Perhaps no one woman embodies the crazy woman driving trope more than the 1960s Cruella de Vil. Here, it also became a way to tarnish the image of feminism.
In the iconic 1961 cartoon, de Vil displays characteristics akin to the modern woman. She is financially independent, seemingly unmarried and unabashedly assertive. At the onset of the second wave feminist movement, as women’s rights began to challenge male authority, de Vil’s most empowering traits appear in an unhinged form. She seems all the more threatening when compared to the 1950s femininity of unassuming and newly married housewife Anita Dearly, who welcomes a large litter of Dalmatian puppies into her home.
The dangers of de Vil’s modernity are most acutely displayed when she is behind the wheel.
Her inability to control her car is reflective of her mental state. Her obsessive desire to acquire the Dalmatian puppies heightens as she leers over her steering wheel, speeds through city streets and bulldozes through fences in her single-minded pursuit. As the animated film neared its climax, her driving became all the more reckless, causing imminent harm to those around her. One driver yells out “Crazy woman driver!” when she nearly pushes him off a cliff.
In the trailer to the new live-action film, de Vil once again embodies this undercurrent of madness. She notes in a voice-over, “The thing is, I was born brilliant. Born bad. And a little bit mad.” Told from de Vil’s perspective, the film is likely to present a more nuanced view than previous depictions in which male screenwriters thrust madness upon her. Certainly, there is potential here to outline the story of a woman wronged who then deliberately embraces the very traits that are deemed mad in a highly hierarchical, misogynist world. A world in which women must fit a preconceived mold to be viewed as moral or even sane.