A blast of fresh mischief…
Nancy Hervey
I’ll try and link this back to air-conditioning, but I might fail. Perhaps that’s already a link, as trying and failing (to make it work, to agree with flatmates or colleagues on what temperature to set it) seems to be an intrinsic part of the air conditioning process. If so, fantastic, read no more. If not, bear with me whilst I take the title as metaphor and make a leap into a separate and only possibly relevant space.
This separate space is Mischief. I’ve been thinking about it a lot recently, and tentatively (as anyone who tends to play by the book does) thinking of its values. Mischief is a vital thing, a momentary act contained in the present - the savvy quip in an earnest conversation, the wry twist of an April Fools’. Yet it also has a deep, ancient quality, rumbling across a breadth of international folklore, skipping and stretching between narratives of mythology, sociology and religion, a “Trickster Teacher” figure that winks its way from Greek gods to Native American spirits.
Unusually for a god-like entity, in its traditional stories, it is rarely wielded by those at the top of system or structure. Instead, the mischief-maker tests the limits (and complacency) of those with greater powers. In many tales, Mischief plays a merry visit to those who exert, or wish to exert, control. In West African and Carribean folklore, the tiny trickster spider god Anansi outwits the Sky God Nyame, using mischievous cunning to take all the stories of the world from Nyame’s grasp. In Norse mythology, when Thor’s hammer is stolen by Þrymr, Loki the God of Mischief is called upon to assist. Loki helps to trick Þrymr into believing he has married the bride he demanded – when in fact Thor is beneath the veil, and swiftly takes his divine hammer back.
It is owned best by those slightly to the side, who can use it for empowerment – leaving everything from light-footed disorder to a fixable chaos in its wake. We laugh at its easy, everyday ridicule but also at its truth.
Pieter Brueghel II, A Village Festival in honour of St. Hubert and St. Anthony, 1627
It is there throughout the ages in the books, in paintings, in films, theater, TV and songs. From Brueghel's feasting revelry to Rupaul's Drag Race, mischief gets the last, sharpest, smartest laugh poking fun at the madness of our selves & our lives. Beyond artistic contexts, it is built into the wit and humor of protest signs, trading in the golden balance of telling us what is needed, but making us chuckle as it does so. Mischief is there in meme culture, it is there in satire, all platforms that on the surface can be passed off as entertaintment but often land on something deeper- a fact we cannot ignore.
These examples reveal the fundamental combination within mischief- the spirited tipping its cap to the serious. Alongside this combination, it can also be a creative force. Like carnival, it turns over the status quo and gives us something new- offering, for a minute, an hour, a day, a different order of things. When we see this different order, our own routine beliefs and behaviors are called into question and if right, we can feel free to swiftly or slowly abandon what is no longer useful to others or ourselves.
Aside from gods and animals (the monkey, the coyote, the crane), it is associated with children. A simple Google search into definitions of mischief, offers ‘Playfulness that is intended to tease or create trouble’ and posits an example ‘her eyes twinkled with irrepressible mischief’. It strikes me as a good summary of mischief itself. Yes she is planning a little havoc, but her eyes are twinkling as she does so.
In that twinkling of an eye and the definition offered lies a core ingredient that is separate yet close by to the heart of mischief itself. Playfulness. Like mischief it apparently dances on the surface of our lives, superfluous to the depths of sadness, love and hard graft that make us who we are. But perhaps it runs deeper, a single colorful thread woven through each hefty bolts of experience which can weigh us down.
It is truly the fool who misunderstands the human need to seek emotional solace by laughing through the dark. Perhaps equally blind are those baffled by the use of comedy to cope with inexpressible experiences of grief.
After all, it's the simple activities, jokes and interactions of play that can keep us afloat when we risk being most stifled by our sorrow. And whilst it is often mentioned that love can set us free, part of this freedom is the ability, when we are in love to play with care again. released for some time by the buffeting and exhaustion of life when it hits.The irony that those who have experienced the most hardship sometimes laugh the longest. They know the precious defense of mirth against grief.
This dance of playfulness, speaks to mischief's place in the adult world. For mischief to remain creative and positive (or even palatable) when we are older, it must ensure its ingenuity is empathetic. It might tip over the pot but it must not truly scold those who stand nearby.
In an adult sphere mischief is a privilege gifted by intimacy, by closeness and trust. It is the gentle toss and chaff between couples, toying at the pride, foibles and self-seriousness of the other in small, everyday interactions. There are caveats here – without the trust, mischief in intimacy can be cruel and callous – hitting where it hurts, turning play into humiliation. Critically, if mischief's expression is a mercurial behaviour, the intentions must be firm, and a baseline of good intent must be known.
The balance, and position of the agent, are important. When Mischief is used by those with real power, both in the micro and macro contexts – from family dynamics to political and legal contexts – it can morph into a darker cousin, destructive and oppressive. Mischief must know its limits, the spaces where one must not laugh and one cannot mock. We are all too brittle and life too precarious to sustain it otherwise.
But with trust, with care, it is refreshment. A blast of cool water, cool air if you like, gently unlocking the stickler processes and ritual patterns in which we all encrust ourselves.
What am I getting at here? It’s about a pressure release. It takes off the heat, resetting the way that we look at things. Air conditioning is a modern invention that speaks to a fundamental need to regulate the body temperature – for physical health and mental wellbeing. Perhaps mischief, dealt out with measure, consideration and a robust warm-hearted empathy, can in some ways do the same.