The Roadrunner/Wile E. Coyote Universe & Its Rules

[Nightclub Dwight]

Did they sit near a campfire at night, discussing what they had done, with one saying "This isn't not who we are- we're better than that"?

I met someone who was a hunting guide in Texas and for dogs, he bred Greyhounds and Pit Bulls. Tenacious AND fast. One day, his sister was at the house, waiting for his friends to arrive while he was out and she heard the doorbell, followed by barking. No more doorbell, but the barking continued, so she looked outside. The dogs had treed his friends.

The greyhounds were fast. The doberman was stealth. At a previous house, she had an electronic fence for the doberman, so he had the run of the yard. He was really friendly, the whole neighborhood knew him. But whenever we got a new UPS driver the same story would always play out. The driver would leave a package on the front porch, then turn to go back to his truck in the driveway and the doberman would be standing between him and his truck. They didn't yet know he was friendly, so they were always kind of shocked. I think the older drivers thought it was funny hearing about the new guy on the route meeting Phil for the first time.

 

[Paul G.]

If he has money for stuff from Acme, he could get buckets of chicken from KFC.

 

[trapdoor2]

I remember reading a paper on cartoon physics and how exaggeration of form enhances the physics (stretch, elongation, squish) and helps the humor.

Having grown up with Warner Bros. and Hanna Barbara, Terrytoons, etc. I still love animation...though some of the modern stuff isn't my cuppa.

 

[58Bassman]

If he has money for stuff from Acme, he could get buckets of chicken from KFC.

"Roadrunner tastes like Chicken" said nobody, ever.

 

[Wrighty]

A comment I made on another thread inspired this. I had asserted that Wile E. Coyote's desire was his undoing, his downfall. His desire is a specific kind – in Buddhism I believe it is called Taṇhā – a kind of desire or thirst that is paired to, and leads to suffering and unhappiness (Duhkha).

His blind obsession with his desire is the reason we find his failures amusing. We see him trying to solve his simple problem (hunger) in excessively complex ways, usually by purchasing and using technology from Acme Corporation.

Such considered absurdity and chaos are why my last band is called Acme Anvil Corporation. I love randomly (or not so randomly) falling anvils, an idea that is not limited to The Road Runner.

The violence we see as a result of Wile E’s desire is excessive and carefully & cleverly crafted. The slapstick appears chaotic and unplanned, but it is typically anything but. I’d argue the violence/results of Wile E’s desire are the most considered aspects of the show and the gags.

The Roadrunner is free from desire. He wants naught but to run and be free and eat. The Roadrunner is therefore free from all the trappings desire creates, and that is why he seems to always prevail and escape without effort. This effortlessness might be why we secretly want to Coyote to succeed, someday?

There are rules in this universe. Chuck Jones described them in his book, and in the DVD commentary for the cartoons. The rules are:

1. The Road Runner cannot harm the Coyote except by going "meep, meep."

2. No outside force can harm the Coyote -- only his own ineptitude or the failure of Acme products. Trains and trucks are a major exception.

3. The Coyote could stop anytime -- if he were not a fanatic.

4. No dialogue ever, except "meep, meep" and yowling in pain. (I have seen cartoon with written dialog, on signs, usually “Yipe” for example - and I also recall seeing Wile E. speak in some cartoon, possibly after the Chuck Jones era?)

5. The Road Runner must stay on the road

6. All action must be confined to the natural environment of the two characters -- the southwest American desert.

7. All tools, weapons, or mechanical conveniences must be obtained from the Acme Corporation.

8. Whenever possible, make gravity the Coyote's greatest enemy.

9. The Coyote is always more humiliated than harmed by his failures.

10. The audience's sympathy must remain with the Coyote (this is the reason the show works? We want him to succeed, but we also don’t? We can see the errors in his reasoning and actions, but we still root for him anyway?).

11. The Coyote is not allowed to catch or eat the Road Runner.

One other thing – Until I drove through the Western USA I had no idea the landscape and the mesas and plateaus out there in the cartoons was actually not too unlike real life.

It's a cartoon for Gawd's sake. It's like reading all the hindsight c**p about the deep meaning of every Star Trek episode. It was a reasonably good sci-fi series with cardboard scenery!

 

[BigDaddyLH]

It's a cartoon for Gawd's sake. It's like reading all the hindsight c**p about the deep meaning of every Star Trek episode. It was a reasonably good sci-fi series with cardboard scenery!

The Tao of Pooh
The Te of Piglet

 

[archetype]

I remember reading a paper on cartoon physics and how exaggeration of form enhances the physics (stretch, elongation, squish) and helps the humor.

Having grown up with Warner Bros. and Hanna Barbara, Terrytoons, etc. I still love animation...though some of the modern stuff isn't my cuppa.

Chuck Jones said that one of the best things about cartoons was the ability to defy the laws of physics and do whatever he wanted with people and objects.

Yeah, animation has degraded from the art it once was. The superior Warner Brothers and Walt Disney animation fell off the cliff starting with the Clutch Cargo cartoons, where they saved money on animation by keeping him motionless while his jaw moved up and down while speaking. After that, the fantastic, but homogenized sameness of computer animation.

 

[Old Deaf Roadie]

A piece of my childhood just died.

 

[1stpitch]

I liked Yogi Bear as well. He was right much of a smart-ass. I guess I learned a little too much from him.

</hijack>

 

[trapdoor2]

Chuck Jones said that one of the best things about cartoons was the ability to defy the laws of physics and do whatever he wanted with people and objects.

Yeah, animation has degraded from the art it once was. The superior Warner Brothers and Walt Disney animation fell off the cliff starting with the Clutch Cargo cartoons, where they saved money on animation by keeping him motionless while his jaw moved up and down while speaking. After that, the fantastic, but homogenized sameness of computer animation.

"Limited Animation" had its start with Gerald McBoingboing (as I recall). I think animation company bean counters thought it was a windfall. Clutch Cargo was indeed a sign of doom.

If the storyline is engaging, I can take a lot of slack on the animation side. "The Dot and The Line" is a good story told with minimalistic animation. Traditional animation is so time consuming. Just the in-betweens takes crazy time. The advent of computer animation should have fixed that but bottom lines kept dropping. How much would "Flowers and Trees" cost today?

 

[Toto'sDad]

The Tao of Pooh
The Te of Piglet

C'mon man! Cardboard?

 

[TokyoPortrait]

Hi.

Acme means something like ‘perfection or highest point of achievement in something’ or ‘best / most perfect thing achievable,’ etc.

So, it’s a cool name for the company. And quite a smart, tongue-in-cheek name to use in this case.

Took me ages to find the perfect demitasse, so I was very pleased to find they are an Acme product.

Pax/
Dean

 

[Harry Styron]

We had some kind of balance in our yard. Our aged chihuahua Brutus would chase a cottontail bunny in circles. When Brutus would stop to catch his breath, the bunny would stop for a moment, then they would go again for a few more rounds.

 

[Wildeman]

 

[TheCheapGuitarist]

I think the ground speed of a coyote is actually faster than that of a roadrunner.

 

[burntfrijoles]

Personally I don’t see any difference between Wile E Coyote and Florida Man.

 

[getbent]

I never saw the coyote as being full of desire. I saw him as duty bound.

Similar to the other cartoons where the two animals would try to kill each other all day, the whistle would blow and they would stop and wish each other a good evening.

The coyote, to me, is more like the old joke about the frog and the scorpion. The coyote and the road runner were just true to their nature, nothing personal, just breeding.

 

[dannyh]

Acme means something like ‘perfection or highest point of achievement in something’ or ‘best / most perfect thing achievable,’ etc.

So, it’s a cool name for the company. And quite a smart, tongue-in-cheek name to use in this case.

Took me ages to find the perfect demitasse, so I was very pleased to find they are an Acme product.


View attachment 1100641


View attachment 1100643


Pax/
Dean

My favorite Acme product was the “Pipe Full ‘O Fun Kit Number 7”. That was actually a Foghorn Leghorn cartoon, but greatness nonetheless.

 

[Pops_Caster]

Man do I miss the old Saturday morning cartoons.

 

[staxman]

I love this forum! I don’t think I’ve ever read such a detailed, thoughtful psychoanalysis of The Roadrunner/Wile E. Coyote series before. Could y’all do a similar deep dive analysis of Foghorn Leghorn?