Mythical Archetype: the Trickster and Pirates of the Caribbean
Mythic archetypes are not something people usually stop to think about and relate to while watching a movie, but when I was assigned to write this assignment and finally figured out what a mythic archetype was and did some research on some of the examples I was given I found one that I could easily point out in a movie, the Trickster. The movie I found that had a thematic significance connecting with the trickster was Pirates of the Caribbean, and the trickster being one of the main characters, Jack Sparrow. The mythic archetype, the trickster is known to break the rules of the gods or nature, sometimes maliciously but usually with ultimately positive effects; though the trickster's initial intentions may have been either positive or negative. Usually, tricksters can be sly or foolish or both; they are often funny even when considered sacred or performing important cultural tasks. All of these attributes can be seen in the character, Jack Sparrow. In the trilogy, Pirates of the Caribbean a young boy, Will Turner teams up with one of the most notoriously failed pirates, Captain Jack Sparrow, to find the love of his life, Elizabeth turner. Throughout the movie there are many parts where Jack Sparrow can be connected to The Trickster, by conning many people into thinking things to get what he wants. One example of Jack Sparrow embodying the mythic archetype is when he lies to Will Turner, making him believe that he is the captain of one of the most notorious ships on the sea, when in reality he was marooned on an island by his crew, however he tricked the young boy into letting him out of his jail cell, and in return he would help him find the love of his life. As I was researching more information on Captain Jack Sparrow and his trickster-like ways, I found that the character was indeed portrayed to be the mythic archetype, the trickster. According to screenwriters Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, “There's a certain moral ambiguity to the pirate genre which