THE TRICKSTER AND THE SYSTEM
For centuries, the trickster has been used in various narratives, including mythological, literary and cinematic, to convey the idea of agency, rebellion and, often turbulent, progress. In The Trickster and the System: Identity and agency in contemporary society, Helena Bassil-Morozow shows how the trickster can be seen as a metaphor to describe the psycho-anthropological concept of change, an impulse that challenges the existing order of things, a progressive force that is a-structural and anti-structural in its nature. The book is about being able to see things from an unusual, even odd, perspective, which does not coincide with the homogeneous normality of the mass, or the social system, or a political ideology, or some other kind of authority.
The Trickster and the System offers an analytical paradigm that can be used to examine relationships between tricksters and systems, change and stability, in a wide range of social, political and cultural contexts. It covers a range of systems, describes different types of tricksters and discusses possible conflicts, tensions and dialogues between the two opposing sides. One of the central ideas of the book is that social systems use shame as a tool to control and manage all kinds of tricksters individuality, agency, creativity, spontaneity, innovation and initiative, to name but a few. The author argues that any society that neglects its tricksters (agents of change), ends up suffering from decay, stagnation or even mass hysterical outbursts.
The Trickster and the System provides a fresh perspective on the trickster figure in a variety of cultural contexts. It covers a range of psychological, cultural, social and political phenomena, from personal issues to the highest level of societys functioning: self-esteem and shame, lifestyle and relationships, creativity and selt expression, media, advertising, economy, political ideology and, most importantly, human identity and authenticity. The book is essential reading for scholars in the areas of psychoanalysis, analytical psychology, myth, cultural and media studies, narrative analysis, cultural anthropology, as well as anyone interested in critical issues in contemporary culture.
Helena Bassil-Morozow is a cultural philosopher, film scholar and academic writer whose many publications include Tim Burton: The monster and the crowd (Routledge, 2010) and The Trickster in Contemporary Film (Routledge, 2011). Helena is currently working on another Routledge project, Jungian Film Studies: The essential guide (co-authored with Luke Hockley). Her principal academic affiliation is to the University of Bedfordshire, Faculty of Creative Arts, Technologies & Science.
THE TRICKSTER AND THE SYSTEM
Identity and agency in contemporary society
Helena Bassil-Morozow
First published 2015
by Routledge
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2015 Helena Bassil-Morozow
The right of Helena Bassil-Morozow to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Bassil-Morozow, Helena Victor, 1978
The trickster and the system: identity and agency in contemporary society/
Helena Bassil-Morozow.
pages cm
1. Social change. 2. Social evolution. 3. Tricksters. 4. Stigma (Social
psychology) 5. Progress. I. Title.
HM831.B373 2014
303.4dc23
2014015470
ISBN: 978-0-415-50793-6 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-415-50794-3 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-75810-7 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
by Swales & Willis Ltd, Exeter, Devon, UK
For Professor Andrew Samuels, with deepest gratitude for his support and guidance
CONTENTS
I would like to thank Routledge, and particularly my editor Kate Hawes, for her patience and understanding, and for her continued help and support.
I am grateful to the Centre for Applied Jungian Studies and Stephen Anthony Farah for providing me with occasional inspiration (mostly in the form of quotes), and to my friend, the documentary director and author Agnieszka Piotrowska, for reminding me about the importance of the female trickster.
I am also greatly indebted to my teachers, Professors Avril Horner and Irina Kabanova. Finally, I would like to thank Alexey for providing me with inspiration, criticism and feedback, and the Russian photographer Ruslan Nugraliev for allowing me to use his artwork to illustrate my concepts.
Permissions
I am very grateful to Routledge/Taylor & Francis for the permission to quote from The Collected Works of C.G. Jung (hereafter CW), edited by Sir Herbert Read, Dr Michael Fordham and Dr Gerhardt Adler, and translated by R.E.C. Hull, London.
A healthy and progressive society requires both central control and individual and group initiative: without control there is anarchy, and without initiative there is stagnation.
(Bertrand Russell, Authority and the Individual)
This book is about similarity and difference. It is about being different and being able to see things from an unusual, even odd, perspective, which does not coincide with the homogeneous normality of the mass, or the social system, or a political ideology, or some other kind of authority.
This book is also about systems and tricksters in different political and social contexts. It covers a range of systems, describes different types of tricksters and discusses possible conflicts, tensions and dialogues between the two opposing sides. It closely examines the miracle that is human identity, which is forever stuck between the systemic and the personal, between the individual and the social, between difference and similarity, between being unique and being one of the many like everyone else, normal. Human identity, to use the British anthropologist Victor Turners expression, is forced to exist betwixt and between the two opposites, and is therefore a volatile and fragile concept. It is a liminal concept. As such, it falls under the jurisdiction of the trickster.
My interest in tricksters began very early at the nursery. The Soviet nursery, I can tell you, was a rather weird place where toddlers were expected to sing communist songs with piano accompaniment, make identical cows out of plasticine manufactured by the Soviet industry in a limited range of dull colours, and recite patriotic poems at state holiday celebrations. Children grew up with the idea that spontaneity was an undesirable quality, and that anyone expressing it would be punished. At the age of four we already knew that it was dangerous to be different, or to explore the world in ways that were not officially approved. The ruling ideology despised and repressed the concept of choice. Variety was a despicable trickster that smacked of Western consumerism, and could spoil the pure minds of young Soviet citizens.
