#there's willingness or unwillingness to perform that role (some 'tricksters' are doomed by the narrative) | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

blood-orange-juice · 1 month ago

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Spicy take: I'm starting to think that the concept of "trickster" is about just as meaningful as the concept of Hero's Journey.

Sure, you can fit a lot of stories into it and some were written with that specific archetype in mind but also it conflates Joker, Odysseus, Br'er Rabit and Slavic folktales protagonists and I don't think these should belong in the same category.

Boundary crossing can be done for many reasons and in many ways. The need to lump all such characters into a single category says more about our over-reliance on rigid structures, the lack of play in our culture and a desperate need for something else.

#I'm sure there's a dissertation written about it somewhere #if not I'm considering getting another education #if I think about axes of classification #there's contact with the sacred or a lack of it (a lot of so-called modern 'tricksters' only deal with the mundane)#there's willingness or unwillingness to perform that role (some 'tricksters' are doomed by the narrative)#some only seek fun but I've seen characters with personal goals being called tricksters #and then they can fit into the culture itself differently #a cultural hero. a hero of an oppressed minority. a wise being symbolising acceptance of paradoxes. an evil spirit #why is the same word applied to all of them #simply because they aren't bound by so-called rational thinking and society's rules?#come on I want more nuance #when a person says they like trickster characters I don't know what they mean anymore #for me it mostly means they need a drink and someone accepting of their weirdness #meanwhile the exact traits of their favourite characters will vary wildly

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