Dominique Strauss-Kahn-Le Pew

Daryl Cagle

My only exposure to French culture as a child was Looney Tunes cartoons featuring the lecherous skunk, Pepé Le Pew. When I grew up, my views of France changed, and I thought of the French as romantic, a view that seems to contrast with Dominique Strauss-Kahn, whose alleged sexual assault on a hotel maid is remarkably similar to Pepé Le Pew's antics. Maybe Warner Brothers got it right.

I recently visited France where I learned that the French were also raised with Looney Tunes characters from an early age, and they are all familiar with Pepé Le Pew. In France, the cartoons are dubbed into French and Le Pew loses his French accent; it isn't widely known that he is supposed to be French. One French lady I spoke with told me:

"We never knew Pepé Le Pew was French -- I didn't learn that until I grew up -- and I was shocked. We thought he was just a jerk."

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