The Enduring Charm of Wily Coyote in American Pop Culture

Wily Coyote was the next cartoon character in American animation history as one of the great famous characters. Wily Coyote may be inseparable from his innumerable attempts to catch the Road Runner, but he also personifies success through failure. The numerous clever and often deceptive schemes feature the character in a child-friendly light that will appeal to an audience spanning all ages. For decades, Wily Coyote has become synonymous with the wily concept, ingenuity personified. The jackasses of his viewers experience comedic failure before glancing at their next fail on the other side of their screen. Many admire his goofy predilection for being — to quote Roger Ailes of Fox News fame — “wily as the ole’ Wily Coyote,” always cooking up dastardly plans yet losing most every battle. Wily Coyote is a very, perhaps anointed namesake of persistence and cunning in American culture; always chased by but never able to catch the roadrunner, Wily Coyote is often cited with humor as an ideal for those who are wily. The character’s tricky nature as Wily Coyote allowed generational audiences to see how being wily could often be a good thing too, and has brought many tears of laughter through either the shows or merchandise.