Editing Cartoon physics

{{Short description|Jocular system of physical laws for animated cartoons}}
'''Cartoon physics''' or '''animation physics''' are terms for a jocular system of [[laws of physics]] (and biology) that supersedes the normal laws, used in [[animation]] for humorous effect.

Many of the most famous American [[animated cartoon|animated films]], particularly those from [[Warner Bros.]] and [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]] studios, indirectly developed a relatively consistent set of such "laws" which have become ''de rigueur'' in comic animation. They usually involve things behaving in accordance with how they appear to the cartoon characters, or what the characters expect, rather than how they objectively are. In one common example, when a cartoon character runs off a cliff, [[gravity]] has no effect until the character notices there's nothing under their feet.<ref name="coyotusinterruptus">

In a [[neologism]] contest held by ''[[New Scientist]]'', a winning entry coined the term "coyotus interruptus" for this phenomenon—a pun on [[coitus interruptus]] and [[Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner|Wile E. Coyote]], who fell to his doom this way many times.</ref>

In words attributed to [[Art Babbitt]], an animator with the [[The Walt Disney Company|Walt Disney Studios]], "Animation follows the laws of physics—unless it is funnier otherwise."

== Examples ==
Specific reference to ''cartoon physics'' extends back at least to June 1980, when an article "[[Mark O'Donnell|O'Donnell]]'s Laws of Cartoon Motion"<ref>O'Donnell's Laws of Cartoon Motion", ''Esquire'', 6/80, reprinted in ''IEEE Institute'', 10/94; V.18 #7 p.12. [http://remarque.org/~doug/cartoon-physics.html Copy on Web] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120314215930/http://remarque.org/~doug/cartoon-physics.html |date=2012-03-14 }}</ref> appeared in ''[[Esquire (magazine)|Esquire]]''.  A version printed in V.18 No. 7 p.&nbsp;12, 1994 by the [[Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers]] in its journal helped spread the word among the technical crowd, which has expanded and refined the idea.<ref>[http://blog.macmanltd.com/2011/07/13/cartoon-laws-of-physics/] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20121210040136/http://blog.macmanltd.com/2011/07/13/cartoon-laws-of-physics/|date=December 10, 2012}}</ref>

O'Donnell's examples include: <!-- NOTE TO EDITORS: There are a near-infinite number of cartoon physics examples, so let's stick just to O'Donnell's original examples, or else the list becomes unreadably enormous. -->

[[File:Cartoon ledge.png|thumb|A cartoon character who runs over a cliff may have time to react to their predicament before beginning to fall]]
*{{anchor|Midair suspension}}Any body suspended in space will remain suspended in space until made aware of its situation. A character steps off a cliff but remains in midair until looking down, then the familiar principle of 16 feet per second squared takes over.
*A body passing through solid matter will leave a perforation conforming to its perimeter called the silhouette of passage.
*The time required for an object to fall 20 stories is greater than or equal to the time it takes for whoever knocked it off the ledge to spiral down 20 flights to attempt to capture it unbroken. Such an object is inevitably priceless; the attempt to capture it, inevitably unsuccessful.
*All principles of gravity are negated by fear.
*Psychic forces are sufficient in most bodies for a shock to propel them directly away from the ground. A spooky noise or an adversary's signature sound will introduce motion upward, usually to the cradle of a chandelier, a treetop or the crest of a flagpole.
*The feet of a running character or the wheels of a speeding auto need never touch the ground, ergo fleeing turns to flight.
*As speed increases, objects can be in several places at once.
[[File:Painted tunnel entrance.jpg|thumb|A painted tunnel entrance may or may not be traversable]]
*Certain bodies can pass through a solid wall painted to resemble tunnel entrances; others cannot. ... Whoever paints an entrance on a wall's surface to trick an opponent will be unable to pursue him into this theoretical space. The painter is flattened against the wall when he attempts to follow into the painting. This is ultimately a problem of art, not science.
*Any violent rearrangement of feline matter is impermanent. Cartoon cats can be sliced, splayed, accordion-pleated, spindled or disassembled, but they cannot be destroyed. After a few moments of blinking self-pity, they reinflate, elongate, snap back or solidify. 
<!-- NOTE TO EDITORS: There are a near-infinite number of cartoon physics examples, so let's stick just to O'Donnell's original examples, or else the list becomes unreadably enormous. -->

== History of the idea ==
The idea that cartoons behave differently from the real world, but not randomly, is virtually as old as animation. [[Walt Disney]], for example, spoke of the [[The Plausible Impossible|plausible impossible]] in 1956 on an episode of the [[Walt Disney anthology television series|''Disneyland'' television program]].

[[Warner Brothers]]' [[Looney Tunes]] and [[Merrie Melodies]] series had numerous examples of their own cartoon physics (such as in the [[Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner]] cartoons) or even acknowledged they ignore real world physics. In ''[[High Diving Hare]]'' (1948), when [[Yosemite Sam]] cuts through a high diving board [[Bugs Bunny]] is standing on, the ladder and platform that Sam is on falls, leaving the cut plank suspended in mid-air. Bugs turns to the camera and cracks: "I know this defies the law of gravity, but, you see, I never studied law!"

After being seen on the big screen, cartoon physics was soon taken down to the small screen through many shows from [[Hanna-Barbera]], where [[Yogi Bear]] and Boo Boo and the rest of the anthropomorphic animals used it many times.

The animated television series ''[[Tiny Toon Adventures]]'' had an episode dedicated to it "Toon Physics", in which Orson Whales teaches how it differs from actual science. 

More recently, it has been explicitly described by some cartoon characters, including [[Bugs Bunny]], [[Daffy Duck]], [[Tom Cat|Tom]], [[Jerry Mouse|Jerry]], and [[Roger Rabbit]]. who say that [[cartoon]] characters are allowed to bend or break natural laws for the purposes of comedy. Doing this is extremely tricky, so, the cartoon characters have a natural sense of comedic timing, giving them inherently funny properties. In ''[[Who Framed Roger Rabbit]]'', for example, Roger is unable to escape handcuffs for most of a sequence, doing so only to use both hands to hold the table still while Eddie Valiant attempts to saw the cuffs off. When Eddie asks, exasperated, "Do you mean to tell me you could've taken your hand out of that cuff at any time?!" Roger responds: "Not at ''any'' time! Only when it was ''funny''!" Several aspects of cartoon physics were discussed in the film's dialogue, and the concept was a minor plot theme.

In 1993, Stephen R. Gould, then a financial training consultant, wrote in ''[[New Scientist]]'', said that "... these seemingly nonsensical phenomena can be described by logical laws similar to those in our world. Nonsensical events are by no means limited to the Looniverse. Laws that govern our own Universe often seem contrary to common sense."<ref>Stephen R. Gould, [https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg14019055.200--looney-tuniverse-ther-is-a-crazy-king-of-physics-at-work-in-the-world-of-cartoons--.html Looney Tuniverse: There is a crazy kind of physics at work in the world of cartoons] (1993) ''New Scientist''</ref> This theme is also described by [[Alan Cholodenko]] in his article, "The Nutty Universe of Animation".<ref>[[Alan Cholodenko]], "[https://www.ubishops.ca/baudrillardstudies/vol3_1/cholodenkopf.htm The Nutty Universe of Animation, The “Discipline” of All “Disciplines”, And That’s Not All, Folks!] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927200634/http://www.ubishops.ca/baudrillardstudies/vol3_1/cholodenkopf.htm |date=September 27, 2007 }}" ''International Journal of Baudrillard Studies'' Volume 3, Number 1 (January 2006)</ref>

In a [[Garfield]] animated short entitled "Secrets of the Animated Cartoon", the characters Orson and Wade give demonstrations of different laws of the cartoons and show humorous examples of them.

In 2012 O'Donnell's Laws of Cartoon Motion were used as the basis for a presentation<ref>[http://vimeo.com/62327966 Laws of Motion in a Cartoon Landscape on Vimeo<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> and exhibition by [[Andy Holden (artist)|Andy Holden]] at Kingston University in Great Britain. Titled 'Laws of Motion in a Cartoon Landscape',<ref>[http://www.stanleypickergallery.org/programme/the-laws-of-motion-in-a-cartoon-landscape/ Laws of Motion in a Cartoon Landscape | Stanley Picker Gallery<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> it explored ideas of cartoon physics in relation to art and the end of art history. This was later made into a film with the artist as an animated cartoon character and shown at Glasgow International Festival in 2016,<ref>{{Cite web|title=Andy Holden – Laws of Motion in a Cartoon Landscape » The Cinema Museum, London|url=http://www.cinemamuseum.org.uk/2019/andy-holden-laws-of-motion-in-a-cartoon-landscape/|access-date=2020-08-22|website=The Cinema Museum, London}}</ref> Tate Britain<ref>{{Cite web|last=Tate|title=Andy Holden: world as cartoon – Film at Tate Britain|url=https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/film/andy-holden-world-cartoon|access-date=2020-08-22|website=Tate|language=en-GB}}</ref> in 2017, and Future Generation Art Prize<ref>{{Cite web|title=Andy Holden|url=https://futuregenerationartprize.org/en/history/2017/andy-holden|access-date=2020-08-22|website=futuregenerationartprize.org}}</ref> at Venice Biennale in 2017.

== Non-exclusivity ==
Cartoon physics is not limited to physics. For example, when a character recovers impossibly fast from a serious injury, the laws of [[biology]] rather than physics are being altered.

It is also not limited to cartoons; in live-action, the physics-defying stunts would fall under the umbrella of [[slapstick]]. Live-action shows and movies can also be subject to the laws of cartoon physics, explaining why, for example, [[The Three Stooges]] did not go blind from all the eye-poking, and the burglars in the ''[[Home Alone (franchise)|Home Alone]]'' series survive life-threatening booby traps. In the live-action ''[[Pete's Dragon (1977 film)|Pete's Dragon]]'' (1977), the titular dragon Elliot, while invisible, bursts through a wooden wall, leaving a dragon-shaped "silhouette of passage". The [[Ernest P. Worrell]] film series often made note of the title character's cartoon-like traits, with Ernest himself remarking in ''[[Ernest Rides Again]]'' that he would be dead "if I wasn't this close to being an actual cartoon."

In a review of one of the ''Home Alone'' films, film critic [[Roger Ebert]] noted that in the case of live-action productions, cartoon physics are not as effective at producing a comic effect, as the effects seem more realistic:

{{quote|Most of the live-action attempts to duplicate animation have failed, because when flesh-and-blood figures hit the pavement, we can almost hear the bones crunch, and it isn't funny.<ref>{{cite news |first=Roger |last=Ebert |title=Home Alone 2: Lost in New York |work=rogerebert.com |date=1992-11-20 |access-date=October 8, 2011 |url=http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19921120/REVIEWS/211200302/1023 |archive-date=2012-10-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121013055655/http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F19921120%2FREVIEWS%2F211200302%2F1023 |url-status=dead }}</ref>}}

[[The Lexicon of Comicana|Printed cartoons]] have their own family of cartoon physics "laws" and conventions.{{cn|date=August 2021}} Additionally, some [[video games]] utilize these elements during their cutscenes. For example, in the game ''[[Sonic Unleashed]]'', titular character [[Sonic the Hedgehog (character)|Sonic the Hedgehog]] is seen making effective use of [[hammerspace]] to stash a Chaos Emerald.

The concept can be used as a metaphor outside video. In an editorial for the ''New York Times'' in 2003 titled ''Don't Look Down'', for example, economist [[Paul Krugman]] wrote while describing a gap between revenue and spending, "The crisis won't come immediately. For a few years, America will still be able to borrow freely, simply because lenders assume that things will somehow work out.... But at a certain point we'll have a Wile E. Coyote moment. For those not familiar with the Road Runner cartoons, Mr. Coyote had a habit of running off cliffs and taking several steps on thin air before noticing that there was nothing underneath his feet. Only then would he plunge. What will that plunge look like?"<ref>{{cite news |last1=Krugman |first1=Paul |title=Don't Look Down |work=The New York Times |date=14 October 2003 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/14/opinion/don-t-look-down.html |access-date=November 25, 2019}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[12 basic principles of animation]]
* [[Acme Corporation]]
* [[Slapstick]]
* [[Toon (role-playing game)]]
* [['Pataphysics]]

== Notes ==
{{reflist|2}}

== External links ==
* [http://www.rahul.net/figmo/Archives/toon-physics.html ''The Laws of Cartoon Motion''] adapted from ''An Elementary Education: An Easy Alternative to Actual Learning'' by [[Mark O'Donnell]] ({{ISBN|978-0-394-54430-4}}).
* [http://www.rogerebert.com/rogers-journal/the-laws-of-cartoon-thermodynamics Laws of Cartoon Thermodynamics] from [[Roger Ebert]]'s website.
* [http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2007/mariogravity.shtml Acceleration Due to Gravity: Super Mario Brothers] - a physicist's determination of the value of ''[[Standard gravity|g]]'' used in [[Super Mario Bros.]]

=== Other ===
* [[Kent Pitman]]'s [https://web.archive.org/web/20010313082906/http://www.anotherwayout.com/soap-opera-physics.html Theory of RelativeTV (Soap Opera Physics)]

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[[Category:Cartoon physics| ]]
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