Surfing through YouTube and I came across a Film Theory video from about a year ago:
This reminded me of a lengthy discussion my late mum and I had about the exact same subject many years ago (c. 2009? I was still in school either way) about the original stage show. Whether or not this was Andrew Lloyd Webber’s, or T.S. Eliot’s, intention – which I don’t think it was since this show is pretty much supposed to be 90% random nonsense about cats, 10% sorta plot around Grisabella trying to get back in with the cult Jellicles – but, thanks to ‘death of the author’, we needn’t care if it was intended or not.
Not sure how we got onto the subject, but I think it unfurled from chatting about Milton’s Paradise Lost and the character of Satan. From there, we moved on to discussions about other literary portrayals of the Devil, such as Christopher ‘Kit’ Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus. Chatting about Faust’s deal with Mephistophilis – weirdly – led to us talking about the musical Cats. Y’know, given there’s a a little cats whose Jellicle/Secret Identity is a corruption of that demon’s name. It made sense at the time, I think.
Either way, I remember asking her whether she thought Old Deuteronomy might be the true villain, and Macavity might be trying to snap the cats out of their brainwashing. Her answer?
“Well, while a lot of what they do is just cats being cats, but it’s obvious that the Jellicles ARE a death cult.”
The Jellicles described as small (i.e. runts), yet Old Deuteronomy is almost always portrayed as a very large cat. He is also aided and abetted by two other large cats, the charismatic Munkustrap and Rum Tum Tugger. These two act as enforcers and the other adult cats always follow their lead.
When Grisabella comes shambling in, Munk and Tugger are always the first to respond negatively to her. She strayed from the cult, and thus she is effectively dead to them, so they don’t want her near the kittens and juniors so they know what fate awaits them if they were stray. The only adult who usually attempts to touch her is Demeter, but she never manages because, in some ways, she fears the rejection herself.
Mum also noted that if you look at the main young cats – the kittens Jemima (or Sillabub, depending on the production) and Victoria, and the pubescent Quaxo (i.e. Magical Mr. Mistoffelees) – each represents different examples of children raised in or around cults, and each is at different points of indoctrination.
Jemima was first was likely born into the cult and recognises the perfect ‘sacrifice’ almost as quickly as Old Deuteronomy does, while Victoria is likely a new recruit, (as she is essentially ‘invited’ by Quaxo at the start of the musical) and ends up being coerced into an orgy before ultimately the one who ‘selects’ the sacrifice when Old Deuteronomy essentially gives her the clear.
Finally, we have Quaxo — otherwise known as the Magical Mr. Mistoffelees. The Best Cat! In more ways than one… a young adult, or Junior, he’s not much older than Victoria but is clearly in a little deeper with the cult. “He’s being groomed for leadership,” Mum suggested. He gets rewarded with a little responsibility here and there, (like inviting Victoria to the Ball, bringing in the Jennyanydots and Bustopher Jones), before having his skills used and abused to save the cult leader. All from the one cat who doesn’t buy Old Deuteronomy’s crap and tries desperately to ‘rescue’ Demeter. Quaxo is considered to be such a prodigy because he’s their best defence against the ‘evil’ Macavity. They big him up because he’s useful, but also to ensure he never wants to leave, calling him by this Jellicle name.
Needless to say, I never saw the show the same way again. Like you said, this isn’t really a theory. It’s a perfectly valid reading of what’s going on. The fact this incredibly clumsy film still retains a cult aspect shows how baked in it is.
Scarlettpeony Writes 