A lot of observers of the trailer of Cats the Movie are bemused by it. They don’t know what it is about. The original stage version was somewhat mystifying. But the general commentary on Cats the Movie is that it is weird and incomprehensible. They wonder why Tom Hooper decided to direct it. Well, he has updated it to make it about modern societal issues: an inclusive society incorporating a diverse range of individuals who demand respect.
Tom Hooper is the director and he has a pedigree on directing this sort of movie having directed Les Miserables which was acclaimed.
Tom says this about Cats the Movie:
“It is a story about inclusion and redemption”.
What can we read into that? Bearing in mind that this is an updated version of Cats and that it reflects modern viewpoints about society I will speculate and say that it is about the inclusion of people on the fringes of society and the redemption of those who forced them to the fringes.
I am referring to LBGTI individuals and others. With respect to sexuality, there is a huge diversity of individuals in society. They are all normal. All of them deserve equal respect. For centuries people who are ‘different’ were seen as outsiders, people to be shunned and forced to the fringes of society. Nowadays there is a strong movement to bring them into mainstream society and make them insiders. This is correct, fair and just.
Society has changed and society needs to be redeemed. The people who manage society, the establishment, are the ones who are being redeemed.
That’s what I think you will see in the movie. It will be a movie about respecting diversity. The hugely diverse nature of humans. All of them deserve respect and all should be part of mainstream society. I am repeating myself…..sorry.
Note: LBGTI stands for ‘lesbian, bi-sexual, gay, transgender and intersex’. They are all normal people like anyone else. That’s what inclusion means.
