Manhattan Martian — BIFFERATO

This project is my senior thesis and my ode to the classics of animation. Growing up watching Looney Tunes is one of my fondest memories. I have always been attracted to animation, whether I realized it or not, from a young age. I love the joy of watching something so juvenile at my current age. It’s simple timeless comedy, yet when broken down it can become quite complex. The paper I wrote viewed the Looney Tunes archetypes, such as Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck under a Freudian and Jungian lens to further understand the metrics of the cartoon and its mass popularity. While beneficial in many ways, the visual aspect of my animation’s goal was to elicit the joy we felt as a child watching these cartoons and translate them into something we will enjoy all the same today. Paired with a Boiler Room soundtrack everything about the experience of watching this project comes from a place of pleasure and pure entertainment.

The beginning paragraph of my thesis:

In the colorful sphere of animated entertainment, Looney Tunes cartoons are considered one of the great catalysts; a series that has left an indelible mark on popular culture and animation. Looney Tunes’ prevailing popularity can be attributed to its timeless humor strategies, iconic characters, innovative animation, cross-generational appeal, catchphrases/branding, and its global cultural impact. Beloved characters such as Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny, and Porky Pig serve not only as comedic entertainment, but also as a method of exploring the complexities of human psychology. Viewing Looney Tunes through the psychoanalytic lenses of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung will provide further insight on this position as well as our own psyche as an audience. In this in-depth exploration of Looney Tunes through a psychoanalytic lens, we delve into the animated world’s rich array of characters, humor, and narratives, unraveling the intricacies of the human psyche as reflected in the idiosyncrasies, comedic methods, and archetypal representation of iconic personalities as well as the cultural impact. Through this lens we will navigate the psychological depths of beloved cartoon characters in order to reveal profound insights into the nature of humor and underlying context which elevates Looney Tunes beyond mere entertainment.Read more here.