My favorite Bugs Bunny cartoon is connected to The Lord of the Rings. 'What's Opera, Doc?' is an animated salute to Wagner's operas; especially The Ring of the Nibelung. In this tale of Germanic intrigue lovers and friends get mixed up, there is a false sense of betrayal and then actual betrayal where someone dies. The 'ring' in this story is taken via invisibility cloak and gives its owner great strength. Sound familiar?
J.R.R. Tolkien (the author of The Lord of the Rings, if you are a paramecium and didn't know), was a scholar of Nordic and Germanic myths. From these myths Tolkien draws elements that are blatantly apparent in his novels and not just dragons and rings of power. The "Bromance" (a friendship that surpasses the normal domains of friendship, surprisingly no gayness suspected) is a mythic theme found throughout time. Achilles rides out to destroy Troy, because Hector killed Patroclus. Gilgamesh deals with death to save Enkidu. Sam carries Frodo up a volcano.
Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd are one of the few opposing forces that small children can identify besides mom and dad. In What's Opera, Doc? these two titans face off in a battle of wits and thunder. In the end however, death brings the two antagonists to the realization of the "Bromance" and regrets of opposition.
""Well, what did you expect in an opera? A happy ending?"
(p.s. an opera with a happy ending is called a musical)
J.R.R. Tolkien (the author of The Lord of the Rings, if you are a paramecium and didn't know), was a scholar of Nordic and Germanic myths. From these myths Tolkien draws elements that are blatantly apparent in his novels and not just dragons and rings of power. The "Bromance" (a friendship that surpasses the normal domains of friendship, surprisingly no gayness suspected) is a mythic theme found throughout time. Achilles rides out to destroy Troy, because Hector killed Patroclus. Gilgamesh deals with death to save Enkidu. Sam carries Frodo up a volcano.
Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd are one of the few opposing forces that small children can identify besides mom and dad. In What's Opera, Doc? these two titans face off in a battle of wits and thunder. In the end however, death brings the two antagonists to the realization of the "Bromance" and regrets of opposition.
""Well, what did you expect in an opera? A happy ending?"
(p.s. an opera with a happy ending is called a musical)
Comments
Post a Comment