Character

Bugs Bunny

Bugs Bunny settled into his classic form around 1940: a gray rabbit who treats hunters, opera singers, and Martians as interruptions to a snack. The joke is not speed. It is composure. He leans on a hole in the ground the way a comedian leans on a microphone.

Voice and posture did as much work as the drawings. A Bronx-Brooklyn lilt, a half-lidded stare, and a carrot used like a conductor’s baton turned chase cartoons into character comedy. Directors at Termite Terrace learned they could hold a pose and still feel louder than a smash cut.

He remains the house style of American theatrical shorts: witty, elastic, and slightly rude. If Mickey taught the world to whistle in time, Bugs taught it to raise an eyebrow and ask who, exactly, was in charge of the scene.