In the 1960’s, the Pink Panther started out as a live action title sequence for movies. A title sequence is a short cartoon before the movie. In the first short film Pink Panther harasses a little white man that’s painting a house blue. Pink Panther wants the house to be pink. Pink Panther plays many tricks on the little white guy and in the end everything including the grass and trees are the color pink. This short cartoon won the 1964 Academy Award for Animated Short Film. Many cartoons soon followed with Pink Panther coming up with wild ideas, chaos and tricks to get his way. A trickster knows no shame because he doesn’t distinguish between right and wrong. Tricksters have a thirsty drive for pleasure.
Pink Panther acts like his shenanigans are no big deal and he continues until he wins or gets hurt. Pink as a deceiver and trick player, seems to be a blockhead. His actions are odd. He tries to trick the other characters usually to help but sometimes it’s to get back at them by continuing to play the tricks until he succeeds in blowing himself up or losing the game. He decides the house should be pink so he follows the little white guy around, right after the white guy painted it blue, then Pink would come back and paint it pink again. The whole cartoon is Pink Panther doing everything he can think of to keep the house pink. This went on until Pink hid all the blue paint so the white guy couldn’t paint anymore. The white guy then buries all the pink paint. In the end the pink paint grows from the ground pink grass, pink trees. Pink Panther is so happy that he hugs the little white guy.
Pink Panther is also a Situation-Invertor. In all his mischief, Pink turns bad situation into good. He decides he want to be a super hero. He steals pink long underwear, and a sheet from a clothes line. He sees a little old lady being held up by a robber. He grabs the lady and puts her out of site. Then he tries to take care of the robber. He tries taking the robber’s gun away but the robber is much stronger. In the end the robber shoots Pink in the head and his heads is fried black. Pink seems to be a lot like Prometheus in that he wants to help the human little old lady. Even though Pink didn’t turn the situation around to benefit him because he ended up getting hurt. Pink wasn’t as lucky at Prometheus.
As an ambiguous and anomalous, Pink Panther tries to protect himself from a bully from space. In the cartoon “Star Pink” Pink Panther owns a gas station for space ships. The cartoon shows Pink filling a tank and washing the windows of a space ship then it flies away. The next space ship that comes along is a reckless one that comes flying in way to fast. Pink sees it coming and decides to close his gas station. The space guy, which happens to be the white guy but green in color this time, gets mad and tries to open the gas station. The green guy finds Pink hiding behind a rock with a key to the station in his hand. The green guy sends a robot out to get the key. Pink plays tricks on them by undoing his jet pack, leading the robot to an area where he drops in a hole and turns the green guy into a flower with a molecular transmitter. When a bee gets in the transmitter with Pink, Pink comes out half bee. So, he flies around chasing the green guy shaped like a flower. Pink is on the edge of getting beat up by the space bully so he plays tricks to keep the bully at bay and in the end the bully runs away. Loki had a similar situation in that he lured the giant away from the wall and saved the woman just like Pink lured the green space man away from his gas station.
Pink causes hate and discontent for the little white guy in some of the cartoons. But in others he tries to help the humans by doing good deeds that always end badly. Pink’s drive is for happiness but his aim to be right gets him to trick all sorts of people in the cartoon. Pink doesn’t seem to be bothers by the tricks he plays and how they may affect the other characters. Pink just wants to get his way.
Hum 115: World Mythology 
I like your choice as the Pink Panther as your trickster! He’s a great choice for this essay! I think that you should maybe go a little more in depth on the similarities with the pink panther and prometheus. I dont think that you have to summarize the cartoons as much as you did. Maybe a quick sentence or two on each one about the main plot of them. I really liked your essay and I think that you have great ideas! You picked a great character for this assignment. Good luck!
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