Great Character: Jessica Rabbit (“Who Framed Roger Rabbit”)

This month’s theme: Femme fatale. Today’s guest post by Jason Cuthbert features Jessica Rabbit from the 1988 movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

In 1988, the screenwriting team of Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman (How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Shrek the Third) adapted Gary K. Wolf’s 1981 novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit? to create the ground-shattering live action/animation comedy noir merger Who Framed Roger Rabbit. The $329 million frenzy that would ensue was brought to life by a creative committee that helped define 1980’s American movies: producer Steven Spielberg (E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, Raiders of the Lost Ark), director Robert Zemeckis (Back to the Future, Romancing the Stone) and actress Kathleen Turner (The Accidental Tourist, Body Heat) as the voice of Jessica Rabbit.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit plot summary from IMDB:

A toon-hating detective is a cartoon rabbit’s only hope to prove his innocence when he is accused of murder.

Jessica Rabbit, is most likely the absolute sexiest cartoon ever drawn, and there is no reason to feel creepy about stating that fact. From the moment she makes her flirtatious introduction on stage, we realize that Roger Rabbit is not the only entertaining character in this fantasy comedy, he has some serious center of attention competition coming from his spunky spouse Jessica.

Jessica Rabbit is not just Roger Rabbit’s immaculately curvaceous wife, but Jessica strives to prove that she is the opposite of the sketchy man-eater that her femme fatale character type is generally known to be. This sultry tantalizing art born goddess gets the world to realize that she is not really bad — just drawn that way.

Proving her love and devotion for Roger is genuine is Jessica’s biggest obstacle. She must overcome the head-scratcher that her marriage causes because of her radiant looks completely overshadowing her husbands more goofy image. Then there is that sentimental stain from a ruined reputation after being caught patty-caking. as well as her nocturnal 9–5 career consisting of a sensual stage presence that comes pretty close to becoming a fully-clothed version of a strip tease and a song, Even when she is out in the world look every part of the vicious femme fatale, Jessica Rabbit keeps the angelic glow of the truth shining over her investigative mojo.

JESSICA RABBIT: Roger, darling. I want you to know I love you. I’ve loved you more than any woman’s ever loved a rabbit.

Apparently Mrs. Rabbit would rather play Roger Rabbit’s housewife in Toontown then be a masculinity-melting maiden with an addictive face and mind-boggling bodily geometry. Jessica has an internal dilemma that must beauty queens lack, especially animated ones — she seems to feel she is the right woman in the wrong body (or is it the other way around)?

JESSICA RABBIT: C’mon Roger, let’s go home. I’ll bake you a carrot cake.

This red alert in a ruby skirt adds the steamiest air of mystery to this kid-friendly film noir because all of her actions seem to be tainted by exterior motives. Everyone from Private Detective Eddie Valiant, to us the audience members are both enthralled by her charisma, while constantly questioning and second guessing her loyalty. Is she playing her floppy-eared spouse for a fool or are her extreme actions prompting us to jump to conclusions?

EDDIE VALIANT: Roger? He chickened out on me back at the studio. JESSICA RABBIT: No, he didn’t. I hit him over the head with a frying pan and stuck him in the trunk. So he wouldn’t get hurt.
EDDIE VALIANT: Makes perfect sense.

As a prime suspect in the framing of her own husband, Jessica’s character has layers of complexity that extend beyond prancing her voluptuous “co-stars” around in front of the camera. Her antics raise questions that help drive the narrative forward. Why would she cheat on the naive and innocent Roger Rabbit? What is the extent of her allegiance to R.K. Maroon, the head honcho over at Maroon Cartoons? Is Marvin Acme, the owner of Toontown, her human sugar daddy? Even though Jessica is cooperating with Private Detective Eddie Valiant, can she really be trusted? And if Jessica’s pleas of innocence are true, then who framed Roger Rabbit?

For her impossibly good looks, that luckily for self-conscience women are only animated curves, her devotion to her husband even when she looks guilty as the devil himself and her straight-faced verbal zingers — Jessica Rabbit is one sensationally GREAT CHARACTER.

One of the qualities of a femme fatale is their tendency to lure lovers into trouble. In this respect, they almost always function as Dark Attractors, enticing the object of their affections — real or put on — toward the shadow aspect of their psyche. Whether it’s greed, power or simply lust itself, those are powerful human emotions. Femme fatales tap into that part of human drama, even if as in the case of Jessica Rabbit, they themselves are cartoon characters.

Thanks, Jason, for another excellent Great Character post. Please go to comments and provide your take on Jessica Rabbit. Also share your thoughts on what you’ve learned about femme fatales in this series.