By Park Cooper and Barb Lien-Cooper
This post contains SPOILERS for the wonderful spooky films THE CAT PEOPLE and CURSE OF THE CAT PEOPLE! So you should very probably consider going and watching them first if you haven’t already!
Okay, here we go:
When adults don’t care enough to save a child, what option does the child have but to save herself?
The Curse of the Cat People is a sequel to the film The Cat People.
At the very start of the movie Curse of the Cat People, the movie’s main character, Amy Reed, seems to be a sweet, imaginative little six-year-old. Yet, as the audience watches, they quickly come to realize that Amy, simply by being Amy, causes issues with adult authority figures, particularly Amy’s father. Instead of letting Amy’s personality develop at its own pace, her father keeps trying to change Amy’s identity from that of an introverted, imaginative child to an extroverted, sociable child.
Amy’s parents are named Oliver and Alice Reed, two of the main characters in The Cat People. To be very brief: in the first movie, Oliver was married to a woman named Irena, who claimed that she could never consummate their marriage, as Irena believed if she did, she was cursed to turn into a panther and kill her husband. Frustrated, Oliver started having an emotional affair with a woman at his workplace, Alice. Because of Irena’s personal problems, the movie wishes the audience to forgive the adulterous behaviors of Oliver and Alice. At the end of The Cat People, Irena conveniently died, clearing the way for Oliver and Alice to get married.
In Curse of the Cat People, the flaws in their character hinted at in the first film have continued. They seem to have learned nothing from the tragedies they witnessed (and arguably caused) in The Cat People. While Alice would like to put the past in the past, Oliver is projecting his unresolved feelings towards Irena onto Amy. Oliver believes that Amy’s dreamy, unfocused nature is a sign that, like his first wife Irena, Amy is on a road to insanity. Oliver believes that, by indulging in harmless childhood fantasies, that Amy is retreating from reality, and will end up unable to have healthy relationships with others. He believes that Amy’s worldview is an attitude that must be changed, by force, if necessary. The real problem, of course, is Oliver. He’s spoiled, undeservedly privileged, vindictive, controlling, and projects his fears and frustrations onto others.
While Oliver sees Amy as an almost strange, unearthly creature, we know that, in spite of Amy’s young age and fanciful nature, Amy is not a cowardly, passive person. Amy will stand up for Amy thinks is right. For instance, near the start of the film, Amy slaps a little boy for killing a butterfly. At first, Amy, being a sweet child, takes Oliver’s constant criticisms to heart. While she wishes on her birthday candles, Amy wishes to be an extroverted, sociable little girl like her father wants, but her attempts end in failure. It is not up to a child to conform to her father’s expectations. Instead, it is up to parents to accept their children the way that their children are. Realizing that her father is nothing but harsh to Amy, later, Amy wishes for a friend. Amy gets her wish. The friend that Amy wishes for turns out to be an idealized version of Irena.
Irena’s unconditional love and acceptance helps Amy develop into a less shy, more assertive child. For instance, when one young girl looks down her nose at Amy for not knowing that it’s “proper” to open presents on Christmas Eve instead of Christmas Day, Amy is unimpressed. “I guess we’re just not proper,” says Amy, making light of the other child’s judgmental nature. Furthermore, when Oliver finds out that Amy’s imaginary friend looks like Irena, an irate Oliver tries to get Amy to insist that she doesn’t see Irena, even though Irena is standing in the backyard. Oliver, who’s previously falsely accused Amy of lying about other things, wants Amy to lie to him, because it would make him feel afraid. Amy refuses to lie to her father, even though Irena motions to her and encourages Amy to save herself and lie about their friendship. Amy, however, is through with trying to say or do whatever will make others happy, including her father. Amy father spanks Amy for daring to see the world differently than Oliver does. Oliver is, through corporal punishment, is trying to squelch Amy’s bravery and independence in order to make Amy conform to Oliver’s limited world view. Irena tells Amy that Irena will have to leave now, in order to protect Amy from further punishment, since it’s been proven that Amy will never deny their friendship. Then, as soon as the backs of the adults in the house are turned, Amy grabs her coat and goes out into the snowfall to find Irena again.
This journey has various dangers– cars that might not see Amy on the road, falling asleep outside and freezing to death, and even being murdered by Barbara Farren, a woman who is jealous of Amy’s friendship with her mother Julia Farren, an old mentally-unwell woman who doesn’t believe that Barbara is really her daughter. She loses the desire to kill Amy in jealousy because Amy sees Irena standing where Barbara is standing, and Amy walks up and embraces “her friend.” Amy sees in Barbara the same good person that Irena represents– a “cat woman,” like Irena– a woman who has been driven by lack of acceptance from others to the edge of madness, but who is really good inside, especially if true, unconditional acceptance from just one person can make her understand her true nature. Amy gave that acceptance to Irena, Irena (and perhaps Barbara’s mother Julia) gave it to Amy, and now Amy gives unconditional acceptance to Barbara, saving both of them. Back at home, Oliver tells Amy that he’s learned a lesson, and that he’ll accept what Amy says whether he can see Irena or not (he can’t, although he also doesn’t try to look at the right spot). Amy smiles, tells her father once again the truth– that she still sees Irena in the back yard– and Oliver accepts it, and takes Amy inside.
At first, the audience might feel that Oliver’s newfound acceptance is as flimsy as his own character virtues, and that this happy ending won’t really last. However, upon reflection, the audience should realize that this isn’t Oliver’s story: it’s Amy’s. So what if Oliver might not be so understanding and accepting later? Amy’s already gotten what she wanted– a friend, yes, but also the unconditional acceptance that should have come from her parents, but which she’s found anyway in spite of them. Amy has gone from a good little girl who was on the path of being driven insane by her father’s judgement and her mother’s enabling Oliver to be a bad parent, to a strongly independent little girl who refuses to lie to make others happy, a little girl who can stand up for herself. Her actions in Curse of the Cat People prove that even if, later in life, Oliver once again turns into a “my house, my rules” type of parent, Amy Reed will once again be ready to grab her coat and leave, unafraid to face the world without parental help, buoyed up by the self-confidence that’s come from self-acceptance.