Glenn Close noticed something weird about mothers in Disney films

Glenn Close, who played puppy killer Cruella DeVil in the 1996 classic movie 101 Dalmations, revealed something interesting that she has noticed about Disney movies when it comes to witches and mothers. 

Glenn Close recently took part in an Actors on Actors segment with Saturday Night Live star Pete Davidson. While the two might seem like a strange pairing, they made for an exciting duo as they discussed each other's most famous roles. 

The interview had many hilarious moments, like when Pete incorrectly assumed that Glenn was British and discussed their bad outfit decisions, including a purple bucket hat worn by Pete.

However, there was one particularly interesting moment when Glenn discussed something that she had noticed about Disney movies...

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Pete asked Glenn why she chose to take on the role of Cruella Devil in the 1996 and 2000 101 Dalmation Movies. 

Glenn revealed that she had always been a fan of Disney movies growing up. She stated, "When I was little I was really enamored with fairytales and event the darkest, weirdest ones, I loved fairytales."

She elaborated and said, "I also grew up on — cos I'm so old ‚ on things like Bambi and Snow White." She suggested that both of these films follow a similar plot structure. Glenn said, "They were about the children going to a dark place and then they're rescued."

Then the actress made an astute observation about Disney films, "I noticed as the years went on, that you have to remove the mother in order to have anything happen to the children."

She noticed there is no space for a mother or a real maternal figure in nearly every Disney movie, only unobservant fathers and evil step-mothers — or witches. She went on to say, "You can have a clueless father, you can have a distant father. Like in Bambi the father is distant and in the Little Mermaid the dad is clueless."

This statement is just as true about the movies made in the 20th Century that Glenn mentions as it is today. Still, huge Disney movies, including Frozen (released in 2013), show the mother being killed early in the film. Also, films such as Beauty and the Beast, both the 1991 cartoon and the 2017 remake starring Emma Watson, have no mothers and instead feature a "clueless" father.

Glenn continued and said that being the villain and the "danger" enticed her to the role of Cruella in 101 Dalmation. She stated, "The witches are really important, they are what everyone is rescued from, so Cruella was a classic witch."

She continued saying that she was overjoyed that she was offered the part, "And I was just thrilled, because of my childhood, to do a witch for Disney!"

Glenn also revealed in the interview that she was able to keep much of Cruella's impressive wardrobe. She said, "I got in my contract in the very beginning of 101 that I got to keep all my costumes." She laughed as she told Pete, "when they found out how expensive they[the costumes] were, they were unhappy that it was in my contract!"