Duck Amuck
Encyclopedia
Duck Amuck is a surreal animated cartoon
directed by Chuck Jones
and produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons
. The short was released in early 1953 by The Vitaphone Corporation, the short subject division of Warner Bros. Pictures, as part of the Merrie Melodies
series. It stars Daffy Duck
, who is tormented by a seemingly sadistic, initially unseen animator, who constantly changes Daffy's locations, clothing, voice, physical appearance and even shape. Pandemonium reigns throughout the cartoon as Daffy attempts to steer the action back to some kind of normality, only for the animator to either ignore him or, more frequently, to over-literally interpret his increasingly frantic demands.
In 1994, it was voted #2 of The 50 Greatest Cartoons
of all time by members of the animation field, losing only to What's Opera, Doc?
Historians and fans consider Duck Amuck to be Daffy Duck's magnum opus, and What's Opera, Doc? to be Bugs's, so the positions at #2 and #1 are appropriate. The short was included on Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 1
.
A Nintendo DS
game, Looney Tunes: Duck Amuck
was made after it.
as a musketeer
, who boldly acts out an action scene with a fencing foil. As he thrusts the foil and advances, the background abruptly disappears, leaving a plain white screen. Confused by this, Daffy turns to the animator and asks him to complete the background. He walks off the screen, and the animator fills in a new background that has nothing to do with the previous scene. Daffy returns and starts to repeat his opening scene, but quickly notices the different background and leaves, returning in a different costume and altering his performance to match the new scene. The animator substitutes several different, unrelated backgrounds, each time prompting Daffy to change costumes until the background finally disappears completely.
Daffy then tries to reason with the animator. While he's talking, the animator erases him completely, then redraws him as a cowboy with a guitar. Daffy tries to play it but gets no sound. His subsequent attempts result in several random sound effects. Daffy also finds himself generating random sound effects for a moment before finally shouting angrily at the animator, demanding some new scenery.
The animator draws a simple line-art background, then when Daffy asks for some color, paints Daffy himself in a bunch of random colors. Daffy yells, "Not me, you slop artist!", and the animator quickly erases his body and redraws him as a bizarre mismatched animal with a "screwball" flag on its tail. Daffy walks around and talks in this form for a moment, before a nearby mirror reveals his form and he demands the animator erase it ("EEK! You know better than that!"). Daffy is redrawn as a sailor, and as he begins to sing "The Song of the Marines
", the animator draws an ocean background around him, without a boat. Daffy promptly falls into the water and emerges on a distant island, asks for a closeup, then finds himself in such an extreme closeup that his eyes fill the screen.
As he tries once again to negotiate with the animator, a black curtain falls on him. Daffy screams hysterically and rips apart the background, says "Alright, let's get this picture started!", then becomes even more frustrated when the animator tries to end the film. Daffy apologizes to the presumed audience and dances for a moment while the film goes out of alignment, resulting in two Daffy Ducks on the screen. The two argue with each other and start to get in a fight, but the animator erases one of them just as the other takes a swing.
Daffy is then drawn into an airplane, which he excitedly flies around in until a mountain is drawn in his path. The plane crashes offscreen, resulting in Daffy flying on his own with only the windshield in front of him. He "bails" out of the remains of his plane and floats downward with a parachute, which the animator replaces with an anvil. Crashing to the ground, Daffy is seen hammering on the anvil while dizzily reciting "The Village Blacksmith
". The animator replaces the anvil with an artillery shell, which explodes on the next hammer strike. Daffy finally snaps and angrily demands that the animator reveal himself. The animator draws a door in front of him and closes it on him, then the camera draws back to reveal Bugs Bunny
at a drawing table, who says to the camera, "Ain't I a stinker?"
According to director Chuck Jones
, this film demonstrated for the first time that animation can create characters with a recognizable personality, independent of their appearance, milieu
, or voice. Although in the end, the animator is revealed to be Daffy's rival Bugs Bunny
(who famously declares "Ain't I a stinker?"), according to Jones the ending is just for comedic value: Jones (the director) is speaking to the audience directly, asking "Who is Daffy Duck anyway? Would you recognize him if I did this to him? What if he didn't live in the woods? Didn't live anywhere? What if he had no voice? No face? What if he wasn't even a duck anymore?" In all cases, it is obvious that Daffy is still Daffy; not all cartoon characters can claim such distinctive personality.
Duck Amuck is included in the compilation film The Bugs Bunny-Road Runner Movie, along with other favorite Chuck Jones cartoons including What's Opera, Doc?
Mel Blanc
performed the voices. It was directed by Chuck Jones with a story by Michael Maltese
. The film contains many examples of self-referential humor
, breaking the fourth wall
.
In 1999 the film was deemed "culturally significant" by the United States Library of Congress
and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry
. This was the second of three animated shorts by Jones to receive this honor (the others are 1957's What's Opera, Doc?
and 1955's One Froggy Evening
). Jones has the distinction of being the only director with three animated shorts in the registry.
The cartoon's plot was essentially replicated in one of Jones' later cartoons, Rabbit Rampage
(1955), in which Bugs Bunny turns out to be the victim of the silly animator (Elmer Fudd
). A similar plot was also included in an episode of Baby Looney Tunes
, in which Bugs was the victim, Daffy was the animator, and it was made on a computer instead of a pencil and paper.
In Looney Tunes Comics Issue #94, Bugs Bunny gets his back at Daffy Duck by making him the victim, in switching various movie roles, from Duck Twacy in "Who Killed Daffy Duck," a video game character, and a talk show host, and they always wound up with Daffy starring in Moby Dick (the story's running gag). After this, Bugs comments, "Eh, dis guy needs a new agent."
Animated cartoon
An animated cartoon is a short, hand-drawn film for the cinema, television or computer screen, featuring some kind of story or plot...
directed by Chuck Jones
Chuck Jones
Charles Martin "Chuck" Jones was an American animator, cartoon artist, screenwriter, producer, and director of animated films, most memorably of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts for the Warner Bros. Cartoons studio...
and produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons
Warner Bros. Cartoons
Warner Bros. Cartoons, Inc. was the in-house division of Warner Bros. Pictures during the Golden Age of American animation. One of the most successful animation studios in American media history, Warner Bros. Cartoons was primarily responsible for the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies theatrical...
. The short was released in early 1953 by The Vitaphone Corporation, the short subject division of Warner Bros. Pictures, as part of the Merrie Melodies
Merrie Melodies
Merrie Melodies is the name of a series of animated cartoons distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures between 1931 and 1969.Originally produced by Harman-Ising Pictures, Merrie Melodies were produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions from 1933 to 1944. Schlesinger sold his studio to Warner Bros. in 1944,...
series. It stars Daffy Duck
Daffy Duck
Daffy Duck is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons, often running the gamut between being the best friend and sometimes arch-rival of Bugs Bunny...
, who is tormented by a seemingly sadistic, initially unseen animator, who constantly changes Daffy's locations, clothing, voice, physical appearance and even shape. Pandemonium reigns throughout the cartoon as Daffy attempts to steer the action back to some kind of normality, only for the animator to either ignore him or, more frequently, to over-literally interpret his increasingly frantic demands.
In 1994, it was voted #2 of The 50 Greatest Cartoons
The 50 Greatest Cartoons
The 50 Greatest Cartoons: As Selected by 1,000 Animation Professionals is a 1994 book by animation historian Jerry Beck, consisting of articles about, and rankings of fifty highly-regarded animated short films made in North America, as well as many other notable cartoons. It generated a significant...
of all time by members of the animation field, losing only to What's Opera, Doc?
What's Opera, Doc?
What's Opera, Doc? is a 1957 American animated cartoon short in the Merrie Melodies series, directed by Chuck Jones for Warner Bros. Cartoons. The Michael Maltese story features Elmer Fudd chasing Bugs Bunny through a parody of 19th century classical composer Richard Wagner's operas, particularly...
Historians and fans consider Duck Amuck to be Daffy Duck's magnum opus, and What's Opera, Doc? to be Bugs's, so the positions at #2 and #1 are appropriate. The short was included on Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 1
Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 1
Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 1 is a DVD box set that was released by Warner Home Video on October 28, 2003. It contains 56 Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons and numerous supplements...
.
A Nintendo DS
Nintendo DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...
game, Looney Tunes: Duck Amuck
Looney Tunes: Duck Amuck
Looney Tunes: Duck Amuck is a game for the Nintendo DS. Like the original cartoon short Duck Amuck, it involves an external entity manipulating Daffy Duck's environment....
was made after it.
Plot
The cartoon's title sequence and opening scene feature Daffy DuckDaffy Duck
Daffy Duck is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons, often running the gamut between being the best friend and sometimes arch-rival of Bugs Bunny...
as a musketeer
Musketeer
A musketeer was an early modern type of infantry soldier equipped with a musket. Musketeers were an important part of early modern armies, particularly in Europe. They sometimes could fight on horseback, like a dragoon or a cavalryman...
, who boldly acts out an action scene with a fencing foil. As he thrusts the foil and advances, the background abruptly disappears, leaving a plain white screen. Confused by this, Daffy turns to the animator and asks him to complete the background. He walks off the screen, and the animator fills in a new background that has nothing to do with the previous scene. Daffy returns and starts to repeat his opening scene, but quickly notices the different background and leaves, returning in a different costume and altering his performance to match the new scene. The animator substitutes several different, unrelated backgrounds, each time prompting Daffy to change costumes until the background finally disappears completely.
Daffy then tries to reason with the animator. While he's talking, the animator erases him completely, then redraws him as a cowboy with a guitar. Daffy tries to play it but gets no sound. His subsequent attempts result in several random sound effects. Daffy also finds himself generating random sound effects for a moment before finally shouting angrily at the animator, demanding some new scenery.
The animator draws a simple line-art background, then when Daffy asks for some color, paints Daffy himself in a bunch of random colors. Daffy yells, "Not me, you slop artist!", and the animator quickly erases his body and redraws him as a bizarre mismatched animal with a "screwball" flag on its tail. Daffy walks around and talks in this form for a moment, before a nearby mirror reveals his form and he demands the animator erase it ("EEK! You know better than that!"). Daffy is redrawn as a sailor, and as he begins to sing "The Song of the Marines
The Song of the Marines
The Song of the Marines is a song featured in the 1937 Warner Bros. film, The Singing Marine. It is also featured in the 1942 cartoon Conrad the Sailor and is briefly sung by Daffy Duck in the 1953 cartoon Duck Amuck, both of which were produced by Warner Bros.' animation studio.-Lyrics:The Song of...
", the animator draws an ocean background around him, without a boat. Daffy promptly falls into the water and emerges on a distant island, asks for a closeup, then finds himself in such an extreme closeup that his eyes fill the screen.
As he tries once again to negotiate with the animator, a black curtain falls on him. Daffy screams hysterically and rips apart the background, says "Alright, let's get this picture started!", then becomes even more frustrated when the animator tries to end the film. Daffy apologizes to the presumed audience and dances for a moment while the film goes out of alignment, resulting in two Daffy Ducks on the screen. The two argue with each other and start to get in a fight, but the animator erases one of them just as the other takes a swing.
Daffy is then drawn into an airplane, which he excitedly flies around in until a mountain is drawn in his path. The plane crashes offscreen, resulting in Daffy flying on his own with only the windshield in front of him. He "bails" out of the remains of his plane and floats downward with a parachute, which the animator replaces with an anvil. Crashing to the ground, Daffy is seen hammering on the anvil while dizzily reciting "The Village Blacksmith
The Village Blacksmith
"The Village Blacksmith" is a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, first published in 1841. The poem describes a local blacksmith and his daily life. The blacksmith serves as a role model who balances his job with the role he plays with his family and community...
". The animator replaces the anvil with an artillery shell, which explodes on the next hammer strike. Daffy finally snaps and angrily demands that the animator reveal himself. The animator draws a door in front of him and closes it on him, then the camera draws back to reveal Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny is a animated character created in 1938 at Leon Schlesinger Productions, later Warner Bros. Cartoons. Bugs is an anthropomorphic gray rabbit and is famous for his flippant, insouciant personality and his portrayal as a trickster. He has primarily appeared in animated cartoons, most...
at a drawing table, who says to the camera, "Ain't I a stinker?"
History
Chuck Jones
Charles Martin "Chuck" Jones was an American animator, cartoon artist, screenwriter, producer, and director of animated films, most memorably of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts for the Warner Bros. Cartoons studio...
, this film demonstrated for the first time that animation can create characters with a recognizable personality, independent of their appearance, milieu
Social environment
The social environment of an individual, also called social context or milieu, is the culture that s/he was educated or lives in, and the people and institutions with whom the person interacts....
, or voice. Although in the end, the animator is revealed to be Daffy's rival Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny is a animated character created in 1938 at Leon Schlesinger Productions, later Warner Bros. Cartoons. Bugs is an anthropomorphic gray rabbit and is famous for his flippant, insouciant personality and his portrayal as a trickster. He has primarily appeared in animated cartoons, most...
(who famously declares "Ain't I a stinker?"), according to Jones the ending is just for comedic value: Jones (the director) is speaking to the audience directly, asking "Who is Daffy Duck anyway? Would you recognize him if I did this to him? What if he didn't live in the woods? Didn't live anywhere? What if he had no voice? No face? What if he wasn't even a duck anymore?" In all cases, it is obvious that Daffy is still Daffy; not all cartoon characters can claim such distinctive personality.
Duck Amuck is included in the compilation film The Bugs Bunny-Road Runner Movie, along with other favorite Chuck Jones cartoons including What's Opera, Doc?
What's Opera, Doc?
What's Opera, Doc? is a 1957 American animated cartoon short in the Merrie Melodies series, directed by Chuck Jones for Warner Bros. Cartoons. The Michael Maltese story features Elmer Fudd chasing Bugs Bunny through a parody of 19th century classical composer Richard Wagner's operas, particularly...
Mel Blanc
Mel Blanc
Melvin Jerome "Mel" Blanc was an American voice actor and comedian. Although he began his nearly six-decade-long career performing in radio commercials, Blanc is best remembered for his work with Warner Bros...
performed the voices. It was directed by Chuck Jones with a story by Michael Maltese
Michael Maltese
Michael "Mike" Maltese was a long-time storyboard artist and screenwriter for classic animated cartoon shorts.-Career:...
. The film contains many examples of self-referential humor
Self-referential humor
Self-referential humor or self-reflexive humor is a type of comedic expression that—either directed toward some other subject, or openly directed toward itself—intentionally alludes to the very person who is expressing the humor in a comedic fashion, or to some specific aspect of that...
, breaking the fourth wall
Fourth wall
The fourth wall is the imaginary "wall" at the front of the stage in a traditional three-walled box set in a proscenium theatre, through which the audience sees the action in the world of the play...
.
In 1999 the film was deemed "culturally significant" by the United States Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry
National Film Registry
The National Film Registry is the United States National Film Preservation Board's selection of films for preservation in the Library of Congress. The Board, established by the National Film Preservation Act of 1988, was reauthorized by acts of Congress in 1992, 1996, 2005, and again in October 2008...
. This was the second of three animated shorts by Jones to receive this honor (the others are 1957's What's Opera, Doc?
What's Opera, Doc?
What's Opera, Doc? is a 1957 American animated cartoon short in the Merrie Melodies series, directed by Chuck Jones for Warner Bros. Cartoons. The Michael Maltese story features Elmer Fudd chasing Bugs Bunny through a parody of 19th century classical composer Richard Wagner's operas, particularly...
and 1955's One Froggy Evening
One Froggy Evening
One Froggy Evening is an approximately seven-minute long Technicolor animated short film written by Michael Maltese and directed by Chuck Jones, with musical direction by Milt Franklyn.The short makes the debut of Michigan J...
). Jones has the distinction of being the only director with three animated shorts in the registry.
The cartoon's plot was essentially replicated in one of Jones' later cartoons, Rabbit Rampage
Rabbit Rampage
Rabbit Rampage is a 1955 Bugs Bunny animated cartoon, directed by Chuck Jones and produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons, which originally debuted on June 11, 1955. It is a spiritual successor to Duck Amuck, in which Daffy Duck was teased by an off-screen animator, revealed at the end to be Bugs Bunny...
(1955), in which Bugs Bunny turns out to be the victim of the silly animator (Elmer Fudd
Elmer Fudd
Elmer J. Fudd/Egghead is a fictional cartoon character and one of the most famous Looney Tunes characters, and the de facto archenemy of Bugs Bunny. He has one of the more disputed origins in the Warner Bros. cartoon pantheon . His aim is to hunt Bugs, but he usually ends up seriously injuring...
). A similar plot was also included in an episode of Baby Looney Tunes
Baby Looney Tunes
Baby Looney Tunes is a Canadian-American animated television series that shows Looney Tunes characters as toddlers. It was produced by Warner Bros. Animation....
, in which Bugs was the victim, Daffy was the animator, and it was made on a computer instead of a pencil and paper.
In Looney Tunes Comics Issue #94, Bugs Bunny gets his back at Daffy Duck by making him the victim, in switching various movie roles, from Duck Twacy in "Who Killed Daffy Duck," a video game character, and a talk show host, and they always wound up with Daffy starring in Moby Dick (the story's running gag). After this, Bugs comments, "Eh, dis guy needs a new agent."
See also
- Looney TunesLooney TunesLooney Tunes is a Warner Bros. animated cartoon series. It preceded the Merrie Melodies series and was Warner Bros.'s first animated theatrical series. Since its first official release, 1930's Sinkin' in the Bathtub, the series has become a worldwide media franchise, spawning several television...
- Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies filmography (1950–1959)
- Breaking the fourth wall
- Rabbit RampageRabbit RampageRabbit Rampage is a 1955 Bugs Bunny animated cartoon, directed by Chuck Jones and produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons, which originally debuted on June 11, 1955. It is a spiritual successor to Duck Amuck, in which Daffy Duck was teased by an off-screen animator, revealed at the end to be Bugs Bunny...
External links
- Amuck at Keyframe - the Animation Resource