His bad attitude, like his accent, is pure Brooklyn. His carrot-chomping nonchalance can be traced back to Clark Gable in It Happened One Night. (Though some have likened his carrot to the cigar of that other great anti-authoritarian movie comic, Groucho Marx.) His insouciant catchphrase, “What’s up, Doc?”, rings down through the ages. His voice, as created by the great Mel Blanc, is unmistakable. He’s the most beloved bad example for kids this side of Bart Simpson, though his exploits have been even more outrageous and have gone on much longer.
He debuted in the 1940 cartoon short “A Wild Hare” and soon supplanted Porky Pig as the avatar of Warner Bros. animation and as the mascot of the whole company. He’s unflappable in any tricky situation, whether he’s fighting off a Martian invasion, evading Elmer Fudd’s shotgun, or playing basketball with Michael Jordan (in Space Jam, one of his rare feature-length efforts). He’s what all Americans imagine ourselves to be: brash, unstuffy, resourceful, funny, triumphant. Let’s face it, Bugs Bunny is America.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qv2or3kIuq0]