Herr Meets Hare is a cartoon parody of Reihe Merry Melodies of the year 1945. The series narrates the adventures of the famous American rabbit, Bugs Bunny , with the Nazi leader Hermann Göring . It is considered one of the best known propaganda productions of cartoons of the Second World War.
Date of the episodes
In 1944 director Friz Freleng produced Herr Meets Hare, a series of short films that created the Warner Brothers Studios and that arrived at the American cinemas in January of 1945.
The plot of the chapters, seven minutes, refers to the script of Michael Maltese . The music was composed by Carl W. Stalling , while the artist Mel Blanc puts the voice to brilliant figures like Bugs Bunny, Goering and Hitler .
Argument
In the first chapter, “Reichsmarschall” of Hitler , Hermann Goering prepares to hunt in the Black Forest to distract from the oppressive war situation. There he meets Bugs Bunny , who tries to reach Las Vegas via an underground tunnel. Suddenly, it comes to the surface and realizes that, by mistake, it is in Germany . Bugs Bunny ridicules him disguised as Hitler.
Göring, faithful to his diligent position, tries to hunt him armed with musket and backed by his dog hound. Finally, he manages to catch Bugs Bunny and gives it to Hitler. Hitler opens the sack in which is Bugs Bunny, this one rises disguised of Josef Stalin with a beard and a pipe. Göring and Hitler set foot in the dust while Bugs Bunny says goodbye to the spectators.
Analysis
Like most other wartime American cartoons, Herr meets Hare’s purpose is to constantly ridicule the National Socialist regime, its officials, ideas and customs. The mockery of “German militarism” is present at all times. From the beginning, Göring was presented as a “false Hermann Göring”: he was seen as a hunter with a military gait that walked and ordered again and again in his clothes adorned with medals. German stereotypes are reflected as their characteristic form of English speaking (pronunciation, how to use words together, etc.), typical clothing (leather pants) as well as the Nazi view of German culture as an object of worship. Bugs Bunny appears in an anarchical musical interlude disguised of the ” Song of the Nibelungs ” (in relation to the opera of Wagner “Ring of nibelungo”) leaving Göring enraptured. Göring disguises Siegfried and they begin to dance a melody to the rhythm of the pathetic tones of the Wagnerian interpretation of nibelungo.
Reception and repercussions
Herr meets Hare was one of the last propaganda cartoons to be broadcast before the collapse of Nazi Germany.
Since his film debut, has been part of the company Time Warner ( AOL ) and for reasons of company policy was kept a secret. In 2007, Dom AOL banned its rebroadcast on the Cartoon Network television channel . They considered them unacceptable because they would divert attention from the atrocities of the regime, since it would be to move the Third Reich into the realm of humor.