Modern Day Tricksters

Dane Armstrong

February 6, 2008

En 209-018

Modern Day Tricksters

Since as far back as time was recorded there have been tales of people and mythological creatures playing "tricks" on others. These include stories of Manabozho and Wakdjunkaga, but today many of these tricksters are seen as characters in cartoons and movies. Some of the most famous are Bugs Bunny, The Mask, Ace Ventura, Wile E. Coyote, and Captain Jack Sparrow.

Bugs Bunny is the most famous of all tricksters still in popularity today. Almost all of his stories he is being chased by the notorious Elmer Fudd. Instead of Bugs always running from his pursuer, he likes to play tricks on him to keep himself from getting caught. Bugs is very resourceful when it comes to trying to escape. He made the quote "Ehh, what's up doc?" famous. His trickery has made himself possibly the most popular cartoon of all time. Why is Bugs so popular in society? It is because he always wins. Each and every show he outsmarts his competition and tricks them into failure.

Another famous trickster cartoon is the clumsy Wile E. Coyote. Wile E. Coyote, although a cartoon like Bugs Bunny, is a much different trickster. Wile E. spends his entire day, every day trying to catch the infamous Roadrunner. His trickery is in the use of gadgets and traps to try and catch the roadrunner. Wile E. may be a trickster, but his tricks never work, usually only slightly missing the Roadrunner. They almost always backfire and end up hurting himself, allowing his prey to safely escape.

Ace Ventura is a favorite American comedy about a young man's love for animals cause him to try and act like a detective to solve animal related crimes. He constantly disguises himself as someone else throughout both of his movies to try and solve the crimes. In the first major scene of the first movie he swaps a stolen puppy with an identical stuffed puppy. This begins the entire trickery of the movies. He tricks doctors of an insane asylum, by acting like an insane human. All of his tricks turn out to be