Bugs vs Mickey

[calisota]

This is kind of an odd question and I'm not sure exactly how to ask it, so please bear with me.

I remember as a kid being able to watch Warner Bros. cartoons on a regular basis on TV. Disney cartoons on the other hand seemed to only be shown on the "Wonderful World of Disney" and, even then, not every week. This was before any regular Saturday morning Disney cartoons and when they only seemed to be making features rather than shorts.

Even as a kid I found myself enjoying the Warner Bros. ones more than the Disney. My love of the Disney characters came from the comics more than the cartoons and to me Donald Duck was a much richer and more real character in those pages than he was on the screen. The Bugs Bunny and Road Runner cartoons seemed to me to have more humour and more spontaneity than the Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck ones. Sort of like the difference between beer and wine. Bugs was to be thrown back and enjoyed while Mickey was to be cellared and savoured.

My question? Don't know if I have one specifically, just interested in people opinion on the differences between the 2 studios and their favourite shorts.

Greg

[KeithS]

Now - I could get seriously flamed here given this is a Disney forum, so let me put on my peril sensitive sunglasses

Now I am a massive fan of Disney Animated features, right back to Snow White. But when it came to Disney shorts...well... I was not really that impressed...Sure they are technically fantastic, but subject wise they tended to be a little strange, or slow, or...boring...

Now, when we talk about the Warner shorts - they were fast, punchy and funny (of course I am a male, so I naturally like violence in cartoons!) and they had continuing characters I could associate with. Technically, they had nothing on Disney shorts - but story wise they were king.

Of course - I am a beer man, rather than a wine man...

So, that's my two cents worth - now fire away!


KeithS

[calisota]

Keith, I am so glad to find that I am not the only one with this opinion. I was trying to stir up a little discussion and didn't really expect anyone to agree with me.

Have you ever read "Chuck Amuck" by Chuck Jones? It's fascinating to read of the differences in the atmospheres at the two different studios. Disney seemed to have a much more rigid "lets polish it until it's perfect but has no life" attitude, while Warners were left pretty much on their own to do whatever they thought worked.

There is the famous quote from the guy in charge of the animation section at the time, Eddie Selzer, when he found a few of them laughing at a story board, "What in the hell does all of this laughter have to do with the making of animated cartoons?". Jones said that it was this sort of friction that encouraged them to make better and funnier cartoons. I can't imagine Walt saying something like that.

The trouble is this is not going to make for very interesting discussion with just the two of us agreeing so there must be someone who is willing to defend the honour of Disney against we two heathens.

I may have to start a topic on how much I hate Mickey Mouse.

Greg

[Als Gal]

I just don't believe you two!

Warner Bros are fine to watch if you have absolutely NOTHING else to do, and for brain-dead box-watching nothing beats it, but how about something you can relate to? How abut something with a story and a meaning? How about something with a bit of character instead of the same tired jokes churned out time after time????

Thoroughly disgusted by the pair of you....

[KeithS]

Thoroughly disgusted by the pair of you....

Haha - Als Gal - that's funny, I'll take you back to my post:

I am a male, so I naturally like violence

Warners satisfied my cro-magnon needs

It is a bit like me watching a movie like "Sense and Sensibility" - I am always waiting for the explosions and the helicopters...and they just never come...

While the girls are gushing over the female lead's struggle with emotion, I'm checking the fluorescent hands of my watch, wondering how much longer this tripe goes on for (and wondering where the explosions, helicopters and machine guns are...hmmm, I must have walked into wrong movie...)

Still, unlike Calisota - I'm not completely anti-Mickey (peace offering...) I think he plays a big part in building atmosphere for the Disney company and the parks. I just don't like his shorts (no...not the red ones he wears - they are okay...I mean the animated shorts...)





KeithS

[calisota]

but how about something you can relate to? How abut something with a story and a meaning? How about something with a bit of character instead of the same tired jokes churned out time after time????

I think the thing I disliked about the Disney shorts (and keep in mind here that I am talking about the shorts not the features) was that they seemed to have all the character polished out of them by the "animation by committee" style of creation.

For character how can you go past Daffy (Duck season!), Sylvester or Pepe? The reason that Mickey disappeared from the shorts was that once they took the early "warnerbrotherish" streak out of him they found he had no character.

And what is with the shorts? Even in the current Mickey Mouse comics (yes I buy them along with the Duck ones ) he's still shirtless and only wearing a pair of red shorts even though it's a completely modern setting and everyone else is clothed normally.

Greg