101 Demons, uh, Dalmatians

Apparently, there’s a stink going around social media that the new film “Cruella” glorifies the devil.

And while it’s true “Hollywood” might augment such traits for narrative reasons, you have to consider where the imagery comes from in the first place. And in this case, it’s not from devil-worshippers, but from Dodie Smith, who wrote “The Hundred and One Dalmatians,” the source material and inspiration for All Things Disney Dalmatian, way back in 1956.

I have a copy of the book on my shelf, published with Disney’s bright drawings on the cover. When I saw the social media stink about the film, I pulled the book off the shelf and thumbed through it, knowing I’d find what I was looking for pretty quickly.

First of all, the stink makes a stink about Cruella “de Ville” changing her name to “de Vil.” Because [thunderclaps] the DEVIL. Nevermind, of course, that the character’s first name is Cruella. Also nevermind, of course, that the first time we’re introduced to the character in the book, her name is de Vil. I've not seen the movie, so maybe they make a big deal of this. But the name change isn't in the source material; Cruella's name is clearly de Vil in the original story. (Don't let the "Dearly" name throw you -- Disney changed the last name to Darling for the movie.)

A bit later on, Smith, not subtly at all, makes the devil connection, right after having Cruella encourage her husband to make the fire “blaze for her,” and lamenting that “the flames never last long enough,” viz:

“What a strange name ‘deVil’ is’ said Mr. Dearly “If you put the two words together, they make ‘devil.’ Perhaps Cruella’s a lady-devil! Perhaps that’s why she likes things so hot!”

And then there’s the issue of “Hellman Hall” being changed to “Hell Hall” in the film. A little poetic license from the book there as the building was referred to as “Hill Hall” in the book, but Cruella’s house is referred to as “Hell Hall” by the local humans and the anthropomorphized animals, who tell the tale with more devilish imagery:

“The end came when the men from several villages arrived one night with lighted torches, prepared to break open the gates and burn the farmhouse down. But as they approached the gates a terrific thunderstorm began and put the torches out. Then the gates burst open – seeming of their own accord -- and out came de Vil [in this case, Cruella’s father], driving a coach and four. And the story is that lighting was coming not from the skies but from de Vil – blue forked lightning. All the men ran away screaming and never came back.”

That people are concerned about what they see as “devil worship” in the new film is their business, and if they want to be concerned about it and warn others, that’s also their business. All I’m doing is pointing out that the source novel in 1956, serialized as “The Great Dog Robbery” in Womans Day magazine, is where the devilish imagery comes from. Maybe it’s more innocent in the novel than in the film, but the film didn’t invent the imagery on its own.

Even the Disney film retains the reference to Hell Hall.