Reflection: Gill's The Trickster

By Ernie Stanley

..."In many of his adventures, Trickster permits people to vicariously experience the thrills and freedoms of a Utopian existence."

I find this notion of the cultural trickster to be quite heroic. It is the trickster, however brash or foolish he may that allows a culture to define itself. The trickster more importantly endows a sense of pleasure within society. When we think of modern cultural tricksters, such as Borat and Ferris Bueller we are endowed with a sense of humorous gratitude and restriction.

We know that if we behave as they do we will surely arrive in a place of confinement and severe trouble. However, through them we can envision ourselves getting away with things we would love to be able to and get away with. Thus they provide a conduit for causing mischief without causing mischief. I'm sure most of us have friends (or possibly ourselves) which fulfill this role for us as well. Through these people we are able to learn vicariously what not to not get in trouble, or even what to do to make ourselves have fun.