Upamanyu Biswas
Directed by Marc Webb, ‘Gifted’ follows a former Boston University professor, Frank Adler, who lives with his niece, Mary, in his small house in St. Petersburg, Florida. Despite being a math prodigy, Mary is raised in an average, down-to-earth setting by Frank, who hopes that she can live as normal a life as possible. While she socializes with a few friends at her local elementary school, Mary’s closest companion is her cat, Fred. The feline pet and the young girl share a special bond that is pivotal to her happiness. However, challenges surface later in the narrative as Mary’s maternal grandmother, Evelyn, enters the frame and reveals her distaste for the animal owing to her allergies! SPOILERS AHEAD.
Fred is Rescued From Adoption By Frank
Fred is a one-eyed cat in ‘Gifted’ who is very important to Mary. The cat often becomes an integral plot element as the story spirals into a custody battle between Frank and Evelyn, Mary’s grandmother, over the guardianship of the young girl. When Evelyn enters Mary and Frank’s lives, she soon makes it clear that she does not like Fred because of her cat allergy. However, as long as Mary lives with Frank, her uncle is wholly supportive of their bond and ensures that she grows up with him. This becomes troublesome when Mary moves into a foster home, where Evelyn starts taking over various aspects of the young girl’s life. Subsequently, Fred is put up for adoption by Mary’s foster parents against her wishes. Thankfully, Frank manages to save the cat before he leaves the adoption center.
In many ways, the cat becomes a symbolic marker of the raging battle between Frank and Evelyn. The latter’s allergy to cats can be viewed as a personification of her disapproval of Frank’s parenting style, whereas for Mary’s uncle, nothing is more important than keeping the young girl and her cat together. The moment Fred is put up for adoption, Frank makes up his mind about extricating Mary from her grandmother’s clutches and raising her on his own. Therefore, in a roundabout manner, the final reconciliation between Frank and Mary only happens because of Fred, albeit the feline companion may be unaware of his grand influence over the narrative.
Screenwriter Tom Flynn stated that the inspiration for Fred the Cat came from a real-life source. During a visit to an adoption center, he and his wife picked up a real one-eyed cat who wrapped his paws around his wife’s neck. Flynn was struck by the encounter and based Fred on the real cat. Even though the narrative throws a few curveballs at Fred’s companionship with Mary, the feline animal manages to return to his owners safe and sound by the film’s end.
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