Despite a cosmos of controversy orbiting San Francisco Mayor Breed as of late, she, against all logic, thought dressing up as a fictitious authoritarian figure for Halloween would sit well with SF residents.
Whether we choose to abide by the omnipresent principle that social media is nowadays synonymous with daily life is largely up to personal habits; to admit otherwise is to willingly forego the actualities of this present juncture in time.
We’ve all, consciously or not, adopted digital avatars of ourselves — internet personas that exist into perpetuity; once it’s posted, it doesn’t ever truly go away, even if it’s later deleted. This can all have lasting impacts, including how our IRL selves are perceived in the physical world.
This past Halloween, San Franciscans were all reminded of the knots our digital energies weave into our real lives when, by some blindly tone-deaf decision, Mayor Breed chose to cosplay as The Queen of Hearts — the fictional, foul-tempered monarch who served as the main antagonist in Lewis Carrol’s 1865 book “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.”
Yes, this is real. Yes, this happened. And, yes, it appears no one on Breed’s immediate team saw any issue with this.
“Happy Halloween San Francisco! As always, thank you to Cicely Hansen & [at[decadesoffashionsf for creating my perfect costume that captures the true spirit of Halloween,” reads the Instagram caption for Breed’s post in light of last week’s Halloween.
Pursed with an auspicious smile, the San Francisco Mayor — the same individual who’s come under fire as of late for supporting inhumane street sweeping of unhoused individuals; who has supported legislation to arrest drug users; who, as of most recently, has vowed to take controversial drug screening mandates for welfare recipients to voters in March following the proposal failure to pass through the SF Board of Supervisors — is pictured in a flouncy, somewhat bulbous red dress. Her hair looks like poorly spun cotton candy; it’s a synthetic wig not even a baby drag queen would be acceptable to don.
She puts little weight on the walking cane, adorned with an inverted lawn flamingo. It exists as an ironic analogy: a fragile prop meant to mirror an item interchangeable with barring pressure. One could stretch the metaphor further to say it represents Breed’s lukewarm, tepid, flimsy stances on securing permanent housing for the most vulnerable among us.
Nevertheless, her bright grin shines through a red lip while taking pictures with City workers, children, the elderly, community leaders, and her constituent voters. None appear to be the wiser. For lack of less explicit phrasing, no one seems to understand how fucked up it is that a person wielding her power and influence and position would find cosplaying as a tyrant overlord suitable behavior.
“The Queen of Hearts took a break from Wonderland 👑♥️to pass out candy to all the kids today across the City and it is great to see all the fun and creative costumes,” Breed continues in the Instagram caption, her use of emojis existing as a stark contrast to her otherwise buttoned-up social media copy; it reads calculated, conceivably an attempt to belittle or play down the clear misstep in costume choice; it could also simply be innocent.
But again, any sense of implied benevolence when one is outfitted as an oppressor should be seen with raised eyebrows. “If you are going out tonight, remember to be safe and have a good time!”
Good is subjective to individual interpretation. Time is fleeting — our most finite resource. But you’d be remiss to comprehend that Mayor Breed’s costume choice for Halloween of 2023 was an outright insult to the 880,000-plus San Francisco residents she represents from the house of cards that is City Hall.
