The iconic artist who was sexually attracted to Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny is probably one of the world’s most beloved and recognisable cartoon characters. The trickster rabbit has delighted children for decades by indulging in all kinds of flippant adventures. However, for one iconic artist, the adorable Bugs was nothing more than an object of intense sexual desire.
To those who are familiar with the work of cartoonist Robert Crumb, this will come as no surprise. One of the major appeals of Crumb’s artistic vision is his ability to display the dark recesses of his psychological hang-ups. While Crumb has been criticised for his graphic depictions of sexuality and sexual fantasies, the impact of his art on modern culture is undeniable.
One of the most comprehensive explorations of Crumb’s art and his life is Terry Zwigoff’s 1994 documentary Crumb. It’s a truly haunting work of cinematic investigation which explores the cartoonist’s dysfunctional family while uncovering heavy subjects such as childhood trauma and severe depression.
In the documentary, Crumb talks about the relationship between his sexual awakenings as a child and his artistic sensibilities. One of those awakenings was caused by Bugs Bunny. The anthropomorphic rabbit managed to titillate the five-year-old Crumb, who was completely obsessed with the character.
While discussing his fetish, Crumb said: “When I was about five or six, I was sexually attracted to Bugs Bunny, and I cut off this Bugs Bunny off the cover of a comic book and carried it around with me. I carried it around in my pocket and took it out and looked at it periodically.”
He added: “It got all wrinkled up, I was handling it so much. I asked my mother to iron it on the ironing board, flatten it out, and she did. I was deeply disappointed because it got all brown when she ironed it, brittle and crumbled apart… I don’t know; I had this sexual attraction to cartoon characters.”
Bugs Bunny is a definitive part of the world of animation, but he signified something else for Crumb during those childhood years. Interestingly, Crumb made fairly conventional at the beginning of his career as a cartoonist, but everything changed after an extended LSD trip which made him care less about the veneer of society’s performative moralities.
