Madame Medusa

[Disney's Divinity]

The discussion topic for Madame Medusa from The Rescuers.

Medusa is a very good villain in intention, but not so much in execution. She does many things that are incredibly despicable, such as her risking an orphan's life to get a diamond or her demeaning that noone would want Penny as a daughter. However, her expressions, words and design are quite horrible and keep you from taking her seriously. Well, maybe I should explain myself better: I like Medusa's design with the regular dress, but when she changes into her boots and coat when she's driving, she looks too comical. And I think Medusa is very much overacted--not by the voice, but in animation. She just ends up looking like "white trash," imo.

Overall, I'm left with a bitter taste in my mouth with this villain. Medusa starts off with so much potential, so that, by the end of the film, it's depressing to see how much was wasted with this character.

Other thoughts?

[skippy]

Medusa comes off as a Cruella Deville without the menace.

I can't remember where I read it, but I remember reading about the idea of using Cruella in "The Rescuers" being tossed about at one time.

To me, Medusa just comes off flat like most of the 70's Disney animated classics.

[Flanger-Hanger]

The Rescuers "flat"!? GASP!

It was The Disney Villains that mentioned Cruella as a choice for the bad broad in the film, but was rejected because they didn't want to do a sequel (ironically, The Rescuers Down Under was their first sequel).

I still lover her, even if she may seem a bit too comic at times. Her relationship with her pet alligators is great and so is her horrid treatment of Penny (emotionally and physically). She may seem funny at times but I still believe that she's a great character in design and voice (Geraldine Page).

[goofystitch]

Disney Lost and Found goes fairly in depth about the stages of development for The Rescuers and the use of Cruela as the villain was from an early version of the film that didn't include Penny.

I like Madam Medusa. Is she white trash? Yes. Why is that a bad thing? She's a villain. You are supposed to not like her. I think it was intended for her to be a comical villain. Her makeup and wardrobe are ridiculous and so are her mannerisms. Her voice is also pretty over the top. My favorite part of the whole movie is when she answers her phone "Madam Medusa's Pawn Shop and Botique!" I also love how she treats poor spineless Snoops.

What they failed to do was strike a balance. Cruela DeVil is comical, but she can be scary when necessary. I think that's where Medusa fails. She is comical, but the menace is never properly conveyed. She's mean, but the audience doesn't fully feel hatred towards her. Instead, you just feel really really bad for Penny.

[Disney's Divinity]

I like Madam Medusa. Is she white trash? Yes. Why is that a bad thing? She's a villain. You are supposed to not like her. I think it was intended for her to be a comical villain.

Yes, she's a villain and you're not supposed to like villains. However, you are supposed to enjoy them and Medusa fails at that for me. Comedy is not a bad attribute for a villain, but when it dominates the character and prevents you from taking the villain seriously, you have a problem.

[singerguy04]

The light i've always seen her in was that she was a crook and never a full out evil villain. Medusa is that kind of gal that would get a blurb in the newspaper if she was ever caught, whereas Cruella would be nationwide headlines!

There's just not a lot about Medusa that really makes her stand out as a bad gal.

[yukitora]

Wasn't Medusa intended to be a "crueller, generally better" version of Cruella. According to the 101 Dalmatian dvd or the Rescuers dvd.

[goofystitch]

Disney's Divinity wrote:

Yes, she's a villain and you're not supposed to like villains. However, you are supposed to enjoy them and Medusa fails at that for me. Comedy is not a bad attribute for a villain, but when it dominates the character and prevents you from taking the villain seriously, you have a problem.

Really? Because Yzma is my second favorite villain for that reason.

[pap64]

Wasn't Medusa intended to be a "crueller, generally better" version of Cruella. According to the 101 Dalmatian dvd or the Rescuers dvd.

Yeah, Medusa's animator created her in order to compete with Marc Davis's Cruella, to see if he could top Marc with his animation.

He did a good job, but Cruella is Cruella. No villain can top her. She is unique in her own way.

[PrincePhillipFan]

I personally always enjoyed Medusa's character, even though she might not be the most menacing villain in Disney's pantheon. She might be rather comical at times, or not as menacing as the magical ones, but she still has her own dose of nastiness. The one simple line she states "Why would anyone want a homely little girl like you?" just makes you feel crushed for poor Penny, and the emotional neglect and abuse she has to be forced through. While she may not be menacing in presence like Cruella, or have physical powers, to me she still comes off strong as being a scary figure who can be real in this word, with carelessness for her streak of emotional and physical abuse to children.

[DisneyFanatic]

She just ends up looking like "white trash," imo.

I agree...However, this is one of my least favorite Disney movies...Something about this film doesn't work for me. I agree with others that her harsh words about no one wanting Penny and the general neglect that she experiences is sad...but not enough for me to like the movie.

[yukitora]

I often mix Mad Madame Mim (or Nim, or whatever it actually it) and Medusa together, which adds to goofiness to her character.

However when I saw the film, I did find her menacing character quite powerful. The film was great in that it did not overplay or exaggerate the cruelness. In fact, it underplayed it, so when we realise how Penny had actually been treated it did feel really dark.

[Lazario]

I absolutely love and adore the film. But agreed that Medusa is perhaps the weakest Disney villain I can think of. Perhaps though, that doesn't matter. The story doesn't really call for someone who would actually shoot people, or, like rub out their cigarettes on Penny's arm or something that nasty. She has a wonderfully comedic voice and is fun enough to watch in scenes where is constantly thwarted in all her villainous activity. She just can't do anything right.

[Disney's Divinity]

Really? Because Yzma is my second favorite villain for that reason.

No offense, but I don't think these two films are similar enough to compare. TENG is a comedy and the fact that you can take Yzma even a little more seriously than the other characters in that movie proves she's doing a better job (even when she's a cat, she has more presence because that doesn't stop her from scratching Kuzko to death. ). The Rescuers has a more serious tone, so having Medusa be more comedic than the other main characters (Penny, Bianca and Bernard) kind of takes aways from her, imo.

[goofystitch]

I agree with you there. Yzma plays better to the rest of TENG than Medusa's ridiculous mannerisms in The Rescuers.

[Goliath]

Well, she *is* 'white trash', as far as I'm concerned. She only pretends she's so much better, with her dresses and lust for diamonds. But ultimately, she's a phoney.

What sums up Medusa to me, is the scene where she's plucking her eyelashes in front of a mirror and she calls Penny to talk to her. Just the way she's doing the plucking show you what kind of a woman she is: she tries to come across as decent, but it's just posing, because she's nasty and doesn't care for anybody but herself.

And while other villains from other Disney films have done far more evil/impressive things, I think Medusa had the most impact on both me and her victim. That happens when she says to Penny: "what makes you think anynobe would want a homely little girl like you?" You can see she breaks Penny with that one remark. Penny is only 7 or 8 years old and Medusa has already broken her spirit. (Thankfully, not for long, as Bernard and Bianca show up not long after.)

It is said in the 'Making of' on the dvd of One Hundred and One Dalmatians that Milt Kahl was jealous of Marc Davis' assignment of Cruella De Vill and that he had vowed to create an evil female villain one day that would "blow Cruella away". Madam Medusa was his shot at it, I think.

What they failed to do was strike a balance. Cruela DeVil is comical, but she can be scary when necessary. I think that's where Medusa fails. She is comical, but the menace is never properly conveyed. She's mean, but the audience doesn't fully feel hatred towards her. Instead, you just feel really really bad for Penny.

I thought she was menacing. Especially in the scene as described above, but also in the scene where she grabs teddy from Penny's hands and holds her back with her foot and she forces Penny into the cave. The other scene in which she shows her evil side is when she is threatning Penny and her accomplice Snoops with a shotgun.

I'd say there definitly is a balance. I'd like to know more about 'Disney Lost and Found' you mentioned. Is it a book? Who wrote it? Is it a website?

[goofystitch]

Goliath wrote:

I'd say there definitly is a balance. I'd like to know more about 'Disney Lost and Found' you mentioned. Is it a book? Who wrote it? Is it a website?

It's an awesome book that highlights rare and never before seen artwork from Disney films. Its all about deleted scenes (mostly from The Black Cauldron) and two never made films called My Peoples and Wild Life. The Rescuers is used as an example for how a story can go through multiple versions and end up very far from where it started in the final product.

[Goliath]

It's an awesome book that highlights rare and never before seen artwork from Disney films. Its all about deleted scenes (mostly from The Black Cauldron) and two never made films called My Peoples and Wild Life. The Rescuers is used as an example for how a story can go through multiple versions and end up very far from where it started in the final product.

Thanks! Who wrote it? And can you name the publisher? I want to get my hands onto it.

[Elladorine]

Is this it? http://www.amazon.com/Disney-Lost-Found ... 378&sr=8-1

[goofystitch]

Yep, that's it. It's written by Charles Solomon and published by Disney Editions.