Literature, Culture, and Media Are Part of Human Lives - Essay Sample

Literature, culture, and media are part of human lives, is dated back to the time of memorial and has evolved in different ways. The three genres have been depicted in different ways to bring different meanings to society; however, the way we understand them at times is different. The different perspectives and understanding that society understands literary art tend to bring different meanings and effects to society. Trickster is one of the famous mythical forms of art that ever existed and has been depicted in different arts. All the different ways in which the trickster myths have been presented to society through different media have shown different meaning and impact on society (Erodeas,Np). From the native tales in different cultures to the latest movies in the media, trickster, however, have had similar message and theme all along, many have agreed to the message and how it has been presented, but there is nevertheless different opinions. Some understand it differently and therefore the society has had a mixture of impacts ending up having a conflicting one. Trickster tales for instance have portrayed characters that trick others and win in all the scenarios (Grace, Np). It is logically impossible to have one party winning all the time as shown in almost all the trickster tales. The undisputed winning streak by the tricksters brings a believer in the society that winning and prosperity is entitled to a certain person or a group of people. That is why in today's society there is the marginalization of people according to race, level of education, social standards religious beliefs, and many other different backgrounds.

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Joker on the other hand is a mythical character that breaks the law at all times and is never brought into account. There has always been a character in literature, culture, or media that breaks the law and gets always with it no matter what. Again just like in trickster tales brings effects to the society about the law in a negative way (Saktiningrum, Pp198-206). That is why there is a saying that the law is being made because it has to be broken. It brings the argument that if no one could break the law there could there be no reason to make it anyway. In the movies from the media, the joker shows its supremacy by doing the extraordinary thongs with extraordinary things even in most cases having power over death. Literally; it is not possible in the real world. However, imaginations seek to find the truth. The joker character, therefore, has made people have superstitious minds and live in a world of fantasy that some people or they themselves have an extraordinary power to defy laws and succeed in whatever they want to do and getting away within easily(Lukac,Np). That should not be the case; there should be a place where there is a consensus between the possible and the impossible. Without a consensus, I have learned that we will have a society with people who will try to possess the characters of the joker in an attempt to rise to supremacy without considering the damages and consequences that their attempts will bring.

In comparison, the literature, culture, and media have one theme in common but presented in different ways as well as understood differently the different ways that are presented to us may change the perspective depending on the intensity and how close their is to the society but will always have similar effects to the society. The different ways that the character and character traits of trickster and joker are released to the society have related to one another. The movies have to be scripted first in form of literature stories before being cast and formed into a movie. It only that there a difference in intensity that the different art portrays the character and their character traits. There is the general understanding by the society, and that is the understanding that will carry the most impact to the society, the few who understand it differently brings controversy and point of argument about the different things that the tales brings. Both characters in arts like literature, culture, and media have one thing in common, they bring out the thinking of society and display through art. They bring an idea into a form, the presence of such ideas reflect the nature of the society and their perception. The problem is the monopoly in which the perception and understanding as shown in joker and trickster characters. There are only one theme and dominance of singular characters in the arts. There have been attempts to break the monopoly of such characters but the effects that the initial perception was so deep that the society could no longer accept a different trait from a known character. The winning character can never lose and a losing character can never win, that is the perspective that has been inculcated in the art that is very difficult to change so as the effects that they bring.

The most important thing and what I have learned through the characters and values of trickster characters is the need to have a balance in the way the genres are showcased to the public. In many cases for instance in the African American origin and the Ancient American tales, the characters of the trickster are described as cunning. The African American ancient tales have different characters as cunning and an example is a rabbit. The rabbit is always the winner in all trickster tales from the ancient African tales (Gasparovicova,Np). Despite its small body, and vulnerability as prey to many animals in the jungle including human beings, it has been characterized as clever and witty with always the ability to get out of traps set. The presentation of the trickster rabbit character brings domination to what the stories relate to the culture and society, every time you see a rabbit in a tale or anything is associated with the rabbit, you know he has to win. When there is an identification of one who has to win brings a notion of toxic dominance in the society that is why there is the dominance of some people in society and their opinions. I have realized through the tales and trickster characters it leads to perception to the society that causes the profiling of some people. In society people of high social class are treated differently from those in the lower or middle class. I have also learned the significance of having a balance between the character in literature, culture, and media. Although the trickster characters are of a different kind, the traits are similar, it would have been better to for the characters to sometimes loose in their endeavors to show an example of some balance in the society.

Work Cited

Erdoes, Richard. American Indian Trickster Tales. Penguin Books, 2014.

Gašparovicová, Mgr Alena. "Gender in Trickster Tales."Grace, Daphne. "Deceptive entertainments: Transnational tricksters and the theatrical journey to self-knowledge." Consciousness, Literature & the Arts 19 (2018).

Lukác, Tomáš. "Deadpool–Anti-Hero, Trickster? Both, Neither?."

Saktiningrum, Nur. "Framing a Trickster Character in Two Different Media and Eras: A Study on Br'er Rabbit in Uncle Remus' Stories and Disney's Song of the South." Jurnal Humaniora 29.2 (2017): 198-206.