essay

1. Anisha Begum Coursework 2 – Inspired Artwork Essay 1649 words
I will be looking at how the American animated series Looney Tunes influenced my comic book ‘‘All
Jinxes Eve’’. Particularly on the representation of Daffy Duck and the ‘bad luck’ following him, as he
is more likely to be attacked by the arch nemesis, Elmer Fudd. I will be explaining the bad luck
concept through the basic idea of Sod’s Law, an axiom for “if something can go wrong, it will”1
. In
terms of discussing the illustration style, it was mostly influenced by Looney Tunes too. Specifically,
the retro and bold colour scheme, and how it adds to the overall comical and exaggerated narrative,
as well as the illustrations being distinctive; each character is drawn to be a one of a kind; Daffy
Duck, Bugs Bunny etc. These aspects of the illustration style will be discussed within the cultural
context, since the animated series was hugely a part of the American cinema culture during the
1940s. This is because of the ‘’usual comic violence’’2
within the narrative, presenting the idea of
hyperbolic bad luck as funny to the audience during World War II. The unlucky and comedic violence
concept has inspired my comic book narrative as I focused on the idea on bad luck being the
consequences of disbelieving in this superstition, with a humorous spin to it; my narrative is about
two friends being jinxed and punished by surroundings of the park on Friday the 13th. This occurred
because they mocked the notion of bad luck and how it is common on the night of Friday of 13th
. To
make it worse, during the month of Halloween. The humour factor is when the surroundings within
the park retaliate in shrewd form, which is the shortcut to Halloween party. This reminds the duo
that bad luck does truly exist. I will link Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny’s friendship to the friendship
between my two characters; both friendships is love/hate relationship because of the result of bad
luck affecting them. I will also discuss the historical context of bad luck and jinxes from my secondary
research and the theoretical context of various comic book narrative and its similarities and
differences to my comic strip.
Firstly, Chuck Jones’ animation of Looney Tunes’ Hunting Trilogy mainly inspired my comic’s
narrative rather than the other shorts of Looney Tunes. This is because he depicted the relationship
between Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny as a unique and amusing love/hate relationship, I aimed to
illustrate this type of friendship in my comic. Although, you cannot necessarily add music to a comic
strip, like Jones’ The Merry Melodies, which heavily syncs their abstract styled jazz music to the bold
colour scheme, chaos and humour. Subconsciously, I wanted to make sure that my comic strip also
has that abstract and comical side like Looney Tunes, just without the music. Jones’ narrative is
1 Richard Dawkins, 2011, The Magic of Reality: How We Know What's Really True, Bantam Press, London.
2 Michael Dunne, 2002, Intertextual Encounters in American Fiction, Film, and Popular Culture, Popular Press, Wisconsin

2. Anisha Begum Coursework 2 – Inspired Artwork Essay 1649 words
usually situated in a forest, suggesting to the viewers that this is ideal place for animal hunting for
the character, Elmer Fudd. Although animal hunting is usually seen to be violent, the narrative is
presenting the hunting to be hilarious through the idea of unrealistic action scenes, along with the
bold and colourful theme in the animation itself; the smoke from the gun is exaggeratedly shaped so
it can introduce the next reaction from Daffy.
This illustration style is repeated in many surrealistic forms. Bugs is relaxed most of the time and
smoothly gets himself out of trouble every time as he thinks more ahead than Daffy. For example,
Bugs Bunny uses his smart wits to fool Daffy Duck into believing that its ‘’duck season’’3
so that Daffy
gets shot numerously by Elmer Fudd every episode. This character contrast leaves the viewers to
expect for Daffy to be blasted at some point of the clip, as the nature of his character is to fall into
trouble, whilst his sidekick/opponent Bugs enjoys the embarrassment like how the audience does.
This is presented in a light-hearted form as Daffy never actually dies, the narrative is more focused
on repeatedly humiliating Daffy so that it keeps depicting Daffy like this, contrasting Bugs’ artful self-
confidence. Bugs’ characteristics was inspired by the historic American cultural teaching of being
unwilling to ‘‘back down from the enemy’’4
, from the period of the US entering the Second World
War.
3 Chuck Jones, 1999, Chuck Amuck: The Life and Times of an Animated Cartoonist, Farrar, Straus & Giroux Inc, New York
4 Kevin S. Sandler (Eds), 1998, Reading the Rabbit: Explorations in Warner Bros. Animation, Rutgers University Press, New Jersey.

3. Anisha Begum Coursework 2 – Inspired Artwork Essay 1649 words
The style of the illustration of the background is simply painted, as it acts like a directional force to
the focal point; foreground, props or the characters. This style inspired my comic strip, as well as it
being set in empty natural surrounding; forest, abandoned park. Each panel is directing my
characters to the path where the park leads them into suffering. Daffy’s character inspired my
representation of my characters, as he is presented to have Sod’s Law following him every episode
and his character is very distinctive through ‘‘constant babble’’5
and his lisp ‘‘you’re dethpicable’’6
.
Daffy’s aggressive and irritated trait influenced the dialogue between my characters. I chose to
present my characters in distinctive Halloween costumes (Sadie is dressed like a rock, Anni dressed
like a banana), inspired by the physical character contrast of Bugs and Daffy, as well as to
foreshadow that they will eventually trip over the item they are dress as.
Furthermore, I have researched on the history of bad luck. I found out that before the 18th
century in
England, jinxes and superstition was commonly believed amongst people. It was taught that witches
held these superstitions and the supernatural information was advertised through their pamphlets,
such as ‘‘astrology, sympathetic cures’’7
as well as charms and spells. Also, the idea of bad luck came
to existence from the reliance of luck charms and how superstition has impacted today’s society. For
example, magic can be an illusion, hence influencing magicians’ tricks and internet psychic readers
advising on hope and a sense of uncertainty to their customers and rely on lucky items and ‘‘rituals’’8
before competitions and exams. These aspects are also influenced the bad luck concept to exist
through different forms of media. Such as storytelling time told verbally and written form (comic
books, animations; Looney Tunes particularly and films). Children identify repetition earlier, get
taught on bad/ good luck or trust/’’mistrust’’9
. I wanted to exaggerate the bad luck in my comic, by
including Daffy’s unlucky characteristics, combining it with Halloween theme and the concept of
Friday the 13th
.
5 Paul Wells, 1998, Understanding Animation, Routledge, Oxford.
6 Chuck Jones, 1999, Chuck Amuck: The Life and Times of an Animated Cartoonist, Farrar, Straus & Giroux Inc, New York.
7 Frederick Valletta, 2000, Witchcraft, Magic and Superstition in England, 1640-70, Ashgate, England.
8 Stuart Vyse, 2013, Believing in Magic: The Psychology of Superstition - Updated Edition, Oxford University Press, USA.
9 Claire Golomb, 2011, The creation of imaginary worlds: the role of art, magic & dreams in child development, Jessica Kingsley, London.
‘’Hurry up, hurry up-th!’’ ‘‘you’re dethpicable’’

4. Anisha Begum Coursework 2 – Inspired Artwork Essay 1649 words
Moreover, Scott McCloud explained how ‘‘comics is an
art -- of intervals’’10
, focusing on visually looking at the
comic to understand the message/narrative. With my
comic, I made sure that the direction of where the
characters are heading is not going to be a usual walk in
park, there are additional intervals that delay their
journey, along with the action bubbles and minimal
speech as the plot builds, to emphasis the repetitive
actions occurring and present the two characters as an
overall jinxed mess. I looked at the Soviet revolution
propaganda posters from the 1920s. The first two
figures are more intense on the colour red; symbolizing
danger, blood and the third one on the right is simpler.
The artists at the time depicted a violent message with
harsh humour to all ages. Particularly, for the
uneducated adults and young children as they can’t
read or write. This is a form of storytelling but to a wider audience because of the simple artwork,
much like story books. This shows that speech isn’t needed much, if the visuals are clear. The same
visual technique of storytelling is represented in many animation shorts during the 1940s, when
American film culture began its popularity; the animation shorts such as Looney Tunes were in ‘’their
golden age’’11
because the shorts would appear before the official cinema screening to get people in
the mood and easily mention difficult subjects relating to the war and violence, in a simple and
funny form and with bold and exciting illustrations.
To conclude, adding bad luck within a narrative seems to attract the audience naturally from
different generations. Looney Tunes is a good example, as it is classic series with humour, violence
and hyperkinetic elements. This is the reason why I picked Looney Tunes as my inspiration as I aimed
for the audience to feel a sense of schadenfreude when they read through my comic, like when they
watch Looney Tunes. This is because watching a sense of pain from a fictional character gives people
pleasure and escapism from reality. Therefore, it is safe to watch as it is not real. That is also why
including the superstitious ways of bad luck aided my narrative to have funny elements, as people
used to believe in luck strongly in the 18th
century, but now it is hardly anything to believe in and feel
concerned about.
10 Scott McCloud, 2001, Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art, William Morrow Paperbacks; 1st HarperPerennial Ed edition, USA.
11 Kevin S. Sandler (eds), 1998, Reading the Rabbit: Explorations in Warner Bros. Animation, Rutgers University Press, New Jersey.
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3

5. Anisha Begum Coursework 2 – Inspired Artwork Essay 1649 words
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