Space Jam: A New Legacy's director thinks y'all are "super weird" for mourning the loss of an over-sexualized Lola Bunny
The new, less curvy version of Lola Bunny appears in the upcoming Space Jam sequel
Film News Space Jam
When director Malcolm D. Lee signed on to Space Jam: A New Legacy, he knew he wanted to rework Lola Bunny’s “over-sexualized” form presented in the 1996 original. What he did not know is that it would bring on a sea of “super weird” discourse concerning the now-flat chest beneath Lola’s basketball jersey.
“I had no idea that people would be that up in arms about a bunny not having boobs,” Lee told Entertainment Weekly ahead of the film’s premiere on July 16.
“Listen, I understand people don’t want things to change, but I think we needed some evolution with her, not by objectifying her but by making her strong and still feminine.”
And no, Lee emphasizes the style change does not mean that actual, living, breathing women in real life cannot have boobs and showcase strength at the same time. He just wanted the animated cartoon rabbit in his children’s film to not have to be sexy and play basketball at the same time.
“And, yes, we had all these other women who were like, ‘Oh, you can’t be strong and have big boobs?!’ Sure you can, but we’re talking about a cartoon bunny, not women!” Lee says.
The controversy even made its way to actor Zendaya, who voices the new, less curvy version of Lola Bunny.
“I didn’t know that was going to happen either! I definitely know we love her, but I didn’t know it was going to be as much of a focus as it was,” Zendaya tells EW. “But I understand, because she’s a lovable character. She’s very important, so I get it.” Now, it’s up to viewers to get their head on straight when it comes to “loving” a character, and “overly sexualizing an animated female rabbit.”
Lola Bunny will play basketball all the same when Space Jam: A New Legacy, hits theaters July 16.
125 Comments
Even back when I was a kid I cringed at the Lola scenes.
Then again, I may just be anti-furry because I had absolutely no problem with Princess Jasmine running around in a harem girl outfit a few years earlier.
That’s because Jasmine was obviously supposed to be good looking, but it didn’t feel like she was drawn to make the audience want to fuck her (though obviously some of them did). Lola Bunny in Space Jam, on the other hand, feels specifically made to make the audience horny, which is even weirder because she’s a rabbit.
“but it didn’t feel like she was drawn to make the audience want to fuck her”I feel like you and I watched two very different animated movies.
Jasmine was one thing, now Pocahontas was another. The dialogue discourse around that at the time got pretty mad with a lot of “won’t someone please think of the children” and comparing her to Baywatch and the like.
Everybody knows that cartoon bunnies don’t have big boobs. Cartoon humans married to cartoon bunnies do, though.
If female bunny had boobs wouldn’t she have 6? I don’t know rabbit anatomy, but I’m guessing it’s more than 2.
May I direct you to DeviantArt? There’s a lot of people drawing sexualized rabbits there and they sure stress the “deviant” part.
Nah I’m fine.
That’s what I don’t get. If you want a anthropomorphic bunny you can jerk off to, I’m sure the internet can provide. Do these people want their sexy cartoon officially licensed by Warner Brothers or something?
They want to be able to find it with the safe search on.
I already jerked off twice to the header photo.
Not everyone wants to go to DeviantArt tho.
Making them official make them extra horny
Every now and then, I see an article I don’t read, but who’s title sticks in my brain. One particular title (or subtitle) was “How the sexual revolution gave men a sense of entitlement.” I think the reason I remember and think about that title is less the title itself than, well… Shit like this. I don’t want to think we have a sense of entitlement, but it’s hard not to when men online get more upset about a less curvy Lola (or Tifa, or Dark Queen) than actual injustices in the world.
“plausible deniablity”This? I just like Space Jam.
You don’t find it slightly an empty hypocrites argument when the same people promoting strippers who can only sing about how wet their pussy is , who promote Cardi B to CHILDREN are saying they now have morals and …come on. Get real. They weighed the odds..offend the cancel culture feminazi male bashers…which are applauded in society..or offend the fan base that made the original enough of a success that a sequel was seen as. Decent investment. It says everything about our society that they came down on the side of risk upsetting the loyal fans. Fucking children at the adults table has ruined this country.
If rabbits are known for anything, it’s their reproduction. So yeah, a rabbit mom with two nipples is a mutant that wouldn’t succeed. Rabbits need nipples all up and down their torso just like cats or pigs.
Here’s a thing: ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit’ posits that for Toons, patty-cake is the equivalent of sex, but other implications are that sex for humans is still sex. (Like the “Is that a rabbit in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?” line.) But Acme is playing patty-cake with Jessica. Does that mean that, in the world of the movie, Acme is into some kinky shit?
She’s not bad, she’s just drawn that way
But Lebron James’ hairline ISN’T super weird?
Hey, if I had Lebron James money, I wouldn’t be bald either.
I believe there’s a law that after achieving a certain level of wealth, you are legally required to be bald. It’s the Supervillain Clause.
Mr. Lee, with all due respect, you are directing a movie where LeBron James enters a Warner Bros. server and becomes a cartoon that can mingle with the fucking DROOGS. When that’s your setup, who are YOU to decide what’s “hella weird” and what isn’t?Just give Lola brains to back up the boobs, keeping the design as is while also showing girls that you don’t have to pick one or the other. This isn’t rocket science, sir.
Who cares about the bunny, Marvin the Martian and his sexy miniskirt have always been the main attraction.
Honestly that could make a cute “sexy costume”. I was bold enough to look it up, I’m almost disappointed they’re pretty much all ok and kinda cute. Considering the “sexy” category is often horrible.
This makes me very horny, very horny indeed.
Where’s the kaboom? There’s supposed to be an earth-shattering kaboom!
Don’t worry, it happens to a lot of guys.
“Where are you putting that Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator?! Hrm?!?!”
“Excuse me! My eyes are . . . well, never mind.”
“You have made me very angry.”
Yeah but wearing that to Halloween dooms you to a night of guys making jokes about showing you their rockets
Have your ray gun be a stun gun.
Oop. There’s that tremendous kablooie.
I’d give her an earth-shattering kaboom if you know what I mean.God, I hate myself for even typing that in jest.
Technically, Marvin wasn’t wearing a skirt but a Roman Centurion uniform, where the tunic under the armor ended at knee height. I guess the idea that the word Mars comes from the Roman god, so Martians would be Romans?
“I guess the idea that the word Mars comes from the Roman god, so Martians would be Romans?” ->
According to Chuck Jones, “That was the uniform that Mars wore — that helmet and skirt. We thought putting it on this creature might be funny.”
So you’re correct, they based him on Mars, the god. Good work!
I think if you want to fantasize sexually about anthropomorphic female rabbits, you should go right ahead and do that. No judgement from me.
Challenge accepted.
But will this Lola be dripping with character like in ‘The Loony Tunes Show’ or will she be basically just another background character, thus justifying the change in her appearance so that she’ll blend into the background even more?
She’ll be a sassy, competent and heroic character, but for some reason (mainly so as to not overshadow her male counterpart) she’ll still need to be rescued.
You would think people would watch a movie before criticism of it…so far thats not what it’s been at all. I disagree with the change but not because of that. I think its PC pandering tbh.
Look into your heart, you already know the answer
I’m just glad they didn’t bring back Minerva Mink with similar changes for the Animaniacs revival. In hindsight, she was never particularly funny.
She wasn’t supposed to be particularly funny.
I miss a few of those side characters but they really weren’t that great compared to the main cast and Pinky and the Brain. Goodfeathers with a Sopranos twist might be funny for a few seconds. Rita and Runt in small dosesSlappy Squirrel might still be funny for jokes about today’s Hollywood
🎶 You’d thought you’d be included in the listBecause you’re a manBut you’re not a manYou’re a Chicken Boo 🎶
I’m assuming they didn’t hire Zendaya to voice her for her to just be a background character.
Wasn’t she a background character in both ‘Homecoming’ and ‘Far From Home’?
I’m not sure if this is a joke or not, but no, I wouldn’t say that. She had a smaller role in Homecoming, but it was setting up her bigger role in Far From Home and going forward.
I just can’t remember any scenes with her except for when they’re on the bridge at night when Peter comes out with his not-so-secret.
Kristen Wigg’s Lola was the best part of that series.
Everyone will be background character in this, how else are they going to jam in those topical references to the Matrix in this movie!
Over-sexualized Bugs is still okay, right?
Oh, GOD. Don’t jinx it!
That’s okay, I think you’re pretty fuckin’ weird for directing a Space Jam movie.
Look, I’m okay with him doing whatever he wants, I just don’t think kids should see it.
It’s a glorious era for female representation. Women of all shapes and sizes can find themselves be represented on the big screen, just so long as their breasts aren’t too large.
Yeah, as a society we really hate large breasts, which is why you NEVER see large chested women in any sort of mass media!
Well, actually, nowadays, apart from in porn, you really don’t. Mainstream movies are scrupulously careful to avoid even the slightest hint of being accused of ‘sexual objectification’. You might have noticed that this redesign is part of an overarching trend of reducing cleavage sizes in movie, TV and cartoon characters when doing re-boots.
x
Well, actually, nowadays, apart from in porn, you really don’t.This isn’t remotely new. Large breasted women have never been that numerous in mainstream movies. The reason Baywatch was so popular back in the day is because that sort of thing was much harder to see elsewhere.
Which is why Angelina Jolie, Alexandra D’Addario and Salma Hayek have no careers.
“Well, actually, nowadays, apart from in porn, you really don’t.”
Except that yes, you very much do. All over the fucking place.
The director even said at one point that having Lola in a crop top
would be too much for a kids movie so they changed the outfit. A little
bit of belly button is too scandalous these days.
I’m sorry this children’s movie doesn’t make you horny enough.
If you think a simple crop top is too “horny” for an all-ages movie, you’re just simple, period.
Good thing I didn’t say that then.
Jesus, no one has the energy for this bullshit.
“I had no idea that people would be that up in arms about a bunny not having boobs.”So much for the “tolerant left”!
When director Malcolm D. Lee signed on to Space Jam: A New Legacy,
he knew he wanted to rework Lola Bunny’s “over-sexualized” form
presented in the 1996 original. What he did not know is that it would
bring on a sea of “super weird” discourse concerning the now-flat chest beneath Lola’s basketball jersey.
I know everybody in the world doesn’t know about furries (or want to know! ba dum tsssh) but dude’s living in denial if he genuinely didn’t think that making an oversexualized character less sexy wouldn’t generate super weird discourse.
“I had no idea it would lead to weird discourse! Hmm? The internet? What’s that?”
His only crime was expecting better of the internet.
This article reminded me once again that a Space Jam sequel is real and is happening and is only mere days away and I’m sad again.
And that Porky Pig will be rapping!
I can’t wait for him to tell us what his name is and what he’s here to say!
“My name is P-p-p-p-p-p-p-orky P-p-p-p-p-p- … Man, fuck this shit!”
Obligatory:
I misread that as “Porky Pig will be raping.”
Well without the scene of LeBron teaching Pepe Lepew about consent, how is he supposed to know better? (this is it, the worst post I’ve made)
I did not expect such a relevant clip to exist, wow
It’s very strange why the Internet decided to attribute so many fake/non-existent quotes to George Carlin when so very many good and perfectly real ones exist.
Immediately leapt to my mind as well. What does it say about us that all these years later that joke is still embedded in the ol’ gray matter?
That’d be Daffy. They’re going for a more realistic take on ducks.
And that its apparently Warner Bros trying to reuse all the ideas from Ready Player One.It looks so bad but I am 100% sure its going to be what we watch for family movie night on Friday. I’ll just pop and edible and zone out for a few hours 🙂
Far be it from me to criticize anyone’s weird furry bullshit. I just think they can do better than the original Lola, since “being sexy” was her only personality trait.
I felt the same when I was watching the Sonic The Hedgehog movie and he wasn’t 9 months pregnant.
I nearly walked out of Frozen 2 when I realized she was not going to be pregnant and hanging out with Shrek and Spider-man
The whole “they took away her boobs” thing is ridiculous. They just gave her a sports bra! That is what moderate sized boobs look like in a high compression sports bra! God forbid an athletic character wouldn’t want their glands flapping every which way during an aerobic sport
Lola Bunny is still hot. She has kind of a Sue Bird thing happening
I think there just needs to be balance. Lola can have a flat chest, but Bugs should have a truly gargantuan penis. Here, let me show you some ideas I’ve sketched out…
Feel free to drop those to me…privately
Sir, this is an Arby’s.I can’t see them through this headset please pull ahead.
Can I get a copy of this? Asking for a friend
Do you think when Mr. Lee was directing Undercover Brother in 2002 he thought he would be defending the lack of boobs on a female rabbit that plays basketball in his future?
Audiences are so entitled. If they want a sexy bunny next door cartoon character they should draw it themselves.
The trouble with boobless Lola isn’t a furry fetish for some of us. My boobs are large have been for many a years. I was treated with the expectation of liking only girly things and laughed at for wanting to play sports or do anything not befitting my boobs which afforded me being treated like my brain was smaller the bigger they got. Lola was one of the female characters I looked up to. She was smart, sassy, athletic, and ‘sexy’.New Lola is just another round of big boobs not welcome here in my eyes.
This whole thing had me laughing so hard. I was already in my early 20’s when Space Jam came out so all I wanted in that movie was Daffy to save the day (and he did with the steal). Getting hard off a cartoon bunny didn’t cross my mind.Now as I’ve said on other posts, the best Lola is from the Looney Tunes show in 2011/2012 (or is 2010/2011?) which was awesome! She somehow stole that show from Daffy fucking Duck.
It’s sad it took this long for an actual Mexican to voice, Speedy Gonzalez
It was funny watching the alt right grifters get upset that a cartoon bunny was no longer sexualized and make ranting videos about it. Thanks to WOKE we can’t have sexy female bunny cartoons anymore, lol
Especially when Porky Pig is right there, and has always been the hottest Looney Toon.
*adjust nerd glassesLooney Tune! It has no reference to their cartoon status at all, it was a reference to the music WB used/owned. For some reason. Also: Merrie Melodies and Disney’s Silly Symphonies (which inspired the name)
Yeah, I realized my mistake just after the 15 minute window. Now my shame is there for the world to see! THE WORLD. It’s not like the spelling wasn’t right there, in the article, too.
I did that yesterday, I made a point in an old article that I had made months ago. But when I saw it I couldn’t delete or change it. Kinja is forever
No one is literally mourning it. It’s just another culture war. “Critical Sexism Theory” gone mad!!!!
Sure, it’s weird to be up in arms over the de-sexualization of an anthropomorphized cartoon rabbit.
You know what else is weird? Creating a hyper-sexualized, anthropomorphized cartoon rabbit in the first place, and then putting it in a movie for children.
Film studio, heal thyself.
I mean…they did, which is why the angry incel brigade is so mad about the new rabbit for being less sexy.
I know it’s kind of silly to apply real life standards to anthropomorphic rabbit ballers, but female athletes do tend to have smaller breasts. The “argument” is still worth it, though, only because we apparently have a funny animal movie director who doesn’t know about furries, or at least yiffing.
“Now, it’s up to viewers to get their head on straight when it comes to
“loving” a character, and “overly sexualizing an animated female
rabbit.”
Alternately:
“But I understand, because she’s a lovable character. She’s very important, so I get it.”
Imagine making a movie full of beloved icons of the furry fandom, but not being aware of the existence (and, uh, temperament) of furries. 🤣
I do think media has gotten a bit sex-shy after shows like Game of Thrones burned out the sexposition trope. But that doesn’t mean we need to sex up the cartoon bunnies
Ah yes, the final refuge of the social/cultural appeaser whose worthless, haphazard posturing gets pushback: “actually, never mind, you shouldn’t care about this! It’s also not about anything real! If you keep discussing it, that means you care too much about stupid not-real bullshit and that means nobody should take you seriously!”
That was the one thing that was the most awkward re-watching the original. That movie put Lola out there as a sex symbol and it was weeeeird.Like in the header pic, she’s adusting her shirt strap that’s slid down her shoulder. It’s such a subtle thing but it’s weird. It’s suggesting her shirt is coming down her boobs. WTF?!
I want Lola to not look like a stuffed animal. I like the animated look in the original Space Jam. I could give two hoots about Lola having boobs. Just look strong & have women and others look up to her.
If we can get horny for a 2,5 meter disguised monster grandma who wants to bite your head off the furry bunny is fine too. They don’t exist
Look, Warner Bros, you guys are the ones who decided that OG Lola’s only character traits should be “is sexy” and “is specifically bothered by the word ‘doll.’” You chose to do that, and when making this sequel you also chose to ignore the much funnier and deeper version of Lola from The Looney Tunes Show.
You made a shallow horny-furry-bait character, and you’re surprised that only horny furries ended up being invested in her? Come on.
Malcolm D. Lee isn’t WB. Nor was he involved in the original Space Jam movie.
What he did not know is that it would bring on a sea of “super weird” discourseYou put serial rapist Alex Delarge and his droogs in your children’s movie. The super weird discourse ship has long since sailed.
I wish the subheadline had been “Space Jam: A New Legacy’s Director Is Correct”
And I think it’s super weird you directed a two hour Warner Brothers commercial. Lots of things are weird, I guess.
Honestly, I’m finding the ghoulish looking 3d art style more disturbing than her proportions. I saw the preview for this on the big screen, and it makes them all look gross and off putting, but Bugs and Lola especially (I think its the lighting and the fur). They look a little better in stills, but it was not great.I dunno, these kids cartoons have always had adult adjacent jokes. I don’t think this was a problem, but I also never had a problem explaining to the kids in my life why I was laughing. No, bunnies don’t have boobs, but they also don’t talk or play basketball, these are less rabbits and more trickster comedians in the guise of rabbits for our amusement. But also, who cares lol.
ITS NOT ABOUT THE BOOBS!! It’s about Lola Bunny being my idol, she’s the woman I wanna be!! I want to be a gorgeous badass with big boobs who shows off her looks and charming personality and leaves dudes wanting something they’ll never get!!!! If the new space jams doesn’t have dudes simping for Lola and treating her like a Goddess then it’s garbage and I hate it. If I found out she was “desexualized” AND turned into a stupid annoying bitch I’m gonna be so mad.You can’t say you’re gonna have her remain “strong and feminine” if you’re then gonna turn around and make her the least enjoyable character (spoken verbatim from a few comments I’ve seen online). That’s not feminism, that’s doing the opposite of what OG Lola promoted. She encouraged young girls to be the bad bitches they are and to take no shit from simps and losers. It was about the titties, those were just a bonus 💔 It’s just letting young girls know that having big boobies is ok and doesn’t make them whores, they’re still valid and beautiful and awesome 🙁
It’s sad that the director had to actually explain that to people.