Line #16 Westernanimation/BallotBoxBunny


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ballot_box_bunny_band_shell2.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:And the race is on!]]
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4	"Ballot Box Bunny" is a [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation 1951]] ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' cartoon directed by Creator/FrizFreleng and starring WesternAnimation/BugsBunny.
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6	In the short, Bugs throws himself into the race for small-town mayor after hearing that candidate WesternAnimation/YosemiteSam's campaign platform includes a promise to wipe out every last rabbit. An escalating dirty-trick campaign ensues (including a cigar swap), along with [[HilarityEnsues hilarity]].
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8	----
9	!!"Ballot Box Bunny" provides examples of:
10	* ActionPolitician: Sam might be a big jerk, but he sure is a man of action.
11	* AnythingYouCanDoICanDoBetter: Bugs tells Sam "I can do anything you can do, only better." This leads to the famous exploding piano gag.
12	* AntAssault: Sam unleashes intelligent ants to ruin the picnic organized by Bugs. They don't attack people per se, they merely steal food (they're somehow [[StrongAnts strong enough to do it]]). Bug counter-attacks by putting dynamite in the watermelon that's being carried away by an ant. It then goes boom on Sam.
13	* AshFace:
14	** Exaggerated. After the ExplosiveCigar goes off, a man's ''whole head'' seemingly turns to ash, which then blows away. Fortunately, his real head was hidden under his coat. Unfortunately for Sam, the guy believes he did the prank and Sam gets BlownAcrossTheRoom with a punch.
15	** Happens to Sam anytime something explodes in his face (which is ''a lot'' in this short).
16	* {{Bowdlerise}}: The ending gag, in which Bugs and Sam play RussianRoulette after they both lose the mayoral race to an actual "dark horse mare", was deleted for many years on American TV airings regardless of channel (it has been edited on ABC, CBS, WB, FOX, Nickelodeon, even Cartoon Network and Boomerang), with a fake iris-out after Bugs says: "Dark horse?" and Sam says: "Mare?" (Mayor). Since 2011, Cartoon Network has aired the cartoon uncut and uncensored. One local station left the first part of the ending scene intact, but edited the short by ending it just as Bugs puts the gun to his head and the cartoon irises out, deleting the scene of Bugs missing and shooting Yosemite Sam instead. Because of the darker implications of this edit (that Bugs committed suicide, rather than having blasted Yosemite Sam), this edited version has only aired once.
17	** On Nickelodeon, in addition to the above main edit, the part in which Bugs plays his "juteybox" (read: Bugs' marching one-man band) and Sam shoots him is altered so that way, Bugs' marching is played in a loop and Sam is merely heard saying, "Shut off that juteybox! I can't hear myself a-speechin'," followed by a cut to Sam saying: "Now, where was I?", making it seem that Bugs merely stopped because Sam told him to rather than be forced to do it by use of firearms.
18	* CarryABigStick: During a campaign speech, Bugs does an impression of UsefulNotes/TheodoreRoosevelt, quoting his saying about speaking softly and carrying a big stick. Sam retorts that he speaks ''loudly'' and carries a ''bigger'' stick -- with which he then hits Bugs with on the head.
19	* DarkHorseVictory: In the end, Sam and Bugs both lose to a previously-unseen third candidate, who is literally a dark horse, and is declared the town's "new Mare".
20	* DrivenToSuicide: "Well, anyone for RussianRoulette?"
21	** "[[SubvertedTrope Heh, I missed!]]"
22	*** "I hate that rabbit!"
23	* ElectionDayEpisode: One of the central tropes of this feature.
24	* EscalatingWar: Another central trope of this feature.
25	* ExplosiveCigar: When Sam decides to hand out cigars to prospective voters, Bugs swaps out his brand (Smello) for the exploding variety (Atom). One prospective voter finds this out the painful way, much to Sam's chagrin.
26	* FreezeFrameBonus: The poster in Bugs' headquarters during Sam's attempt to kill Bugs with a cannon reads "Vote for Bugs: Loyal. Lovable. Literate."
27	* GooGooGetup: When Sam shows his appeal to the common voter by kissing babies, Bugs disguises himself as a baby, and when Sam kisses him, Bugs cries that Sam bit him on the nose, prompting all the women present to beat Sam up.
28	* HandbagOfHurt: Sam gets a dose of this from some angry mothers.
29	* HatDamage: The man that fell prey to the ExplodingCigar.
30	* HoistByHisOwnPetard:
31	** Sam sets a trap for Bugs using a cannon at his front door, only for Bugs to fool him into opening it.
32	** Bugs purposefully avoids playing that one note that would trigger the explosives in the piano, only for Sam to get annoyed and replace him to play the full melody. With [[StuffBlowingUp predictable results]].
33	* ItsLikeIAlwaysSay:
34	-->'''Sam:''' No one will vote for a flattened-out rabbit skin, I always say.
35	* LargeHam: Sam, as per usual.
36	-->'''Sam''': WELL I SPEAK '''LOOOUUUD'''! AND I CARRY A '''BIIIIIGGER''' STICK! AND I USE IT TOO!!! ''(Hits Bugs on the noggin)''
37	* NoIndoorVoice: Sam again.
38	* NoodleIncident: Whatever fun that Sam and his lady-friend Emma got up to in St. Louis.
39	-->'''Sam''': Same ol' Emma! Fulla laughs!
40	* ParasolOfPain: Again, Sam and the crowd of angry mothers.
41	* PoliticiansKissBabies: Sam attempts this as a campaign tactic, with little apparent success even before Bugs disguises himself as a baby, kisses ''him'', [[WoundedGazelleGambit then cries that "the bad man bit my widdle nose!"]], leading all the women present to start to hitting Sam over the head with their {{handbag\|OfHurt}}s and [[ParasolOfPain umbrellas]].
42	* ReducedToDust: What seems to happen to the head of the man Sam gives the {{exploding cigar}} to. Of course, since it's ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'', he's relatively okay moments later. Sam, however...
43	* SausageStringSilliness: When Bugs throws a picnic for the voters, Sam releases ants than run off with the food. One group carry off a string of sausages, treating it like a mule train.
44	* ShoutOut: When Bugs kisses Sam disguised as a baby, he says, "[[Creator/RedSkelton He bit my widdow nose! He bit my widdow nose! Da bad man bit my widdow nose!]]"
45	* SleazyPolitician: Sam is willing to use any trick in the book to beat defeat Bugs, no matter ''how'' violent and underhanded. And to be honest, Bugs is only a step or two behind him.
46	* SpitTake: Bugs' reaction to Sam's initial campaign speech.
47	* StrongAnts: The ants carrying off whole items of picnic food -- especially the one ant who carries an entire watermelon by itself.
48	* TapOnTheHead: This particular short is remarkable in that it features one of the rare occasions where Bugs receives one from one of his usual ButtMonkey antagonists. Specifically, during which Sam [[CarryABigStick takes out his bigger stick]] and whacks Bugs over the head with it.
49	* ThisMeansWar: Bugs decides to take on Sam and run for mayor himself when he overhears Sam vowing to exterminate all rabbits in the country as one of his campaign promises.
50	-->"Say, this calls for stragety! I'll fight fire ''with'' fire!"
51	* VisualPun: The actual winner of the election is literally a dark horse, and a mare who won the race for mayor.
52	* XylophoneGag: Sam tries it on Bugs with a rigged piano, and [[HoistByHisOwnPetard gets the usual outcome]].

Context Westernanimation / BallotBoxBunny