Western Animation / For Scent-imental Reasons

Boy, that escalated quickly.

For Scent-imental Reasons is a 1949 Looney Tunes cartoon starring Pepé Le Pew, directed by Chuck Jones.

In this installment the Pepe formula starts to fall into place after some Early-Installment Weirdness in previous Pepe shorts. A perfume shop owner is appalled to find Pepe, a skunk, inside his store. He sics a girl cat on Pepe. The cat—named "Penelope" in Warner Brothers lore but not actually named in any of the Pepe shorts—happens to get doused with some white hair dye down her back. Pepe sees her, thinks she's a skunk, and chases after her.

This short is notable for a lot of things. This is the first Pepe cartoon to have Pepe paired with a female cat ^note "Odor-Able Kitty" had him paired with a male cat while "Scent-imental Over You" had him paired with a female chihuahua. This is also the first Pepe cartoon to take place in France, and the first of three (along with 1952's "Little Beau Pepe" and 1959's "Really Scent") to have Pepe Le Pew receive karmic retribution for his actions by being chased in the end, and is the only Pepe cartoon to win an Oscar.

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Tropes:

• Abhorrent Admirer: As in all Pepe shorts. Pepe would probably be quite charming if it weren't for the stink. At the end, Penelope becomes this to him.
• Art Evolution: Along with standardizing the plot formula, this short was a big step up in the ornateness of the art in Pepe cartoons.
• Bowdlerization: Most American television versions cut out three Suicide as Comedy scenes:
  • The entire sequence in which Penelope locks herself in a glass case and Pepé tries to get her out, then when Penelope mimes that she won't come out because Pepé stinks, he pulls out a gun and goes to blow his brains out, leaving Penelope so guilt-ridden that she runs out to see if he's okay was cut.
  • The short scene of Pepé assuming that Penelope standing on the window ledge means she's "committing suicide to prove her love to him" (followed by Pepé noting that it's a sweet gesture, but deciding to prevent it).
  • The scene immediately after that where Pepé rushes to save Penelope, only to have her slip through his fingers. He turns to the camera and says, "Vive l'amour! We die together!" before stepping off the ledge and falling into a can of paint. The ABC version keeps in Pepé's attempt at saving Penelope and his stepping off the ledge and falling into the paint, but shortened "Vive l'amour! We die together!" to "Vive l'amour!"^note Cartoon Network coincidentally didn't edit this scene, though the other two examples of Suicide as Comedy were cut.
• Driven to Suicide:
  • Pepe threatening to shoot himself and firing the gun offscreen so Penelope will come out of the glass case.
    Pepe: I missed, fortunately for you.
  • Then Penelope flings herself out of the window. Pepe, taking this for a romantic gesture, joins her (after a botched attempt to rescue her).
    Pepe: Vive l'amour! We die together!
• Everyone Has Standards: Penelope may dislike Pepe, but even she found it terrible that he was going to commit suicide when she said he stunk (and was going to rescue him, until she found out it was a trick).
  • Also: Pepe thinks Penelope jumping out the window to prove her love for him (allegedly) was sweet, but saved her anyway because he didn't want her to die.
• Fur Is Clothing: Penelope pulls her fur open at the collar to drop the key down it at the end.
• Handsome Lech: Pepe, as always, chasing after the babes.
• Heart Beats out of Chest: Happens to Penelope (who was drenched with water) after seeing Pepe covered in blue paint.
• Hunk: Once Pepe loses his smell, Penelope notices his large muscles and falls in love with him, viewing him as this.
• Just a Stupid Accent: This short starts the series' trend of having the characters speak faux-French with thick accents.
• Laser-Guided Karma: After spending the cartoon chasing Penelope, Pepe finds the tables turned around.
• Little "No": Once he realizes that Penelope is has turned the tables on him and is pursuing him instead, he utters a quiet “no” before running.
• Manipulative Bastard: Pepe fakes a suicide to get Penelope out of a glass case.
• Maurice Chevalier Accent: Subverted, since Pepe's voice is an imitation of Charles Boyer (though Pepe does have the jovial personality and charm that Chevalier had).
• Minor Injury Overreaction: Well, she injured his ego, but being told that you smell isn't really grounds for blowing your brains out.
• No Guy Wants to Be Chased: Pepe's reaction at the end when a soaked, bedraggled Penelope starts chasing after him.
  Pepe: You know, it is possible to be too attractive!
• Oh, Crap!: Pepé realizes very quickly that Penelope locking the door behind her means that she has become smitten with him and he’s less than thrilled to be the pursued rather than the pursuer.
• Pun-Based Title: On the phrase "for sentimental reasons".
• Silence Is Golden: The scene where Penelope locks herself in a glass case plays out with no audible dialogue, just a violin in Carl Stalling's score Mickey Mousing their speech and gestures to make their conversation crystal clear.
• Suicide as Comedy: Pepe threatening to shoot himself, then attempting suicide when he thinks Penelope has fallen to her death.
• Together in Death: "Vive l'amour! We die together!"
• Unrequited Love Switcheroo: The ending. Pepe gets full-body doused in blue paint, thus concealing his smell. Penelope falls in a rain bucket, leaving her looking ragged and soaked and much less pretty, and with a head cold that likely impairs her sense of smell. She sees the manly, non-odorous Pepe and starts chasing him.
• Victoria's Secret Compartment: Cats have them! Penelope's outer fur seemingly transforms into some sort of dress, allowing her to drop the key down into her Compartment.
• The Voiceless: Penelope, as always, is silent except for saying "le mew, le purr" while Pepe chatters away.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: The perfume store owner disappears after sending Penelope after Pepe. He's not even at the front of the store anymore when Pepe re-enters at the end.