The Modern-Day Sisyphus: the Story of Wile E. Coyote

RJ Writing Ink’s Retelling of the Story of Coyote vs ACME, Part 1: Mythological Origins

Have you ever heard of the story of Sisyphus? I wouldn’t expect you to know who he is off the bat, unless you grew up reading Greek mythology or works related to it. In the Greek myth, Sisyphus was this king who was probably the cleverest man alive. He was so clever, in fact, that, after angering Zeus to the point where he wanted him dead, he was able to capture Death, keeping everyone from dying. After he was finally forced to free Death and accept damnation, he tricked the rulers of the Underworld into letting him go, allowing him to cheat death twice. So, when he finally died for good, the gods decided to make sure he couldn’t outwit them ever again. He was forced to roll this boulder up every day; only when it came close to the top would it fall back down.

Believe it or not, we have a modern-day Sisyphus. His name is Wile E. Coyote.

I’m sure that most of us know who the Looney Tunes are, and thus, who Wile E. Coyote is. He’s the hungry predator constantly trying to catch that pesky Road Runner using various crazy traps and gadgets. However, because the universe is out to get him, his plans never succeed, forcing him to start again. Like Sisyphus, he’s given a task that’s rigged to constantly fail, all for the sake of others’ entertainment. That’s supposed to be all there is to it, and there’s supposed to be nothing that either can do about it.

But what if there was?

Defying the Gods

In modern times, at least in the West, religion isn’t held in the same regard as it was millennia ago. And even if it is, we’ve become more willing to question the divine. Some stories have even taken it a step further by having people openly defy a god, and not just win, but punish them for their actions. So, what if we had a story where Sisyphus decided that his punishment wasn’t fair or justified? So, rather than allowing them to decide his fate, he takes matters into his own hands and sets out to make the gods face justice for their treatment of him.

That concept pretty much sums up the premise of Coyote vs ACME, which finally dropped in theaters after a modern David vs Goliath battle. A battle that was worth the years of fighting, because it gave the Coyote, our Sisyphus, the chance to get the boulder up the hill. And he did it on his terms.

I’m RJ Writing Ink, and here is the story (as best as I can tell it) of Coyote vs ACME, from its conception as a short story to the initial pitch, the incredible fight for its existence, and finally, a spoiler review of the movie. This wound up becoming my longest post for The Game of Nerds to date, so I had to break it up into different parts. This is part one, talking about the mythological and other influences on Wile E. Coyote.

The Greek Gods…could be Jerks.

Before we talk about the movie or its origins, we need to talk about the gods. Specifically, the Greek Gods and their modern-day counterparts in the film. The myths and legends of Ancient Greece are among some of the most enduring stories in Western Civilization. To this day, they continue to inspire new stories about the gods, heroes, and monsters of old. But if you’ve never read the original myths or played the God of War games, then there’s one thing that you need to know about the Greek Gods:

By and large, they could be some of the biggest jerks in all of existence.

I’m serious. Look up some of the original myths about the Greek Pantheon, and you will find that they are one of the most dysfunctional and toxic groups imaginable. They make the Targaryens look like child’s play in comparison. Hades kidnapped his wife. Poseidon spent years terrorizing Odysseus for blinding his son when he deserved it. Hera is a very unpleasant woman. And Zeus? If there is a list of enemies of all women out there, he would be at the top! They are capable of great things, but at the same time, they are also some of the pettiest, immature, and self-centered people you could ever meet! And they are also incredibly vindictive, as Sisyphus could attest.

Doing the impossible is what Humanity does best

The whole point of the story of Sisyphus is to teach people that, no matter how clever or smart they are, some things can’t be beaten. Which is fair; there are things that can be considered impossible. However, I would like to point out that, given humanity’s track record of innovation, we as a species tend to take “impossible” as a challenge. And then we do it just to prove we can. Plus, from our modern perspective, eternally punishing a man just because he outsmarted you comes across as cruel and petty, which is why we are supposed to root for Wile E. Coyote.

Chuck Jones and the Rules of the Coyote

You wouldn’t expect it from a cartoon, but when Chuck Jones, the co-creator of Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner, made the two, he put a lot of thought into them. He got the idea for Wile E. from Mark Twain’s writings. In his 1872 book, Twain talked about this coyote he saw on his travels, and how it was this skeletal-looking thing and an allegory for “Want.” Which pretty much describes the famous Wile E. Coyote. He is undeniably clever and a genius, as shown on the rare occasions he isn’t chasing after the Road Runner. But unfortunately for him, the heavens themselves say that he must always lose.

As revealed in his own biography, Chuck Jones always wrote the Coyote and Road Runner shorts with a set of rules. They were how he managed the shorts’ chaos in a formulaic way. The most important rule of all, though, is #11: The Coyote is not allowed to catch or eat the Road Runner.

To make matters worse, additional rules say that anything Wile E. uses has to come from ACME. And that, barring the occasional train or truck, no outside force can hurt him. His injuries and humiliation are either the result of his own errors or ACME making trash products. And he can’t just stop because he is obsessed with catching that bird.

A Constant Creature of Want

To summarize, we get a creature single-mindedly obsessed with completing an impossible task, only to be rigged to fail every time. The only difference between him and Sisyphus is that Wile E. could stop whenever he wanted. I’m pretty sure the Gods made it so that Sisyphus would be constantly compelled to move that boulder. Plus, apparently Sisyphus killed guests, whereas Wile E. hasn’t killed anyone (yet). And as funny as it is to watch him try and fail over and over, after a while, it just gets sad to watch. Which is another one of Jones’ rules: we’re supposed to feel bad for Wile E. Coyote. We want him to win, despite knowing that the heavens themselves say he can’t.

But what if he could? What if Sisyphus could hold the Gods accountable for their cruelty? That’s where we get the story of Coyote vs ACME.

But that is a story that will have to be told in a separate article. In part two of this series, we will go over the origins of Coyote vs ACME as a short story. In the meantime, go ahead and read my (relatively) spoiler-free review of the movie here.