character
Tom and Jerry
The cat-and-mouse pair locked in eternal, slapstick antagonism — neither ever winning for long.
Origin
An MGM animated series created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera in 1940. Tom the cat hunts Jerry the mouse across more than 160 shorts; Jerry usually outwits him, but the chase resets every episode. The seven Academy Awards the series won made it one of the most decorated cartoon franchises in history.
Modern usage
'A Tom-and-Jerry dynamic' is shorthand for any pair locked in escalating, repetitive conflict where neither side actually wants the other gone — coworkers, siblings, rivals, regulators and the companies they regulate. The companion phrase 'playing cat and mouse' predates the cartoon but is essentially its slogan.
Tags
rivalry
cartoon
chase