#strong female character

CRUELLA CHARACTER ANALYSIS

“i didn’t [kill the dogs]. BUT, the world does need a villain to believe in and i’m happy to fit the bill.”

oh, cruella. my brilliant, exceptionally perceptive phenom. so this is one of my favorite pieces of social commentary of all time. here, cruella is delineating a societal paradigm of both sheer idiocy and unnerving oppression. one in which people forgo facts- the only things that are reflective of reality- to forge narratives that are amenable to their pre-conceived notions. such a paradigm aids in the sustenance of oppressive systems like racism and sexism. those with privilege who are hellbent on preserving their justly wielded power will stop at nothing to perpetuate false stereotypes by concocting narratives that couldn’t be farther from the truth. nevertheless, it is not truth that these people seek to unveil, but rather a tale that encourages others to subjugate marginalized peoples. take, for instance, a scenario in which a racist encounters a black man in a hoodie walking down the street. the racist proceeds to concertedly detail the black man as an insidious threat in their phone call to the police despite the presence of any evidence to corroborate the claim. so goes the tale of anti-blackness. navigating back to cruella’s situation, people choose to frame cruella as a so-called “dog killer” out of sheer, willful nescience: they are appalled at the notion of a young woman whose every action is done in the name of securing justice. it is unseemly to them. and this makes sense in that securing justice would mean the loss of immoral power they currently hold. as such, they attempt to burn her at the stake (figuratively speaking) in a social mauling to punish her for not allowing them to hold their deplorable ideologies. nevertheless, cruella leverages the stupidity to create a barrier of defense for herself. after all, who would dare challenge someone as machiavellian as a murderer of defenseless creatures? this is why she’s “happy to fit the bill.” for her entire life, she’s been assaulted at the hands of an unjust society. through this very society’s creation of a caricature of her, cruella is able to avoid the position of vulnerability her marginalized identities (woman, low socioeconomic status, mentally ill) and refusal to accept injustice rear. in conclusion: she is the best person ever ok bye

my thoughts on cruella’s prospective development/plot for cruella (2021) sequel

so i’m basing things on the statement above from the director and everything i’ve learned and analyzed from the first film, of course. as we know, cruella is self-destructive to a detrimental level. that is, she will do things she knows cause her great harm and it all stems from a self-hatred she’s yet to escape from, even upon the finding that the baroness murdered her mother. as we know, the voiceover takes place as cruella stands over estella’s “grave” aka after every event in the film besides her and the gang driving to hell hall. in this voiceover, she still discusses her mother’s death as partially attributable to her, unfortunately. “let’s skip past the part where i killed her.” though it had once seemed like cruella had gotten past that blame when she’s shown saying “it wasn’t my fault,” the chronology attests that a bit of regression has taken place and that’s understandable given the sheer level of trauma she had to endure.

by the film’s conclusion, cruella is not stable whatsoever as she’s still grappling with the weight of what coming into her true self means- as we saw in the monologue, she faces inner turmoil between embracing herself and how she perceives that to be letting down her mother- and not everyone around her is exactly the most supportive given their continual discussion over “missing estella.” point being, this instability only deepens the chasm in which self-loathing can accrue for her.

as i’ve been over in other posts, cruella’s intentional creation of an evil public persona is both her most notable advantage in that she has effectively created a shield between her and the rest of the world that she is weary of but it’s also her most notable disadvantage because the creation of this persona will lead to a massive amount of hatred from the public. by crafting a (FALSE) narrative tor herself that has the masses believing she brutally murdered and skinned three dogs, she is bound to be despised because to the outside world, that is the “real her.” only she and those close to her know that she’d never do such a thing and that the persona is all a facade: antithetical to who she actually is as a person. essentially, she wants a way to protect herself from a society that’s been cruel to her for all of her life but the way she chooses to do this is one that she knows will bring her immense and likely unbearable amounts of pain.

cruella isn’t going to want to stop at the tale of her skinning three dogs. knowing she has an ever expanding platform, she’ll amplify the narrative and this is where an homage to the original 101 dalmatians could come in. essentially, i think she, with anita’s help, will plant a story in the press that supposedly identifies her as the killer of that many puppies/dogs and it will somehow tie into a fashion show of some sort. after all, i reckon that as the empress of what’s emerging to be the world’s most prominent fashion house, she’ll want the house of de vil to make an unforgettable debut and an apparent murderous origin from a whole line of clothing- or perhaps one massive statement piece- would do just that along with her other momentous goal to have the world hate and fear her in equal proportion such that no one can get close enough to hurt her again. with nearly unlimited access to resources now given her acquired wealth, she’ll be able to keep upping the antics, making her persona more and more formidable.

in reality, the so-called “murdered” dogs will be rescued by her and heaven knows there’s enough room to tend to a large amount of dogs in her mansion. anyway, the point is that the amount of hatred she’ll be mailed with from what could very well be millions of people if the story goes global, as i have no doubt would happen with that kind of thing, will destroy her confidence and self-esteem. it’ll make life miserable for her. yes, she knows that isn’t who she is, but to be treated LIKE she’s a heartless killer by everyone and to have to play that role to the media perpetually…i couldn’t even begin to imagine the kind of toll it would take on her, but i know it would be agonizing.

in a way, this would devastatingly further subvert her entire journey thus far, which has already been alluded to with her directly stating she’s begun to play a role for the media. “but people do need a villain to believe in and i’m happy to fit the bill.” she’s gone from having to hide under a feigned submissive personality trait- who she was as estella- to a brief time period where she could be fully herself to the outside world without being notoriously known as a killer and then directly back to having to project a fake persona, only this time, it isn’t a demure woman. it’s that of an absolute monster who murdered dogs.

the increasing trauma will likely become more and more debilitating to her as she won’t be able to even show her face anywhere without being met with loathing and contempt by all who recognize what i call the anti-cruella aka the fake version of her she’s procured to keep people away. as such, in her efforts to fend off the outside world, that world will swallow her whole with its resentment of “her” due to the method of defense through deception she utilized. therefore, as the director said, she’d be destroyed as in utterly damaged from worsening mental illnesses and in pain and this destruction will have aborned from within herself as she is the engineer of the anti-cruella persona.

all i can say is they better give my baby the happiness she deserves by the end meaning that they should write her to ultimately feel as though she doesn’t have to hide behind any personas anymore and can simply be herself: cruella de vil. a woman who isn’t always some ball of sunshine on the outside but is and has ALWAYS been an incredible person. someone who fights for justice unapologetically. a brilliant, creative woman who has and will continue to take the fashion world by storm. i want her to feel comfortable not having to put on a show of “sweetness” or one of a deplorable being to live in this society. her apprehension about this does NOT make her a bad person. she’s very rightfully afraid to be who she is because she knows society is cruel (“hello, cruel world”) and will misjudge her without even attempting to understand her but creating these personas are all just self-destructive measures that will do her more harm than good.

as a bit of a side note, the baroness could play into my aforementioned thoughts on cruella shedding her personas. cruella would of course need to show the public that the dogs are alive and well to prove that the evil persona was all fake. however, the baroness could complicate matters (after escaping jail given she still has a network of people who are loyal to her and just like her, they contribute to a corrupted justice system) by actually stealing the dogs and killing some of them, framing cruella and leading the world to believe that she’d lied and really was just a horrible person. if something like this were to happen, i’d hope that the truth would come out, that cruella’s name would be cleared, and that she could live happily and truly free from the confinements of living in the shadow of a fake version of herself.

cruella. deserves. to be HAPPY. the end.

idk if it’s conventional to post edits on tumblr but this is one i made to try and convey the pain cruella was unjustly put through at the hands of the baroness and society, really, for its overarching belief that only “sweet” people- those who smile a lot and are otherwise outwardly expressive- can be good, forcing her to conform and put on a show just so that she could have a better chance at being treated fairly. so many people think she’s evil and it breaks my heart bc she’s a good person through and through. look at the pain it causes her to think about how her mother was wrongly taken from this world. she wanted to condemn the baroness. it’s something to support, not to denounce. i love her sm.