The Pied Piper, Cat in the Hat, & Frosty the Snowman are all ___ figures

December 22, 2016 2:24 AM

Is there a more specific literary description for the kind of trickster who arrives abruptly, seems fun and magical at first, quickly upends the social order in a malevolent, often horrifying way, and then disappears again, just as abruptly?

I might just be conflating a few different descriptions of a trickster with other literary elements or something, but I'm plagued (ha.) by the idea that there's a more specific category for this kind of visiting magical evil. They aren't the kind of tricksters who steal from the gods to help humanity, trick everyone indiscriminately or trick only bad people, use tricks to reveal the absurdity of some social convention, or engage in a long-running battle of wits with a conservative opponent.

I tried to mostly-jokingly describe Frosty the Snowman using the construction "a ____ figure" the other day, but I couldn't come up with the blank and now I'm annoyed and all Google has revealed is that the internet does not agree with me that those three characters are in the same category, even though they OBVIOUSLY G-D ARE. Things I have tried for the blank: trickster, satanic, dionysian, chaotic.

pls halp

posted by Snarl Furillo to Media & Arts (21 answers total)

I'm not sure these TV Tropes definitions exactly fit but might be helpful in finding further examples:
Screwy Squirrel
Blue And Orange Morality
Great Gazoo
posted by EndsOfInvention at 2:33 AM on December 22, 2016 [1 favorite]

At first I thought this was a question about Trump, but anyway, maybe this helps:

Hynes and Doty, in Mythical Trickster Figures (1997) state that every trickster has several of the following six traits:[1]

fundamentally ambiguous and anomalous
deceiver and trick-player
shape-shifter
situation-inverter
messenger and imitator of the gods
sacred and lewd bricoleur

(Copy and pasted from Wikipedia's page on "Tricksters".)

If there's a more specific name for what you describe, these guys might be able to help you: http://www.sussexfolktalecentre.org/
posted by Prof Iterole at 3:00 AM on December 22, 2016 [3 favorites]

Trickster, or Trickster God seem to be the phrases I usually see used for this. I think in Victorian literature they would sometimes use "Pan-figure."
posted by Mchelly at 4:21 AM on December 22, 2016 [7 favorites]

Bacchanalian?
posted by Ipsifendus at 4:29 AM on December 22, 2016

annoying
posted by scruss at 5:09 AM on December 22, 2016 [6 favorites]

I think Trickster. But this also reminds me of "sprite" - though a "sprite" doesn't nessesarily mean evil - such as Coily the Spring Sprite from MST3K. "Nooooo Springs!"
posted by Crystalinne at 5:19 AM on December 22, 2016 [4 favorites]

I know exactly the sort of thing you're talking about, and you're right, it's not just a generic trickster, it's a specific subtype. Other examples I can think of would be:
- the character of Dionysus in Euripides' 'Bacchae' (but not necessarily in broader mythology)
- the visitors in 'Swimming Home' and 'The Accidental'
- Mary Poppins

I might describe these as a 'wandering trickster' or 'chaotic drifter'.
posted by Acheman at 5:22 AM on December 22, 2016 [7 favorites]

ringleader
despotic
imperious
instigating
agitating
inciting
posted by The Almighty Mommy Goddess at 5:22 AM on December 22, 2016

Peripatetic trickster?
posted by MonkeyToes at 5:30 AM on December 22, 2016

What the hell kind of Frosty cartoon are you watching where he's malevolent, horrifying, and evil? And if you think a Cat that cleans up after himself is evil, I can't imagine what you must think of the feline in my house.

Seems to me there's something wrong with your premise that's causing you issues.
posted by GhostintheMachine at 5:32 AM on December 22, 2016 [10 favorites]

Some combination of these?

The Magical [Entity] (Negro, Asian, Woman, etc.)
The Hyper-Competent Sidekick
The Jeeves
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 5:57 AM on December 22, 2016

I would have said "pied-piper" as an archetype in itself.
posted by rollick at 6:03 AM on December 22, 2016 [4 favorites]

Dionysian?
posted by deathpanels at 6:03 AM on December 22, 2016

Chaotic neutral.
posted by DrAstroZoom at 6:19 AM on December 22, 2016 [3 favorites]

The Karmic Trickster as described by TV Tropes seems to fit the bill. (TV Tropes link)
posted by Cranialtorque at 7:12 AM on December 22, 2016 [1 favorite]

The Pied Piper isn't a trickster, he's a fairy/ entity that enchants humans to steal them away. Which is a type of character of its own.
posted by fshgrl at 7:39 AM on December 22, 2016

I agree that part of the problem is that they are only a really lose group, which I guess is sort of "the transient magical being who teaches a lesson," but:

1. The pied piper is a human(?) with a special ability. He gets hired by the leadership of the town to do a job, which he does. When they stiff him on his bill, he retaliates. This seems to match the typical folkloric "get access to magic (or a magical wife) with a rule, break the rule, something bad happens." He's not exactly malevolent (in some versions of the stories he gives the kids back after the elders have learned their lesson), but he is willing to be cruel to get what is owed him.

2. The Cat in the Hat is a pretty textbook-standard Trickster of the more benign variety -- he shows up, teaches the kid a lesson in being more proactive in their lives, then moves on, cleaning up after himself (although leaving a possibly-traumatized goldfish). No one calls or dismisses him, apparently he just wanders around working bored children for fun. Definitely more benevolent than malign.

3. Frosty is a magical being who teaches the kids a lesson about the transience of life (and I guess the seasons). He's not malevolent in any way I can see, and rather tepidly benign. Probably because he's not a product of folklore but popular song writers. (You might say the same about the Cat in the Hat, but Seuss was a genius when he was in his groove).

So I think "faeries" or "magical beings" is about as common as they get. The Pied Piper and the The Cat are maybe both Tricksters, although the Piper is not the greatest fit.
posted by GenjiandProust at 7:45 AM on December 22, 2016 [3 favorites]

Prof Iterole: Bricoleur, my new favorite word! At first, I eggcorned that bricoleur was an "eu" way of spelling Bi-Color (like the Pied Piper or Harlequin.)

The definition of bricoleur, however, is 'one who performs Bricolage.' The scales fell from my eyes! Of course!

In The Savage Mind (1962), the French anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss used the word bricolage to describe the characteristic patterns of mythological thought. Bricolage is the skill of using whatever is at hand and recombining them to create something new. ... The bricoleur, who is the “savage mind”, works with his hands in devious ways, puts pre-existing things together in new ways, and makes do with whatever is at hand.

posted by ohshenandoah at 8:32 AM on December 22, 2016 [4 favorites]

Evanescent?
posted by hydra77 at 8:49 AM on December 22, 2016

Puckish?
posted by xiix at 10:04 AM on December 22, 2016 [6 favorites]

^^^ I was coming in to say Puckish. Absolutely.
posted by mochapickle at 10:13 AM on December 22, 2016