The first five songs were really mediocre, though. Part of it was that the voices were not being performed by Mel Blanc, but a larger part of it was due to the fact that the songs were just kind of stupid. And then Song 6 came on: "The Halle-Looney Chorus." In which, as you've already guessed, the word "Hallelujah"-- as in Handel's Messiah--was replaced by the "word" "Halle-Looney." There might be a justification for this if Ms. Berry were involved or if there was some reference to the city in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt, but neither of those conditions were met, so it was just nonsensical and blasphemous. And I'm no pulpit pounder, but one of my core beliefs is that you show respect for The Other. Unless The Other is pissing in your face and your mustache is not on fire. So it really put me off.
So far off that I started thinking harder about Looney Tunes than I've ever thought before. And this is what I ended up with.
What I've Learned From the Looney Tunes Characters:
(1) Racism is Funny. (See, for example, "All This and Rabbit Stew," which is actually in the Public Domain, so I can save you the trouble of searching it out:
Of course that was long ago (1941), and, one could argue, far away from where we are today, but I remember seeing similar cartoons when I was a little Brother K, and I believe that more subtle elements of racism exist in cartoons today.
(2) Speech Disorders Are Funny. Think about how many of those characters have some kind of problem with their speech. Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Elmer Fudd, Sylvester the Cat . . . and all of the others that I can't think of at the moment.
(3) Stalking Women is Funny. Pepé Le Pew, anyone?
(4) Classical Music is Pompous and Silly. Yes, I know that you could argue that Looney Tunes introduced children to classical music. But that's kind of like saying that a flasher introduced you to sex education. For instance . . . like it or not (and it's Or Not for me), when I hear Rossini's The Barber of Seville Overture, I immediately see Bugs Bunny massaging Elmer Fudd's scalp. It's a desecration of a beautiful piece of art. To me it's like having Michelangelo's God handing Adam a Pepsi Max, which is just disrespectful of both art and religion.
(5) Violence is Funny. Not even necessary to discuss that one, is it? But you could add to it that there are no negative consequences for a "good" person who uses violence, so any level of violence is justified--from pushing an anvil off of a mountain onto somebody's head to shoving a stick of dynamite down his throat. It's all fair game. And besides, no one really gets hurt, right?
I will go to my grave loving many of the Looney Tunes characters. (Daffy and Foghorn Leghorn being my favorites.) And it's not that I want to sanitize everything that kids see. Not at all. But I think kids should know when they're being lied to. In fact, I think that should be the chief aim of education: to allow individuals to think for themselves to the extent that they can tell bullshit from a rose.
We have a long way to go on that one.
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