In Praise of Dark Bunnies…
With Easter upon us, it’s easy to think of rabbits as all sweetness and light, cuteness incarnate, the Easter Bunny thing. I prefer my rabbits to have a dark side, however, with a bit of muscularity and the potential for the unpredictable thrown in. That’s right…I like my bunnies bad!
Bad bunnies can play havoc with our expectations of them, like The Rabbit as portrayed by Joey Fatone on Season 1 of The Masked Singer. He had a wonderful, “fresh from the asylum” vibe to him, and I’ll never hear Livin’ La Vida Loca the same way again after seeing Rabbit’s electrifying stage performance of it.
If you search, you can find rabbits who don’t fit the passive, submissive mold, like Hugh Jackman’s Aussie E. Aster Bunnymund in the Rise of the Guardians movie. That was an Easter Bunny who was great with children, but could also kick some serious…ahem, tail.
The 2001 science fiction/psychological thriller film Donnie Darko featured a disturbing, nightmarish rabbit, Frank, who could certainly haunt your dreams…
So with many more examples possible from medieval manuscripts (below) onwards, just remember that rabbits are not all the timid, wimpy, sanitized creatures that we see paraded around at this season, but rather a strong, adaptable, successful, and resilient species…and a Happy Easter, y’all…or else!
Tags: alternative bunnies, Easter bunny alts, formidible rabbits
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FOXSYLVANIA 
April 4, 2021 at 4:13 am
You should see Bugs Bunny in the classic cartoon short EASTER RABBIT. If that doesn’t permanently answer his rhetorical question (“Ain’t I a stinker?”), nothing will.
But, you’ll still laugh! 🙂
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April 7, 2021 at 11:38 am
I always preferred Bugs to the more sanitized and predictable Disney creations…and Daffy Duck added a maniacal note of refreshing madness to the cast, although he’d always finish second in a battle of wits with Bugs…
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April 8, 2021 at 1:41 am
Repeat after me: “Duck Season! Rabbit Season!”
😉
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April 10, 2021 at 2:15 pm
Btw: that photo-capture from DONNIE DARKO reminds me of the Walt Disney classic THE SCARECROW OF ROMNEY MARSH. If his daytime alter-ego, the Vicar of Dymchurch, had been a high-ranking member of the Catholic Church, somewhere between archbishop and Pope, would that make him…Cardinal Syn?
Ba-DUM-boom!
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April 10, 2021 at 4:56 pm
(Mutters) Watch out my forehead, a pounding is coming! 🙀
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April 10, 2021 at 5:09 pm
In the immortal words of Michigan J. Knievel:
“Hello, my baby. Hello, my honey. Hello, my crash helmet!” 😉
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April 10, 2021 at 5:12 pm
I’d have to have my helmet custom-made. For the ears, you see… 🐺
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