Draftee Daffy

Daffy Duck is less than patriotic. He is visited by a persistent draft board representative. He keeps escaping from the draft all the way to Hell.

At first glance, I am not sure if an unpatriotic Daffy is the way to go during a time of war. I do get the premise. Make Daffy a coward and make him suffer for his choice. To be sure, Daffy is a great coward. This probably worked for the audience back in the day, maybe. The problem is that Daffy is a great character and he could still appeal to some part of the audience even as a lowly coward. That is the central conflict. One should be enticed to join.

Daffy changes his tune from patriotic flag-waver to craven draftdodger when he learns that the little man from the draft board is coming to pay him a visit. Daffy's reaction when he learns of his induction status is the highlight of the cartoon; the implication slowly dawns on him. He spends the rest of the cartoon trying to avoid the little man, even resorting to attempted murder. (And to think, only a few years before Daffy fought the Nazis in such cartoons as Daffy the Commando [1943] and Plane Daffy [1944].) Only Daffy could get away with such brazenly unpatriotic behavior during World War II, and only a director like Bob Clampett could pull it off and still keep the duck an appealing character. This also marks the beginning of the craven, self-preserving Daffy that Chuck Jones would later develop in such cartoons as Duck, Rabbit, Duck and Rabbit Fire. Another very funny and energetic Clampett cartoon.

I saw this movie some time in the 1970s, and was absolutely stunned by it. I've seen it since on cable TV channels, and am always amazed. Daffy Duck's attitude towards being drafted was exactly the same as mine just a few years earlier! Yeah, I am all for America! I'll wave the flag and whatever... But--you want me to join the army? And carry a gun? And go through basic training? And kill people?

LATER FOR YOU, BROTHER!!! GET ME OUTTA HERE!!!!!!!!!

And so it goes with our hero, Daffy Duck (always my favorite WB cartoon character since he is the least sentimental of them all--even W. C. Fields took a back seat to this bastard!). I even think it's possible that this cartoon convinced little children who watched it in the 1950s on television to become 1960s draft dodgers...

This cartoon contains some of the most shocking imagery ever to be seen in an animated cartoon before the 1960s. When Daffy lands in Hell at the end of the cartoon and is still being pursued by the draft board, it's quite a statement (even though it was probably just a joke back in the day)... It's Daffy Duck versus Big Government. In fact, that is what the whole F'N cartoon is about: Daffy Duck versus government bureaucracy. Clampett's portrayal of the faceless bureaucrat is as chilling as anything Kafka ever invented.

This cartoon also has more manic energy than ANY other WB cartoon ever made. It's like an acid trip. It's weird. It's... almost psychedelic. It's INSANE!!!

You have to think that the filmmakers meant to make some kind of political statement with this little cartoon. What's amazing about this is that the cartoon was made at the height of World War Two, which has always been seen as the war every single US citizen supported without question... This "harmless" little cartoon makes you question all of that, and brings WW2 back to the reality of Japanese detention camps, zoot suits, shortages, and other stark realities of the 1940s. (Just read your history books, people!)

This cartoon was included in one of the Warner Brothers Golden Collections of cartoons - it even included a commentary. All during the commentary the two doing the commenting only talk about the fast pace and how Daffy's personality seems so much like that of one of the animators over at Termite Terrace - which is where the WB cartoons of the era were created. Nobody mentions the 500 pound gorilla in the room - which is that Daffy in this cartoon is virtually alone in any film or cartoon I have viewed from the WWII era in that he is afraid of being drafted and stays afraid. Plus Daffy is willing to do anything - including doing severe bodily injury to the man from the draft board - to avoid being drafted.

I wonder how this went over with the audiences of the era? Maybe Daffy Duck got away with this because Daffy usually represented unbridled greed, cowardice, and self-interest to the point of being charming - he never made excuses for himself. Likewise "the little man from the draft board" looks a great deal like Elmer Fudd, so it's really hard to take him seriously too. Definitely worth a look if it crosses your path.

I'd see anything from Looney Tunes and Daffy Duck as I am such a huge fan. And Draftee Daffy from the first time I saw it has been one of my favourite cartoons of all time. The animation looks absolutely beautiful and is very detailed right from the facial expressions and Daffy's manic energy. The music is beautifully orchestrated and energetic, while the writing is witty and the gags right from the opening to even the smallest details imaginative. What is also remarkable is how the subject matter is treated, there is no glorification but personified in Daffy's slow realisation expression it is very realistically done. Daffy himself is just brilliant, manic, greedy and moving all in one. Mel Blanc gives a bravura performance. All in all, Draftee Daffy is a superb cartoon, one of my favourites ever. 10/10 Bethany Cox