FROM "CINDERELLA"
WARNING: THERE WILL BE SPOILERS!
I know her name is actually Lady Tremaine, but come on we all know her best as the Stepmother since that what she's always referred to among the characters. In fact, they only call her by her real name once in the picture and that's at the ball when the Stepsisters arrive. And even that goes by quickly to the point where the viewer can easily miss it. So I'm going to call her the Stepmother for the entirety of my description of why I enjoy her as a villain.
In the film's Prologue, (narrated by the actress who voiced Cruella De Vil in Disney's "One Hundred And One Dalmatians") we first meet the Stepmother in a dark room stroking her cat as she and her daughters gaze down the window to watch Cinderella and her Father interact in beautiful broad-daylight. And just by looking at them at first glance, you know right off the bat that they are evil. The Stepmother looks sinister, her daughters look bratty, and the cat looks like an evil demon (seriously look how lifeless his eyes are). And they don't even say a word. We discover through the narration that Cinderella's Father married the Stepmother because he wanted to give his daughter a Mother's care, since his Wife died (for unknown reasons), and even though I can already assume how the Stepmother pretended to be nice to Cinderella and her Father with her polite and well-mannered charm and grace (I mean look how she uses it to suck up to the Grand Duke later in the film), I still find it interesting that none of them have ever caught on to her evil. I mean seriously, just look at the Stepmother's family, they don't at all look friendly. But I suppose that manipulation has to be one of her best traits, since she uses it very well on Cinderella. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
Anyway, in the scene that follows after her first on-screen introduction, it's revealed that her true evil and selfish nature are shown after the death of Cinderella’s Father. And as Cinderella is crying her eyes out on her Father's death-bed, the Stepmother and her daughters are standing in the dark corner of the room, as she's shown to be smiling instead of crying. Now I maybe reading a little too deep into this, but judging by her wicked smile, the way she stares at Cinderella and her Father out the window, and how the Father just so happens to suddenly die after marrying her, a part of me feels like that she may have had a hand in his death. I know many people just see that evil grin as a way of her expressing joy that she has total control over Cinderella and the fortune. But I don't know, it just seems a little too convenient that the Father died of a (most likely) illness after marrying this villain, when he already seemed to look perfectly healthy when we last saw him with Cinderella; and considering that the Stepmother is a slimy character who can think of ways to subtly outwit someone, it does seem possible that she could have poisoned him or something. I'm not saying it’s the case since the film never claims that she killed him, but the vagueness of the Father's death and the Stepmother's back-story does leave it open enough for our own personal interpretation.
Now that she has the money and has to take care of Cinderella, what does she do? She wastes all the money on her daughters to give them a rich and glamorous life, as she brainwashes Cinderella to serve her like a slave from dusk till dawn. Why is she so cruel to Cinderella? Because she never gave birth to her, and is jealous that she's better than her daughters. And man does she love to work her death. When we first see the Stepmother in present time, we hear her voice telling Cinderella to come over to her bed, in a dark bedroom where the light of the windowpane reflecting on Cinderella looks like she's behind bars in a prison. And as the Stepmother's cat leaps on to her shadowy bed, and crawls into the darkness, we see both of their menacing eyes appear out of the shadows, to suddenly seeing her pet her cat like a Bond villain as she lifelessly glares at Cinderella without even blinking. God is that a chilling scene. What follows during the scene is she gives Cinderella more chores because one of her daughter's thought she pulled a prank on her. But let's be honest, even if she knew that Cinderella wouldn't be foolish enough to do something mean to her or her daughters, she would probably just flood her with chores anyway because she has a B.S. reason that she can use against her. And instead of just flat out yelling at her to do more chores for her false action, she just calmly fixes her tea, and politely but tauntingly tells her what to do, as she will occasionally just shout at her for whenever she gets interrupted or wants to make her demands clear as she stares at her with those intense eyes. Another trait that's interesting about the Stepmother is even though she controls Cinderella's life, she never physically abuses her, or just flat out says "no" to her face. When Cinderella stands up for herself claiming that she's allowed to go to the ball, rather than just simply saying "You can't go", or violently throwing her out of the room for stepping out of her place; she allows her to go if she can finish her chores and find something to wear, only to just give her more stuff to do leaving her with no time to make her dress at all, as she and her daughters giggle behind her back.
Her daughters Drizella and Anastasia may not have the charm and class as their Mother does, but they still are just as mean as their Mother is to Cinderella, who are both equally jealous of her as well because of her beauty, talent, and kindness. They're flat out ugly with their big noses, giant sized feet and freakishly large asses. They aren't anywhere near musically gifted. And their manners and self-control is completely dysfunctional, since they are always seen yelling and bickering at each other. But as heavily flawed as they are, their Mother still tries her hardest to make them look and act as perfect as Cinderella is with her undying patience and determination. But even she too loses her cool on a few occasions, especially how she yells and bangs on the piano keyboards when Cinderella interrupts the music lesson she gives them, after telling them about self-control. The Stepsisters themselves also aid their Mother to make Cinderella's life miserably, such as making fun of her, giving her more chores to do, and blaming her for things that she didn't do. Only instead of being subtle with their hatred towards Cinderella like their Mother, they yell at her and forcefully tell her what to do at every chance they get. The worst thing they do to Cinderella out of everything I just mentioned is when they tare her dress apart. The Stepmother of course doesn't say "rip her dress apart" or "oh look girls, she's using the pieces of clothes that you threw away". She just subtly gives the Stepsisters the word to sabotage her dress by commenting on the things she used to make her dress, and asking what her daughters think of the dress. That's it. The scene of the Stepsisters violently ripping off her dress by the way, almost feels like a rape scene. The Stepmother walks uncomfortably close to Cinderella with a rape like face, and the editing and pacing for when the Stepsister's destroy her dress looks pretty disturbing. Actually, the scene itself also looks like something out of a zombie movie, because the way the Stepsister's just surround Cinderella and attack her reminds me of zombies ripping off a person's flesh. After when the Stepmother calmly tells them to stop as Cinderella is standing in the middle of the room wearing a ripped-up dress (did I mention that it belonged to her late Mother), the Stepmother adds insult to injury by cruelly bidding her "Good night" with a cheerful grin.
As if having a wicked Stepmother, and two spoiled Stepsisters controlling Cinderella's life isn’t enough of a burden for her, the cat also takes part in making her life miserable. He makes more messes for Cinderella to clean up, tries to prevent Cinderella's mice friends from helping her, and loves to see Cinderella get in trouble just as much as her Stepsister's do. But as much as he likes to cause mischief toward Cinderella, he spends most of his time going after the mice then he is with making her life a living hell. His method to kill the mice is mostly based on stealth by slowly and silently sneaking up on his victim and devouring the mouse when the time is right. The best example that show's his method is when he sneaks up on poor Gus, as he ignores Jaq's attempts from pulling on his fur. That moment when Gus stares right inside his open jaws as he lets out a lion roar is easily his scariest moment in the film. And if it wasn't for Jaq's quick actions, Gus would have been breakfast. The cat does however chase after his prey when they're in plain sight, but that's usually when they're cornered or if they piss him off right in front of him. And just like later great evil felines of the Disney villains rogue's gallery like Shere Khan and Scar, he too is just as quick and slick as they are, as he enjoys fiddling around with his claws. The only few major differences are he's a supporting character, he doesn't talk, and on top of it, he acts more devilish than he acts just as classy as them, or hell even his owner. Look at that grin on his face, its more sinister and evil than any of the other Disney felines in the cannon. He enjoys causing mischief and watching people suffer so much that it seems like that's his only joy in life (aside from being praised). He's so evil and devil-like that he's even given one of the many the names of Satan, which is Lucifer. I can totally see this cat sitting on Satan's lap being petted as he watches people being tortured in the fires of hell with glee.
If you were to ask anybody what the Stepmother's scariest scene in the whole entire movie is, chances are that 99% of the people you ask will say the scene when she realizes that Cinderella was the lady who danced with the Prince at the ball. Just how she squints her evil eyes as the picture begins to darken and that everything suddenly goes to silence, where the only sense of light or color in the scene are her bright green eyes is chilling to bone. Every time I see that moment I get goosebumps for how unsettling she looks, and how all the life in that scene just seems to be drained out because of that stare. Actually, the whole scene where she creeps up the stairs to lock Cinderella in her room to prevent her from being with the Prince is a scary scene in general. Just watching the way she slowly walks in the shadows with an emotionless stare as the music goes from eerie, to dramatic is just as horrifying as watching a horror monster like Nosferatu creep around in a dark and shadowy Gothic environment.
When Cinderella does escape from her room, and runs down the stairs to wear the slipper, the Stepmother makes one final attempt of keeping her as a slave by simply tripping the footman carrying the glass slipper which causes it to shatter on the floor. The cruel thing about this move is not only will Cinderella remain as her slave, but the Grand Duke and the footman are more than likely up for a beheading from the hot tempered King. And what does she do as the Duke is crying and fearing for his life; she just stands there with a smile that says "Oh well, sucks for you". But as luck would have it, Cinderella still has the other slipper, and the look of shock from the Stepmother when she sees the slipper is just priceless. Usually most Disney villains would get a big and climatic defeat that mostly leads to death. But with her on the other hand, her defeat is just summed up by that one look where everything she had is now suddenly lost. We don't even see her again after she makes that face, which is what makes this simple defeat so efficient.
The Stepmother may not have magical powers (at least without counting the sequels), an army of minions or soldiers, a big motivation, or even a climatic defeat like many other Disney villains. But that's what makes her such a unique villain. The fact that she has total control over someone's life is unbelievably cruel. Her lack of anger and outbursts where she mostly just stands there smiling and acting elegantly is unsettling and helps make her actions seem unpredictable. The moments that she does get where she yells and looks mad are terrifying to the point where you don't want to set her off again. And to have her daughters and pet cat assist her with her abuse towards Cinderella are more than enough to make her life hell on earth.
"It was upon the untimely death of this good man, however, that the stepmother's true nature was revealed: cold, cruel, and bitterly jealous of Cinderella's charm and beauty, she was grimly determined to forward the interests of her own two awkward daughters."
-Narrator
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