Apr 6, 2011

"Hmm that's funny, just all of a sudden I don't quite feel like myself!"










                                        Clip from "Duck Amuck". Image was taken from www.thelmagazine.com

The classic Daffy Duck episode, “Duck Amuck” is a cartoon both hilarious to cartoon lovers, and terrifying to cartoon ducks! The cartoon originally starts off as a spoof of “The Three Musketeers”, starring Daffy Duck. He lunges into the first scene, with his rapier in hand, and shouts “Stand back Musketeers! They shall sample my blade!” and begins to humorously duel with himself. But SUDDENLY! He finds himself in the middle of a blank page, and gestures for the illustrator to bring the original scenery back. But to Daffy’s discontent, the illustrator doesn’t bring back the original scenery, and instead, throughout the rest of the cartoon, tortures Daffy with a series of scene changes, sound effect alterations, and other various slapstick antics. The cartoon was produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons, and directed by Chuck Jones (one of the major cartoonists and directors of the day). Chuck Jones chose this plot revolving around random scene changes, for both comical and philosophical reasons. He wanted to prove a point, that a cartoon character can be recognizable simply by his or her personality, even if their voice, or physical appearance changes. Forty-one years after it’s initial release in 1953, “Duck Amuck” was nominated #2 in the “50 Greatest Cartoons of All Time”.   

-Jon 

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