By Corey Lack
As someone who grew up watching the Looney Tunes, I was very excited to see that HBO was bringing the older versions back where it was more about zany, loony fun instead of cartoonish versions of modern situations. I was cracking up as I watched a few of the shorts available as previews online.
Then, I saw Dynamite Dance, the short that I had been hearing about for a while. It featured Elmer Fudd back in his well-known outfit once more trying to hunt Bugs while the “Wascially Wabbit” blew him up several times with dynamite he pulled out of nowhere in classic Bugs fashion. However, Elmer’s double-barreled shotgun, the weapon that makes sense when going hunting, is absent and replaced with a scythe of all things. It was a change that really stood out and seemed odd to do.
After doing some research, I found that it is in response to gun violence in America that made HBO decide to remove Elmer’s and Yosemite Sam’s guns from their shorts. Sure, anyone that saw the older shorts know that they can appear in shorts beyond their usual ones as a hunter or cowboy, but those are what they’re most known for and it takes a bit from them and the comedy by attempting to make them more politically correct.
That said, this is a minor change in general. The shorts are still very entertaining despite HBO’s attempt to make them more politically correct. Pest Coaster was certainly one of the best shorts released on Youtube, featuring Sam trying and, of course, failing to keep Bugs off of the roller coaster he’s in charge of running and it didn’t feature anything that might have made more sense to add a gun, so long-time fans will certainly not find much to complain about the new shorts. Any fans of the older shorts will certainly enjoy watching as Daffy messes with the cement-smoothing Porky or as Sylvester tries to eat Tweety and gets in his own way.
