“Why in the world would someone be doing this with a rabbit?”
April 24, 2014 6:18 PM Subscribe
You've heard of dog and horse shows, but are you familiar with rabbit shows? Rabbit Fever is a coming-of-age story that follows six competitors as they strive to win the top title at the National American Rabbit Convention - an event that draws more than 20,000 rabbits in one building, the largest mass of rabbits in the world. While adult members of the rabbit habit compete for BEST IN SHOW, the teenage enthusiasts quest for an even more coveted honor in the rabbit community - Rabbit King and Queen!
Lady at 1:14 is spinning rabbit fur, I can see the flyer on her spinning wheel, and I BET SHE IS SPINNING IT RIGHT OFF THE BUNNY.
(Everyone who does this is nuts and I say that with love as the owner of both a spinning wheel and a bunny. [But my bunny is not spinnable.])
posted by clavicle at 6:37 PM on April 24, 2014
(Everyone who does this is nuts and I say that with love as the owner of both a spinning wheel and a bunny. [But my bunny is not spinnable.])
posted by clavicle at 6:37 PM on April 24, 2014
i let the rabbit king and queen share the same cage and guess what happened?
posted by bruce at 6:45 PM on April 24, 2014
posted by bruce at 6:45 PM on April 24, 2014
Lady at 1:14 is spinning rabbit fur
I'm pretty sure that's an angora rabbit. They have very soft fur and I've seen people make some pretty elaborate things out of it. IIRC they are also good-tempered bunnies.
This video gave me flashbacks of my time in 4-H in 3rd grade when I had a brief stint as a "rabbit person." I can attest that it was a pretty weird experience. Not appreciably weirder than anything else people obsess over, though.
I didn't know about the king/queen thing, though, and I think I'm glad.
posted by tempestuoso at 7:18 PM on April 24, 2014
I'm pretty sure that's an angora rabbit. They have very soft fur and I've seen people make some pretty elaborate things out of it. IIRC they are also good-tempered bunnies.
This video gave me flashbacks of my time in 4-H in 3rd grade when I had a brief stint as a "rabbit person." I can attest that it was a pretty weird experience. Not appreciably weirder than anything else people obsess over, though.
I didn't know about the king/queen thing, though, and I think I'm glad.
posted by tempestuoso at 7:18 PM on April 24, 2014
The only reason this hasn't been a Christopher Guest movie is no one would ever buy it, I bet.
posted by Ghostride The Whip at 7:20 PM on April 24, 2014
posted by Ghostride The Whip at 7:20 PM on April 24, 2014
This is as close to threadsitting my own FPP as I've ever come, but this happens to be a delightfully sweet movie and I hope the first slew of comments won't discourage people from giving it chance. Rabbit People are fucking awesome!
posted by Room 641-A at 7:29 PM on April 24, 2014
posted by Room 641-A at 7:29 PM on April 24, 2014
My very favorite event at our county fair is 4-H rabbit agility. All the kids are around grades 4-5 and have spent hours training their rabbits to run (hop) an agility course with tunnels, hurdles, slalom, and other obstacles--a scaled down version of dog agility. The rabbits are not all that cooperative and it is hilarious to watch. I mean that in the nicest way possible. I admire the tenacity of the kids and their ability to talk to strangers asking the same questions over and over about their event and their rabbits.
It is also cool to see the huge variety of rabbits on display at the State Fair. That guy in the movie is right about the smell. But who knew rabbits came in every size, shape, color, polka-dots, & more. I watched part of the movie and will watch it all. Clever titles and looks fun. I love to learn about subcultures like this. Thanks for posting.
posted by Nosey Mrs. Rat at 7:38 PM on April 24, 2014 [2 favorites]
It is also cool to see the huge variety of rabbits on display at the State Fair. That guy in the movie is right about the smell. But who knew rabbits came in every size, shape, color, polka-dots, & more. I watched part of the movie and will watch it all. Clever titles and looks fun. I love to learn about subcultures like this. Thanks for posting.
posted by Nosey Mrs. Rat at 7:38 PM on April 24, 2014 [2 favorites]
I loved this movie, especially since one of the kids turned out to be from my hometown. I was a 4-Her (not her club, though), but was too lazy-assed to enter my bunnies.
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:10 PM on April 24, 2014
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:10 PM on April 24, 2014
I'm not even five minutes into it and I'm loving it! It's the kind of quirky documentary that mockumentaries try to imitate but can never attain. (If this turns out to be a fake documentary I will be very embarrassed, and even more impressed.)
posted by Dip Flash at 8:35 PM on April 24, 2014
posted by Dip Flash at 8:35 PM on April 24, 2014
an event that draws more than 20,000 rabbits in one building, the largest mass of rabbits in the world.
The 2011 Easter Bunny Hunt (New Zealand) brought 23,000 rabbits to one place, but maybe the American rabbits are each more massive? :-)
ok, ok, Recent years have been smaller, so this year at least the 20,000 isn't contested.
Note for those who might not know and could misunderstand - rabbits are an exotic pest in NZ. With no predators to control population, they breed like... rabbits and are very destructive, rapidly reducing fertile land into dusty barren dirt, hence expensive on-going population control efforts, including culling. The hunt isn't done for fun or cruelty, it's putting a sport face on dealing with an unfortunate situation. :-/
posted by anonymisc at 9:06 PM on April 24, 2014
The 2011 Easter Bunny Hunt (New Zealand) brought 23,000 rabbits to one place, but maybe the American rabbits are each more massive? :-)
ok, ok, Recent years have been smaller, so this year at least the 20,000 isn't contested.
Note for those who might not know and could misunderstand - rabbits are an exotic pest in NZ. With no predators to control population, they breed like... rabbits and are very destructive, rapidly reducing fertile land into dusty barren dirt, hence expensive on-going population control efforts, including culling. The hunt isn't done for fun or cruelty, it's putting a sport face on dealing with an unfortunate situation. :-/
posted by anonymisc at 9:06 PM on April 24, 2014
The rabbits are not all that cooperative and it is hilarious to watch.
Obligatory rabbit hurdle gif
posted by ceribus peribus at 10:43 PM on April 24, 2014 [9 favorites]
Obligatory rabbit hurdle gif
posted by ceribus peribus at 10:43 PM on April 24, 2014 [9 favorites]
Oh! Room 641-A, I am so watching this this weekend. Maybe with my bunny! :)
posted by needlegrrl at 5:42 AM on April 25, 2014
posted by needlegrrl at 5:42 AM on April 25, 2014
The 2011 Easter Bunny Hunt (New Zealand) brought 23,000 rabbits to one place, but maybe the American rabbits are each more massive? :-)
Wait, the movie is from 2010 so maybe both are true!
The only reason this hasn't been a Christopher Guest movie is no one would ever buy it, I bet.
They don't take seem to take themselves seriously enough to be a Christopher Guest movie. (Although they are certainly serious about their hobby.)
posted by Room 641-A at 8:10 AM on April 25, 2014
Wait, the movie is from 2010 so maybe both are true!
The only reason this hasn't been a Christopher Guest movie is no one would ever buy it, I bet.
They don't take seem to take themselves seriously enough to be a Christopher Guest movie. (Although they are certainly serious about their hobby.)
posted by Room 641-A at 8:10 AM on April 25, 2014
That was adorable! Thanks for sharing it. It reminded me a bit of the 2002 doc "Spellbound," about the National Spelling Bee. My plugin crashed an hour into the movie and I'm really happy I found a way to finish watching it, or I would have had to ask people to tell me who won. I've been to enough cat shows (not as an exhibitor) to be unable to judge this as truly weird, though it does seem like (at least via this presentation) that rabbit shows are somewhat closer to livestock shows than pet shows. I certainly can't imagine there even being a debate among cat breeders whether or not to eat the cats you're not showing. That means there was less focus on the rabbit-person relationships than I expected, which was both a little disappointing and a little refreshing (not a great deal of anthropomorphizing).
Anyway, this was a great precursor to heading out to the Hot Docs festival!
posted by ilana at 10:15 AM on April 25, 2014
Anyway, this was a great precursor to heading out to the Hot Docs festival!
posted by ilana at 10:15 AM on April 25, 2014
It's a nice movie, although as someone who keeps a few rabbits around, there were some disquieting moments. I noticed that the only person (the girl from California) I can remember referring to any of her rabbits as "pets" was also the one who suggested to the judges at the big rabbit show that the American Rabbit Breeders Association should do more outreach to people who keep rabbits as pets. That would be a decidedly odd thing to hear at a dog or cat show.
posted by lagomorphius at 8:16 PM on April 26, 2014
posted by lagomorphius at 8:16 PM on April 26, 2014
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posted by Ironmouth at 6:30 PM on April 24, 2014