Rabbits and mental people

[Termite Man]

I can think of 3 instances in films where a rabbit has been used to show how mental someone but I find it hard to think of any other animal being used in the same way. Is it just rabbits that mental people do things to or I am just not remembering the others.

the films are - repulsion, driller killer and another one whose name I can't remember it might be fatal attraction

 

[skyscraper101]

Alice in Wonderland possibly another contender?

Also 'Of Mice & Men'

(albeit those are books turned into films)

 

[UnderOpenSky]

Not a film, but has rabbit in the name

 

[twentythreedom]

Donnie Darko

 

[D'wards]

Sexy Beast?

 

[joustmaster]

of mice and men...?

 

[Lucy Fur]

 

[smmudge]

Monty Python's Holy Grail? though that's the rabbit being mental...

 

[Spark]

Harvey

 

[London_Calling]

I should think they all derive from Lewis Carroll's Alice books - perhaps subconsciously synonymous with madness from childhood for those who read them.

Less clear is why Hollywood so often dresses mad people in cardigans.

(((cardigans)))

 

[phildwyer]

Roger and Me.

 

[DJ Squelch]

"Hairy Japanese Bastards"

 

[skyscraper101]

Tellytubbies

 

[kittyP]

Do you want films with other animals than rabbits and mentalness or other rabbit films?

 

[Obnoxiousness]

As mentioned earlier in the thread... Donnie Darko and Harvey are classic rabbit/delusional films.

 

[DJ Squelch]

Do you want films with other animals than rabbits and mentalness or other rabbit films?

Equus for horses, The Sopranos for ducks

 

[Ms Ordinary]

Birdy?

 

[Termite Man]

I was thinking more of rabbits to symbolise a decent into madness rather than one of the symptoms of it. In driller Killer for example Reno hacks a rabbit to pieces and leaves the corpse in the bin, why was the rabbit chosen for this rather than say a chicken. The same can be said about Fatal Attraction , why choose a rabbit to boil instead of a cat or dog etc.

 

[smmudge]

Because little bunnies seem like one of the cutest, most defenseless and harmless animals, maybe?

 

[gosub]

Harvey

is clearly visable by the end of the film.

 

[gosub]

As mentioned earlier in the thread... Donnie Darko and Harvey are classic rabbit/delusional films.

delusional is not a euphemism for DEAD, and Harvey won't work if Harvey wasn't real which is why you can see him at the end of the film. The actual "Harvey" is only 2 inches long, was given by Sid Field to Jimmy Stewart, Jimmy Stewart's widow gave it to David Suchet a few years back

 

[Shippou-Sensei]

i dunno

crazy cat lady is probably a more well known stereotype

 

[gosub]

 

[gsv]

He knows who he is, but he's got a thing about chickens.

GS(v)

 

[JWH]

Can't believe none of you has mentioned Fatal Attraction.

 

[Mrs Magpie]

of mice and men...?

Sadly there's often ignorance about the difference between mental illness and learning disability.

 

[Mrs Magpie]

Can't believe none of you has mentioned Fatal Attraction.

.....mentioned in the OP

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

Can't believe none of you has mentioned Fatal Attraction.

Or groundhog day.

 

[gsv]

We wanted to leave the easy one for you, Suplex

GS(v)

 

[JWH]

.....mentioned in the OP