Jessica Rabbit

Origin

While her exact origins are never stated within any animated or printed media, Jessica’s backstory was fully fleshed out in the unmade sequel for the animated film ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit.’ According to the script, the film was a sequel that delved into the characters’ backgrounds. Jessica would have been named Jessica Krupnick, and she was going to be a humorless Nazi spy whose sole mission was to carry out the will of her leaders. Things would change for her after meeting with Roger, who had been drafted into the army. She and Roger would have met, and he would have made her laugh, changing her entire outlook on the war and America, whereupon she would defect to the Allied Forces and provide them with vital information to stop a nefarious plot. After the war was won, she would have married Roger and began her career as a singer/cartoon star.

Creation

Jessica Rabbit was conceived as a mix of several different people, both real and fictitious. According to her creator, Gary K. Wolf, she is an amalgam of every actress and character from Hollywood’s Golden Age that he had a crush on. Namely, she was created with characteristics of Red Hot Riding Hood, Tinkerbell and Marilyn Monroe

In her later appearances, more aspects of other characters were added to Jessica’s character by both Richard Williams and Robert Zemeckis for ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit.’ Characteristics from Lauren Bacall, Mae West, Rita Hayworth and particularly Betty Boop were added to her, making her into the character that we know today.

Character Evolution

Personality

Much of Jessica’s character is depicted as a series of contradictions and confusions. She seems to be a dedicated and loving wife, but has no qualms about flirting with her audience and playing pattycake with other men. She desires a simple, quiet life, but she is a prominent singer and actress who is the object of attention from many unwanted suitors. Most of all, she claims that she isn’t bad, but is only drawn that way. Through it all, Jessica appears to be morally ambiguous and has questionable motives in everything that she does.

In the end, everything that Jessica does is for the benefit of others. She truly loves her husband, and will go to great lengths to protect him. Even if it means putting her own life on the line. In her other comic appearances, she is shown to enjoy her life away from the spotlight, and revels in the simple pleasures of domestic life. As it turns out, the sweet, gentle, protective woman that she claims to be despite her artistic aesthetics is her true face.

Appearance

Jessica’s physical appearance is meant to derive the image of a film noir femme fatale. She is stunning, sexy and statuesque. Everything that characterizes a Hollywood starlet with a terrible secret and a bad attitude. From her red hair styled in a peek-a-boo coif to her carefully applied makeup, Jessica is a sight to behold.

Her most recognizable clothing is a strapless red dress with a matching pair of pumps, and purple, shoulder-length gloves. However, her clothing is known to change from time to time, such as wearing a swimsuit to the beach, or wearing a blouse with a pair of shorts while working in her garden.

Who Censored Roger Rabbit

In the novel that the film was based on, Jessica Rabbit is a much different character than her more contemporary depiction. She is amoral, and has no romantic attachments to Roger, their marriage being more for show than anything. Also, she is not a singer, and is instead a fulltime actress for pornographic films.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit

By this point, Jessica was made into the more heroic character that she is known to be. While she still retains some ambiguous morality, her actions are seen to be done for the benefit of everyone else, keeping them safe and especially protecting her husband.

Roger Rabbit’s Toon Town

In the comic book spin-off, Jessica’s personality and general character remain much in line with her first animated appearance. Her role, however, is portrayed in a more domestic light as Roger’s wife, and as the star of her own series of cartoons. She is also seen to have several hobbies and business interests beyond acting and singing. Mostly, it was these comics that rounded her out as a character more than other animation or literature.

History

Jessica Rabbit is the beautiful, yet curvaceous humanoid Toon wife of Roger Rabbit. In this alternate reality, animated cartoon characters are 4th-dimensional beings known as Toons that coexist alongside humans.

Major Story Arcs

In the film "Who Framed Roger Rabbit", Jessica Rabbit is re-imagined as a sultry, but moral, cartoon singer at the Los Angeles night club named "The Ink and Paint Club". Here, she is also one of several suspects in Marvin Acme's murder. She says her most famous line to Eddie Valiant, "I'm not bad, I'm just drawn that way." Jessica notes that she deeply loves Roger mainly because he makes her laugh.

Powers and Abilities

Despite her human-like appearance, Jessica Rabbit shares the same characteristics of all Toons. This grants her an entire plethora of abilities that normal people aren't capable of.

Toon Physics

Due to her nature as a toon, the normal laws of physics and reality don’t apply to her. She is able to squeeze herself inside of a single layer cake, fall from incredible heights and only end up flat as a sheet, squash and stretch her body to unusual proportions, and hide an infinite number of oversized items between the cleavage of her breasts.

Most of all, she is immune to just about any injury by conventional means. The only real way to do lasting damage against her is through the use of the lethal acidic substance called "Dip."

Marksmanship

Jessica is proficient in the use of handguns.

Acting

Perhaps due to her nature as a former spy, but more likely as a cartoon star, Jessica is able to play many people at once and keep them guessing as to her motives and identity.

Singing

When it comes to her true talents, Jessica is most known for her ability to sing.

Other Media

Animation

While she has her origins in printed literature, Jessica is most known for her appearances in animated media. Her most famous and prominent appearance was in the 1988 film ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit.’ Besides that, she has appeared in minor roles in short films, such as ‘Tummy Trouble,’ ‘Roller Coaster Rabbit,’ and ‘Trail Mix-Up.’ Even outside of her own cartoons, she has made cameos in other media as well, such as ‘Aladdin,’ ‘Tiny Toon Adventures’ and ‘Mickey Mouse.’

Literature

The book where Jessica Rabbit first ever appeared was in the 1981 novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit. In it, she is portrayed as a suspect in the murder of the title character. While she takes on a more antagonistic role than she has in future appearances, she is still not directly involved in anything that is actually going on within the story.

In the spin-off novel Who P-P-P-Plugged Roger Rabbit, her personality and appearance are made more in line with how she was portrayed in the movie. This was done in order to remain consistent with what was already known by a more mainstream audience. Also to keep up audience expectations, the events of the previous novel were treated as a dream that Jessica was having in order to retcon all of the events that had happened up to that point. The same is also done in the sequel novel Who Wacked Roger Rabbit.

In the latest book in the ‘Roger Rabbit’ series, Jessica Rabbit: XERIOUS Business, much of what we know about Jessica is retconned again, and we see that she was once a live-action human who was recruited as a secret agent for the American government.

Video Games

Jessica mainly appears in video games that are a based on the 1988 film that she appeared in. In the NES video game that came out the following year, Jessica’s role is to offer the player hints about what to do next. In the Amiga release, Jessica simply appears in cutscenes to progress the plot, then eventually conclude it. In the GameBoy release, Jessica is more central to the plot, being the one in possession of the deed to Toon Town. And the DOS game, ’Hare Raising Havoc,’ has her least involved role, with her only in certain background cameos.