There is one Looney Tunes character who transcends all others, in my own personal Hall of Fame. It's not Bugs Bunny, despite all his fame and popularity, not is it my own second favourite Daffy Duck, whose sheer persistence and endurance make him a role model for all who may lose their way in the labyrinthine pasta trails of life. No, they are eclipsed by the one, the only, the magnificent Wile E Coyote.
The Roadrunner cartoons have almost nothing to do with the Roadrunner. They're really all about the Coyote, that manic genius who is pushed ever onwards in his quest to catch the nefarious bird, at the cost of massive expense and reason. Indeed, if he used any of his apparently vast fortune to buy food instead of equipment from ACME, the canny carnivore would never be hungry again. Why doesn't he? What's the motivation there? Why is he so eager to catch the Roadrunner? Why so many gadgets? Who are ACME, really?
The Coyote is not driven by hunger, despite the frequent pangs evident in the shorts, no his real motivation is his own twisty obsession, born from years of frustration. The Coyote must persist, because if he surrenders, then he will have been defeated by the universe itself, which manifests itself via the Coyote's endless bad luck and the apparently mindless bird. It's not even clear that the Coyote is a bad guy. Isn't he really just someone driven by his own basic needs, which have become distorted over time? In his early days of seeking sustenance you might consider him the heavy, but as the shorts roll on and the sheer indignities imposed by the Roadrunner accumulate he becomes the king of the underdogs, and we are programmed to love underdogs.
Yes, Wile E Coyote is the best of the Looney Tunes, an urbane madman with a dedication that surpasses all common sense, and the star character of one of the greatest cartoon series ever. No-other character gained from repetition in quite the same way. Take it away, Wile E, you're our hero. You'll get that bird one day.
O.
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