Who Is Who Framed Roger Rabbit A Crime Victim

Extra Credit- Who Framed Roger Rabbit

1. Marvin Acme was a crime victim. According to Jewkes, was his victimization newsworthy? If so, discuss at least three news values that relate to his victimization.

Marvin Acme’s victimization was definitely newsworthy. The first news value that is relevant to this story is threshold. Marvin Acme was murdered and in a big way, he had a safe dropped on his head! The safe was dropped in his warehouse and it is a very “toon” way to be murdered. The nature of the murder alone draws attention to the case. Secondly, there is sex involved, or in this case “patty-cake”. The night before his death Jessica Rabbit was photographed playing “patty-cake” with Mr. Acme despite being married to Roger. This became a

“motive” for Roger being framed. It was a scandal, and the rabbit was heartbroken, what else could he have done after seeing his wife play patty-cake with another man? Lastly, there is the celebrity status. Marvin Acme was a huge celebrity in not only Toontown but the surrounding cities as well. His death was high status just like his life.
2.

Jessica Rabbit was the primary suspect in the crime for much of the movie. According to the feminist perspective in Jewkes, how would the media have characterized her? In other words, what angle would they have exploited?

Jessica Rabbit’s physical attractiveness would have been exploited. She herself even mentions the way she is drawn. Her character is built on sex appeal and lust. It comes as no surprise that the media would have a field day with

this.
3. Compare and contrast Jewkes description of male masculinity to Eddie Valiant. Review Tarantino films, Leitch's suggested descriptions, and noir film heroes [hint, the index is your friend]. Of the three, which is most appropriate to Eddie and why.
I believe Eddie Valiant to be a noir film hero, partly because Who Framed Roger Rabbit IS a noir film, but also because Eddie is a loner, he’s troubled, he’s a drinker, he’s pessimistic, and he even teams up with the perfect femme fatale to figure out “whodunnit”. He takes on this job to help pay back his fiancée and ends up way in over his head trying to write wrongs he did not even know were there.
4. Cesare Lombroso is associated with biological determinism, the idea that certain physical features define one's potential for criminality. There is a short scene in which Eddie confronts the epitome of biological determinism in one of the characters. Watch for it. Who [or what] is the character?
There is a brief scene at the club entrance that Jessica sings at where Eddie meets a gorilla, which is the bouncer at the club. A brief battle of wit occurs and Eddie continues on to find his seat at the club. He is later thrown out into the alley by the same character for his snooping and picture taking of Acme and Jessica.
5. Rafter would most likely classify Judge Doom as a psychopath. I think we all would agree. With that said, what kind of psycopatch is he? Defend your choice.
There is no doubt that Judge Doom is a psychopath. Judge Doom seems to be a predatory psychopath. He kills people that get in his way of buying and taking over Toontown. He has a clear goal in mind, and that is because he wants to put a freeway straight through Toontown in order to monetize the area. He killed Eddie’s brother, he killed Marvin Acme, he bought the red car’s to shut them down. He was doing everything he could to end up with control over Toontown. He had a clear motive: money.
6. Rafter discusses 8 crime film narratives. Which one best describes our movie and why. Of the remaining narratives, pick one that also has some relation to the movie. Name it and state why it fits.
The best crime film narrative that describes Who Framed Roger Rabbit is mystery and detective.

Eddie Valiant is a private investigator who was hired to look into a cheating scandal and ended up investigating Marvin Acme’s murder. The viewer spends the film trying to decide just who dropped the safe on Marvin Acme’s head, and the viewer gets to see Eddie’s process through it all.

7. Is Eddie a hero or an anti-hero? Defend your position.

Eddie is an anti-hero. We know Eddie is a drunk and a private investigator that hates all toons, but a few scenes in the film shed some light on why he is the way that he is. A toon killed his brother and partner. He ends up helping Roger Rabbit despite his hatred of toons. He can be rather violent, as shown in the scene where he forcedly shoves a pickled egg into a man’s mouth for badmouthing his late brother. He does not seem to have a black and white moral code like a traditional hero would. Eddie did “white knight” things but can sometimes be a bit of a sleuth.

8. Rafter discusses four reasons why folks go bad. Which of the reasons best describes the

weasels?
The weasels were born bad. Weasels in certain cultures are seen as evil. Weasels by nature are bloodthirsty. They are violent creatures that kill often and do so in a violent way. They also fit Lombroso’s criminal theory. Though weasels in the film do not exactly have a slopping brow, they do have an unusual size/shape of head; have long appendages, an extended jaw, and the weasel Psycho also has strange eyes. All of these features play into Lombroso’s idea that people (or in this case things) are born natural criminals.
9. To what extent is Jessica Rabbit a femme fatale?
Jessica Rabbit is the perfect femme fatale. She is drawn and animated to be dripping in sex appeal, she fools around with men outside of her marriage (all while still loving and being devoted to Roger) and she plays a huge part in the film. She was drawn and written to be trouble, and is said to be the reason why Roger was the one that killed Acme. She takes on the responsibility to clear Roger’s name despite being a suspect, and she is the primary reason Eddie takes on the case to discover the truth as well.