Who Framed Roger Rabbit? has been on my mind again lately. It's not well known here in Japan, at least among the younger generation. This is more surprising than you might expect because Betty Boop is popular with the kids and so is Tom and Jerry and Peanuts. And, of course, nothing eclipses Disney. But last week I was explaining to a college student I met at a curry restaurant the variety of things that made Roger Rabbit significant and he didn't have a clue what I was talking about when I said it featured Disney characters interacting with Looney Tunes characters. Like many Japanese people I've met, he'd never heard of Bugs Bunny or Daffy Duck. This makes me wonder what the chances are of the new Space Jam movie enjoying in Japan anything like the surprise success it's achieved in America.
I wonder if the success of Space Jam 2 increases the odds of the long gestating sequel to Roger Rabbit finally going into production. There are other forces against it. The film's original director, Robert Zemeckis, said back in 2016, "The current corporate Disney culture has no interest in Roger, and they certainly don't like Jessica at all." Certainly the fundamental concept of Jessica would sit oddly beside the Brie Larson Captain Marvel model or Raya the Last Dragon. We live in a world where "sexualised" is a curse. It's a shame because what got me thinking about Roger Rabbit recently was a girl in the art club of the school where I work. She likes to draw silly characters as well as sexy women with large bosoms. I asked her about the latter and she just shrugged sheepishly and said, "I like big breasts." Immediately I thought Roger Rabbit would be the perfect movie for her. Maybe for a lot of other kids, too.
I wonder if Jessica is the only reason for Disney's current lack of motivation to produce a sequel, though. Watching the film last night, I was struck by how out of place one of its central themes would be--the healthiness of having a sense of humour. Specifically, being able to laugh at yourself. Roger Rabbit's celebration of a kind of cartoon humour based on violence and humiliation seems like it would be out of place in a culture where people are constantly being told they should take themselves very, very seriously all the time.
Anyway, for the time being, Who Framed Roger Rabbit? is available on Disney+.
1 comment:
I love this movie. Only recently found out that Disney and Warner struck a deal for equal toon screen time - so Mickey can't out-do Bugs even for a second more footage.
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