The Trickster and the System: Identity and Agency in Contemporary Society by Helena Bassil-Morozow

Author:Helena Bassil-Morozow [Bassil-Morozow, Helena]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Psychology, Sociology, History & Theory, Psychoanalysis, Media Studies, Social Science, Movements, Political Science, Mental Health, Anthropology, Cultural & Social, Jungian, General
ISBN: 9781317635178
Google: Zo6bBAAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 28024575
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2014-09-25T00:00:00+00:00

Seen in this light, the social trickster-comedian performs a dual task: he drags everything that is embarrassing, shameful, unpleasant or simply too painful to think about, from under the mask and onto the social surface. He exposes shame and displays it for everyone to see. During the process of this extreme de-shaming, he aims to damage the mask and deflate the structures that guard propriety and define behavioural norms. Being indiscriminate, he often damages the structures that should be left intact, and exposes contents that should not be exposed. However, being a trickster, he lacks respect for the sacred, and refuses to see the difference between the acceptable and the unacceptable.

Boyle explains in the introduction to Work! Consume! Die! that his art, as he sees it, consists of disturbing people and making them angry: ‘I sincerely hope that you will be disappointed by this book. To disappoint, anger and dismay has always been my ideal’ (2011: 1). Like his mythological colleagues, the contemporary social trickster refuses to understand the notion of taboo, thus aiming at the very heart of the concept of ‘the perfect order’. The aim of such a trickster is not to destroy the structure – but to challenge it, to push it into the liminal zone, to make it question itself. The damage to his reputation (like the mythological tricksters’ body parts falling off) is a normal aspect of the process. And if the social trickster’s actions eventually result in the breach of the system’s narcissistic armour, he has reached his oxymoronic purpose – which is ‘to enlighten’ humans out of their blind acceptance of the mesmerising structural element of civilisation. Largest structures tend to have the darkest corners, dirtiest secrets and cruellest intentions – which is perfect for any abuser laden with shame and burdened with inferiority complex. Only a genuine trickster, who does not see systems and organisations as eternal gods, can expose narcissistic intensions.

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