BettermentFoundation

“I was 16 years old when I found out I couldn’t use my own name as a member of the Screen Actors Guild. They already had an ‘Emily Stone’ in their system. To ask a 16 year old to pick a new name is quite interesting because I was thinking ‘I’m gonna be Riley, my name’s gonna be Riley Stone.’ So my name was Riley Stone for about six months, then I booked a guest spot on Malcolm in the Middle. When it was time to begin filming the first day, they called me, ‘Riley! Riley!’ I had no idea who they were talking to. I quickly then changed my stage name to Emma since it was close enough to my real name.” – Emily J. Stone, W Magazine Screen Tests, 2017.

The concept of duality is defined as an “instance of opposition or contrast between two facets of something.” This concept has been repackaged in numerous other ways: nurture vs. nature, reason vs. intuition, free will vs. predestination, etc. It is the closest humans have come, outside of spirituality, to clearly defining their place within the universe. Although, let us go inside of spirituality to show that logic is the greatest ally of faith, not the enemy.

In Christianity, names hold an important role. Once one accepts their place as a child of God, they are “reborn” and live the rest of their life from that point forward. However, after one accepts their place, they are not “reborn” as a new person. Instead, one realizes why they were hiding who they used to be to begin with. This is where the titular character of Cruella finds herself near the true turning point of this expertly written film.

Prior to Cruella’s monologue at the fountain, she holds a prestigious position with Baroness von Hellman, a decorated designer who is also her birth mother. Reading into the Snow White parallels, her mother viewed raising her as a threat to her self-identity. This led to Cruella being raised in secret by Catherine, a servant to her mother. Catherine, deputized as her foster mother, imparts the only lessons she knows to her: patience and humility. Cruella could not care less; giving into her selfishly primal urges feels so much better.

Now, Cruella finds herself perfectly balancing her duality. Estella, Cruella’s idea of maternal compassion, handles the endless sadism the Baroness puts her through. Cruella fulfills her childhood dreams by designing clothes which will be seen by the adoring public. Still, neither receiving credit nor barely being paid for her hard work was not a part of those dreams. Despite these conditions, Cruella still confidently balances the two different worlds because the connection she feels to Catherine still feels immediate, which is why she pretends to be her for a solid chunk of the film.