Here’s looking at you Doc : spectatorship and gender in the animation of Chuck Jones

• Main Author: Peraya, Deborah Rebecca
• Language: English
• Published: 2009
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/5428

This thesis seeks to demonstrate that the theoretical concerns of spectatorship and gender, which are usually reserved for analysis of live-action cinema, equally apply to the animation of Chuck Jones. Chapter one provides a brief history of animation. It describes the major technological advances in animation and the major styles that flourished in America between 1940 and 1960. The influence of Walt Disney and Tex Avery are examined in relation to Jones' work and biography. Chapter two discusses the cartoons featuring Bugs Bunny as the main character, while chapter three concentrates on the cartoons featuring Daffy Duck and other characters. In both chapters under the rubric of spectatorship, I centre on the gaze between the viewer and the screen. I employ popular theories of the gaze, including definitions of voyeurism as postulated by Freud and Laura Mulvey. In both chapters under the rubric of gender, I examine the function of the female within Jones' cartoons and analyze the elements of camp and homosexuality which are prevalent. The concluding chapter analyzes the cartoons which feature Bugs and Daffy together. In this chapter in addition to a discussion of the gaze between the viewer and the screen, I consider the gaze between the two characters. This analysis reveals that the animation of Chuck Jones can enable film theoreticians to gain a deeper insight into the nature of the cinematic apparatus.