Trickster's are NOT Uncontrolled!

When we were first asked to analyze the Spike Lee movie Bamboozled and determine who the trickster in the movie is I thought that the manager was it.  After I thought about it for a little bit I came to the conclusion that both the manager and Pierre, the main character, are tricksters.
Pierre is a trickster in the beginning because his intent with the creation of the show was to make something so racist and bad that he'd be fired which was the only way to escape his contract.  He even attempted to guide his boss into hating it and firing him.  As the movie progressed and he started to become proud of his acheivement he started using information and words to control Mantan, actually named Manray, into continuing to work on the show by giving him information with his own spin on it.  He starts out in a positive light as someone trying to escape and turns down a darker path by using his skills to control others.  On Pierre's part the trickster is sort of like a poison which starts out as benign and harmless but turns the infected person into a corrupted shell as it spreads.
The manager, represented as Pierres boss, is a trickster the entire movie.  He uses words to manipulate Pierre's opinions and actions until he eventually completely corrupts and controls Pierre's personality.  It doesn't seem that he wanted Pierre to fall to the metaphysical dark side but more like it was a sort of accident or unintended consequence.  The manager was portrayed as "out of control" he didn't seem able to control his manipulative personality and it was more impulsive than thought out.  He seemed caught up in the moment for lack of a better phrase.
Spike Lee was representing the trickster as a compulsive and uncontrolled individual even as they control the people around them.  I strongly disagree with that assumption and take great insult with it as I am in almost complete control myself.  It was a strong hit to my pride in other words.  If I identify with anyone in that movie however it would be the manager but it would be a very loose connection with very little grounding.

Annotated Bibliography

  I have four points to follow when determining what is and isn't "hip" in my mind. I used these points as a guideline to choosing my peices of literature. The first point in anonymity, the individuals identity is blurred and not clear.  This helps them to blend into the crowd while remaining separate and elavated.  The second point is the "eternal present",  in this point an emphasis is put on time being uncertain and ever changing.  There is knowledge of past and future but they both have almost no meaning.  The third and most important point is the Tricksters.  Tricksters are the "Gods" of the hip world and use societies undercurrents as a sort of conduit.  Situational knowledge is extremely important to a Trickster, how to apply what, to where and at what time?  They use words and information to manipulate as well as the illusion of power or weakness.  My fourth point is the "Love of Thyself", it's exactly what it sounds like, Narcissim plain and simple.  The individual will value themselves over others and balance the "mask" of society and these tendencies.

Ernest Hemingway
"The Killers"

  My first source is Ernest Hemingway's, "The Killers".  This work is about two contract killers who have come to a small town in search of their target.  They seem very well informed and one of them is not very concerned with witnesses.  The peice moves forward with the contract killers giving the target increasing amounts of time to live then they just leave and the work sort of ends without a conclusion.  This source is extremely useful to my first and second points and slightly useful to my third.  It rates very high on the scale with my other sources.  This source contains heavy anonymity throughout as well as an "eternal present".  These two elements work together to loosely influence my third point but not by much.

Ralph Ellison
"Change the Joke and Slip the Yoke"

  My second source is Ralph Ellison's, "Change the Joke and Slip the Yoke".  This work is about the relationship between African-Americans and White Americans and the way "hip" interacts between them to make a Trickster figure.  This source is my highest rated on the importance scale of all my literature.  This source is almost eclusively about the Trickster and makes references throughout.

Walt Whitman
"Song of Myself"

  My third source is Walt Whitman's, "Song of Myself".  This peice of literature is mostly about valueing yourself as an individual with strong references to anonymity.  This is one of my lowest rated sources just above my fourth source.  I will use this source to show the interaction of narcissism and the Trickster.

Rush
"Limelight"

My fourth source is a song played by Rush called, "Limelight".  This song is only about anonymity and it will be used to clarify that point.  It is the least useful of my sources and I don't expect to use it very much.

I am a Trickster

I spent a little bit of time trying to think of a simple subject to represent as a trickster.  After a while I ended up with someone closer than I had expected.  As I looked back though my life I realized that I was a trickster.  I have been powerless basically my entire life.  Throughout my childhood I was picked on and my parents did not allow freedom.  Within this time period, around the age of 7, I think I first started showing signs of being a trickster.  I hace been using words to get out of fights ever since that time or using them to intice people to follow and protect me.  A couple of times I'd get out of fights by causing chaos with the bully's group until they started fighting each other instead of picking on me.  I've also used false information to get out of difficult situations several times.  False information is not always the smartest option so being a trickster requires the use of one's brain.  Often truthful information with a spin on it is more effective than a lie.  Humor is extremely effective towards protecting oneself.  Often a well placed remark can diffuse a volitile situation easily and quickly.  Humor can also be used to increase aggression from and towards others.  Sarcasm and Irony are especially useful towards that end.  I did everything thoughout my life to protect myself, whether or not it is wrong is up for debate.
I have chosen three subjects for being some of the most popular modern tricksters.  They are Conan O' Brian, Jay Leno and Colbert from the Colbert Report.  They are all political comedians and make fun of political figures in relevant ways.  All three of these individuals create chaos, through humor, to inform the viewers of current events.  These comedians try to approach topics from different angles and benefit the viewer by linking original thought to humor.

Hip, A Recap

As has been stated in several of my previous blogs, I do not like the concept of hip very much and am extremely resistant towards it.  As my class has progressed my opinion has had very little change.  However, I will now admit that some of the "hip" things we talk about in class aren't horrible manifestations of evil.  That being said I still have an extremely poor opinion of "hip" as a whole and with no indications of that changing significantly I am confident with my negative stance.

Aesthetic of Imperfection

Imperfection is an inevitability, especially for young artists, musicians and poets just out of school.  In order to compensate for the possibility of failure they changed the connotative meaning of imperfection to be a positive thing.  Since living in the present tense is an integral part of "hip" this idea was integrated into the "hip" design.  The way that the "eternal present" influences the aesthetic of imperfection in that imperfection is literally only a present tense idea.  Perfection exists in past tense in that it is something to idealize or strive for but not something that is neccessarily obtained.
If you make a peice of art (music, painting, etc.) that is nearly perfect then the imperfection stands out all that much more.  If, however, the art is full of potential imperfection then, depending on the way the imperfections are used, it may work in it's own favor.  Because of the communist scare with the Russian and Nazi perfectionism, the idea of imperfection being a good thing is expected to spread very quickly.  In this time period the whole "Our way or the Highway" mentalism was highly accepted by the general populace which made imperfection all the more desirable by the "hip" community.
Modern art is a bunch of crock in my opinion due to the fact that it is too imperfect.  For instance the sensation that has taken over the music industry, Rap.  Rap is imperfect in that the lyrics are unintelligible, the beat is offsetting and the words are offensive.  I have also read several modern peices of literature and have an extremely poor opinion of it.  Literature these days is too childish to appeal to the layman, the average Joe.  As a whole I think the quality of any type of art has gone down considerably.