The latest trailer for Space Jam: A New Legacy dropped, and it looked less like Space Jam meets Ready Player One meets Lego Batman and more like the silly sequel to Space Jam that we expected. It is still fully up in the air if this film will be “good,” especially with the weird CGI, but there is one thing that the trailer is very much illustrating: Lola is the co-leader of the Tune Squad.
Lola Bunny, who will be voiced by Emmy award-winning actress Zendaya in this sequel (a decision I am still getting used to, but as a choice, I do like it), is certainly front and center in this movie. Considering that the female bunny who was mostly known for fan service only had about five minutes of screen time in the first film, some subsequent incarnations of the character decided that to make her more interesting was to make her less competent and boy crazy. I have some hopes about the film concerning her.
I’ve written and talked a lot about Lola Bunny in a way that can certainly feel silly. After all, she is a cartoon bunny, but I find she is a character I find really emblematic of the way in which people can sometimes only focus on the sexuality of someone female-presenting, even a damn cartoon bunny, and forget anything else about her.
Yeah, Lola is “hot” but she was also the best player on the Tune Squad after Michael Jordan. Can we give the bunny some credit? At least it does seem like the team behind the film is putting in that effort.
“This is a kids’ movie, why is she in a crop top? It just felt unnecessary, but at the same time, there’s a long history of that in cartoons,” Director Malcolm D. Lee. said about the choice. “We reworked a lot of things, not only her look, like making sure she had an appropriate length on her shorts and was feminine without being objectified, but gave her a real voice,” Lee added. “For us, it was, let’s ground her athletic prowess, her leadership skills, and make her as full a character as the others.”
Amen.
Especially considering the original animators did want to make her look like a tomboy, but the executives were afraid of having her look too “masculine” whatever that means.
ESPN dropped a “30 for 30” mockumentary clip for Space Jam: A New Legacy, and Zendaya stole the show when she made her official voice debut of Lola that Sunday.
What if I told you … that @KingJames and Bugs didn’t exactly see eye to eye while on the Tune Squad 😬
And that was just the START of the drama that surrounded the Tunes vs Goons showdown.@spacejammovie #ad pic.twitter.com/fe9LsxelbW
— ESPN (@espn) June 6, 2021
While Bugs Bunny and James argue over who is the best player on the Looney Tunes squad, Lola knows who is really in charge.
“So cute to watch them bicker, when everyone knows this is Lola’s team,” Lola Bunny says. “When it’s crunch time, the ball is going to be in my paws.”
When LeBron is asked what the key to bringing the team together was, he goes, “Two words: Lola. Bunny. Greatest sidekick ever.”
With the renewed focus on her athleticism and her presence very much in the center of the merchandising that is a big deal for this 90s girl. Especially since this movie is mostly a big merchandising opportunity. For women who are interested in sports, they will get a little bit of representation again with Lola and I for one am glad to see it.
(image: Warner Bros.)
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