Controversial Merrie Melodies short, directed by an uncredited Tex Avery, notable today for being one of the Censored Eleven. For those who don't know, the Censored Eleven are cartoons that were withheld from syndication because they were considered to be too offensive due to their use of racial stereotypes and imagery. The plot to this one is not all that different from many other Bugs Bunny shorts -- Bugs is being pursued by a hunter and easily outwits him at every turn. The difference here is the hunter is not Elmer Fudd but a black Stepin Fetchit-type racist caricature. Not the kind of thing a lot of today's audience, particularly the younger ones, will be able to stomach for very long. I'm picturing some poor Millennial seeing this and blowing a gasket because he doesn't know what hashtag to use to properly convey his outrage.
Anyway, yes it's a product of its time and, yes, it's offensive. It's also particularly unfunny and surprisingly unimaginative, considering it's a Tex Avery cartoon (one of his last at WB before heading to MGM). There's a mean-spiritedness to it that makes it worse than most of the other Censor Eleven, I think. In most of them, the offensive images are not the main focus of the cartoon. Here, though, the only laughs come from making fun of black people through ugly stereotypes. I'm far from a politically correct person but I find that to be pretty gross. Still, it's not quite as bad as Angel Puss. This is a cartoon you might want to take a look at if you're interested in the history behind it, or if you're an Avery or Bugs completist. Outside of that I can't see any reason you might want to watch this.
Anyway, yes it's a product of its time and, yes, it's offensive. It's also particularly unfunny and surprisingly unimaginative, considering it's a Tex Avery cartoon (one of his last at WB before heading to MGM). There's a mean-spiritedness to it that makes it worse than most of the other Censor Eleven, I think. In most of them, the offensive images are not the main focus of the cartoon. Here, though, the only laughs come from making fun of black people through ugly stereotypes. I'm far from a politically correct person but I find that to be pretty gross. Still, it's not quite as bad as Angel Puss. This is a cartoon you might want to take a look at if you're interested in the history behind it, or if you're an Avery or Bugs completist. Outside of that I can't see any reason you might want to watch this.