I didn’t expect Coyote vs. Acme to make me nostalgic.
I expected to laugh. And I did. A lot.
What I didn’t expect was that somewhere between Wile E. Coyote’s latest spectacular failure and all that wonderfully ridiculous Looney Tunes chaos, I’d find myself thinking about how long it had been since I’d watched something that made me feel quite so much like a kid again.
I had forgotten how funny this stuff was.
Not clever-in-a-way-that-requires-you-to-think-about-it funny.
Just funny.
Falling-off-cliffs, exploding-dynamite, impossible-contraptions, Road-Runner-always-one-step-ahead funny.
And apparently, I still love it.
Saturday Morning Came Rushing Back
There are certain things that have the power to instantly transport you to another time in your life.
A song.
A smell.
A particular food.
The opening credits of a television show you haven’t seen in 30 years.
For me, watching Coyote vs. Acme brought back that feeling.
If you grew up with Looney Tunes, you already know the basic premise. Wile E. Coyote wants the Road Runner. He develops an absurdly elaborate plan. He orders something from Acme. The plan goes horribly wrong.
Usually for Wile E.
And then he does it all over again.
We knew what was going to happen.
That was half the fun.
Maybe We Need a Little More Ridiculous
Adult life is serious.
We’re managing careers and families and finances and schedules. We’re reading the news. We’re answering emails. We’re taking care of people. We’re making plans for next month and next year and five years from now.
Even our leisure time can become another project.
We’re listening to the podcast that will make us smarter.
Reading the book that will make us better leaders.
Taking the class.
Getting the steps.
Maximizing the weekend.
And then along comes a coyote with a catastrophically bad idea and an Acme product.
There is absolutely nothing productive about it.
How refreshing.
Maybe one of the things I loved most about the movie was simply giving myself permission to enjoy something silly.
No lesson required.
No self-improvement.
No deeper purpose.
Just fun.
Nostalgia Is a Funny Thing
I’ve noticed that the older I get, the more powerful these little encounters with the past can be.
Not because I necessarily want to go back.
I don’t.
But I like visiting.
There’s something comforting about rediscovering a piece of yourself that hasn’t completely disappeared.
The girl who laughed at Wile E. Coyote is still in there.
So is the awkward teenager who knew the words to every ’80s song.
The young woman who wore something she thought was incredibly fashionable that should probably never appear in a photograph again.
They’re all still part of us.
Sometimes all it takes is a movie, a song or an old photograph to bring one of them back for a minute.
And Then There’s Wile E.
Watching him as an adult, I found myself seeing him a little differently.
I mean, you’ve got to admire the commitment.
How many anvils have fallen on this guy?
How many rockets have exploded?
How many cliffs has he run off?
How many Acme products have completely failed to perform according to expectations?
And yet:
Another package arrives.
Another blueprint comes out.
Another plan begins.
Is Wile E. Coyote perhaps the most resilient character in entertainment history?
Okay, I’m probably pushing the Pink leadership metaphor a little too far.
But you have to admit, the man does not give up.
Perhaps there’s a lesson in there after all.
What Have You Forgotten You Love?
That’s the thought I kept coming back to after the movie.
What else have I forgotten?
What did I love before life got so busy?
What made me laugh?
What music did I play much too loudly?
What movie could I quote from beginning to end?
What did I do simply because it was fun?
Maybe nostalgia isn’t only about remembering the past.
Maybe occasionally it reminds us to reclaim something from it.
Not everything we loved at 12 or 22 belongs in our lives today.
But some things do.
Especially the things that made us happy.
Beep Beep
I went to see Coyote vs. Acme expecting a movie.
Instead, for a couple of hours, I got a little trip backward.
I laughed.
I remembered.
And I left feeling unexpectedly happy.
There’s plenty to be said for moving forward, growing, changing and becoming the women we’re going to be next.
That’s a big part of what Pink is all about.
But maybe there’s also value in occasionally looking backward and remembering the women—and girls—we’ve already been.
Because sometimes she knows exactly what you need.
And sometimes what you need is simply a coyote, a Road Runner and one spectacularly unreliable package from Acme.
Beep beep.
Pink POV
We’re all about what’s next at Pink—the next opportunity, the next idea, the next chapter.
But what’s next doesn’t require leaving everything behind.
Sometimes an old song deserves to be turned up again. Sometimes the ridiculous movie deserves a rewatch. Sometimes you should call the friend who knew you before anyone had a title on their business card.
And sometimes it’s worth remembering what made you laugh before life became quite so serious.
Growing up is inevitable. Outgrowing joy isn’t.
