Current Events > Was Pepe Le Pew really that rapey?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I saw an older movie today in the theater and, in-keeping with the tradition of the time period, they showed a cartoon short before the movie began. This one happened to be about Pepe Le Pew.

And, honestly, the humor seemed to be more based around him not understanding that she wasn't interested in him than it was about him actively disregarding her lack of consent.

I don't have a photographic memory of all things Pepe Le Pew, but I do seem to recall the cat would be into him if not for his scent. And this usually leads to him thinking that she's playing hard to get when she decides to run away after first giving him the go-ahead.

I'm not saying that the joke holds up. It just seems like the humor is based on him genuinely not knowing when he isn't wanted than it is him trying to force himself on an unwilling partner.

I love how they got rid of Pepe Le Pew but kept cameos from Alex and his droogs from A Clockwork Orange.

Not anymore rapey than the droogs in the new Space Jam.

Garabandal posted...

I love how they got rid of Pepe Le Pew but kept cameos from Alex and his droogs from A Clockwork Orange.

They just don't like the Fre*ch

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/4/5/9/AANKsdAAESxT.jpg

Garabandal posted...

I love how they got rid of Pepe Le Pew but kept cameos from Alex and his droogs from A Clockwork Orange.

And after going on a tangent about how inappropriate Lola Bunny was.

Turbam posted...

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/4/5/9/AANKsdAAESxT.jpg

hahahahahaha

It's definitely not something you want to portray in modern day, but I do think people go a little overboard on criticizing it.

Yes.

It took a second to click what you were even talking about.

Most of the things he did atleast qualified as sexual harassment. The show didn't get much better when the situation got reversed on him either

GranolaPanic posted...

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/8/5/AAYThEAABrOR.jpg

Oh and the Night King is there as well.

Yes, the Nigh...

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/8/4/0/AAdlC_AADvdo.jpg

Mais non means mais non.

Yes.
He's also a racist caricature of French people.

GranolaPanic posted...

The kind of the White Walkers in Game of Thrones.

Hes basically the leader of ice zombies.

Oh, thanks. I never watched Game of Thrones.

After hearing the reputation of the last season, I'm not sure if I want to.

:<

Penelope did want Pepe, but not the smell. We know this because is most of the shorts, something would happen when he was being chased by her.

Either way on both accounts we know that it not the best look to say the least.

But they could have cut that out and still had him around. Hell They had Rick and Morty and Rick is a murderer. Bugs Bunny is a racist in his past.

Also there was one short when here was just some America dude with a whole ass family. However that seem to just have been a one off and people don't bring that up anymore much.

he was rather rapey yet
but the real sad thing is that the cat was one of only 2 major recurring female loonytoons and most people dont even know her name

penelope pussycat
her sole reason for existence was to get sexually assaulted by a skunk and i imagine that would be pure hell

the other recurring female loony toon was granny

I hated that character because he's just so offensive to French people

How the fuck did it take me 32 years to just now figure out that he's a skunk because of the "French smell" stereotype...

yusiko posted...

he was rather rapey yet
but the real sad thing is that the cat was one of only 2 major recurring female loonytoons and most people dont even know her name

penelope pussycat
her sole reason for existence was to get sexually assaulted by a skunk and i imagine that would be pure hell

the other recurring female loony toon was granny

What about Witch Hazel?

FortuneCookie posted...

What about Witch Hazel?

she doesnt count because of reasons that totally arent just i forgot she existed
i am not the one at fault here! the evidence that proves this is my mistake is an optical illusion

He's up there with Nightman tbh

yusiko posted...

she doesnt count because of reasons that totally arent just i forgot she existed
i am not the one at fault here! the evidence that proves this is my mistake is an optical illusion

I guess she probably didn't have that many appearances either. She probably falls into the "Do you know this character's name?" category.

FortuneCookie posted...

What about Witch Hazel?

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/4/7/4/AAEv3mAAESxi.png

FortuneCookie posted...

I'm not saying that the joke holds up. It just seems like the humor is based on him genuinely not knowing when he isn't wanted than it is him trying to force himself on an unwilling partner.

So he basically ignores all the signs and assumes she's playing hard to get. That's in lines with sexual harassment tho lol. The whole "Guys don't understand no"

Garabandal posted...

I love how they got rid of Pepe Le Pew but kept cameos from Alex and his droogs from A Clockwork Orange.

Yeah lol. Let's get rid of the cartoon skunk that hugged and kissed a cat against her will, but also leave in the live-action gang that literally raped 2 women on screen >_> wut

DKBananaSlamma posted...

Yeah lol. Let's get rid of the cartoon skunk that hugged and kissed a cat against her will, but also leave in the live-action gang that literally raped 2 women on screen >_> wut

Feel like this is deliberately missing the point. In one, the entire character is dedicated to not understanding consent and playing it off as a joke. The other, there's a whole story around these characters and their actions are depicted and framed as morally reprehensible.

There's a reason one aged like milk and the other did not.

ellis123 posted...

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/4/7/4/AAEv3mAAESxi.png

Thanks.

COVxy posted...

Feel like this is deliberately missing the point. In one, the entire character is dedicated to not understanding consent and playing it off as a joke. The other, there's a whole story around these characters and their actions are depicted and framed as morally reprehensible.

There's a reason one aged like milk and the other did not.

That makes it okay to cameo them? lol

DKBananaSlamma posted...

That makes it okay to cameo them? lol

Pepe Le Pew was panned for what his character reflected about society, not for his in universe actions. If the show made the viewers hate Pepe Le Pew, find his actions morally reprehensible, rather than funny, he never would have been panned.

I don't think you understand what actually happened here.

Turbam posted...

How the fuck did it take me 32 years to just now figure out that he's a skunk because of the "French smell" stereotype...

Oh god I didnt know that either. That is fucked up

DKBananaSlamma posted...

That makes it okay to cameo them? lol

It's a Stanley Kubrick film... which should answer the question.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TTFSU0Kqng

At times he did border on sexual harassment but those could have just been toned down for today.

Overall flirtatious guys like him or Jonny Bravo that are confident and arent afraid to take the initiative in regards are generally frowned upon nowadays.

COVxy posted...

Pepe Le Pew was panned for what his character reflected about society, not for his in universe actions. If the show made the viewers hate Pepe Le Pew, find his actions morally reprehensible, rather than funny, he never would have been panned.

I don't think you understand what actually happened here.

It seems a bit odd that rape would be considered okay as a character attribute so long as it isn't reflective of a culture. In the alleged cut scenes of Pepe Le Pew, they made it seem more like they were calling him out for being a creep rather than for disrespecting French identity. Though, seeing as I don't have a transcript of the missing scenes, it's possible they brought that up as well.

Either way, it's still strange.

MaxEffingBemis posted...

Oh god I didnt know that either. That is fucked up

Thought the same thing.

FortuneCookie posted...

It seems a bit odd that rape would be considered okay as a character attribute so long as it isn't reflective of a culture. In the alleged cut scenes of Pepe Le Pew, they made it seem more like they were calling him out for being a creep rather than for disrespecting French identity. Though, seeing as I don't have a transcript of the missing scenes, it's possible they brought that up as well.

Either way, it's still strange.

I mean, do we think Bowser is a character that should be panned? He kidnaps women and holds them hostage!

FortuneCookie posted...

It seems a bit odd that rape would be considered okay as a character attribute so long as it isn't reflective of a culture

does pepe le pew actually rape someone? i havent seen a minute of looney tunes in probably like 15 years, i am genuinely asking

MarcyWarcy posted...

does pepe le pew actually rape someone? i havent seen a minute of looney tunes in probably like 15 years, i am genuinely asking

I havent seen it. I highly doubt they'll put something like that in a children's cartoon lol. I think he just kisses them repeatedly

MarcyWarcy posted...

does pepe le pew actually rape someone? i havent seen a minute of looney tunes in probably like 15 years, i am genuinely asking

He did say he wished to "make love" with the cat a lot >_>

MarcyWarcy posted...

does pepe le pew actually rape someone? i havent seen a minute of looney tunes in probably like 15 years, i am genuinely asking

Not full penetration as far as I know. Looney Tunes legitimately had at least one rape joke in the 90s with the Casablanca parody Carrotblanca, but that was Yosemite Sam and some random prisoner.

DKBananaSlamma posted...

I havent seen it. I highly doubt they'll put something like that in a children's cartoon lol. I think he just kisses them repeatedly

i mean obviously, but i hear people argue about this character so much i figured there must have somnehow been an episode with like a suggestive joke or something

even as a kid i didnt watch cartoons with him in it and come away with "man that guy is such a ladies man!!!!" i figured the joke was that he was an annoying overly romantic french guy who cant take a hint. i get why that sort of thing doesnt work as a joke in modern times, but i have a hard time thinking of it as something insidious

Bugs Bunny kissed people without asking all the time too if you think about it. He should be panned too.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

The difference between the two was the outcome. Wheres Le pews victims would flee, Jonneys would fight.

But the ending isn't what's relavant, only the methods. With them being overly aggressive and touchy. The closest albert extreme example today in such regards would be male rape jokes. Which have died down thankfully but are still semi common.

Pepe Le Pew isn't bad because of his antics that would be considered immoral if a real person did them, Pepe Le Pew is bad because he's got exactly one gimmick and it isn't even that funny. <___<

I forgot what happens to the Droogs at the end of A Clockwork Orange. I remember Alex goes back to "his normal self" at the very end, but what happens to the rest of the gang?