The Wacky Warner
Wacko Warner and Anthropomorphism Or Something
The Warners (Yacko, Wakko and their sister Dot) are three rubberhose-style characters designed to look like the cartoons of the 30's (black bodies with white faces was a pretty typical look for the earliest cartoons). The exact species to which they belong is unidentified. They utilise very wacky, off-the-wall while their bodies are rubbery, stretchy and very malleable - much like the cartoons of the Golden Age. They move with a lot of squash, stretch and bounce and have musical talent which fit perfectly with the era they were supposedly created for. Without other characters calling them "children" or "kids", it's clear that the Warners are young children, despite them not looking very human. They have a youthful energy (an excessive amount of it, in fact) and generally behave like human children. They have been known to cry loudly to get adults to do what they want[1], mock authority figures by pulling silly faces or making childish comments and have frequently displayed a naive attitude to historical (‘Hooked on a Ceiling’, 1993) or political figures whilst having knowledge of current celebrities. To me, this suggests that they are tweens or young teenagers. Yacko, being taller than Wakko or Dot, seems to be the oldest and his understanding of innuendo implies to me that he is a young teenager.
The three Warners are all stretchy, insane and hyperactive. However, they each have their specialities. Dot leads in being cute, Yakko has puns and innuendo and Wakko is the king of slapstick and visual humour. They also have their own outfits to set them apart from each other. Without their outfits, however, the three look almost identical. So how can one tell them apart? The most unique of the three siblings seems to be Wakko, perhaps down to “middle-child syndrome” (‘Survey Ladies’, 1993).
[1] Gray, R (2007). Babies Not as Innocent as they Pretend. Telegraph. [Online]. 1st July. Available from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/3298979/Babies-not-as-innocent-as-they-pretend.html [Accessed: 26/11/2011]
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