Tricksters are seen all throughout different types of stories- from Greek mythology to fairy tales to young adult novels. It is a common character trope because it serves both moral purposes and makes fantastic villains. However, the trickster trope can also be used to identify real life people. They can even be used to identify politicians, especially since politicians are often seen as real-life tricksters. Gavin Newsom, California’s governor, is the politician of focus for this paper. Because he uses shapeshifting[1], disguise, and false motivations, I argue that the portrayal of the wolf in the Brothers Grimm telling of Little Red Cap informs us about Democratic politicians; specifically, Gavin Newsom’s healthcare policies in response to the COVID-19 pandemic reveals a harmful neoliberal agenda. This is significant because the governor’s job is supposed to have the people’s best interest in mind, yet he let so many people die and lose their jobs in order to save his reelection and his donors. Little Red and the wolf helping to define political tricksters is helpful to understand pro-corporate agendas and how the most charismatic people can be the most harmful.
Tricksters are characters that rely on deceit and manipulation in order to advance their personal agenda. They are intelligent, cunning, and power-hungry. The wolf in Little Red Riding Hood is also classified as a trickster. Like Coyote[2], he is a shapeshifter. Not in the same way Coyote is a shapeshifter[3], but the Wolf has the ability to shift into the Grandmother in order to trick Little Red; he changed himself and his characteristics to the best of his ability in order to look like Little Red’s grandmother. A trickster is also defined by their cunningness[4]; the wolf knows exactly what to say that will get Little Red to disobey her direct orders to deviate from the path. This idea of shapeshifting is common amongst trickster characters, and ultimately is what defines both Gavin Newsom and the Wolf.
While it is true that Newsom does not dress up as a little girl’s grandmother, he does disguise himself as the “perfect” politician in order to encourage Californians to support him. He has the seemingly perfect family, his relative is the speaker of the Senate[5], and his family members are very rarely the subject of tabloids and are all in very high-ranking schools and universities. Newsom himself is the only one in his immediate family ever involved in major controversy. He has crafted a perfect family so that when the focus is on him, it is only ever on his policies and never on his personal life. Except, that intention is not always realized. He is often in scrutinized for his personal choices, especially his choices during the pandemic. He closed in-person dining but that same day he goes out to eat at an exclusive Napa Valley restaurant. He presents himself in such a way that allows for people to trust him, but he does what he pleases. He crafts a disguise of the “perfect” politician yet does things that directly contradicts this image. His crafted image reflects the wolf’s crafted image for his audience, which is Little Red in this case[6]. In Newsom’s case, this image is of a liberal politician, while the Wolf’s aim is to make a small girl trust him, which is not too far off from the Governor’s tactic. The Wolf acts very similarly in this shape shifting ability to get what he wants. They both act as tricksters in their ability to create an image that the general population takes as the universal truth, when in reality they are crafting an image that best suits their personal motivations.
Gavin Newsom’s response to COVID may not seem all that bad, but in reality, it was mismanaged because of his pro-corporate and neoliberal agenda. At the beginning of the pandemic, he created a stay-at-home order and a mask mandate in all public spaces. This was how many liberal governors reacted to the pandemic because this was the recommended course of action from the CDC and the Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the chief medical advisor to the president. At the start, when everyone assumed the pandemic would not last more than a month, most government officials were on board. However, once it became clear that the pandemic was not ending any time soon, states were getting pressure to lift the stay-at-home order, even though the health risk was so high. When the government closed non-essential businesses, Republicans wanted their lives to return to normal, even though the hospitals were still using operating rooms as ICUs. Back in June, when there was no vaccine and cases in larger cities like Los Angeles were rising, Newsom announced a plan to start opening the state again. He did this in hopes of his recall petition to be revoked. This, in fact, did the opposite. Because the stay-at-home order was being lifted, COVID cases in almost every county skyrocketed. Once again, hospitals were overrun like they were during the beginning of the pandemic and thousands of people were dying every day. This led Democrat and liberal leaning Californians to see how mismanaged the government and where Newsom’s true priorities are at, which led the Democrats to join Republicans in the recall petition. He wanted to keep his corporate investors, but he also wanted to make sure he kept his job. Both Newsom and the Wolf use false motivations to get what they want out of people. In order to better manipulate people, they create false images and false promises. This is a cornerstone of politics in general and is also employed by the Wolf when he sends Little Red for flowers. This ability to use false narratives to manipulate people and how they view you is a trait shared by both the Wolf and California’s governor.
Neoliberalism is the capitalist agenda created by democrats and disguised as liberal, progressive policies. Neoliberalism is disguised as a utopian society if the free market, but in actuality politicians are putting corporate interests above the people’s interest. Neoliberalism is nothing more than a radicalized form of capitalist imperialism[7]. It is how politicians keep capitalism alive during social movements, especially movements towards equality. Neoliberal Democrats condemn Republicans for “only focusing on the economy” or “caring only about the bottom line” even when they are focusing on those exact same things. Democrats just hide their pro-corporate agenda and use marginalized communities while they are doing so. Gavin Newsom is considered a neoliberal because of his money motivated decision-making. Everything he does is for political gain and to better his image. For example, (this is pre-COVID) he announced that he is giving millions of dollars to help the houselessness in major cities, mainly San Francisco and Los Angeles. However, the mayors of each city were not given the money he announced and could not implement any of the programs he set. Houselessness is a hot topic in California, especially in major cities, so him talking about giving money and plans to solve this issue is a huge deal. This boosted his approval by a lot. But, by the time people realized that all of these promises were empty people did not even realize; people did not care all that much. People have a very low opinion of politicians anyways, so by Gavin not fulfilling his promises no one was all that surprised. Announcing to help the top issue in the state is a major political gain and was a planned tactic to help boost his image. The better his approval, the more money and political backers and sponsors he receives. This similar situation happened with his COVID policies as well. Even when people were dying, and hospital workers were overrun, and yet in June and July of 2020 he was beginning to lift the stay-at-home ban. Even though the CDC did not recommend it, he did it anyways because there was a recall for his position. This recall was his motivator, not the loss of life and loss of jobs. Like the wolf, he is acting as if he has other’s best interest in mind[8], but it is all a show for their own gain. Like the wolf knowing he is eating people, Newsom knows what he is doing will ultimately hurt people. But neither Gavin nor the Wolf care because they end up better in the end. For them, the only thing that matters are that they are better off in the end, even at the cost of the greater good. They are not unconscious to the harm they are causing, but it is worth it to them because they are ultimately doing better.
Comparing any politician to a fictional villain may seem like an outlandish claim, but using tricksters as a trope to categorize politicians, especially in terms of neoliberals works int his case. The act of masking one’s true motives in order manipulate is large group of people is what both politicians and tricksters do. Newsom’s personally motivated response to the pandemic mimics the actions of the Wolf in their ability to manipulate and shift their perceived perceptions.
Works Cited
Duggan, Lisa; “Neoliberalism.” NYU Press, 2014, pp. 181–183. JSTOR, www.jstor.org.electra.lmu.edu/stable/j.ctt1287j69.50. Accessed 2 May 2021.
Grimm, Wilhelm, and Jacob Grimm. “Little Red Cap: Brothers Grimm.” The Classic Fairy Tales: Texts, Criticism, edited by Maria Tatar, W.W. Norton Et Company, 2017, pp. 18–20.
Hyde, Lewis. “Slipping the Trap of Appetite: The Bait Thief .” The Classic Fairy Tales: Texts, Criticism, edited by Maria Tatar, W.W. Norton Et Company, 2017, pp. 456–459.
Shannon, Chelsea. “A Timeline of California in the Coronavirus Pandemic.” abc10.Com, 12 Mar. 2021, www.abc10.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/covid-19-timeline-pandemic/103-03046184-ed02-498b-b6d0-795a60646c6b.
[1] Shape shifting in the sense of changing an image on the spot, not the magical ability to physically change one’s appearance. This is a metaphorical shape shift.
[2] Coyote is the Navajo trickster god and is most known for the ability to shapeshift.
[3] Hyde gives an example of a story with Coyote on page 457. Hyde, Lewis. “Slipping the Trap of Appetite: The Bait Thief .” The Classic Fairy Tales: Texts, Criticism, edited by Maria Tatar, W.W. Norton Et Company, 2017, pp. 456–459.
[4] Hyde, Lewis. “Slipping the Trap of Appetite: The Bait Thief .” The Classic Fairy Tales: Texts, Criticism, edited by Maria Tatar, W.W. Norton Et Company, 2017, pp. 456–459.
[5] His relative is Speaker of the Senate, Nancy Pelosi.
[6] “The wolf thought to himself, ‘That tender young thing will make a dainty morsel. She’ll be even tastier than the old woman. If you’re really crafty, you’ll get them both’.” (19 Grimm). Here, “both” is in reference to Little Red and the Grandmother.
[7] Duggan, Lisa; “Neoliberalism.” NYU Press, 2014, pp. 181–183. JSTOR, www.jstor.org.electra.lmu.edu/stable/j.ctt1287j69.50. Accessed 2 May 2021.
[8] “He walked for a while beside Little Red Cap. Then he said: ‘Little Red Cap, have you seen the beautiful flowers all about? I don’t think you’ve even noticed how sweetly the birds are singing. You are walking along as if you were on the way to school, and yet it’s so heavenly out here on the woods’” (19 Grimm).
