Roger Rabbit: A Cultural Impact

Part 1 by Andrea Blundell

In 1988, a little-known cartoon character got his big break. He wasn’t new to the world—after all, he’d been created by author Gary K. Wolf in the 1981 novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit?—but he'd finally “made it” with a starring role in the Disney movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

And now, twenty-five years after the release of the movie that made Roger Rabbit a household name, we can definitively look back and see the true cultural impact this irritatingly loveable rabbit has had on us. Part I of this article will look at the impact on the film industry, while Part II will examine the social impact of the film.

The most obvious and immediate impact was in the world of animation and film making. Who Framed Roger Rabbit was heralded as a groundbreaking film because of the unique combinations it presented—traditional animation and live action, Toons and humans, Disney, and Warner Brothers.

Mixing animation and live action had been around for decades before Who Framed Roger Rabbit. In 1919, Max Fleischer began producing Out of the Inkwell, a series of shorts in which he interacted with the animated characters. Then there were Disney’s Alice Comedies, shorts which featured a live action girl and an animated cat in a cartoon world. There was Song of the South in 1946. Mary Poppins in 1964. And the list goes on.

So why the big fuss over Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

In the 1970s and 80s, Disney appeared to have lost its edge in animation, and animation in general had slowly degraded to cheap and rushed television cartoons with a primary audience of children. Animation studios, including Disney, were experiencing disappointing box office sales on their animated films and downsizing as a result.

But Who Framed Roger Rabbit changed all of that. Never before had there been a film that so seamlessly blended hand-drawn animation and live action.

Roger Ebert, in his 4-star review of the film in 1988, credits the film’s success to a ‘breakthrough in craftsmanship,’ calling it “the first film to convincingly combine real actors and animated cartoon characters in the same space in the same time and make it look real.”

Cartoons had shadows. They shook hands with real actors. They walked from cartoon sets into the real world. These combinations no doubt led to the numerous awards the film received, which included four prestigious Oscars in sound effects, visual effects, film editing, and animation direction.

The film also proved that animation could sell to adults as well as children. Whereas television cartoons were geared only toward children, Who Framed Roger Rabbit combined cartoons, humor, and mystery into one show that was able to engage and entertain the whole family. As proof of this, the film was also awarded the less prestigious but still impressive Kids’ Choice Award for Favorite Movie. The film was clearly a success, both behind the scenes and in front of them.

Because of its success at the box office, Who Framed Roger Rabbit is largely credited with the resurgence of animation. Films like Toy Story and Avatar, which are now seen as the pinnacle of animation and CGI, may never have existed without the technology that resulted from making the film, and the renewed interest in animation that followed.

But let’s not forget that, while it was Disney and Steven Spielberg who created the box office hit, it was Gary K. Wolf who first imagined the idea of Roger Rabbit and Toontown, and who dreamed up a world where Toons and humans lived and worked side by side.

In the upcoming Part II, we will step away from the film industry and look at the cultural impact that Roger Rabbit had on society.

Stay ‘toon’ed!

Gary K. Wolf’s latest novel Who Wacked Roger Rabbit? will be available for pre-order from Musa Publishing on October 22, 2013, in digital-only format.