Cennarium Backstage - Brasil Autumn 2016 | Page 35
How a 1950's cartoon influenced the way we watched opera decades later? By John Fancher
Opera has a funny way of working its way into everyday life. And whether you’re an opera-goer or not you’ve probably seen it referenced in popular media. All the film buffs out there saw Charlie Chaplin walk around to Richard Wagner’s Lohengrin in The Great Dictator. The more modern film-goer would know "Ride of the Valkyries" from Apocalypse Now. Or they may remember Julia Roberts tearing up when Giuseppe Verdi’s La Traviata plays in Pretty Woman.
Opera is even present in everyday commercials. You’ve probably seen those J.G. Wentworth commercials with the Viking and chorus of people singing “Call J.G. Wentworth” inspired by Waner’s Ring Cycle. Most people don’t think of opera being funny but it sure does show up in a lot of comedies. The Three Stooges lip sync opera in their episode titled “Micro-phonies” and in the episode “Homer of Seville” Homer Simpson discovers he has a great singing voice making him an opera star. But he can only sing if he is lying down.
The most influential opera reference has to be the 1957 cartoon "What’s Opera, Doc?" in which Bugs Bunny escapes from Elmer Fudd by acting out parts of Wagner’s Ring Cycle and Tannhäuser. In the cartoon Elmer chases a Brünnhilde like bugs around singing “Kiww the wabbit, Kiww the wabbit!” to the tune of "Ride of the Valkyries." Eventually Bugs tricks Elmer into thinking he is Brünnhilde, causing Elmer to say, “Oh, Bwünnhilde, you’re so wovewy.”
Of course Bugs turns the table on Elmer and the chase continues. But "What’s Opera, Doc?" was something much more important than just a silly cartoon. It was an inspiration to a generation of performers. In his Wall Street Journal article Michael M. Phillips lists many opera singers and how they were influenced by Bugs and Elmer.
Singer and teacher Elizabeth Bishop had no idea that Bwünnhilde was actually called Brünnhilde because she knew her from Elmer Fudd. “I could sing you the entire cartoon before I knew what opera really was,” Bishop said in the article. The cartoon didn’t explain what opera was or immediately hook kids. Most kids chuckled and went on to the next episode. But for a few a little exposure was all they needed.
“Those of us who didn’t freak at the sight of a rabbit in a winged helmet sliding off of the back of a fat horse—we went into opera,” Bishop said. For most people opera is a distant form of theater where people sing too much. But the small exposures that people get from cartoons or movies make it very real and more relevant. Opera fans and regular people will both always remember "Ride of the Valkyries." And thanks to the JG Wentworth commercials people will always think opera and Vikings go hand in hand.