Wile E. & Bugs
by Harry Becker, 2020
Of the many cartoon characters that filled the television screen every Saturday morning in the early fifties, two of the most popular were Wile E. Coyote and Bugs Bunny. Wile E. was created in 1948 by Charles (Chuck) Jones, the head animator for Warner Brothers productions of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, and Bugs by Leon Schlesinger, whose production company preceded Warner Brothers in the 1930’s. These and other Warner Brothers cartoon characters displayed peculiar personality traits that made them human-like, endearing, and sympathetic. There was: Porky Pig, the kind stuttering sidekick to a screwball Daffy Duck, Sylvester the cat, a klutz with a lisp, incapable of catching a cute innocent little bird named Tweety, and Pepe Le Pew, a debonair skunk with a French accent whose amorous advances in search of romance suffer constant rejection. I grew up with these cartoon characters and Wile E. and Bugs were always two of my favorites. Now, having spent much of my life seeking insight and self-realization, I’m amused by how relatable and significant these two characters are.
Chuck Jones’s inspiration for creating Wile E. came from reading a story by Mark Twain when he was seven years old. As Twain describes the animal, “The coyote is a long, slim, sick and sorry-looking skeleton with a grey wolf skin stretched over it…he is a living, breathing allegory of want. Who could resist such an enchanting creature?” A master of puns Chuck originally named his character Don Coyote but changed it to Wile with the letter E as a middle initial to better describe his persona. The dictionary defines “wile” as “devious or cunning stratagems employed in manipulating or persuading someone to do what one wants.” The object of Wile E.’s “want” was a Roadrunner, a fast running cuckoo bird found in the deserts of the Southwest. Wile E. would build absurd contraptions in an effort to capture the bird, employing traps, slingshots, bungee cords, cables, rockets, and dynamite. Inevitably failing, he would end up flattened beneath a boulder, fallen from a cliff, or blown up, before going back to the drawing board to design a new scheme. The violent end he would suffer would often be that which he intended for the Roadrunner. Wile E.’s pain was always a product of his own making.
Buddhism asserts that all existence is suffering, and the cause of suffering is desire, that is, the craving and clinging to that which is impermanent, namely pleasure and material goods. Like Wile E. we all live with a hunger, a constant uncomfortable feeling of discontentment, lacking something we believe would make us happy. What we are really chasing is a freedom from feeling incomplete. According to Carl Jung this pursuit is a sub-conscious desire for “psychic wholeness”. The specific object of our desires may vary, but the purpose and the futility of the pursuit is the same. I describe the illusive prey as “an itch you can’t scratch”. Albert Einstein said, “insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result”. We human beings are creatures of want, whose nature is to desire things which eventually leave us wanting more. Despite Wile E.’s assertion, as stated on his business card, that he is a “Genius”, he is ultimately the foolish victim of his own design - as are we all.
If Wile E. is who we are, then Bugs is who we wish we were and pretend to be; self-assured, relaxed, unperturbed, singing, cheerful, and calm, never in a panic or worried. He’s always curious and interested in the world around him, inquiring into the activities of others, asking the eternal question “what’s up doc” while chomping on a carrot. He’s endlessly amused by the futile behavior of his antagonists as they foolishly attempt to kill and eat him. Despite being hunted by a befuddled and inept shotgun toting Elmer Fudd and a hot tempered manic two pistol loose-cannon Yosemite Sam, Bugs never shows fear or lets his emotions cloud his judgement or objectivity. He’s never the aggressor, and always too aware and alert to allow anyone to get the better of him. Mel Blanc who did the voice for Bugs, gave him a Brooklyn accent. Naturally being a Brooklyn-boy I have always had a special affection for the wise-cracking rabbit but having a new-found appreciation for his wise persona and example to emulate, I like him all the more.
When Bugs poses the question “ehh, what’s up Doc”, it’s as if to say, “what are you doing and why are you doing it?” For us coyotes, that’s not a bad question to ask ourselves from time to time. Unlike Wile E. we’re not doomed to suffer perpetual pain and disappointment. We have a choice, and we can learn how to want less rather than more. Subject to a pop culture that feeds on insecurities and discontentment, it would do us well to remember how easily we can be persuaded by ads that promise satisfaction. They control us like a carrot dangling in front of a mule, who has yet to realize the tasty morsel will always be out of reach, no matter how fast it walks. The truth is, as Zen Master Bugs would suggest, the carrot is already in hand, and at any given moment contentment is within reach. If I could advise my hungry frustrated brother Wile E., I would suggest he recognize the futility of his chase, and the next time his stomach growls, simply ask Bugs where he got the carrot.
Wile E. Coyote & Bugs Bunny clips https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEUuZ_UzBQw
Chuck Jones’s inspiration for creating Wile E. came from reading a story by Mark Twain when he was seven years old. As Twain describes the animal, “The coyote is a long, slim, sick and sorry-looking skeleton with a grey wolf skin stretched over it…he is a living, breathing allegory of want. Who could resist such an enchanting creature?” A master of puns Chuck originally named his character Don Coyote but changed it to Wile with the letter E as a middle initial to better describe his persona. The dictionary defines “wile” as “devious or cunning stratagems employed in manipulating or persuading someone to do what one wants.” The object of Wile E.’s “want” was a Roadrunner, a fast running cuckoo bird found in the deserts of the Southwest. Wile E. would build absurd contraptions in an effort to capture the bird, employing traps, slingshots, bungee cords, cables, rockets, and dynamite. Inevitably failing, he would end up flattened beneath a boulder, fallen from a cliff, or blown up, before going back to the drawing board to design a new scheme. The violent end he would suffer would often be that which he intended for the Roadrunner. Wile E.’s pain was always a product of his own making.
Buddhism asserts that all existence is suffering, and the cause of suffering is desire, that is, the craving and clinging to that which is impermanent, namely pleasure and material goods. Like Wile E. we all live with a hunger, a constant uncomfortable feeling of discontentment, lacking something we believe would make us happy. What we are really chasing is a freedom from feeling incomplete. According to Carl Jung this pursuit is a sub-conscious desire for “psychic wholeness”. The specific object of our desires may vary, but the purpose and the futility of the pursuit is the same. I describe the illusive prey as “an itch you can’t scratch”. Albert Einstein said, “insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result”. We human beings are creatures of want, whose nature is to desire things which eventually leave us wanting more. Despite Wile E.’s assertion, as stated on his business card, that he is a “Genius”, he is ultimately the foolish victim of his own design - as are we all.
If Wile E. is who we are, then Bugs is who we wish we were and pretend to be; self-assured, relaxed, unperturbed, singing, cheerful, and calm, never in a panic or worried. He’s always curious and interested in the world around him, inquiring into the activities of others, asking the eternal question “what’s up doc” while chomping on a carrot. He’s endlessly amused by the futile behavior of his antagonists as they foolishly attempt to kill and eat him. Despite being hunted by a befuddled and inept shotgun toting Elmer Fudd and a hot tempered manic two pistol loose-cannon Yosemite Sam, Bugs never shows fear or lets his emotions cloud his judgement or objectivity. He’s never the aggressor, and always too aware and alert to allow anyone to get the better of him. Mel Blanc who did the voice for Bugs, gave him a Brooklyn accent. Naturally being a Brooklyn-boy I have always had a special affection for the wise-cracking rabbit but having a new-found appreciation for his wise persona and example to emulate, I like him all the more.
When Bugs poses the question “ehh, what’s up Doc”, it’s as if to say, “what are you doing and why are you doing it?” For us coyotes, that’s not a bad question to ask ourselves from time to time. Unlike Wile E. we’re not doomed to suffer perpetual pain and disappointment. We have a choice, and we can learn how to want less rather than more. Subject to a pop culture that feeds on insecurities and discontentment, it would do us well to remember how easily we can be persuaded by ads that promise satisfaction. They control us like a carrot dangling in front of a mule, who has yet to realize the tasty morsel will always be out of reach, no matter how fast it walks. The truth is, as Zen Master Bugs would suggest, the carrot is already in hand, and at any given moment contentment is within reach. If I could advise my hungry frustrated brother Wile E., I would suggest he recognize the futility of his chase, and the next time his stomach growls, simply ask Bugs where he got the carrot.
Wile E. Coyote & Bugs Bunny clips https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEUuZ_UzBQw
