Coyotes in popular culture

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Wile E. Coyote with the Roadrunner in To Beep or Not to Beep
Wile E. Coyote with the Roadrunner in To Beep or Not to Beep

The coyote is a popular figure in folklore and popular culture. References may invoke either the animal coyote (a wild canine native to North America), or the mythological figure Coyote, common to many myths of the indigenous peoples of the Americas. Traits commonly described include inventiveness, mischievousness, and evasiveness.

Contents

[edit] In folklore

Main article: Coyote (mythology)

Coyote is a mythological figure common to many Native American cultures, based on the coyote animal. This character is usually male and is generally anthropomorphic. The myths and legends which include Coyote vary widely from culture to culture. He can play the role of trickster or culture hero (or both), and also often appears in creation myths and just-so stories.

[edit] In literature

  • In The Book of Sorrows by Walter Wangerin, Jr., sequel to the award-winning The Book of the Dun Cow, the coyote Ferric is a skinny, scared creature struggling to feed his wife Rachael and their three pups, and to protect them from the cruel, wild world outside the den. As he travels far from home looking for food in the barren winter, he accidentally sets in motion a chain of events that bring Heaven and Hell crashing down upon him, and on every living thing in the land.
  • In Buffalo Gals by Ursula Le Guin, Coyote the trickster and creator is a central character.
  • In Coyote Blue by Christopher Moore, Coyote the trickster appears as the companion of the protagonist, Samuel Hunter, a Crow Indian insurance salesman. A number of traditional Crow stories about Coyote are used as vignettes in the narrative.
  • In Green Grass, Running Water by Thomas King, Coyote again appears as the trickster
  • In The Nagasaki Vector by L. Neil Smith, a cyborg Coyote ("Náhuatl") is introduced as a "Private Nose", a Private Detective who specializes in scent tracking.
  • In New Coyote by Michael Bergey, Coyote appears as the main character.
  • In Sky Coyote by Kage Baker, the role of "Sky Coyote" is taken on by the cyborg Joseph in order to convince a Chumash community in California to evacuate before Europeans could wipe them out in 1700.
  • In Summerland by Michael Chabon, Coyote is the primary antagonist, who tries to destroy the world by attempting to poison the colossal invisible tree that makes up the universe. His goal is to destroy "Mr. Wood", the creator of the universe, along with everything else, except for himself. His reasoning for this is so that he can go from his "Changer" (trickster) status, to Maker status and make a universe all of his own.

[edit] In song

[edit] In comics, manga, and cartoons

  • Wile E. Coyote is a Warner Brothers cartoon coyote who is endlessly trying to catch and eat an extremely fast Road Runner with his tricks, many of which involve technology or Rube Goldberg machines. His efforts are always futile, and he usually harms himself in the effort. It is likely that the stereotype of Coyote-as-trickster helped form the basis of this protagonist. The cartoon character Wile E. Coyote has a comically exaggerated nose, tail and ears, inspired by the appearance of the real animal. (Many of the other Warner Brothers cartoon characters also share some qualities with the trickster Coyote, especially Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny.)
  • In the Disney cartoon show Gargoyles, Coyote is the name of a series of robots of human level intelligence created by Xanatos and having his personality. Also, the mythical Coyote the trickster makes an appearance in the episode "Cloud Fathers", and is portrayed as one of Oberon's children.
  • Antoine D'Coolette from the Sonic the Hedgehog (comic series) is a coyote. He is portrayed as a coward with good intentions, whereas his evil counterpart "Patch" is known for being cunning, deceptive, and cruel.
  • Tommy the Coyote is a character in the animated television series Father of the Pride. He is voiced by David Spade.
  • In the animated movie Barnyard: The Original Party Animals, a pack of coyotes are the main antagonists. The pack is lead by a villainous coyote named Dag, who is voiced by David Koechner.

[edit] In motion pictures and television

  • In the movie Coyote Ugly, Lil, the bar owner, explains that she named her bar after the slang term "coyote ugly", which refers to the feeling of waking up after a one night stand and discovering that you are beside someone who is so physically repulsive that you would gladly gnaw off any of your limbs that he or she is sleeping on just so you can get away without being discovered. Many wild animals, including coyotes, will gnaw off limbs in order to escape traps.

[edit] In slang

  • In the Southwest United States, a "coyote" is a person paid to smuggle illegal immigrants across the border between Mexico and the United States. See also Human smuggling.
  • When used as an adjective 'coyote' may be synonymous with 'thief' or 'liar'.

[edit] In sports and games

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