The following contains spoilers for Tiny Toons Looniversity, now streaming on Max.
The Looney Tunes characters have been a staple of Western animation for almost a century, with their wacky hijinx entertaining generations of fans, young and old. Over the years, the classic stable of cartoon characters has been reinvented to fit with changing times and tastes. But there's one somewhat minor player in the franchise who's gone through perhaps the most radical changes overall.
Granny was introduced as a fairly straightforward character in the original Looney Tunes shorts, only to undergo a surprising evolution in the 21st century. Now recast as a far more capable character in modern adaptations, Granny has found a place at the heart of Acme Looniversity in Tiny Toons Looniversity. Notably, the show finds a way to meld her sweet side with the more proactive elements that have been increasingly afforded to the character.
How Granny Evolved Across Looney Tunes
Granny -- aka Emma Webster -- was introduced in the Tweety Bird and Sylvester the Cat short "Canary Row" in 1950. In her initial role within Looney Tunes, she was typically the sweet-natured and overprotective -- if easily distracted -- owner of Tweety and Sylvester. In those theatrical shorts, Granny would be a major deterrent to the latter's attempts to eat the former. Although she did appear alongside characters like Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Porky Pig, this was Granny's most notable role. She's subsequently appeared in other takes on the Looney Tunes characters, such as Tiny Toon Adventures (where she was a professor at Acme Looniversity) and Space Jam (where she was a cheerleader for the Tune Squad in their basketball game against the Monstars).
However, in the 21st century, Granny has been given more prominently action-heavy roles. The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries recast her as a globe-trotting detective. The Looney Tunes Show episode "Eligible Bachelors" revealed that their version of Granny had been part of World War II's Women's Army Corps, revealing she'd served as an agent in Nazi-occupied Paris. Alongside Tweety, she fought against the Nazis and prevented them from stealing much of France's iconic art. Space Jam: A New Legacy continued this trend by briefly placing her within The Matrix before making her an actual member of the Tune Squad. That film also positioned her going head-to-head against famous fighter Ronda Rousey, reinforcing the modern interpretation of Granny as someone that people don't want to mess with.
How Tiny Toons Looniversity Reimagined Granny
Tiny Toons Looniversity continues this tradition while still finding a way to reference Granny's more matronly elements from the earlier days of the character. In the modern take on the Tiny Toons concept, characters like Buster, Babs, and Plucky are college students looking to achieve their degrees in being toons. Granny is portrayed as the school's dean, serving as a reasonable, if somewhat stern, authority figure in contrast to the general goofiness of the faculty. In "Freshman Orientoontion," she hears Babs' attempts to get a dorm room with her brother Buster, but quietly believes that Babs would be better suited to grow alongside her new roommate, Sweetie. To that end, Granny challenges Babs to an arm wrestling match, revealing that she's incredibly muscular underneath her standard attire.
Although Granny's actions were to help her student realize the truth about what she needs to learn at Looniversity, she's still shown celebrating the victory with gusto, even ensuring Babs has to wear a shirt declaring Granny had defeated her. Other episodes in the new series, such as "Give Pizza a Chance, " reimagines Granny as a biker gang member with a more casual attitude towards danger than expected. It's an interesting melding of Granny's historic roles in Looney Tunes and spin-offs like Tiny Toon Adventures, Space Jam, and The Looney Tunes Show. It speaks to a surprising amount of evolution for the character into the modern day.
Why Granny Has Become More Complex In Looney Tunes & Tiny Toons
Granny's evolution across Looney Tunes has been an interesting showcase of how the classic cartoon characters have adjusted to modern perspectives and politics. In the original shorts, Granny was always a supporting character with a noble streak, her role as an authority figure protecting the perpetually innocent Tweety making her an easy foil to Sylvester's efforts to eat the little bird. This authority was a fairly basic role, though, and with changes in perceptions of women and older people in the 21st century, it makes sense why Granny would be given more agency and action. The 21st-century Looney Tunes adaptations have leaned into the juxtaposition of her age and her capabilities, leaning into the comedy of seeing a seemingly innocent little old lady repeatedly prove far more capable than any of her peers. Stuff like her roles as a detective and a spy highlight her abilities outside the other characters, casting her as an action hero in unexpected ways. However, Tiny Toons Looniversity finds a way to have the best of both worlds.
As the head of Acme Looniversity, Granny retains elements of her matronly position within the show's universe. She provides guidance and support for other characters within the franchise, retaining her sweet inclinations to help others. But by maintaining her physical capabilities and more complex history, Granny keeps the agency and abilities afforded to her in modern interpretations of the character. The result is a more varied and interesting character who can reliably serve as a reasonable authority figure and as an unexpectedly silly juxtaposition between her appearance and personality. The show leans into that idea by making her almost aggressively alpha around the students, surprising the first-year students by revealing a staggering amount of confidence and empathy. The result is a more layered character in Tiny Toons Looniversity, who fulfills numerous positions within the show's dynamics.
Tiny Toons Looniversity is now streaming on Max, and new episodes air on Cartoon Network.