The 9 unbreakable rules of the Wile E. Coyote/Road Runner universe [View all]

[kristopher]

The 9 unbreakable rules of the Wile E. Coyote/Road Runner universe


Rule #1: the Road Runner cannot harm the coyote. Warner Bros
The Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote, those cartoon favorites from Warner Brothers' beloved Looney Tunes, spent four dozen animated shorts engaging in ridiculous mayhem through the American Southwest.

Though the behavior of the two seemed spontaneous and silly, their comedic timing was a carefully constructed reality made by Chuck Jones, perhaps the most famous director at Warner Brothers' animation division.

Yesterday, Jones' rules for that reality went viral when film director Amos Posner tweeted a picture he had taken at the "What's Up, Doc? The Animation Art of Chuck Jones" exhibition at the Museum of the Moving Image in New York City:

:large

These rules come from Jones' 1999 autobiography, in which he wrote:

Just as I decided later that there would be no dialogue in the Coyote-Road Runner series because it seemed like a good rule, or indeed it would be a good rule if it was consistent; all comedians obey rules consistent with their own view of comedy. In my opinion, Jackie Gleason got more milage out of threatening to hit somebody than the Three Stooges ever did by doing so...

http://www.vox.com/2015/3/5/8157519/chuck-jones-rules-for-roadrunner-coyote

You can watch this compilation to see if he adhered to the rules he set down...