“How ‘Looney Tunes’ joined the culture wars”

Kendall Phillips, Professor of Communications and Rhetorical Studies in the College of Visual and Performing Arts, was interviewed by Deseret News for the article “How ‘Looney Tunes’ joined the culture wars.” The article questions whether “removing Elmer Fudd’s gun represent[s] the movement to eliminate guns from our culture” or if it is “about making the show safer for kids?” Professor Phillips, who focuses his research on pop culture, says that “the reason you use a character like Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd is for that nostalgia value … you know audiences know what these are, there’s a certain kind of cultural cachet and recognizable aspect of these characters” which allows for these characters to be rebooted “to align with modern American culture.”