Cruella De Vil

Two weeks ago, I watched Disney’s Cruella. This week’s tragic event prompted me to discuss the importance of trauma. A common theme in many of Disney’s movies is good versus evil. As educators, we see how Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) contribute to adults' physical, emotional, and relationship issues. It was interesting to learn the backstory of Cruella. Why was she so mad with the world? Why was so she fixated with dalmatians?

Childhood events informed the person she became. Her adoptive mother raised Cruella/Estella because her biological mother, The Baroness, did not want her. The Baroness asked John the Valet to kill Cruella/Estella. He could not bear to have Cruella/Estella’s death on his conscious and secretly gave Catherine, the maid, to raise her. At the beginning of the movie, we can see the inner struggles that Cruella/Estella had with good and evil as a child. Her love for fashion was evident at an early age. Catherine tried to teach Estella the importance of following patterns in one scene. Here was the conversation:

Estella: Look

Catherine: But that’s not the pattern. You have to follow the pattern. There is a way of doing things.

Estella: That’s ugly.

Catherine: That’s cruel. Your name is Estella not Cruella.

Throughout Estella’s early school years, Catherine would often try to help Estella to keep her Cruella’s alter-ego dormant through practicing self-talk. Estella would try her best to suppress Cruella but was constantly tested and bullied by her peers because of her clothes and hair.?

The defining moment that changed the trajectory of Estella’s life was witnessing Catherine pushed off the cliff. Estella and two other orphans, Horace and Jaspar, established a theft ring to survive. She wanted more for her life than being a thief and still wanted to become a fashion designer. She became a fashion designer for the House of Baroness to fulfill her dream. While consulting with the Baroness about a sketch, she noticed Catherine’s necklace is around the Baroness’ neck. After questioning the Baroness about the necklace's history, her relationship changed from role model to archnemesis. She wanted to seek revenge on the person that killed her mother and started a fashion war.

The Baroness was committed to staying on top of the fashion world that she would do anything to maintain her position and tried to kill Estella. John the Valet saved Estella’s the second time and reveals the true identity of her biological mother: the Baroness.

At the movie's end, she developed a grand plan to reveal her true identity to her birth mother. Here was the scene on the terrace:?

Stella: I hate to ruin your party. I came to convict you.

Baroness: Don’t be absurd.

Stella: This is the key that was in the necklace that unlocks the box that my birth certificate was in. Hello mother.

Baroness: It all makes sense now.?

Stella: What?

Baroness: That you are so extraordinary. Of course, you’re mine. I loafed for someone in my life that was as good as me.?

Stella: You left me to die.

Baroness: A mistake and one that we can get past. Passed. I know it.

Stella:I disagree

Baroness: You’re not here for revenge. You’re here because you’re a brilliant designer and wicked genius and you need to be among your own kind. Me, your real mother. Who made a mistake? And let so extraordinary go.

Stella: We’re very alike, I supposed.?

Baroness: I’m sorry.

Stella: You are?!

Baroness: I am. Can I hug you?

Stella: Yes. You’re not going to push me off the cliff? Are you?

Baroness: You’re so funny, dear. So funny. I love it. Idiot.?

Estella had a lapse of judgment because she still yearned for her birth mother's love. Ironically, Estella died like her adoptive mother, pushed off the cliff after the Baroness embraced her. Estella survived the fall by converting her skirt into a parachute. As she drove up, she noticed the Baroness handcuffed and put into the police car for Estella’s death, and this was when Estella became Cruella permanently. Before that incident, she transferred her inheritance to Cruella De Vil.?

This movie hits home for many reasons because we all have dual personalities, and constantly hope that the devil does not come after us. Here is a character that experienced much trauma in her life from a biological mother not wanting her to witnessing her adoptive mother's death. Our past is still our present. Regardless of how much her adoptive mother tried to suppress Cruella from coming out of Estella, the devil persisted. Although her biological mother did not raise her, she was like her. Those undeniable ways were examples of nurture versus nature.?

Childhood trauma manifests into adulthood trauma. If we do not address our trauma by getting the mental help we need, then we will begin to hurt other people.