The Cruella De Vil in the new Emma Stone film Cruella isn’t the Disney villain many remember from their childhoods. The movie gives the iconic character a new tragic backstory that makes her journey far more heroic than horrendous. The change is an interesting one, but some fans of the older versions of the character might be thrown by the sympathetic story that humanizes the infamous Disney puppy-snatcher.
In Cruella, set against the stylish backdrop of the 1970’s London fashion world, gone are the cigarettes and oversized fur coats fans of 101 Dalmatians remember. Also gone is the evil character so cold she wants to kill puppies to wear their fur as a coat. Some might call the movie a prequel or an origin story for the familiar villain, but Emma Stone's Cruella is in fact an entirely new and separate tale, a rags-to-riches-story of a ferocious heroine clawing her way up the ladder and vanquishing her childhood trauma along the way, a completely new take on the origins of one of Disney’s most iconic characters.
At one time or another, the Cruella screenplay was worked on by some of the best movie and television writers in the business. Aline Brosh McKenna, Jez Butterworth, Kelly Marcel, Tony McNamara, and Dana Fox all had a hand in shaping this new Cruella’s journey. The end product is the crowd-pleasing amalgamation one would expect from the creative forces behind works such as The Favourite, The Devil Wears Prada, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Ford vs. Ferrari, Saving Mr. Banks, and Home Before Dark. Audiences have given Cruella an A grade, per Cinemascore. So how does Cruella's version of the character stand apart from the established Disney villain?
Cruella's Dislike of Dalmatians Is Rooted in Childhood Trauma
In the original 101 Dalmatians, Cruella De Vil’s notoriety came about from her desire to make fur coats out of Dalmatian puppies. She’s rightfully portrayed as something of a rich maniac, but 2021’s Cruella, portrayed by Emma Stone, views Dalmatians as the stuff of nightmares because she witnessed her mother’s death at the paws of an aggressive set of spotted canines. Sweet, cuddly puppies they were not.
Despite that childhood incident, Stone’s Cruella doesn’t hate dogs. Her rescue pup, Buddy, is one of her closest companions and cohorts. Eventually, she discovers that the Dalmatians were just pawns in the Baroness’s game like everyone else. Cruella forgives and adopts the Dalmatians, later gifting Dalmatian puppies to her friends Roger and Anita. However, thanks to a fur coat fashion statement, Cruella’s reputation as a menace to animals, at least in urban legend, isn’t completely upended.
Cruella's Story Becomes a Mission of Revenge Rather than Greed
With an evil desire to be clothed in the fur of baby dogs as her one character trait, the original Cruella was merely an entertaining, creepy villain. Stone’s Cruella doesn’t have any dark instinct to kill Dalmatians and wear them. She is driven by her dreams of building an influential career in fashion, dreams that are threatened when her childhood trauma rears its head in the extremely fashionable visage of the person responsible for her mother’s death. Cruella’s agenda of revenge against the Baroness, however, is not solely motivated by a need for payback. Her war against the Baroness is as much about fighting the powers that be, as it is about her personal motivations. She also wants to strike back against the Baroness to challenge the latter’s unchecked wrongdoing, as the Baroness steals other people’s ideas and uses underhanded methods to get ahead in the fashion industry.
Of course, with any journey of revenge, there’s always the risk of alienating those closest to her, like her friends Anita, Jasper, and Horace. The 2021 film thus has an additional level of emotional suspense as to whether Cruella will lose or find herself along the way. Cruella crafts elaborate plans to one-up the Baroness, along with equally intricate and stunning looks to help her advance her message and agenda. Some of the looks themselves have a dual purpose as symbols and tools of her revenge.
Cruella Has A Friendly Relationship with Henchmen Rather Than An Abusive One
In previous incarnations, Cruella is a bully to her henchman, if not an outright tyrant. She leaves all the work to them and is both physically and verbally abusive. In the 2021 movie, Emma Stone’s Cruella is befriended by Jasper and Horace, and the three children band together rather than being alone and lost in London. They form a team, one that Cruella later admits is essentially a found family. Notably, Jasper and Horace also support Cruella’s dreams, even getting her a job that they hope will bring her closer to fulfilling them.
While carrying out her mission of revenge against the Baroness, Cruella briefly loses sight of her friendships and throws those bonds into jeopardy. Ultimately, she makes things right with Horace and Jasper, and they help her pull off her final con. This is a much more positive spin on the dynamic among the three of them than was shown in earlier versions. Furthermore, with these changes, the movie gives them a story more in line with classic Disney live-action films where misfits band together to overcome the odds.
How Cruella's New Backstory Makes Her Into A Hero
Using the name Estella as a child, Cruella is devoted to her mother who encourages her daughter’s aspirations. Young Cruella is unafraid of standing out and proudly wears her own fashion designs to school where she is relentlessly bullied. Her inherent kindness is shown in her bond with her mother and her rescue and adoption of a stray puppy, Buddy. Cruella’s life changes drastically when she sees her mother murdered by Dalmatians. Like many a traditional Disney protagonist suffering the tragic loss of a parent, Cruella fights to overcome her grief and pursue her dreams. Her excitement at being mentored by the Baroness is quashed by realizing the Baroness is responsible for her mother’s death, a revelation only topped by the Baroness’s real identity. It's not often that Disney movies play the "birth family was actually evil" card, with both Maleficent films being among the rare exceptions.
Cruella’s conflict throughout the story is two-fold: refusing to let the powers that be extinguish her spark and striking back against the film’s actual villain, the Baroness. In addition to being a murderer, Cruella's The Baroness represents a cutthroat, stifled version of the '70s London fashion world where one person with power and few moral scruples can hold everyone else down, to the point of erasing anyone who disrupts the established correct order of society. Cruella is the rebel who defies through her art, the person not afraid to fight back. Rather than Estella hiding behind the mask of Cruella, this is the story of Cruella learning she can drop the “acceptable” façade of “Estella” and be as bold and loud and creative as she wants. She represents a too-often-undervalued form of heroism: that of standing up for one’s self.
Why Disney's Cruella Change Is A Good Thing
Did this have to be a story about Cruella De Vil? Not really. It could have been about a person in the same situation with another name; but this is a Disney movie, and Disney's brand is built on using known IP. It's a strategy that has rarely failed to miss at the box office. Cruella was never going to be a movie setting up the descent of a promising young woman into a maniac with puppy-killing on her agenda. The new Cruella herself would certainly approve of how the villain is repurposed into someone more complex and fascinating.
Cruella very smoothly combines classic Disney plot elements with modern themes and sensibilities. Making her a more tragic and heroic figure is the only choice that worked in the context of this fresh story. While some viewers will be left wondering how the new take on the character sets up the events of the original story, others will be quick to recognize Emma Stone’s version as the exciting new character she is, destined to be an icon in her own right.