9 Comments

Interesting post! I don't remember this character, but I think it's fascinating how social and cultural ideas call into question previously acceptable ideas around animation.

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Aw, I love this character and I love the French. Don’t want to cancel him!!

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These are wonderful. Thank you so much for taking the time to find and share. I am always overwhelmed by how much people develop my own knowledge when writing. Thank you.

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Pepe has always been one of my favorite Warner characters, although his misplaced attempts at romance leave him behind in the 20th Century. Quel Dommage.

Btw, Pepe is based on actor Charles Boyer and the character he played in the movie Algiers — Pepe LeMoko.

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Thank you so much for reading and for expanding my animation knowledge too.

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I’ve always found it impossible to listen to Charles Boyer without thinking of 🦨

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Also with a sprinkle of Maurice Chevalier.

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It's one thing to talk about consent, but intent matters much more for dealing with a work. As with the rest of the Looney Tunes characters, Pepe was never meant to be taken seriously. What he was meant to be was a parody of Hollywood stereotypes of Frenchmen as incurable romantics. However, in a culture where knowledge of the source material he was based on is not as easily available as it once was, it is easy-and wrong- to be portraying him as a stalker. If he had been, Warner Brothers would never have given any of his cartoons the green light in the first place.

I have never considered him anything but an innocent comic figure- certainly not in the league of Harvey Weinstein- and I don't know why he's being seen as that.

And oddly, very little criticism has been made of his later female doppelganger Fifi Le Fume (from "Tiny Toon Adventures". So "pourquoi" is he seen as such a bad thing? Mainly because his critics are people with no sense of humor.

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I've not heard of this character but this is a fascinating look at a popular, controversial cartoon - I love the idea of a suave racoon haha - thank you for sharing :)

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