#not very baffy centric. cuz sometimes i feel this movie deserves to be acknowledged for its writing beyond baffy's dynamic

[that-rackin-frackin-varmint]

LT Back in Action: The fight for Artistic Integrity

I feel like we've commonly identified how in Back in Action, Daffy and DJ were so obviously mirrors of each other with their ambition to go beyond their current positions to be valued by their respective peers. But I don't see people make the connection on how Bugs and Kate's dynamic seemed to serve as a representation of Bugs' balancing act of preserving the remnants of his classic personalities against the growing passage of time and everchanging censorship standards.

The movie makes many references to audience demographics, PC culture, how corporate interest stifles creatives, the fumbling upper management -- all very prevalent subjects for the looney tunes characters. But for this film's focus, we see how it affects the film's leads.

Daffy gets his suggestions shot down in the writing room, his input is undermined by the execs, and was ultimately manipulated into starring in a film without express consent or autonomy. His insistence in pursuing the blue monkey was a deliberate refusal to internalise his debilitating loss of identity after he got fired.

DJ's a secret nepo baby who -- aside from not exactly getting as much recognition for his contributions to the films Brendan Fraser starred in -- seems to be living a rather cushy life judging from the interior of his house. The ending seems to suggest that he was involved in blind-siding Daffy because of his ambition to be more than a security guard. So he was just as much a pawn.

Kate is the newbie Head of Comedy, who is absolutely miscasted for the job and is clinging on for dear life to maintain this seemingly important position by doing what her higher ups want her to do. But because her higher ups are incompetent at knowing what works with audiences -- the moment shit hits the fan, they will absolutely use her as a scapegoat.

And Bugs has to navigate studio politics to pull strings for himself, seems to be well-versed in baby-talking the Warner Brothers into submission, and has developed a far removed capacity for emotional vulnerability. This limitation in expression seems like a learned tactic as he adeptly dodges Daffy's invitations for genuine connection throughout the film. Which makes this version of Bugs particularly best identified for his emotional constipation.

What this goes to show is that these characters were able to convey the struggles, frustrations and burnout that comes with creatives in their continuous battle against the hand that feeds them. Which I find makes this movie all the more timeless, and prevalent in our modern day.