is a joking reference to the fact that Animation allows regular Laws Of Physics to be ignored in Humorous ways. For example, when a cartoon character runs off a cliff, Gravity has no effect until the character notices and mugs an appropriate reaction.
The phrase also reflects the fact that many of the most famous American Animated Cartoon s, particularly those from Warner Brothers and MGM studios, unconsciously developed a relatively consistent set of such "laws" that have become regularly applied in comic animation.
The idea that cartoons behave differently, but not randomly, than the real world is virtually as old as animation. Walt Disney , for example, spoke of the ''plausible impossible'', deliberately mispronouncing the second word so it rhymed with the first.
Specific reference to cartoon physics extends back at least to June of 1980 , when an article "O'Donnell's Laws of Cartoon Motion" appeared in '' Esquire Magazine ''. A version printed in 1994 by the IEEE in a journal for Engineers helped spread the word among the technical crowd, which has expanded and refined the idea. Dozens of websites exist outlining these laws.
The situation is so well-understood that it has been used as the topic of jokes for decades, as in the 1949 Looney Tunes short '' High Diving Hare '', in which Bugs Bunny explains, "I know this defies the law of gravity; but you see, I haven't studied law!"
More recently, the cartoon characters Roger Rabbit and Bonkers D. Bobcat have their own variations on the theme, explaining that Toon s are allowed to bend or break natural laws for the purposes of comedy. Doing this is extremely tricky, so Toon s have a natural sense of comedic timing, giving them inherently funny properties. Bonkers also warns that the loss of this sense can lead to unfunny and even dangerous situations, perhaps explaining why cartoon violence, but not the real variety, is always funny.
Adherents of Evolutionary Psychology have suggested that the humorous effect of cartoon physics is due to the interplay of intuitions between Physics (objective) and Psychology (self-perception). The physics module predicts that the cartoon character will fall over the cliff immediately, while the psychology module anthropomorphizes the force of gravity and thus see it as vulnerable to deception, as long as the actor is self-deceived .
In short, it can lead to the humorous situation where a cartoon's logic is governed by what "makes sense" (is consistent) rather than what "is" (natural law).
Commonly cited cartoon physics "laws" include:
- No matter what happens to Cat s, they always return to their default shapes.
- Any body passing through solid matter will leave a dent conforming to its perimeter.
- Explosives , even if detonated close to a character's face, will cause only scorching of the skin. (Prior to the efforts of the American Civil Rights Movement , characters would often take on the appearance of Blackface .)
- When a character runs off a cliff, notices the situation, and begins falling, at first only his body below the neck falls, during which the neck is stretched for a few seconds before the head follows.
- Alternatively, if a character walks off a cliff, they will not fall, and continue to walk on thin air, until they notice they have walked off the cliff. In some cases, they will not fall until they look down, regardless of their awareness of the situation.
- If a character falls from a tall building, another character from the same floor will be able to run all the way down to ground level in order to catch the falling character before he/she hits the ground.
- Characters are allowed to "swim" or blow themselves upwards a short distance in the air before falling normally to gravity.
- When a character wishes to chop the only thing holding another character from falling (such as a tree branch) the chopper will fall, together with whatever he/she was standing on (such as the tree or the ground) and the other character will remain floating in the air (branch included).
- An explosive device taken by one character will not explode until it is given back to the original character who triggered the device. Also applies to Booby Traps .
- A Boomerang , when thrown, will not only change direction, but will actively hunt out its thrower so that the thrower may catch it, regardless of his or her relation to the initial point of the throw.
- Motion reference frames are arbitrary. For instance, an outboard motor in a pan of water on wheels causes the motor and pan to move together. Likewise, a fan and a sail attached to a wheeled platform will cause the platform to move.
is the study of physical principles of Anvil s, as studied at "Acme Looniversity" in the animated series, '' Tiny Toons ''"
- Everything falls faster than an anvil (so that the evil character can hit the ground first and then be crushed, but not killed, by the anvil).
- Anvils are readily available.
- Anvils have Mass but not much Weight , so that they are very hard to push around, but it is possible to jump out of a plane with an anvil instead of a parachute and not notice until the parachute is opened while airborne.
- Anvils can stay in the air until noticed by a character, at which point they fall on the character.
- If a character moves out of the way of a falling anvil, the anvil will shift its position over the character before falling, so that it crushes (but does not kill) the character.
are a subset of cartoon physics regarding the laws of collisions. Note that these laws deliberately refer to male subjects; bad things do not generally happen to women.
For a given cartoon character C:
- 1. If C runs into a wall,
:a: If the wall is too thick, C will strike it and flatten out like Dough , often regardless of clothing.
:b: If the wall is thin enough, he will leave a hole in the wall in the shape of his body.
- 2. If C runs into something made of metal, he will dent it in the shape of his body.
- 3. If C runs off a cliff, the Impact Crater he leaves will conform with Rule 1b.
- 4. If C has a fragile body,
:a: Running into any wall will cause him to be squashed into a Musical Instrument (usually an Accordion ), or
:b: Any collision or fall will fracture him into a Zillion pieces.
- 5. If C runs into a wall which has been painted to look like part of the landscape or a tunnel:
:a: If the "camera" angle blends the painting with the actual landscape, he will enter the landscape or tunnel as though it were real.
:b: If he was the one who painted the wall, he will just run into the wall — see Rule 1.
:c: If the "camera" views the painting at an angle such that it is, without doubt, a painting on a wall, he will just run into the wall — see Rule 1.
:d: Trains or large trucks are often known to drive out of walls painted in this way, usually just after the painter has slammed into the wall and is feeling sheepish for having fallen for their own ruse.
Anime physics can be considered a subset of cartoon physics - a set of rules used in cartoons to twist or ignore the laws of physics for humorous or dramatic effect. These are commonly seen in anime but not so common in cartoons. Normally, these are referenced from popular series in the past.
Examples include:
- Dramatic moments tend to distort time, either by slowing it down (usually long enough to call out the name of an attacker or the name of the "special move" used in the attack, or for bystanders to comment on the situation), or by looping three times.
- ---Similarly, transformations (especially those animated with Stock Footage ) also seem to stop time until completed, allowing them to be used to counter attacks, or not allowing the person to be attacked while performing them.
- Human bodies contain more Blood than a barrel of the same size, often under high pressure.
- An angry or embarrassed girl will be able to hit any male (usually one who is romantically involved with her) hard enough to knock him into Low Earth Orbit and the male will usually survive.
- Characters have an extradimensional storage space normally used for the concealment of weapons or tools. This is usually an oversized Mallet in the case of many females. Because of this, this space is commonly known as Hammerspace .
- Any character of superior athletic ability can jump no less than ten feet into the air. In addition, feats of incredible strength, such as wielding ten-foot swords and punching through concrete, are relatively commonplace. Girls that are angry will usually gain this kind of strength.
- A Katana can always cut through anything - including boulders and solid steel - without breaking or becoming noticeably dulled. Wooden or bamboo katanas are just as powerful as their metal counterparts, sometimes even more so. Also, a sword, knife, or dagger can easily cut through an object that is far thicker than its blade is long. i.e. a 3 foot blade may cut through a boulder that is 10 feet wide. However, anyone who can use a wooden or bamboo katana to cut through metal can always do better with a metal counterpart.
- Attacks strong enough to shred entire planets will not destroy anyone's pants (but will usually destroy all other clothing).
- Conversely, certain explosions can destroy a female character's clothing without significantly harming her body—in some cases, without her initially noticing this.
- Any fire-based attack on a character will not completely burn his/her clothes but will leave black stains instead.
- When a character or multiple characters hear another character say something completely unexpected or the exact opposite of expected speech during a humorous or compromising situation, all said listening characters will experience a massive tug of gravity, causing them to instantly fall to the ground with significant force. Note that they are completely unharmed by this and often get up quickly to scold the other character. This is known as a Face Fault .
- Any color in the visible spectrum is considered a natural hair color.
- ---Hair color can also change with little to no warning, especially when a character or series is transferred from manga to anime.
- physically or sexually stimulating sights or thoughts will cause Nosebleed s.
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