I <3 Tricksters

[elisi]

This afternoon we came across Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (that's the orginal one with Gene Wilder) as we channel hopped, and I was struck by how perfect a Trickster character Willy Wonka is. (I don't have time to delve further, and I'm sure you don't need me to. I mean, just look at this clip!) ETA: OK, couldn't help myself. Had to embed this...

Also, I've been meaning to pull out these parts of Mark's review of LotR (from Chapter 6 of The Two Towers). He might not be analytical, but he is reflective:

It was interesting to me that Théoden harked on a single point: that Gandalf always brought about bad news, bad tidings, or bad luck. Wormtongue, who appears to be some sort of assistant or official counsel to the King of the Mark, makes the same point, though he adds that Gandalf meddles. Even if this is ultimately shown to be an attempt by Wormtongue to thwart Rohan, I still think there’s some truth here. Gandalf really does meddle! He is a brilliant wizard and he’s rarely shown to be wrong, but he appears in people’s lives, changes them, and then leaves. I would actually be happy to see Tolkien address this further myself.
[...]
I was impressed with Gandalf’s decision to allow Wormtongue to live and choose his fate, and it’s something that relates to what I brought up earlier. Gandalf meddles, yes, but he leaves people with a choice. He did this with Bilbo in The Hobbit, and he did it with Frodo at the beginning of the book, and now he gives Wormtongue a choice.

Which in turn reminded me that I wanted to post this:



(I don't know who made it, but isn't it awesome?)

Comments

[lyricwrites.livejournal.com]

Plus: Usually travellers, a love of colourful clothing & hats, an affinity with language & music, plays games, a fool or mad, witty & charming, often magical and - most importantly - not the hero, but the one kickstarting the story, and often the one telling it too. <3

If I recall my anthropology classes correctly, they also have a habit of crossing all sorts of social boundaries. I think my professor mentioned Bugs Bunny as a specific example, crossing gender boundaries (and generally acting even more outrageous on the other side). And to the Doctor, as near as I can tell, there are no class boundaries. If anything, he's more brusque and impatient with kings than he would be with some Cockney Victorian chimney sweep (if only because he'd try to rescue the chimney sweep). (To be fair, Rose was doing most of the sassing in "Tooth and Claw," but I think it might have been because she'd just realized that social boundaries don't exactly apply to companions either, and went a bit giddy over it.) He talks to adults as if they're children and children as if they're adults.

And, of course, in several incarnations, he can be reliably found right inside your personal space.

[elisi]

If I recall my anthropology classes correctly, they also have a habit of crossing all sorts of social boundaries.
Ooooh yes. (He danced with EVERYONE at the wedding...) And, as you say, he values completely different things to 'ordinary society'.

And, of course, in several incarnations, he can be reliably found right inside your personal space.
LOL. Very true. :D Also Tricksters have a skewered relationship to time, often being ageless or similar. (How old is Gandalf?) They're the masters of chaos, and change is their natural habitat. (The Doctor can barely think in the dullness of Leadworth during Amy's Choice.)

Plus, I have a lovely icon from the Christmas Special - just look at the curtain Eleven is standing next to(!) It also has Pandorica shaped things... Anyway, must run!