"Born a woman, listen to my roar."
The most attractive "crazy woman" of 2021 appeared
Tired of watching fairy tales and fed up with the candy love of princes and princesses, we always welcome charismatic villains. In the American Film Association's "50 Most Attractive Villains on screen," only two women were selected for Disney movies — in addition to the queen in Snow White, who we are familiar with, and Cruella, who poisoned puppies for fashion in "101 Loyal Dogs."
Cruella in the 1961 animated version
Cruella, played by Glenn Close in the 1996 live-action film 101 Real Dogs
What kind of perverted and inhuman person can make a perfect black and white fur coat out of spotted dog skin? "Fashion pioneer" Cruella has thus become a "childhood shadow" in many people's hearts that is even more frightening than Snow White's mother.
Brutal and cruel, the unrepeatable "legendary villain" finally ushered in her new screen moment this year – "Cruella", starring "Sister Stone" Emma Stone, is about to be released in May this year. This time there is no princess, no prince, the villain becomes the only protagonist, and Disney is finally going to "blacken".
Poster of Cruella
Set in London in the 1970s, the setting alone is enough to feel it – London in the 1970s was the era of punk rock. Born out of chaos and disorder, punk breaks all order and rebuilds, from music to costumes, it exists like a "pirate", full of savagery, anger, rebellion and desire.
Stone's Cruella, from a red-haired "female liar" at first, to a fashion icon discovered by the baroness as a genius, was born out of punk, and then moved to a darker, more complex, exaggerated gothic style, with pessimistic romanticism, which seems to imply that she is on a life of destruction and irreparability.
Responsible for the film's costume design is one of the most famous designers in Hollywood today, Jenny Beavan, who has been nominated for the Oscar for Best Costume Design ten times and won two awards, no matter what era or style of clothing, she can grasp the essence.
Jenny Beavan is responsible for the masterpiece of costume design
It is worth mentioning that Jenny Beavan herself is also a rock and roll maniac - in 2016, she won the Oscar for best costume design for "Mad Max", and directly wore a leather jacket to receive the award (deliberately wearing leather instead of leather). She was in charge of Cruella's costumes, and it was definitely not just superficial.
The costume design of "Kuila" is a major attraction of the film
In just one and a half minutes of the pilot trailer, the scalp has been numb, the expectation value is full, especially the "change of face" of Stone's split personality, and her surprisingly large eyes have become particularly evocative in a slightly eerie atmosphere.
From the ambitious evil smile when the grand debut, to the appearance of still gritting his back teeth and saying his name after fragmentation, the emotional span is large and full of tension.
A few key monologues lead to the character's basic features: "But I wasn't for everyone. "I don't live for other people." “I guess they were all scared that I would be a psycho.”“ They were afraid I would turn into a lunatic. ”“The thing is, I was born brilliant, born bad — and a little bit mad. I’m Cruella.”“ The truth is, I was born talented, born evil, born crazy. I am Kuila. ”
The most heart-warming sentence "I am woman, Hear me roar" is even more promising - from the Australian female singer Helen Reddy released in 1972 famous song "I Am Woman", she is the first Australian female singer in history to win the Grammy, this song is as a classic feminist song to this day, the United Nations set the International Women's Day in 1975, this song has also become an informal "national anthem". (Helen Reddy died last September at the age of 78.) ）
I Am WomanChelsea Cullen; Helen Reddy; Ray Burton - I Am Woman (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) [Inspired by the story of Helen Reddy]
I am woman, hear me roar I am a woman, listen to me roar In numbers too big to ignore our number can not be ignored And I know too much to go back an' pretend I know too much to be able to turn a blind eye 'cause I've heard it all before because I've listened enough of the clichés And I've been down there on The floor I bottomed out and lived No one's ever gonna keep me down again Oh yes I am wise Oh of course I'm wise But it's wisdom born of pain but wisdom comes from suffering Yes, I've paid the price of course I paid the price but look how much I gained but look how much I get If I have to, I can do anything if needed I am strong I am invincible I am invincible I am invincible I am woman I am woman I am woman
But the most worrying thing is also this - will the film forcibly "whitewash" the villain OfRuella in order to highlight the feminist tone?
After all, in the last live-action movie "Sleeping Curse" with the "villain" as the protagonist, the witch Maleficent, who caused the princess to sleep for a hundred years, was thoroughly washed inside and out.
Although it bears the appearance of a demon, it is actually a big mother's love, in order to protect the princess, even at the expense of self-sacrifice, tolerance of everything, selfless to blindly pay without asking for returns... It's a way of telling a story, but in this way, it can't be called a movie that belongs to the villain, but a "redemptive" movie about how the villain is good.
To some extent, this is actually another kind of binding and exploitation of women - women can not be bad, women must be the embodiment of "truth, goodness and beauty", since the princess is no longer popular, then simply let the witch and stepmother wear the cloak of the villain to perform "truth, goodness and beauty". Their "evil deeds" are all because of injuries, childhood wounds, emotional pain, etc., which carry what they are difficult to bear, so they have changed from victims to perpetrators, like being forced to go to Liangshan and have no choice but to do evil.
Male villains, on the other hand, are mostly pulled by ambition and desire, all the way to the black; in contrast, women are even bad so tired, so miserable. But abandoning gender, evil is a certain component of human nature, why only men are ambitious and eager to become above all people, while women cannot be "born brilliant, born bad"?
So we're looking forward to the character of Cruella—because she's a genius with a huge character flaw, and her obsession with beauty is almost crazy, so crazy that when she sees puppies, she only thinks about how beautiful those furs should be turned into clothes, not that these innocent little lives will be sacrificed. Her "evil" is not selling misery, but to fulfill her arrogant dreams.