Disney's Cruella' Faces Backlash From Social Media Over Depiction of '101 Dalmatians' Villain
The trailer for Disney's upcoming origin story Cruella dropped on Wednesday morning, and the first [...]
Are We Supposed To Sympathize With A Villain?
People were curious if the film would be a straightforward origin story for the classic 101 Dalmatians villain, or if it will go the Maleficent route and portray her more as misunderstood and sympathetic. Most thought that this would be an odd choice for a puppy killer. "How in the hell am I gonna sympathize with a protagonist named CRUELla that kills dogs and wears their skin," one Twitter user wrote. "Cruella De Vil is basically girl boss animal cruelty," joked someone else.
Do We Need More Villain Origin Stories?
![emma-stone-cruella emma-stone-cruella](https://media.popculture.com/2021/02/emma-stone-cruella-20102996.jpeg?auto=webp&width=1200&height=630&crop=1200:630,smart)
"Does every villain in film history need to be jokerfied?" one person wrote. Some argued that a backstory could be compelling for some villains, but Cruella De Vil might not be the one. "I'm all for a villain backstory, but there is nothing playfully macabre about 'here's how I started killing all the puppies,'" wrote another. However, if they were going for illumination, Cruella might be a misfire. "What's amazing about the Cruella trailer is that I feel like I understand her even less after watching it," tweeted writer R. Eric Thomas.
The Joker Comparisons
The most common comparison made online was to the Joker, due to Stone's manic attitude and clownish makeup. "The CRUELLA trailer LOOKS nice but also i think sometimes ladies who love fashion should be allowed to remain ladies who love fashion and not the joker," tweeted writer Karen Han. "Why does everyone want to be the joker. his life sucks," pointed out Han. "finally. time for jokeher," tweeted editor Hannah Woodhead.
Praise for Stone's Performance
However, people were quick to point out that Stone's performance, even the British accent, looked fun and inventive. She seemed to nail the tagline of "brilliant, bad, and a little bit mad." "Emma Stone is going to be so iconic as cruella" tweeted one stan account.
emma stone is going to be so iconic as cruella pic.twitter.com/W5MCzuHPqS
— zach (@civiiswar) February 17, 2021
The Best Twitter Jokes
compare cruella to joker one more timepic.twitter.com/2bIJ4PpLCd
— boobs (@Iebsianism) February 17, 2021
Y'all bag on Cruella but when Angelina Jolie shows up in the post credits scene to say "I'm here to talk to you about Kingdom Hearts" you're all gonna lose your shit.
— Men in Black: Alien A-Zac 🕶🔫 (@zacstack) February 17, 2021
Algorithm That Came Up With ‘Cruella’ Hurt To See People Mocking Trailer https://t.co/dPA0eX7LlP pic.twitter.com/Q0CpEfsqMJ
— The Onion (@TheOnion) February 17, 2021
Thinking about it, if you name your baby ‘Cruella’ it does seem like you’re setting her up for a particular type of life
— Mollie Goodfellow (@hansmollman) February 17, 2021
The Cruella Deville origin story is about how her parents got shot outside of a movie theater by a dalmatian
— IAN (@IHunt) February 17, 2021