Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips is a 1944 Merrie Melodies short directed by Friz Freleng.
Plot
Somewhere in the Pacific, Bugs is floating inside a box, singing to himself. He encounters an island, swims towards it, and praises the peace and quiet, until bombs begin exploding. Bugs ducks into a haystack, but comes face-to-face with a Japanese soldier. The soldier chases Bugs all the way to a rabbit hole, where the soldier dumps a bomb inside. However, Bugs blows the soldier up with the bomb that he used. When the soldier tries to swing a sword at Bugs, Bugs appears as a Japanese general, but is soon recognized by his trademark carrot eating, prompting the soldier to ask him "What's up, Honorable Doc?"
Bugs jumps into a plane and the soldier also jumps into a plane. However, Bugs ties the soldier's plane to a tree, causing the plane to be yanked out from under him. The soldier parachutes down, but is met by Bugs in mid-air, who hands "Moto" some 'scrap iron' which causes the soldier to fall. Bugs paints a Japanese flag on a tree to denote one soldier down. Bugs runs into a sumo wrestler, whom he confidently faces off against. After being beaten by the sumo wrestler, Bugs dresses as a geisha girl and knocks the wrestler out, who paints a second flag on the tree before passing out.
Seeing a bunch of Japanese landing craft making their way to the island, Bugs thinks of a plan to get rid of all of them. He comes out in a 'Good Rumor' truck, which plays Mozart. Bugs hands each of the Japanese an ice cream bar with a grenade inside it, calling them racist slurs whilst doing so. All the Japanese are then killed by the explosions, except for one who was later killed after redeeming a 'free' ice cream bar from Bugs. Having painted dozens of Japanese flags on the trees denoting all the downed enemy, Bugs comments again about the peace and quiet saying "And if there's one thing I CAN'T stand, it's peace and quiet!"
Bugs spots an American battleship in the distance and raises a white flag, yelling for them to come get him, but they keep going. Bugs is then furious about it and then says "Do they think I want to spend the rest of my life on this island?" With this remark, a female rabbit dressed in a more Hawaiian outfit appears saying, "It's a possibility!" Finally, Bugs then pulls down the distress flag, lets out a wolf cry, and goes running after her.
Caricatures
Availability
The Golden Age of Looney Tunes Volume 1, Side 7, Bugs Bunny by Each Director
The Golden Age of Looney Tunes Vol. 7: Bugs Bunny by Each Director
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Goofs
- As Bugs jumps into a hole while running from the Japanese soldier, he somehow misses the hole and passes right through the ground.
Controversy
The Japanese American Citizens League protested the short's inclusion on the Bugs Bunny by Each Director VHS, feeling it was inappropriate to market it among the more standard, family-friendly shorts. While MGM/UA initially defended their decision, they later voluntarily pulled the tape and the box set containing it from distribution. Later printings of The Golden Age of Looney Tunes Volume 1 LaserDisc set replaced the short with "Racketeer Rabbit".
Bans
As a result of the LaserDisc withdrawal, Turner Entertainment banned the cartoon from television syndication in 1993 and is still banned to this day (even plans to have it air on the 2001 June Bugs that was supposed to have every Bugs Bunny cartoon ever made fell through when AOL Time Warner announced that twelve Bugs Bunny cartoons featuring racial stereotypes were going to be shelved. It was also going to air on a ToonHeads episode about the twelve banned Bugs shorts, but the series was canceled and the episode was shelved). In spite of this, the short did see limited broadcast on Toonheads during a special on World War II cartoons, but they were mostly clips as part of a montage showing just how cruel and offensive the Japanese caricatures were at the time.
