Unleashing unabated feminine powers!

Cruella (2021)

We were introduced to Cruella de Vil in Disney's '101 Dalmations' (1996). At that time, it appeared as a comedy a weirdo lady with a funny flamboyant sense of dressing and two fumbling henchmen with their disastrous attempt at dognapping dalmations for their skin.

This 2021 offering is a prequel of sorts, tracing Cruella (as her previous alter-ego Estella) to her birth, her subsequent loss of her mother and growing up in the streets of London as a petty thief. Estella was born with a half depigmented scalp of hair. Brought up by her single mother, he harboured ambitions of being a fashion designer. Fate had other plans. Her mother died while meeting someone in a big mansion, and Estella had to run for her life. 

The story then goes on to show how Estella starts off as a cleaning lady in a high-end boutique, impressing a particular cranky fashionista Baroness von Hellman and being employed as her assistant in typical rags to riches story. After discovering that the Baroness is her mother's killer, Estella morphs into her alter-ego, Cruella de Vil, a vengeful no-holds-barred perpetrator of evil. 

One particular highlight of this offering is its background music score. It is a repository of pop songs of the 70s, the timeline when this story is set. London, at that time, was at the tail-end of its place as the world's fashion centre. So, it is pretty logical to cast London as its location for a fashion crazed malicious supervillainess.

It is a far cry for the wholesome family offering that Disney intended in 1961 and 1996. In 1961, the animated Perdita and Pongo were talking dalmations trying to save their litter from Cruella. Both versions were more like romantic comedies. Perhaps, in the 21st century, there is no fun in life anymore, and romance has vanished. Life carries a dark undertone with a sombre soundtrack in the background.

Just watch 'Jerry Springer Show'. It kind of shows the thinking of an Average Joe. Nothing is sacred; nothing is taboo. There is nothing to look forward to in life anymore. The mysterious things that used to remain unmentioned in public spaces are no more. There is neither anything sacred nor sacrilegious anymore. There is no filter. One says what he feels and does what he wants. There are no biological differences anymore.

The patient, all-embracing, calm Mother Earth is supposed to reflect feminine beauty. What we see in Cruella, especially between her and her nemesis, Baroness von Hellman, is an example of what happens to unabated feminine power when it is unleashed with no restraints. There can only be mayhem and Hell on Earth.

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It is the journey.

Harold and Maude (1971)

Some look at life as full of doom and gloom, as a purposeless one. Whichever path one takes, we know what the final destination is, and the path leading to it can be paved with shrapnel and pain. Nietzschean and many existentialist philosophers perpetuate this idea. On the other end of the spectrum, others whose sole purpose of life is to savour the joy of being born as a human being push it to the tilt. They view the boon of birth as a gift on a platter to enjoy with no boundaries.

The truth must be lying somewhere in between - between nihilism and hedonism. There must be a purpose in our existence, perhaps to somehow leave a tiny mark of legacy, no matter how small, in a small way to propel our loved ones, family or community forward. A community, hence a country, is, after all, is made of subunits of families. So, improvements in families will sequentially propel the human race forward. 

We should probably get our cues about life from the words of the Stoics and Epicureans. In their minds, we have only this one life to do what we can whilst finding pleasure within all of the aches and pains it has to offer.

This 1971 film, made at the end of the time of flower power, must have been an assessment of the liberal care-free perception of society versus the traditional convention-abiding outlook of the community. It was a satire of society we live in, which involves 'groupthink' as determined by authoritative figures - religion, psychology, family, military.

This cult-following offering recently celebrated its 50th anniversary. It is a dark comedy about a death-obsessed 19-year-old young man who falls in love with a happy-go-lucky 80-year old lady. Yes, 80 years old.  Harold, brought up in a privileged background by a narcissistic single mother, grows bored with life. He is preoccupied with death and religiously attends funerals, even of unknown people, just to be closer to death. He has a warped sense of humour, sometimes faking himself hanging or cutting off his own limb. His mother's attempts at keeping him entertained with gifts and new girlfriends proved futile.

So Harold found himself quite at home with a chance meeting with Maude at a random funeral. Her care-less attitude and total disregard for the rule of law excited him. Their little escapade turned out to be a sort of coming-of-age phase for Harold as Maude shows him all the small things that make one appreciate the reason for living. Harold looks at funerals as the final destination we are all edging to as Maude looked at them as a moment to reflect the time of their existence. I guess the film's message is to accept death as an essential and inevitable recurring process that regenerates life.

The memorable scene in this movie is the one in a field of daisies. Maude said she would like to change to a sunflower most of all as they are so tall and simple. Harold replied that he would like to be one of the daises because "they are all alike". Maude turned to Harold and explained that they are not.  

"Some are smaller, some are fatter. Some grow to the left, some to the right. Some even have lost some petals. All kinds of observable differences". Harold could suddenly see the truth in her observation. The camera pans way back to show that Harold and Maude were standing in a graveyard. The gravestones were identical to the daises in one perspective. Even though the stones were all carved to look similar, they signify different lives lived - happy, sad, abrupt, or long. But the ending, the final destination, nevertheless, is the same.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.