Unbelievable how malevolent & uncharitable this interpretation is.
Of course Pepé the Pew is disgusting, it's the whole point of this character & this cartoon! Let me explain for those who aren't familiar with it 👉
Of course Pepé the Pew is disgusting, it's the whole point of this character & this cartoon! Let me explain for those who aren't familiar with it 👉
https://twitter.com/CharlesMBlow/status/1368200161558663168
First, the Looney Tunes characters are obviously not designed as role models.
They behave in the most insane, stupid, obsessive & reprehensible manner.
Their flawed nature is why it's morally acceptable and so regressively funny to see them fail miserably over & over.
They behave in the most insane, stupid, obsessive & reprehensible manner.
Their flawed nature is why it's morally acceptable and so regressively funny to see them fail miserably over & over.
Pepé the pew is a skunk: he literally stinks.
They couldn't design a more obvious signal.
As a skunk, well he's completely unaware of his own smell - when others faint or flee in horror, it's always a mystery to him.
They couldn't design a more obvious signal.
As a skunk, well he's completely unaware of his own smell - when others faint or flee in horror, it's always a mystery to him.
That's his core trait: obliviousness.
His unawareness of his own smell
*mirrors*
his obliviousness of his own flippant attitude
He's too absorbed by his seduction act to even realize that he's mistaking a cat for a skunk (paint would somehow always land on her back in absurd ways, which is the show's running joke).
*mirrors*
his obliviousness of his own flippant attitude
He's too absorbed by his seduction act to even realize that he's mistaking a cat for a skunk (paint would somehow always land on her back in absurd ways, which is the show's running joke).
The best episodes are the reversal ones, in which, after various stratagems (love potions, deodorants), Penelope finally falls in love.
But it *always* backfires terribly & he ends up terrified, chased, cornered, harassed in the most hilarious schadenfreude, completely caught at his own game.
Cartoons did more to educate kids like me than any lecturing NYT columnist: I was absolutely embarrassed for Penelope & vowed to never annoy anyone like that.
Pepé is ridiculed. An anti-role model. A moral repellent, packed in an intuitive & widely accessible format for kids.
Pepé is ridiculed. An anti-role model. A moral repellent, packed in an intuitive & widely accessible format for kids.
It's an insult to the artists, animators & writers of these cartoons to profess that they didn't know their responsibilities toward kids' education.
They expertly navigated that fine line between the moral & the outrageous, that specific humor making cartoons absurdly funny.
They expertly navigated that fine line between the moral & the outrageous, that specific humor making cartoons absurdly funny.
The message:
"Kids, don't be oblivious fools like Pepé the Pew, be more self-conscious about your own smell & behavior before annoying others".
A lesson that our dear NYT columnist should look into. To claim that this cartoon is endorsing harassment is absurd & untrue.
"Kids, don't be oblivious fools like Pepé the Pew, be more self-conscious about your own smell & behavior before annoying others".
A lesson that our dear NYT columnist should look into. To claim that this cartoon is endorsing harassment is absurd & untrue.
As a French, I should be the one offended by Pepé the pew. But:
1. I'm not a killjoy
2. I didn't realize his Frenchness until adult: funnily enough, flippantly flirtatious French 🇫🇷🥐characters like Pepé the Pew / the Mask were always rebranded as Italian 🇮🇹🍕in the French dub😂
1. I'm not a killjoy
2. I didn't realize his Frenchness until adult: funnily enough, flippantly flirtatious French 🇫🇷🥐characters like Pepé the Pew / the Mask were always rebranded as Italian 🇮🇹🍕in the French dub😂
The search from pernicious "intellectuals" of the absolute most uncharitable interpretation of art to score easy social justice points needs to stop.
This is not progressive, this helps no cause & nobody.
This is not progressive, this helps no cause & nobody.
"I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail."
In our postmodern era, how we see things tells more about us than what they really are.
In our postmodern era, how we see things tells more about us than what they really are.
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