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''What's Opera, Doc?'' is a 1957 American animated cartoon short in the ''Merrie Melodies'' series, directed by Chuck Jones for Warner Bros. Cartoons. The Michael Maltese story features Elmer Fudd chasing Bugs Bunny through a parody of 19th-century classical composer Richard Wagner's operas, particularly ''Der Ring des Nibelungen'' (''The Ring of the Nibelung''), ''Der Fliegende Holländer'', and ''Tannhäuser''. It borrows heavily from the second opera in the "Ring Cycle" ''Die Walküre'', woven around the standard Bugs-Elmer conflict. It was the last Chuck Jones theatrical cartoon to star Elmer Fudd. Originally released to theaters by Warner Bros. on July 6, 1957, ''What's Opera, Doc?'' features the speaking and singing voices of Mel Blanc and Arthur Q. Bryan as Bugs and Elmer, respectively. The short is also sometimes informally referred to as 'Kill the Wabbit' after the line sung by Fudd to the tune of Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries", the opening passage from Act Three of ''Die Walküre'' (which is also the leitmotif of the Valkyries). In 1994, ''What's Opera, Doc?'' was voted #1 of the 50 Greatest Cartoons of all time by 1,000 members of the animation field. ==Plot== The screen pans on the silhouette of a mighty Viking arousing ferocious lightning storms, but then zooms in to reveal that it is only Elmer Fudd (as the demigod Siegfried). Elmer sings his signature line "Be vewy qwiet, I'm hunting wabbits" (in recitative), before he finds rabbit tracks and arrives at Bugs Bunny's hole. We watch as Elmer jams his spear into Bugs' hole to "Kill the wabbit! Kill the wabbit! Kill the wabbit!" Bugs sticks his head out of another rabbit hole, and, apparently appalled, sings his signature line "What's up, doc?" to the theme of Siegfried's horn call from the ''Ring Cycle''. He asks Elmer how he will kill the rabbit, then taunts Elmer about his "spear and magic helmet". This prompts a display of Elmer-as-Siegfried's "mighty powers", set to the overture of ''The Flying Dutchman'', which causes lightning to strike the tree next to Bugs. At that, Bugs flees, Elmer realizes "That was the wabbit!", and the chase begins. Suddenly, Elmer is stopped in his tracks at the sight of the beautiful Valkyrie Brünnhilde (Bugs in a Drag Queen disguise), riding in grandly on an enormously fat horse (in ''Chuck Amuck: The Life and Times of an Animated Cartoonist'', director Jones notes that the production team "gave the horse the operatic curves we couldn't give Bugs"). "Siegfried" and "Brünnhilde" exchange endearments, set to the "Pilgrims' Chorus" theme from ''Tannhäuser'' as orchestrated in the opera's overture. After the usual "hard to get" pursuit they perform a short ballet (based on the Venusberg ballet in ''Tannhäuser''), capping it off with the duet "Return My Love" set to another section of the ''Tannhäuser'' overture as the pair meet at a gazebo. Bugs' true identity is suddenly exposed when his headdress falls off, enraging Elmer. Bugs yanks Elmer's helmet down over his head and uses it as a chance to escape, discarding his disguise. A crescedo drum roll is playing while Elmer struggles to fix his helmet. When Elmer puts his helmet into the right position, the "Ride" overture plays once again and the white gazebo turns red (reflecting Elmer's anger), resolving to himself "I'll kill the wabbit!" prompting him to command fierce lightning, "typhoons, huwwicanes, earthquakes" and, finally, "SMOG!!!" (a word Elmer screams which was not done by Bryan, but by Blanc〔(''What's Opera, Doc?'' at the Internet Movie Database ). Although Arthur Q. Bryan was the voice of Elmer at the time and performed the character for all but a single one-word line of the cartoon, Mel Blanc voiced the character for one word "SMOG!!!" because Blanc could scream the line better than Bryan. Blanc did not take over as the voice of Elmer until 1972; in the interim, Hal Smith voiced Elmer after Bryan's death in December 1959.〕) to "stwike de wabbit!" while music from ''The Flying Dutchman'' plays in the background. Eventually, the ensuing storm tears apart the mountains where Bugs has fled. Elmer triumphantly rushes to see his victory, but upon seeing the bunny's seemingly lifeless body, which is strangely intact, Elmer immediately regrets his wrath and tearfully carries the bunny off, presumably to Valhalla in keeping with the Wagnerian theme, per Act III of ''The Valkyries'' (although the music again comes from the overture to ''Tannhäuser''). Bugs suddenly raises his head to face the audience, thereby breaking the fourth wall, and remarks, "Well, what did you expect in an opera? A ''happy'' ending?", ironically undoing the intended sad conclusion. The ''Merrie Melodies'' end title card then appears with all the words already there. This cartoon marks one of only three times that Bugs Bunny is defeated by Fudd. The other two are ''Rabbit Rampage'' and ''Hare Brush''. This is also the only one of the three where Fudd shows regret for defeating Bugs. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「What's Opera, Doc?」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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