"Rabbit Seasoning" Review

The story revolves around three characters. Daffy Duck, trying to get through duck season without getting shot, posts signs that say, "rabbit season" everywhere in the woods so that the hunters will know to hunt for rabbits. Elmer Fudd, the little hunter, is trying to shoot a rabbit when Bugs Bunny comes out of the rabbit hole. He cleverly twists the duck’s words, mixing up his pronouns to get the hunter to shoot the duck. Daffy Duck keeps tripping over his words, trying to get the hunter to shoot Bugs Bunny but saying, “shoot me now! Shoot me now!” instead, constantly getting shot in the process. It is one repetitive action throughout the whole short film, but each time he gets shot, something different happens to the arrangement of his break and he keeps having to set it back.

Daffy Duck's exaggerated rage is also sure to give the audience quite a laugh. We can tell that he will never succeed in getting Elmer Fudd to shoot Bugs Bunny, but the things he tries and the effort he puts into it is hilarious when matched with the repeated failures.

While that was all fine and dandy, what about the characters? It's no question that Bugs Bunny's clever ways that get him out of trouble make him a lovable character. But what are children watching this going to learn from him? The sly, clever way to trick people into stepping on their own traps? Taking pleasure in watching another person suffer the consequences of trouble as long as it means they themselves are out of it? They're going to begin enjoying the world of trickery and deceit. And what about Daffy Duck? Is his uncontrollable rage really the way we want to get kids to laugh nowadays? Anger issues?

The cartoon opens with a string of words that say: "If you're looking for fun, you don't need a reason, all you need is a gun, it's rabbit season." This phrase is essentially saying there is no reason, no boundaries when you want to have fun. It promotes aimless, shameless fun. The youth of this generation are going to grow up thinking it's okay to do whatever you want in the name of fun. They should be learning that there are risks to certain activities and even though they might think they're fun at the moment, if they're dangerous or harmful or destructive, it's not worth it.