The Sun-Herald

The Tribal Mind: Why a duck

To discuss how to make Australians eat kangaroo, go to Who We Are
by David Dale
It would be despicable of me to let this year pass without drawing attention to a milestone we were in danger of forgetting -- the 70th anniversary of a seminal figure in modern Western thought. Back when he turned 50, The New York Times commissioned a psychiatrist to analyse him, and the shrink wrote: "He began as a simple manic depressive and developed over the years into a fully fledged paranoid schizophrenic". The diagnosis also referred to "chronic delusions of grandeur".

I'm talking of course, of Daffy Duck, who appeared in Australia 70 years ago in a Warner Bros cartoon called Porky's Duck Hunt. As you know, the world is divided into two types of people: those who think Disney produced the best cartoon characters and those who recognise the superiority of Warner.

Disney creatures (Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, Pluto) vary only in their cuteness and dumbness, while Warner characters (Bugs Bunny, Foghorn Leghorn, Sylvester, Tweety, Elmer Fudd) cover the full gamut of psychopathology. Disney is sweet and slapstick. Warner is cynical and strange. Disney is Sarah Palin. Warner is Tina Fey. Or in Australian terms, Disney is Kevin Rudd, Wayne Swan and Morris Iemma. Warner is Paul Keating, Brendan Nelson and Malcolm Turnbull -- not necessarily more likeable, but much more interesting.

As a kid, I was a fan of Donald Duck, the most engaging Disney character because of his streak of irritability. But as a teenager I moved to a mallard imaginaire who was more recognisably human. Daffy's creator, Chuck Jones, placed him in this context: "Elmer Fudd never knows what's going on; Bugs always knows what is going on and is in control of events; Daffy is bright enough to understand how to be in control, but he never quite makes it. Both Bugs and Daffy are talkers, but Daffy talks too much. Bugs stands back from a situation, analyses it and makes his move. Daffy becomes emotionally involved, loses his distance and blows it."

A recent Daffy appearance -- the semi-animated movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit -- has become a recommended text in the NSW English syllabus for Years 7-10. The students will see him in a nightclub performing a piano duet with Donald Duck. Donald waffles away in typically incomprehensible fashion, oblivious to the glares of Daffy. At the end, Daffy turns to the audience and expostulates: "Thith ith the latht time I work with thomeone with a thpeech impediment!"

Reflections on Daffy's anniversary led me to worry about the current condition of another great Warner creation, the Acme company. Its products may occasionally be unreliable, but it's an astonishing success story -- able, for example, to deliver products to the Arizona desert on the basis of orders received from a wild dog apparently without access to phone, fax or email.

How is the Wall Street meltdown affecting the maker of such essentials as the Acme Giant Kite Kit, the Acme Re-integrator Gun, Acme Leg Muscle Vitamins, Acme Jet-Propelled Roller Skates and the Acme Female Road Runner Costume?

If we consult the complete works of Daffy, we find the answer. In Duck Dodgers in the 24th and a Halfth Century, we find Daffy and Porky confronting Marvin the Martian. Both sides in the future conflict are using weapons bearing the Acme brand. Clearly capitalism -- and Daffy -- are due to survive for a while yet.

Go to Comments to discuss the Warner influence on contemporary culture.

David Dale is the author of Who We Are -- A snapshot of Australia today (Allen and Unwin). To discuss Australian attitudes, go to http://blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.