In class this week, we focused on Warner Brothers. My favorite character  was Daffy Duck because he had a very strong personality. In "Duck Amuck" ( 1953) Daffy Duck was drawn and redrawn in front of the viewers' eyes, but his voice as well as his distinctive beak was still recognisable. I also found it more interactive because he had eye contact with the viewer in the sense that he appeared to be talking directly to the viewers. In the theatre this is known as breaking the fourth wall and this breaks the illusion that we are watching a cartoon. This makes it very different from the earlier animation we watched. Watching the artist drawing Daffy Duck with different costumes makes us think about how costumes affect the characterisation of a cartoon personality. For example, Donald Duck's trademark costume is a sailor's costume and Mickey Mouse has iconic red pants.

However, even when Chunk Jones turns a Daffy Duck into a flower, the character was still identifiable because the voice and personality remained the same. In this cartoon, Daffy Duck comes across as dissatisfied and angry.  Right before he is erased he says "Buster, it may come as a complete surprise to you to find that this is an animated cartoon, and that in animated cartoons they have scenery, and in all the years I've..."  Chuck Jones is playfully making the viewers think about our expectations about cartoon conventions.   By making Daffy Duck question the artist's intentions,  he is giving Daffy Duck a life beyond existing in the cartoon. Daffy is like an actor, who is trying to play his role right, but the stage designer, the costume designer and the director are all making fun of him.

It is interesting when he is erased, he never dies and he asks, " All right wise guy, where am I?" I am sure that i am not the first person to notice that this cartoon ask profound questions about our relationship to a creator and also the relationship between art and identity.  I recently watched a play called "Freud's Last Session" at the Esplanade where Sigmund Freud and C.S Lewis discuss the existence of god. In The Truman Show (1998), Jim Carrey's character is like Daffy Duck because he questions his surroundings and  the sets he is living in.  Like The Truman Show, the creator is revealed at the end of Duck Amuck and it is...Bugs Bunny. In 1955, Chuck Jones put Bugs Bunny and Elmer J.Fudd in a reverse situation in " Rabbit Rampage"