cruella: punk icon or corporate monster
Video Essay · Film & Cultural Analysis
A critical video essay exploring how Cruella transforms the visual language of punk rebellion into spectacle, self branding and individual power.
PROJECT
Cruella: Punk Icon or Corporate Monster?
FORMAT
Video Essay
ROLE
Research · Writing · Editing · Visual Analysis
FOCUS
Film · Fashion · Punk · Representation
YEAR
2026
This video essay examines how Cruella uses the visual language of punk to construct rebellion, identity and spectacle.
The project considers whether the film genuinely engages with punk’s anti establishment values, or repackages those aesthetics into a highly individualised and commercially controlled form of rebellion.
Watch the Video Essay
Critical Focus
Punk as Visual Language
How costume, typography, colour and performance borrow from punk aesthetics.
Rebellion as Spectacle
How dissent is transformed into highly staged, image driven moments.
Identity & Power
How the film shifts rebellion away from collective politics and toward individual ambition, branding and visibility.
From Analysis to Edit
The video essay combines film clips, graphic references and voiceover analysis to build the argument visually as well as academically. Editing, pacing and image juxtaposition were used to connect fashion, spectacle and character identity throughout the piece.