With the recent release of the film Cruella, starring Emma Stone, great controversy has been created by romanticizing the figure of a villain. However, this type of controversy is not new, it has been repeated throughout the history of cinema. One of the easiest examples to remember is that of the Joker and one of the most legendary or ancient is the story of Bonnie and Clyde.
The True Story of 101 Dalmatians
Cruella de Vil is indeed a character linked to children’s cartoons and fantasy stories. This is due to her glorious performances either in the 1961 animated film or the 1996 film starring Glenn Close, both produced by Disney. It is well known that this story was based on the novel published in 1956, The One Hundred and One Dalmatians, written by Dodie Smith, who at the time assured that this book was based on her own experience. This is how the newspaper Milenio compiled it:
«I was up all night with my husband giving birth to puppies and that stayed with me, that was two years before I wrote the book. “Then Disney turned my work into the most beautiful movie I’ve ever seen.”
However, it is really disturbing to know that far from fiction there have been a couple of cases that, although they did not inspire the novel, were real events that share intriguing characteristics.
Real Life Cruella de Vil
One of the cases most similar to the crimes of this villain was that of an 85-year-old woman who in 2014 lived in the city of Waco, Texas, in the United States she was not identified, but according to the American portal World News Daily Report, was accused by her neighbors of the disappearance of dozens of cats. She was believed to have used mink skins to make fur coats and accessories. The neighbors’ suspicion was corroborated with the help of private investigators who obtained videos of the old woman stealing the pets. The accused had to face a trial that could give her a year and a half sentence.
Like Cruella, the woman was a retired fashion designer. She confessed that at first, she had intended to raise a litter of kittens to use her fur, however, she always grew attached to them, so she couldn’t harm them. So she decided to steal her neighbors’ pets. Some neighbors recognized with horror the fur of her cats on the strange coats.
Another notorious case in 2014 was that of Christina “Tina” Fay, a wealthy and eccentric woman who lived in a mansion that she had adapted to be a kind of dog “factory.” When the police arrested her, the place was full of dog dirt and rotting remains of raw chicken. The police managed to rescue more than 84 Great Dane dogs, from weeks-old puppies to older adults, all in deplorable health conditions.
Some dogs were loose around the 3-story mansion, while others were kept in cages. Reports indicated that Tina sold the puppies for $2,500 each. She said the dogs came from a kennel called De La Sang Monde, a place that advertised itself as an open country place with clean and adequate facilities. , very different from reality. Thanks to a couple of anonymous complaints, an investigation was launched and the site was able to be broken into, saving dozens of dogs. Tina had to face a trial that involved animal exploitation and abuse, in addition to putting minors who worked at her site at risk.
Do you still believe that these types of villains deserve to be redeemed?
This story was originally published in Spanish in Cultura Colectiva.
