knew how to spin it to the natural interests of adolescent boys..
Edited on Mar 5, 2011 at 12:37pmJan '11
Re: Mickey or Bugs?
Me too. Television became widespread in our neighborhood when I was in, oh, second or third grade, and the first thing I noticed about its advent was that suddenly none of the other kids wanted to go down to the creek or explore the woods after school - they wanted to stay indoors and watch Mickey Mouse Club.
So I'm prejudiced here. Mickey took my companions away.