- Coyotes in popular culture
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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
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.
In the business world
Coyote Logistics is a third party logistics company based out of Chicago, IL. Named fastest growing logistics company in 2010, INC Magazine reported Three-Year Growth at 13,846.8% [1]
In literature
A one-person play, According to Coyote, is based upon the Plateau folk tales about Coyote.
Coyote appears as a mythological trickster character in Buffalo Gals by Ursula Le Guin, Coyote Blue by Christopher Moore - which features the Native American trickster god, and Green Grass, Running Water by Thomas King, among others. In Summerland by Michael Chabon, Coyote is the primary antagonist, who tries to destroy the world so that he can change his status from "Changer" (trickster) to "Maker", and create a universe all of his own.
The character appears in stranger guises in The Nagasaki Vector by L. Neil Smith, as a cyborg who specializes in scent tracking, and in Sky Coyote by Kage Baker, wherein the role of "Sky Coyote" is taken on by the cyborg Joseph in order to convince a Chumash community in California to evacuate in advance of European exploration. Baker's Sky Coyote ties in the cartoon character Wile E. Coyote, as well. In a series of novels by Michael Bergey, including New Coyote and Coyote Season, Coyote reincarnates as a genetically engineered coyote to learn how to use science as well as magic.
Coyote is mentioned in Neil Gaiman's fantasy novel American Gods.
Coyote appears as an animal in The Book of Sorrows by Walter Wangerin, Jr., wherein scrawny Ferric accidentally sets in motion a chain of events that bring Heaven and Hell crashing down upon the land.
A pack of Arizona desert coyotes are portrayed as nuisances when they harass a cowardly Great Dane and his friends in Bill Wallace's children's book, Watchdog and the Coyotes. The same author also wrote Coyote Summer, in which a twelve-year-old boy rescues and raises an orphaned pup after hunters kill its family.
In The Mercedes Thompson Series by Patricia Briggs (such as the sixth book, River Marked), the eponymous main character is a Walker, who able to shape-shift into a coyote.
In The Iron Druid Chronicles by Kevin Hearne (particularly in book two, Hexed), Coyote is portrayed as a trickster god who intervenes on behalf of Native Americans to protect them from a fallen angel released in book one, Hounded. In the series, there exists a separate Coyote for each tribe who believes in him, and each can come back from the dead whenever he is killed. The Coyote featured in the series represents the Diné (Navajo).[2]
In comics, manga, and cartoons
Wilber the coyote, an official mascot for GIMP, is often seen with a paintbrush in his mouth.
Coyote is a character in the webcomic Gunnerkrigg Court. He is the mythological Coyote who moved to the United Kingdom and has been using his trickery on the behalf of fantastic beings.
A cartoon coyote is featured in the Grant Morrison comic book Animal Man. In the chapter called "The Coyote Gospel", he is sick of the cycle of violence in cartoons, and so is placed in Animal Man's "comic" world, where he is depicted as a more realistic anthropomorphic coyote. He repeatedly dies and comes back to life in exchange for the violence in his world ending, a form of religious allegory.
Other cartoon appearances include Calamity Coyote in Tiny Toon Adventures, Bent-Tail and Bent-Tail Jr., who appear in some animated Disney shorts[3], and Coyote, the name of a series of robots in the Gargoyles series. (The mythical Coyote the trickster also makes an appearance in the Gargoyles episode "Cloud Fathers".)
The manga series BLEACH features a character named Coyote Starrk. When he releases his Zanpakuto named Los Lobos he gains the appearance of a wild west gunslinger and the ability to summon a pack of wolves.
The Coyote comic series features a lead hero/trickster character similar to the mythical versions of the Coyote, as well as a modern interpretation of a half-man/half-coyote hero. The trickster-god Coyote appears in the webcomic Gunnerkrigg Court, his actions having far reaching consequences in the story. The Sonic the Hedgehog comic book features Antoine D'Coolette, a cowardly coyote with good intentions, and Patch, Antione's opposite number from a mirror universe, known for being cunning, deceptive, and cruel.
The cartoon coyote Wilber is the official mascot for GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program), a free raster graphics editor. He was created in 1997.
Wile E. Coyote could be considered an instance of the buffoon version of the Coyote myth. Wile E. Coyote. is a popular character in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons, distributed by Warner Bros., 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.)
Coyote appears in the comic book series Spirit of the Wolf, created by Sean Collins & published by Wild Wolf Entertainment LLC
In motion pictures and television
The Simpsons has an episode ("El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer") where a coyote voiced by music legend Johnny Cash plays the role of a Spirit Guide, who Homer Simpson refers to as the "Space Coyote." When Space Coyote instinctively starts gnawing on Homer's leg he quickly stops and apologizes by saying, "Sorry. I am a coyote."
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.
Computer-animated movies and TV shows have featured Tommy the Coyote (Father of the Pride) and Dag (Barnyard: The Original Party Animals).
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.
In colonial Mexico, "coyote" was used as a name for a person of mixed Mestizo and Amerindian ancestry, similar to "cholo".
In sports and games
The Phoenix NHL ice hockey team is the Phoenix Coyotes.
The San Antonio Spurs NBA basketball team has used a coyote character (created by Tim Derk) as its mascot since 1983. To learn more about Tim Derk and his time as the Spurs' mascot, you can read his book Hi Mom, Send Sheep! My Life as the Coyote and After (Trinity University Press, 2006). The Coyote is also the mascot of several college and university athletic teams, including those of the University of South Dakota, California State University, San Bernardino, and The College of Idaho.
In White Wolf, Inc.'s roleplaying game Werewolf: The Apocalypse, Coyote is a Totem for the Nuwisha (were-coyotes), as well as some of the Garou (werewolves).
In Music
In Gregory Alan Isakov's song 3 a.m., there is a lyric that goes "I ain't out there to cheat you, see I killed that damn coyote in me" referring to the traditional habit of the trickster god Coyote to cheat people according to Native American mythology. [4]
References
- ^ [[1]
- ^ Kevin Hearne's Official Page, Hexed
- ^ Characters in Disney shorts
- ^ Gregory Alan Isakov Lyrics, 3 a.m.
External links
Categories:- Animals in popular culture
- American popular culture
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