A Laugh That Goes Around, Stays Around
I wish I could take credit for the cartoon laws of physics, but I can’t. This list was originally known as “O’Donnell’s Laws of Cartoon Motion”, published in Esquire, June 1980. It’s been circling the internet ever since, proving the previously unwritten (at least until now) law: A laugh that goes around, stays around.
10 Immutable Laws of Cartoon Motion
- Any body suspended in space will remain in space until made aware of its situation.
- Any body in motion will tend to remain in motion until solid matter intervenes suddenly.
- Any body passing through solid (or less than solid) matter leaves a perforation conforming to its perimeter. The threat of skunks or matrimony often catalyzes this reaction. Though, falling from extreme heights also works.
- The time required for an object to fall twenty stories is greater than or equal to the time it takes for whoever knocked it off the ledge to spiral down twenty flights to attempt to capture it unbroken.
- All principles of gravity are negated by fear.
- As speed increases, objects can be in several places at once.
- Certain bodies can pass through solid walls painted to resemble tunnel entrances; others cannot. Especially the one who painted the entrance (read Wile E. Coyote) to trick an opponent (read Roadrunner).
- Any violent rearrangement of feline matter is impermanent. Cartoon cats can be decimated, spliced, splayed, accordion-pleated, spindled, or disassembled, but they cannot be destroyed. Ever.
- Everything falls faster than an anvil.
- For every vengeance there is an equal and opposite revengeance.
That’s Not All Folks … See The Laws in Action!
I wasn’t able to find one cartoon that demonstrated all 10 Laws of Cartoon Physics. However, you can enjoy watching most of them in action in the following Wile E. Coyote and Roadrunner shorts.
And by the way …
Who’s your favorite cartoon character?
Elizabeth Fais 