Western Animation / Rebel Rabbit

Bugs Bunny Wuz Here!

Rebel Rabbit is a 1949 Merrie Melodies short staring Bugs Bunny. It was directed by Robert McKimson and is unique as being one of the few Bugs Bunny cartoons where Bugs actually goes out of his way to cause trouble rather than being pushed to do it by an antagonist.

When Bugs is offended by rabbits only having a two cent bounty since they're "perfectly harmless", he goes on a destructive, Continent-spanning campaign to prove that rabbits can be dangerous. Unfortunately, he gets more than he bargains for when his antics get a $1 million price tag put on HIS head and draw the entire U.S. Army after him.

Tropes appearing in this cartoon:

• The Alcatraz: Where else would Bugs end up after angering the entire United States government?
• Badass Boast: Bugs gives one when he sees his $1,000,000 bounty on a sign, and revels in his triumph... mere seconds before the entire US Army comes to arrest him.
  Bugs: A million bucks? Now, that's more like it! Bugs Bunny, King of the Beasts! (pounds his chest and gives a Tarzan Yell)
• Be Careful What You Wish For: Bugs wanted a big bounty, and he got it... as well as the entire United States War Department coming to arrest him, swiftly followed by a cell in Alcatraz.
• Bowdlerization: Versions shown on FOX, The WB, Cartoon Network, and Boomerang cut the montage of Bugs destroying America to remove Bugs trading Manhattan back to the Native Americans and telling the audience, "They wouldn't take it back unless I t'rew in a set of dishes" as he smokes a peace pipe.
• Didn't Think This Through: It never seems to dawn on Bugs that with the bounties on rabbits so small, he's perfectly safe from harm! Hunters won't go through the trouble of capturing rabbits if they know they'll only get two cents. But Bugs lets his pride get in the way and the result is Be Careful What You Wish For.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Bugs' reaction to learning that he only has a two-cent bounty — because rabbits are seen as harmless — is to go on a rampage across the Americas destructive enough to warrant a million-dollar bounty, the entire army after him, and a cell on Alcatraz Island.
• Gone Horribly Right: Bugs is offended that the bounty on rabbits is a mere two cents, compared to foxes and bears (who possess $50 and $75 bounties, respectively), on the ground that rabbits are "perfectly harmless" compared to them. With that, he sets out to prove that rabbits can be just as dangerous, becoming a Person of Mass Destruction by — among other things — selling Manhattan Island back to the Native Americans, filling in the Grand Canyon, and sawing the entire state of Florida off from the rest of the country. The end result? A bounty of one million dollars is placed on Bugs' head... and he's hunted down by the entire US Army. Bugs' sense of triumph is immediately replaced by a major "Oh, Crap!" as he realizes he went too far.
• Heel Realization: "Could it be I carried this thing too far...?" (BOOM) "Nyeeeeeh, could be!"
• Human Mail: Bugs mails himself to Washington D.C., putting the stamp himself on his armpit.
• Medium-Shift Gag: As Bugs is surrounded by the U.S. Armed Forces, live-action footage of cavalry, tanks, fighter/bomber planes and soldiers are intercut with shots of his now-horrified reactions.
• Monumental Damage: Bugs sabotages various landmarks, including rewriting the sign on Barney Baruch's Private Bench to say his own name, painting barber shop-pole stripes on the Washington Monument, rearranging the lights in Times Square to spell "BUGS BUNNY WUZ HERE", turning off Niagara Falls, filling in the Grand Canyon with earth, and even sawing the entire state of Florida off from the mainland ("South America, take it away!").
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: The southern accented congressman is modeled after Lenny Delmar's radio character Senator Claghorn from The Fred Allen Show, the same character who would later serve as the inspiration for McKimson's Foghorn Leghorn. Bugs even does Claghorn's "That's a joke, son!" routine.
• No Kill like Overkill: When Bugs finally proves his point, the US Army proves theirs by sending every tank, airplane, (horse) cavalryman, and foot soldier after him before putting him in Alcatraz.
• Oh, Crap!: Bugs' reaction when he sees the entire United States War Department coming after him for his one-rabbit rampage across the Americas.
  Bugs: (horrified) Could it be that I carried this thing too far...?
• Pull a Rabbit out of My Hat: In a variation, Bugs does this to himself when he appears from the Congressman's ten-gallon hat, slapping him around and mocking him as he's demanding action against Bugs' antics.
• Regional Redecoration: One of the ways Bugs works on increasing his bounty involves sawing off the entire state of Florida and pushing it down towards South America.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: For rabbits being only worth a two cent bounty, Bugs decides to show how dangerous rabbits can be, by means of going on a destructive, monument-wrecking rampage across America.
• Skyscraper Messages: Bugs rewires the lights at Times Square to read "Bugs Bunny Wuz Here".
• Suddenly Shouting: "I'll be non-chalant." [...] "Eh... WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA OF RABBITS BEING ONLY WORTH TWO CENTS?!?!?!?!?"
• "Take That!" Kiss: Bugs gives one to the Texan-accented Congressman who orders the million-dollar bounty on his head, after suddenly appearing from the cowboy hat on his desk.
  Congressman: I demand, I say, I demand a price on Bugs Bunny's head! Noggin, that is! That low-down, mirthful, good-for-nothing hare... (pounds desk) must die!
  Bugs: Hare! Die! Hair Dye! (grabs and shakes him by his jacket) That's a joke, son! You missed it! (laughs mockingly as he slaps the Congressman around) Admit it, son! I'm too fast for ya! (kisses him, before running away)
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: The Game Commissioner at the beginning of the short, who tells Bugs that rabbits have a 2-cent bounty because they're "perfectly harmless", and mocks him for thinking that they should be worth any more than that. Bugs, of course, doesn't take that very well.
• Villain Protagonist: A rare case of Bugs Bunny qualifying as one of these, though his actions are more in the category of comically-exaggerated villainy, including blatantly impossible feats like sawing off the entire state of Florida, turning off Niagara Falls, and using a shovel to fill the Grand Canyon in with earth overnight.
• Visual Pun:
  • Bugs steals the locks from the Panama Canal. As in the padlocks, not the actual canal locks.
  • When Bugs sells Manhattan back to the Native Americans, the skyscrapers turn into teepees, an ocean liner becomes one shaped like a dugout canoe, and the Statue of Liberty becomes a cigar store wooden Indian.
  • Bugs ties up the railways, as in tying the actual rails into giant bows.
• "Wanted!" Poster: The whole plot gets started when Bugs runs into some bounty posters for dangerous animals like bears and foxes, then finds one for rabbits at two cents. Insulted, he decides to show the U.S. Government how dangerous a rabbit can be; by the end, his bounty is a whopping million dollars.
• Waxing Lyrical: Bugs' famous "South America, take it away!" after he saws off Florida was a nod to the 1946 hit of the same name (most famously recorded by Bing Crosby with The Andrews Sisters).
• Wheel o' Feet: As Bugs mockingly flees from the Texan Congressman, his feet become a blur as he does so.