R.I.P. Heath Ledger

Reading notes: Mapping the Characteristics of Mythic Tricksters
1. fundamentally abiguous and anomalous
   - associated with death, life, and fertility; impedance, society, and nature
2. deciever (trick player)
   - e.g. Br'er Rabbit and his tar baby
3. shaper shifter
   - elements, other people, genders, animals
   - e.g. Tibetan trickster Agu Tompa, puts on robes of a nun so he can invade and make love with all the nuns.
   - e.g. hymn to hermes: infant hermes steals Apollo's cattle, returns home and transforms into mist, slides under door so he can be honest when he says he never crossed the threshold
4. situation-inverter
   - ability to overturn any person, place, or belief, no matter how prestigious; often turns a place of safety into place of danger (and vice versa).
   - e.g. Yoruba tale: West African trickster sets fire to farmer's house, helps family get all their possessions out safely, then gives the goods to a passerby on the road.
   - the official ritual profaner of beliefs. Profaning/inverting social beliefs brings into sharp relief just how much a society values these beliefs.
   - often a psychopomp (mediator who crosses and resets the lines between life and death).
5. messenger and imitator of the gods
   - regularly brings gifts essential to human culture, usually by breaking a central taboo established in the divine order.
   - position midway between gods and humans allows him to function as a cultural transformer (subject to parody)
   - status among gods is equally unstable.
6. sacred and lewd bricoleur
   - DIY, can do thing other gods can't, not constrained by rules, creates things either good or bad
   - closely associated with the most profane of lewd profanations (exretement)
   - e.g. winnebago tradition: trickster nearly blown to bits by stomach gas, finally being pushed rapidly toward the sky on ever-increasing pile of his own feces.... ew.


The first example of a trickster that comes to mind is the Joker (from Batman, more specifically The Dark Night's verson):

1. Ambiguous in that his motifs are frequently questioned. Money? Power? This question is eventually (partially) answered by Batman's trusty butler, Alfred, who says "some (villians) just want to see the world burn", or something very similar to this.
2. How is the Joker a deciever and trick player? I think his name should suffice...
3. He appears to maintain the same morbid, clown-esque appearance throughout the film. However, he uses a few costumes. In one scene, he neglects his make-up and is disguised as a police officer. In another, he's dressed as a nurse in Gotham's hospital. I wonder if this turned anyone off of sexy nurse costumes for a while...

4. Situation-inverter is, in my opinion, his specialty. When he trades his duties for Gotham criminals' money, he burns all the money they give him while explaining why money is a negative thing. He focuses on corruption of Gotham's morals, saying to Batman that he's won the "battle for Gotham's soul".
5. I couldn't find why the Joker might be a 'messenger of the gods', but he definately 'plays god'.

6. How is he a bricoleur? Simple: he appears to make his own bombs. There's probably a better example for this sixth characteristic, but I favor this one.