Is Mr. Incredible evil? From a deontological standpoint, the answer is interestingly yes. Deontological ethics states “the morality of an action [is] based on the action’s adherence to a rule or rules”(Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). From watching The Incredibles, we quickly find out Mr. Incredibles is not one to also follow the rules — I mean he did send his boss to the hospital. In the film, the government has banned superheroes from utilizing their super power thereby forcing them to live in secrecy. Mr. Incredible rejects this verdict and instead tags along with his side kick, Frozone, on superhero activities from time to time. In fact, it is Mr. Incredible arguably selfish and “evil” decision to meet with Mirage that almost resulted in the death of his family (since it was a Disney movie of course the superheroes never die).
Violet, on the other hand, possesses the most good. She always want to oblige by the rules of her mother. As instructed by her mother, she rarely utilized her powers and begins to resent that side of her. For instance, during the plane crash scene Violent finds it difficult to use the superpowers she had initially kept hidden. In the scene, Mrs. Incredibles desperately cries out for her daughter, Violet, to create a force field that would protect their plane. Violet panicky retorts “but you said we weren’t supposed to use our powers!” and is not able to make the force field. However, as Violet’s mother changes the rules regarding superpower usage Violet feels comfortable enough to utilize her superpower
There was one thought that stuck with me throughout this viewing of The Incredibles and it was something I had never noticed or fully understood as a child. That was the sheer amount of violence and dark themes throughout the film. From the get go, we see a man attempting suicide who later says, “You didn’t save my life. You ruined my death!” Suicide is a pretty heavy theme for a children’s movie. Also in the beginning we see protestors with signs against “supers” and even burning a dummy of one. It’s subtle but a pretty scary image if one considers some of the real life parallels we see even to this day. Later in the film we see view a rapid series of deaths as heroes are brought to their doom by their own capes. Most of these deaths are pretty brutal, and we see a surprising amount on screen. While it is true that Disney has had it array of violent deaths, these usually are reserved for the evil antagonist and/or deeply emotional scenes. This montage of death is solely the death of heroes and is done so for humor. Then there is the more subtle increase in the death toll, when Bob sees the files of the “terminated” heroes. We sit with Bob as he learns of the deaths of many of his old friends and then experiences the, though false, death of his family. After their plane is blown out of the sky, Helen tells the children that the bad guys will ruthlessly hunt and kill them. To top of this series of violent themes, we witness the villain’s death, as he is dragged into the plane turbine and struggles to escape its blades. While it is true that Pixar films tend to have some adult, violent, and even dark themes, this film is particularly gruesome because its cast is completely human. Many of these things went over my head when I saw them as a child, but as an adult it is slightly unnerving.
It’s funny that one of the prompts for tonight asked about genre because when Mrs. Incredible was on the way to save her husband, I literally caught myself thinking that this movie was such a stereotypical superhero movie. From the action scenes to the undertones, questions about identity, deceit and butt-kicking frequent this text and make the tropes within it all the more interesting. Action/Adventure is the genre given The Incredibles on Google, and I think that it falls into this category by having the protagonist go on a journey. However, this is where Disney throws in a twist. Rather than a journey solely to defeat an enemy, Mr. Incredibles’ journey is to find his own place and sense of worth and value in the world. Mr. Incredible begins at, from a material perspective, the highest point of his life. He is strong, attractive, has the girl, and is held in the highest acclaim by all of the people in his city, possibly the country. His descent from fame occurs by no fault of his own, and the tragic event that normally takes place to make the protagonist of an adventure film find his reason to begin his quest and cut all ties to his original place of dwelling for the trip, does the opposite and forces him to literally lay his suit aside. Mr. Incredible then has a bad case of adjustment disorder for years after as his hi action, fast paced life is replaced with a mediocre desk job that often asks him to do the opposite of what he’s done all his life. His occupation lies within the corporate side of America, and is portrayed as structured around deceit. Something that I found interesting about this was that all of the suit cases in this movie are made tiny. That makes me wonder if Disney purposefully did this as a statement about how meaningless and insignificant occupations that would require a briefcase are to Mr. Incredible or in general. The initial qualms that Mr. Incredible may have about lying then seem to fade as he starts considering how dissatisfied he is with his life. He begins to pursue interests that are his own rather than thinking about only others. This is similar to how In the beginning, after explaining why he wears a mas, he says that he wishes that the world would just stay saved to make his life a bit easier; the differences now is that he is jumping at every opportunity to “clean up” a mess. On a side note, the question of masks in the super hero genre in general is something that I would like to raise for this movie. Disney plays with the fact that it only takes an eye cover to completely deceive “normal” people. The only costume that would make a face harder to identify is Frozone’s. Mr. Incredible says “Who wants the pressure of being super all the time?” in response to whether or not he has a secret identity. Elastigirl mentions how inconvenient it would be to go to the supermarket dressed up like she is, and says to her children that their identity is their most valuable possession. That makes me wonder why there is a need for a mask in the first place? Is it because it protects the hero from obnoxious targeting? It probably also protects them from enemies like Buddy, psychopathic, obsessive madmen that have a hero complex. Back on topic, Mr. Incredible’s need to both see himself as needed and capable of saving the day lead to the midlife crisis that causes the “second” tragedy. When Gilbert Huph causes Mr. Incredible to lose his temper, the loss of his job catapults the identity search phase of the movie. Thus we follow the progression of Mr. Incredible from the bottom up. Once he pursues a passion for his own fulfillment, his self-maintenance increases, involvement with his family increases, his libido increases, and his overall happiness increases. We then fall back into the super hero trope as the villain that needs to be defeated is Syndrome rather than an unfulfilled life and an impending life crisis.
In my last response, I explored the implications of one’s conscience and how that is expressed through animation, specifically in regards to Winsor McCay’s The Sinking of the Lusitania (1918). McCay’s conscience was evident in his condemnation of the German military machine, focus on American deaths, emotional appeal to action/retaliation, etc. Brad Bird’s The Incredibles (2004) adds more layers to this exploration of the conscience as a transition into the super hero genre and how ethics impact action. First off, the main characters themselves are driven by different purposes. For Mr. Incredible, it seems he is bit caught between a duty-based and consequentialist ethical stance. For him, his personal pursuit of being a superhero falls in line with him fulfilling his aim at creating a better world, working for the “common good.” This seems more consequentialist, as he is putting aside his family and the rest of his life for the final results, which his him being brought back into glory, along with the world being made a safer place.
However, in terms of deontological ethics, this movie poses very interesting questions. Superheroes are famous and revered for the good they do in society, for being able to conquer evils “normal” people otherwise could not. But, this at times leads to backlash, especially when they fail. Like in this film, when superheros were quietly disbanded by the government. In terms of rules and laws, the forces governing them do not allow them to fulfill their moral obligations, and this conflict is very common in the superhero genre. How far will a superhero go to achieve his/her goals? When a government, organization, etc. has set laws against their actions, will they break them? For many superheros, they follow a deontological ethical path, acting through their “code” to bring about justice and defeat evil. But in that code many superheros also have the humility to subject themselves to law and regulation (the superheroes in this film do this with little hesitation). But when that law and regulation prevent them from carrying out their duties to the people, how do they react? How are their ethic codes stretched/broken? Does this create a negative space for the rise of super villians (i.e. Syndrome), and what of their codes? This conflict between superheroes and the law is an interesting ethical area. What do the actions of superheros in reaction to this say about the nature of superheroes? And what does this say of the super hero genre and why it has had such a major cultural impact?
There’s a lot more to explore here in terms of ethics in this film and the superhero genre (and a lot more research for me to do), something I will very much be going deeper into in the animated essay!
The Incredibles is incredible in the way it criticized the superhero genre before the genre even became as prevalent as it is today. The Incredibles was made in 2004 and the only superhero movies to precede it were Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2. These two films foreshadowed the explosion of superhero films but were no near as successful as later superhero films. In superhero films today, much of the plot is interchangeable with another superhero film, not being distinctive enough to stand out from other superhero films. The Incredibles challenges many of the conventions to soon occur, without knowing the exact details of the genre. The Incredibles is able to challenge many tropes of generic superhero films, such masculine characters saving the day solo or ignorance of consequences while performing “duty”. In the end, Elastigirl and the children are the ones saving the day, rescuing Mr. Incredible from Syndrome and stopping the robot. An additional criticism is that Mr. Incredible refuses to stop doing “his duty” even though superheroes are vilified in the new age. This causes a lot of problems for his family, and something he is hardly sorry for. While the film apologizes for his actions, by making it seem as though Mr. Incredible was right for continuing his work, with further thought, it is obvious that if superheroes hadn’t engaged Syndrome, then Syndrome wouldn’t have been able to progress as far as he had.
After watching the Incredibles through the knowledge that this class has given me, I saw a whole new side to it. My first thought was that not only was this a movie shrouded in racism, but Syndome and his mission is similar to that of the Holocaust. He is different than the people he is trying to get rid of, and thus, he continues to search for ways to end them just to better himself. The additional racist tendencies in The Incredibles comes from the society the super heroes are apart of wanting to disband them and make them hide forever. It’s no wonder that Mr. Incredible and Frozone go out to try and save people because they are forced to be someone they are not. The same goes with Dash not being able to go out for sports when it’s all he wants to do. The society that has formed around the super heroes has forced them to want to change who they are and what they want to do just to fit society’s views of them. To me, it is a movie ahead of it’s time. It goes along with many things that people now a days go through every day. It’s very interesting that this is actually what the main family struggles with in most of the movie; accepting and embracing themselves regardless of what society thinks.
I think this movie is really awesome and I can (and did during the screening) quote many different lines from it. I’ve seen it that many times. I’d never really watched it, however, through a more critical lense. The themes that I was able to pick up on in this viewing were quite different from the ideas that I had had about it when seeing it at a younger age. The surface-level idea that comes up multiple times is “Everyone’s special…which is another way of saying no-one is” or “And when everyone’s super, no-one will be.” The idea of exceptionalism is really seen in every event of the film. Mr. Incredible is late for his wedding because he feels the need to act super. He exploits loopholes at his job, listens to police scanner, gets fired, takes up Mirage’s offer, and pretty much does everything he does for the same reason. He feels that it is his personal duty to be super, even at the expense of what society deems is the “greater good.” Ultimately, however, his motivation and the right thing to do line up what with the initiation of Syndrome’s destructive plans, but Incredible in a way caused it by allowing Syndrome to perfect his design. I also wanted to touch on some of the elements that I never really thought of when seeing the movie as a kid, but notice way more now. People die in this movie. Children are abducted. Mr. Incredible seems to be having an affair with his wife. Some of the plot points seem to be rather weighty subject material for a childrens movie. Ultimately, however, I still really think that this is a good movie for what it is. It is thought provoking in its themes and very entertaining in its action.
The ethics of the Incredibles are very interesting, in that one set of values seems to apply to the Supers, while another applies to mere mortals. From the standpoint of deontological ethics, Mr. Incredible acts on a sense of duty to his identity as a Super and duty to the “greater good.” He does this, like the rest of the Supers, with no attention to the consequences of those actions. He indiscriminately kills many, many security guards on Syndrome’s island, which was good, because they were clearly the Bad Guys, and undoubtedly killed innocent people while driving recklessly to confront the robot, which was acceptable, because it was necessary—for the Greater Good. Meanwhile, Syndrome also kills innocent people, but it makes him a Bad Guy, because it wasn’t necessary, or an Extra Bad Guy, because he even kills Supers, and their lives are Extra Important (but not as important as the heterosexual nuclear family unit, right guys?). This idea of a conflict between the rules for most people and the rules for the Exceptional Interventionist occurs over and over in the superhero genre, especially in films like the Dark Knight, so much so that the heroes beg to be read as figures of the Bush administration. The hero/executive is both a part of the judicial order and an exception to it. While the Exceptional Hero/America is tied down by the financial bureaucracy instead of intervening, the Bad Guys proliferate (something which could be read as a criticism of the Clinton administration’s focus on economic policy instead of foreign intervention). Safety is deemed a higher cause than liberty– the liberty of Bad Guys, but also of anyone in the trajectory of a Super’s call to Duty. Syndrome sells weapons to other countries, which is bad not only because of the threat WMDs pose to the Exceptional Hero interventionist’s place of strength internationally, but because in taking away the Supers’ position of exceptionalism, something of fundamental value is lost. Because “when everyone’s Super, no one will be.” There are, I think, many other cues to the neoconservative rhetoric in a film released in a Bush election year, but that’s the general point.
There’s a lot coded in the Incredibles that, like most in this class have suggested, was just not something we ever really picked up on in spite of a shared ability to quote whole sections of the film. There’s the international politics of the film surrounding American Exceptionalism and the Paradox of Sovereignty that the film’s ethics seem to embody. There’s the way the film strays into objectivist philosophy (lol) without really adhering to it (“celebrating mediocrity”). There’s the way the film seems to be hyper-aware of the nuclear family dynamic, but just as it is both aware of the Superhero Genre and engaging in it, it repeatedly enforces the values of that strict dynamic. There’s the film’s strange engagement of feminism, with the “liberated woman” ideas of the very ‘70s interview intro being quickly reversed to a dimensionless, unexplained sacrifice for family, one that dismisses the espoused “empowerment” of the intro (in itself questionable), or the film’s acknowledgement of the ways modern mothers stretch themselves for their families (apparently content to do so), except instead of suggesting the men should share this undue burden of domestic responsibility, it praises the ability and position of the do-it-all stay-at-home mom as an ideal. There’s the way Violet’s body is portrayed, or the way she undergoes a Breakfast Club transformation to get the boy. There’s the way all of their powers are coded by “personality,” but also by a tired gender binary. There’s the film’s lament of a loss or suppression of masculinity. There is a lot—a LOT—going on here.
The Incredibles’ visual ascetic was my favorite component of the film. The 3D rendering of 1950’s golden-era comics is nostalgic, yet sleek; a gleaming homage to a time when America felt more… incredible. The fictional champions created in this time found purpose in intervening on behalf of those less powerful, battling for the greater good. The superheroes’ fall from grace in the film depicted a challenge to this interventionist system of ethics. This challenge was representative of the questions of America’s role as military superpower intervening in nations across the globe in the late 20th and early 21st century. The film uses Syndrome, the primary antagonist, as an emblem of the possibly disastrous ramifications of the heroes’ actions. In the end the movie seems to suggest that interventionists such as the Incredibles will always be necessary, despite the serious consequences of doing so recklessly.
The film also provides commentary on gender politics. The central conflict of the film results from Mr. Incredible’s rashness, and Syndrome’s ego both turns him to evil and undoes him. These two stereotypically male traits are the driving force of the film. This is contrasted with Elastigirl’s nurturing patience and reserved strength. Edna also serves as a representative of feminism, being a self-made woman in a realm dominated by men and encouraging Elastigirl to take charge when she has doubts with her husband. The film ultimately more resembles the male dominated mid-20th century as Elastigirl becomes Mrs. Incredible and Edna ultimately is relegated to being a glorified seamstress. Though both of these roles are ultimately the choice of the characters, it is somewhat regrettable that the film only resolves once Mr. Incredible has embraced his patriarchal role as head of the family/crime fighting team. Mirage’s ultimately revealed role as somewhat of a damsel in distress is a further missed opportunity at portraying as woman as fully in charge of her fate. Though she breaks free from Syndrome when he betrays her, she really only finds redemption while helpless in the arms of Mr. incredible.
The film discusses and engages with ideas that weighed heavily on the American conscience at the time of its making. Unfortunately, the film does little more than acknowledge them. While this is perhaps a symptom of the intended audience of the film being children, the film’s inability to make a definitive statement about the issues I have discussed is still disappointing.
This movie, seems to me to portray Mr. Incredible as similar, if not strictly allegorical to a Vietnam veteran. First of all, the film takes place in the 60’s, the same era as the Vietnam War. Mr. Incredible begins serving for some cause that he believes is a noble one. It should be noted that not all soldiers in Vietnam felt this way, many resented the war, but were forced into the military by the draft. Yet, there were still many that thought the war was just and were honored to fight for their country. Eventually, the public ostracizes Mr. Incredible for his contributions to his country. This mirrors the treatment of returning vets from Vietnam who were often harassed, spit on, and verbally and physically assaulted. He is then forced to live the “American Dream:” shitty nine to five office drudgery, house in the suburbs, wife at home, three kids. He spends most of his day reminiscing about his “war days.” This allegory, however, falls apart when he is called to the island by Syndrome. I sincerely hope that the parallels between Mr. Incredible and the soldiers in Vietnam were only meant to be a nod to the times, rather than a full blown allegory. If they are meant to be strictly allegorical, it seems to me that this film would be a justification and even a glorification of the Vietnam War, even though it was one of the biggest blunders in the history of American foreign policy.
Brad Bird’s The Incredibles does some interesting things with gender dynamics. Right from the get go we see that Elastigirl wants to remain independent while Mr. Incredible wouldn’t mind settling down and raising a family. Their rejection of traditional gender roles has shock value and appears quite scandalous because it is the exact opposite of what one would expect. Back when this film was made, it was more common in our society for women to be dedicated to family while men were more dedicated to their career. The film further subverts gender norms by making Elastigirl strong and capable of handling business. She sneaks onto the base with stealth and fights well despite being out of practice for fifteen years. She also chooses to stand by her husband and fight with him as a team regardless of his protests. Plus, she knows how to fly a jet like a seasoned veteran! Edna Mode is another female character that defies tradition because she is a successful career woman that is anything but submissive. Edna appears quite satisfied with her position in life without fulfilling the roles of mother or wife.
Though The Incredibles goes a long way to subvert gender tropes, it also embraces them. Bob is the sole provider for his family and expects his wife to handle everything concerning the children. He is stubborn, likes to work alone, and is essentially a man’s man. Mirage is the very embodiment of a femme fatale and practically seduces Mr. Incredible to achieve her goals. Elastigirl the independent become Helen the suburbanite stay at home mother of three children. After the time skip, she is driven by her duties as mother and wife. We learn very little about her life outside of the family because family is her everything. She completely gives up on the hero business despite her previous convictions and follows the rules unlike her husband. It is a recurring theme throughout the film that women stick to the rules while the men are defiant. Dash is having trouble at school for misbehaving and Mr. Incredible goes back into the superhero business without permission. Their devious behaviors are excused while Violet’s difficulty with breaking the rules is a moment of weakness and shame.
I think this film does a lot of things incredibly well. Its pretty rare for a film to be this rich with humor while still remembering to tell a compelling story. As someone who writes down scripts all the time, one of my favorite aspects of a good story is threading characters. Its been years since I’ve seen this film, but I always remember Buddy Pine. At the beginning he’s this dork and you kind of feel bad because this kid is such a loser and he doesnt even know it. You initially kind of forget about Buddy, it felt like he would go away. Because of that, when his character is threaded back in its very effective because his descent into villain makes complete and total sense. His character was inventing weaponry when he was a child, therefore becoming an arms dealer of some kind 20 years later makes logical sense.
My absolute favorite thing about the writing is how realistic it is. These characters with super powers act more or less like everyday normal people. It does not glamorize life as a super hero, it shows its downside just as much as its upside. Despite their powers, they, like regular people, can feel things like boredom, sadness, depression. Life kind of evens itself out. With a lot of bad superhero films, there’s really no downside for the character. In Spiderman, especially in the Toby Macguire films, Peter Parker is a painful to watch loser, then he becomes spiderman and suddenly starts spewing one liners. Batman is super rich, but his parents were murdered because of corruption so there’s a consistent sadness to it. Film directors who have failed to embrace this darker side of Batman (Joel Schumacher), usually end up with a totally bad or lackluster film. In The Incredibles, Brad Bird strikes a perfect balance. In this film, being a super hero is a lot of fun, but its also a burden. In fact, the whole first act of the film is rather sad. It gives you kind of a taste but then the justice is spoiled. This is part of the film’s amazing structure that I talked about earlier
The Incredibles (2004) does some extremely interesting things with gender dynamics. It definitely plays with the concept of exhausted masculinity, with the character of Mr. Incredible, but the more interesting gender issue at play in the film has to do with the female characters. Elastigirl is apparently a feminist, highlighted in her interview in the opening scene and supported throughout the film, but does this say anything about the film as a whole? I am exploring this whole concept deeper in my animated essay, but I wanted to touch on a few topics in this post so as to respond to the prompt emailed to us. The prompt states, “The Incredibles attempts to articulate some version of feminism, but it not always easy to locate what this means. To be sure, feminism does not equal one thing! Describe the theory or “story” of feminism you see emerging from this film.” Quite frankly, I did not see much of a “story” of feminism emerging in this film, which is all too familiar in cinema. Elastigirl appears as a “feminism” but in actuality, she’s just being a woman. Why is taking responsibility and standing up for yourself viewed as being more than a woman, or being a feminist? All of this is, again, explored more in my animated essay. A final note on this topic I want to mention is how interesting I find it that this character is repeatedly called “Mrs. Incredible” yet her name is Elastigirl (or Helen or Mrs. Parr). She is never actually called “Mrs. Incredible” in the film, but I think the fact that people so easily refer to her by that name definitely says a a lot.
The Incredibles hold a certain amount of nostalgia for me. The film was the first ever DVD that I ever received, and I recall rewatching it over and over again. After all these years, I still find myself thoroughly entertained by the film and its wacky characters. I recall when I first watched the film, I was thoroughly surprised because I never seen superheroes portrayed like that (recall this is was before the Superhero genre had a mass exodus onto the silver screen). They were portrayed as flawed and unwanted but despite that still did the “right thing.” This was both honorable and impressionable to me as a young kid. I too wanted to do the “right thing” and be a good guy(even if it didn’t make everyone, myself included, happy), just like Mr. Incredible. However, the weathering of a decade’s worth of time has caused me to reevaluate this outlook. Growing up, I have become disillusioned with what the “right thing” entails. The world is vast, and we can’t always so readily color things black and white. In fact the “right thing” can be much more subjective than objective. So this brings me to Syndrome. There is no doubt to me that he is in the wrong for killing, but his notion of making everyone super so no one is special. Is that all that bad. In saying some are more exceptional, we are saying others are unremarkable. This can be dangerous because we run the risk of attacking the exceptional individuals(athletes and artists) in our society. But if we look at this as an allegory for the post 9-11 U.S. infringing on the agency of other countries via this notion of America’s exceptionalism, this becomes troubling. The differences between America and the other countries might not denote America as exceptional, instead it might just say that they’re, well that they’re different.
Animation: A History Flux 
Is Mr. Incredible evil? From a deontological standpoint, the answer is interestingly yes. Deontological ethics states “the morality of an action [is] based on the action’s adherence to a rule or rules”(Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). From watching The Incredibles, we quickly find out Mr. Incredibles is not one to also follow the rules — I mean he did send his boss to the hospital. In the film, the government has banned superheroes from utilizing their super power thereby forcing them to live in secrecy. Mr. Incredible rejects this verdict and instead tags along with his side kick, Frozone, on superhero activities from time to time. In fact, it is Mr. Incredible arguably selfish and “evil” decision to meet with Mirage that almost resulted in the death of his family (since it was a Disney movie of course the superheroes never die).
Violet, on the other hand, possesses the most good. She always want to oblige by the rules of her mother. As instructed by her mother, she rarely utilized her powers and begins to resent that side of her. For instance, during the plane crash scene Violent finds it difficult to use the superpowers she had initially kept hidden. In the scene, Mrs. Incredibles desperately cries out for her daughter, Violet, to create a force field that would protect their plane. Violet panicky retorts “but you said we weren’t supposed to use our powers!” and is not able to make the force field. However, as Violet’s mother changes the rules regarding superpower usage Violet feels comfortable enough to utilize her superpower
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There was one thought that stuck with me throughout this viewing of The Incredibles and it was something I had never noticed or fully understood as a child. That was the sheer amount of violence and dark themes throughout the film. From the get go, we see a man attempting suicide who later says, “You didn’t save my life. You ruined my death!” Suicide is a pretty heavy theme for a children’s movie. Also in the beginning we see protestors with signs against “supers” and even burning a dummy of one. It’s subtle but a pretty scary image if one considers some of the real life parallels we see even to this day. Later in the film we see view a rapid series of deaths as heroes are brought to their doom by their own capes. Most of these deaths are pretty brutal, and we see a surprising amount on screen. While it is true that Disney has had it array of violent deaths, these usually are reserved for the evil antagonist and/or deeply emotional scenes. This montage of death is solely the death of heroes and is done so for humor. Then there is the more subtle increase in the death toll, when Bob sees the files of the “terminated” heroes. We sit with Bob as he learns of the deaths of many of his old friends and then experiences the, though false, death of his family. After their plane is blown out of the sky, Helen tells the children that the bad guys will ruthlessly hunt and kill them. To top of this series of violent themes, we witness the villain’s death, as he is dragged into the plane turbine and struggles to escape its blades. While it is true that Pixar films tend to have some adult, violent, and even dark themes, this film is particularly gruesome because its cast is completely human. Many of these things went over my head when I saw them as a child, but as an adult it is slightly unnerving.
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It’s funny that one of the prompts for tonight asked about genre because when Mrs. Incredible was on the way to save her husband, I literally caught myself thinking that this movie was such a stereotypical superhero movie. From the action scenes to the undertones, questions about identity, deceit and butt-kicking frequent this text and make the tropes within it all the more interesting. Action/Adventure is the genre given The Incredibles on Google, and I think that it falls into this category by having the protagonist go on a journey. However, this is where Disney throws in a twist. Rather than a journey solely to defeat an enemy, Mr. Incredibles’ journey is to find his own place and sense of worth and value in the world. Mr. Incredible begins at, from a material perspective, the highest point of his life. He is strong, attractive, has the girl, and is held in the highest acclaim by all of the people in his city, possibly the country. His descent from fame occurs by no fault of his own, and the tragic event that normally takes place to make the protagonist of an adventure film find his reason to begin his quest and cut all ties to his original place of dwelling for the trip, does the opposite and forces him to literally lay his suit aside. Mr. Incredible then has a bad case of adjustment disorder for years after as his hi action, fast paced life is replaced with a mediocre desk job that often asks him to do the opposite of what he’s done all his life. His occupation lies within the corporate side of America, and is portrayed as structured around deceit. Something that I found interesting about this was that all of the suit cases in this movie are made tiny. That makes me wonder if Disney purposefully did this as a statement about how meaningless and insignificant occupations that would require a briefcase are to Mr. Incredible or in general. The initial qualms that Mr. Incredible may have about lying then seem to fade as he starts considering how dissatisfied he is with his life. He begins to pursue interests that are his own rather than thinking about only others. This is similar to how In the beginning, after explaining why he wears a mas, he says that he wishes that the world would just stay saved to make his life a bit easier; the differences now is that he is jumping at every opportunity to “clean up” a mess. On a side note, the question of masks in the super hero genre in general is something that I would like to raise for this movie. Disney plays with the fact that it only takes an eye cover to completely deceive “normal” people. The only costume that would make a face harder to identify is Frozone’s. Mr. Incredible says “Who wants the pressure of being super all the time?” in response to whether or not he has a secret identity. Elastigirl mentions how inconvenient it would be to go to the supermarket dressed up like she is, and says to her children that their identity is their most valuable possession. That makes me wonder why there is a need for a mask in the first place? Is it because it protects the hero from obnoxious targeting? It probably also protects them from enemies like Buddy, psychopathic, obsessive madmen that have a hero complex. Back on topic, Mr. Incredible’s need to both see himself as needed and capable of saving the day lead to the midlife crisis that causes the “second” tragedy. When Gilbert Huph causes Mr. Incredible to lose his temper, the loss of his job catapults the identity search phase of the movie. Thus we follow the progression of Mr. Incredible from the bottom up. Once he pursues a passion for his own fulfillment, his self-maintenance increases, involvement with his family increases, his libido increases, and his overall happiness increases. We then fall back into the super hero trope as the villain that needs to be defeated is Syndrome rather than an unfulfilled life and an impending life crisis.
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In my last response, I explored the implications of one’s conscience and how that is expressed through animation, specifically in regards to Winsor McCay’s The Sinking of the Lusitania (1918). McCay’s conscience was evident in his condemnation of the German military machine, focus on American deaths, emotional appeal to action/retaliation, etc. Brad Bird’s The Incredibles (2004) adds more layers to this exploration of the conscience as a transition into the super hero genre and how ethics impact action. First off, the main characters themselves are driven by different purposes. For Mr. Incredible, it seems he is bit caught between a duty-based and consequentialist ethical stance. For him, his personal pursuit of being a superhero falls in line with him fulfilling his aim at creating a better world, working for the “common good.” This seems more consequentialist, as he is putting aside his family and the rest of his life for the final results, which his him being brought back into glory, along with the world being made a safer place.
However, in terms of deontological ethics, this movie poses very interesting questions. Superheroes are famous and revered for the good they do in society, for being able to conquer evils “normal” people otherwise could not. But, this at times leads to backlash, especially when they fail. Like in this film, when superheros were quietly disbanded by the government. In terms of rules and laws, the forces governing them do not allow them to fulfill their moral obligations, and this conflict is very common in the superhero genre. How far will a superhero go to achieve his/her goals? When a government, organization, etc. has set laws against their actions, will they break them? For many superheros, they follow a deontological ethical path, acting through their “code” to bring about justice and defeat evil. But in that code many superheros also have the humility to subject themselves to law and regulation (the superheroes in this film do this with little hesitation). But when that law and regulation prevent them from carrying out their duties to the people, how do they react? How are their ethic codes stretched/broken? Does this create a negative space for the rise of super villians (i.e. Syndrome), and what of their codes? This conflict between superheroes and the law is an interesting ethical area. What do the actions of superheros in reaction to this say about the nature of superheroes? And what does this say of the super hero genre and why it has had such a major cultural impact?
There’s a lot more to explore here in terms of ethics in this film and the superhero genre (and a lot more research for me to do), something I will very much be going deeper into in the animated essay!
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The Incredibles is incredible in the way it criticized the superhero genre before the genre even became as prevalent as it is today. The Incredibles was made in 2004 and the only superhero movies to precede it were Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2. These two films foreshadowed the explosion of superhero films but were no near as successful as later superhero films. In superhero films today, much of the plot is interchangeable with another superhero film, not being distinctive enough to stand out from other superhero films. The Incredibles challenges many of the conventions to soon occur, without knowing the exact details of the genre. The Incredibles is able to challenge many tropes of generic superhero films, such masculine characters saving the day solo or ignorance of consequences while performing “duty”. In the end, Elastigirl and the children are the ones saving the day, rescuing Mr. Incredible from Syndrome and stopping the robot. An additional criticism is that Mr. Incredible refuses to stop doing “his duty” even though superheroes are vilified in the new age. This causes a lot of problems for his family, and something he is hardly sorry for. While the film apologizes for his actions, by making it seem as though Mr. Incredible was right for continuing his work, with further thought, it is obvious that if superheroes hadn’t engaged Syndrome, then Syndrome wouldn’t have been able to progress as far as he had.
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After watching the Incredibles through the knowledge that this class has given me, I saw a whole new side to it. My first thought was that not only was this a movie shrouded in racism, but Syndome and his mission is similar to that of the Holocaust. He is different than the people he is trying to get rid of, and thus, he continues to search for ways to end them just to better himself. The additional racist tendencies in The Incredibles comes from the society the super heroes are apart of wanting to disband them and make them hide forever. It’s no wonder that Mr. Incredible and Frozone go out to try and save people because they are forced to be someone they are not. The same goes with Dash not being able to go out for sports when it’s all he wants to do. The society that has formed around the super heroes has forced them to want to change who they are and what they want to do just to fit society’s views of them. To me, it is a movie ahead of it’s time. It goes along with many things that people now a days go through every day. It’s very interesting that this is actually what the main family struggles with in most of the movie; accepting and embracing themselves regardless of what society thinks.
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I think this movie is really awesome and I can (and did during the screening) quote many different lines from it. I’ve seen it that many times. I’d never really watched it, however, through a more critical lense. The themes that I was able to pick up on in this viewing were quite different from the ideas that I had had about it when seeing it at a younger age. The surface-level idea that comes up multiple times is “Everyone’s special…which is another way of saying no-one is” or “And when everyone’s super, no-one will be.” The idea of exceptionalism is really seen in every event of the film. Mr. Incredible is late for his wedding because he feels the need to act super. He exploits loopholes at his job, listens to police scanner, gets fired, takes up Mirage’s offer, and pretty much does everything he does for the same reason. He feels that it is his personal duty to be super, even at the expense of what society deems is the “greater good.” Ultimately, however, his motivation and the right thing to do line up what with the initiation of Syndrome’s destructive plans, but Incredible in a way caused it by allowing Syndrome to perfect his design. I also wanted to touch on some of the elements that I never really thought of when seeing the movie as a kid, but notice way more now. People die in this movie. Children are abducted. Mr. Incredible seems to be having an affair with his wife. Some of the plot points seem to be rather weighty subject material for a childrens movie. Ultimately, however, I still really think that this is a good movie for what it is. It is thought provoking in its themes and very entertaining in its action.
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The ethics of the Incredibles are very interesting, in that one set of values seems to apply to the Supers, while another applies to mere mortals. From the standpoint of deontological ethics, Mr. Incredible acts on a sense of duty to his identity as a Super and duty to the “greater good.” He does this, like the rest of the Supers, with no attention to the consequences of those actions. He indiscriminately kills many, many security guards on Syndrome’s island, which was good, because they were clearly the Bad Guys, and undoubtedly killed innocent people while driving recklessly to confront the robot, which was acceptable, because it was necessary—for the Greater Good. Meanwhile, Syndrome also kills innocent people, but it makes him a Bad Guy, because it wasn’t necessary, or an Extra Bad Guy, because he even kills Supers, and their lives are Extra Important (but not as important as the heterosexual nuclear family unit, right guys?). This idea of a conflict between the rules for most people and the rules for the Exceptional Interventionist occurs over and over in the superhero genre, especially in films like the Dark Knight, so much so that the heroes beg to be read as figures of the Bush administration. The hero/executive is both a part of the judicial order and an exception to it. While the Exceptional Hero/America is tied down by the financial bureaucracy instead of intervening, the Bad Guys proliferate (something which could be read as a criticism of the Clinton administration’s focus on economic policy instead of foreign intervention). Safety is deemed a higher cause than liberty– the liberty of Bad Guys, but also of anyone in the trajectory of a Super’s call to Duty. Syndrome sells weapons to other countries, which is bad not only because of the threat WMDs pose to the Exceptional Hero interventionist’s place of strength internationally, but because in taking away the Supers’ position of exceptionalism, something of fundamental value is lost. Because “when everyone’s Super, no one will be.” There are, I think, many other cues to the neoconservative rhetoric in a film released in a Bush election year, but that’s the general point.
There’s a lot coded in the Incredibles that, like most in this class have suggested, was just not something we ever really picked up on in spite of a shared ability to quote whole sections of the film. There’s the international politics of the film surrounding American Exceptionalism and the Paradox of Sovereignty that the film’s ethics seem to embody. There’s the way the film strays into objectivist philosophy (lol) without really adhering to it (“celebrating mediocrity”). There’s the way the film seems to be hyper-aware of the nuclear family dynamic, but just as it is both aware of the Superhero Genre and engaging in it, it repeatedly enforces the values of that strict dynamic. There’s the film’s strange engagement of feminism, with the “liberated woman” ideas of the very ‘70s interview intro being quickly reversed to a dimensionless, unexplained sacrifice for family, one that dismisses the espoused “empowerment” of the intro (in itself questionable), or the film’s acknowledgement of the ways modern mothers stretch themselves for their families (apparently content to do so), except instead of suggesting the men should share this undue burden of domestic responsibility, it praises the ability and position of the do-it-all stay-at-home mom as an ideal. There’s the way Violet’s body is portrayed, or the way she undergoes a Breakfast Club transformation to get the boy. There’s the way all of their powers are coded by “personality,” but also by a tired gender binary. There’s the film’s lament of a loss or suppression of masculinity. There is a lot—a LOT—going on here.
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The Incredibles’ visual ascetic was my favorite component of the film. The 3D rendering of 1950’s golden-era comics is nostalgic, yet sleek; a gleaming homage to a time when America felt more… incredible. The fictional champions created in this time found purpose in intervening on behalf of those less powerful, battling for the greater good. The superheroes’ fall from grace in the film depicted a challenge to this interventionist system of ethics. This challenge was representative of the questions of America’s role as military superpower intervening in nations across the globe in the late 20th and early 21st century. The film uses Syndrome, the primary antagonist, as an emblem of the possibly disastrous ramifications of the heroes’ actions. In the end the movie seems to suggest that interventionists such as the Incredibles will always be necessary, despite the serious consequences of doing so recklessly.
The film also provides commentary on gender politics. The central conflict of the film results from Mr. Incredible’s rashness, and Syndrome’s ego both turns him to evil and undoes him. These two stereotypically male traits are the driving force of the film. This is contrasted with Elastigirl’s nurturing patience and reserved strength. Edna also serves as a representative of feminism, being a self-made woman in a realm dominated by men and encouraging Elastigirl to take charge when she has doubts with her husband. The film ultimately more resembles the male dominated mid-20th century as Elastigirl becomes Mrs. Incredible and Edna ultimately is relegated to being a glorified seamstress. Though both of these roles are ultimately the choice of the characters, it is somewhat regrettable that the film only resolves once Mr. Incredible has embraced his patriarchal role as head of the family/crime fighting team. Mirage’s ultimately revealed role as somewhat of a damsel in distress is a further missed opportunity at portraying as woman as fully in charge of her fate. Though she breaks free from Syndrome when he betrays her, she really only finds redemption while helpless in the arms of Mr. incredible.
The film discusses and engages with ideas that weighed heavily on the American conscience at the time of its making. Unfortunately, the film does little more than acknowledge them. While this is perhaps a symptom of the intended audience of the film being children, the film’s inability to make a definitive statement about the issues I have discussed is still disappointing.
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This movie, seems to me to portray Mr. Incredible as similar, if not strictly allegorical to a Vietnam veteran. First of all, the film takes place in the 60’s, the same era as the Vietnam War. Mr. Incredible begins serving for some cause that he believes is a noble one. It should be noted that not all soldiers in Vietnam felt this way, many resented the war, but were forced into the military by the draft. Yet, there were still many that thought the war was just and were honored to fight for their country. Eventually, the public ostracizes Mr. Incredible for his contributions to his country. This mirrors the treatment of returning vets from Vietnam who were often harassed, spit on, and verbally and physically assaulted. He is then forced to live the “American Dream:” shitty nine to five office drudgery, house in the suburbs, wife at home, three kids. He spends most of his day reminiscing about his “war days.” This allegory, however, falls apart when he is called to the island by Syndrome. I sincerely hope that the parallels between Mr. Incredible and the soldiers in Vietnam were only meant to be a nod to the times, rather than a full blown allegory. If they are meant to be strictly allegorical, it seems to me that this film would be a justification and even a glorification of the Vietnam War, even though it was one of the biggest blunders in the history of American foreign policy.
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Brad Bird’s The Incredibles does some interesting things with gender dynamics. Right from the get go we see that Elastigirl wants to remain independent while Mr. Incredible wouldn’t mind settling down and raising a family. Their rejection of traditional gender roles has shock value and appears quite scandalous because it is the exact opposite of what one would expect. Back when this film was made, it was more common in our society for women to be dedicated to family while men were more dedicated to their career. The film further subverts gender norms by making Elastigirl strong and capable of handling business. She sneaks onto the base with stealth and fights well despite being out of practice for fifteen years. She also chooses to stand by her husband and fight with him as a team regardless of his protests. Plus, she knows how to fly a jet like a seasoned veteran! Edna Mode is another female character that defies tradition because she is a successful career woman that is anything but submissive. Edna appears quite satisfied with her position in life without fulfilling the roles of mother or wife.
Though The Incredibles goes a long way to subvert gender tropes, it also embraces them. Bob is the sole provider for his family and expects his wife to handle everything concerning the children. He is stubborn, likes to work alone, and is essentially a man’s man. Mirage is the very embodiment of a femme fatale and practically seduces Mr. Incredible to achieve her goals. Elastigirl the independent become Helen the suburbanite stay at home mother of three children. After the time skip, she is driven by her duties as mother and wife. We learn very little about her life outside of the family because family is her everything. She completely gives up on the hero business despite her previous convictions and follows the rules unlike her husband. It is a recurring theme throughout the film that women stick to the rules while the men are defiant. Dash is having trouble at school for misbehaving and Mr. Incredible goes back into the superhero business without permission. Their devious behaviors are excused while Violet’s difficulty with breaking the rules is a moment of weakness and shame.
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I think this film does a lot of things incredibly well. Its pretty rare for a film to be this rich with humor while still remembering to tell a compelling story. As someone who writes down scripts all the time, one of my favorite aspects of a good story is threading characters. Its been years since I’ve seen this film, but I always remember Buddy Pine. At the beginning he’s this dork and you kind of feel bad because this kid is such a loser and he doesnt even know it. You initially kind of forget about Buddy, it felt like he would go away. Because of that, when his character is threaded back in its very effective because his descent into villain makes complete and total sense. His character was inventing weaponry when he was a child, therefore becoming an arms dealer of some kind 20 years later makes logical sense.
My absolute favorite thing about the writing is how realistic it is. These characters with super powers act more or less like everyday normal people. It does not glamorize life as a super hero, it shows its downside just as much as its upside. Despite their powers, they, like regular people, can feel things like boredom, sadness, depression. Life kind of evens itself out. With a lot of bad superhero films, there’s really no downside for the character. In Spiderman, especially in the Toby Macguire films, Peter Parker is a painful to watch loser, then he becomes spiderman and suddenly starts spewing one liners. Batman is super rich, but his parents were murdered because of corruption so there’s a consistent sadness to it. Film directors who have failed to embrace this darker side of Batman (Joel Schumacher), usually end up with a totally bad or lackluster film. In The Incredibles, Brad Bird strikes a perfect balance. In this film, being a super hero is a lot of fun, but its also a burden. In fact, the whole first act of the film is rather sad. It gives you kind of a taste but then the justice is spoiled. This is part of the film’s amazing structure that I talked about earlier
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The Incredibles (2004) does some extremely interesting things with gender dynamics. It definitely plays with the concept of exhausted masculinity, with the character of Mr. Incredible, but the more interesting gender issue at play in the film has to do with the female characters. Elastigirl is apparently a feminist, highlighted in her interview in the opening scene and supported throughout the film, but does this say anything about the film as a whole? I am exploring this whole concept deeper in my animated essay, but I wanted to touch on a few topics in this post so as to respond to the prompt emailed to us. The prompt states, “The Incredibles attempts to articulate some version of feminism, but it not always easy to locate what this means. To be sure, feminism does not equal one thing! Describe the theory or “story” of feminism you see emerging from this film.” Quite frankly, I did not see much of a “story” of feminism emerging in this film, which is all too familiar in cinema. Elastigirl appears as a “feminism” but in actuality, she’s just being a woman. Why is taking responsibility and standing up for yourself viewed as being more than a woman, or being a feminist? All of this is, again, explored more in my animated essay. A final note on this topic I want to mention is how interesting I find it that this character is repeatedly called “Mrs. Incredible” yet her name is Elastigirl (or Helen or Mrs. Parr). She is never actually called “Mrs. Incredible” in the film, but I think the fact that people so easily refer to her by that name definitely says a a lot.
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The Incredibles hold a certain amount of nostalgia for me. The film was the first ever DVD that I ever received, and I recall rewatching it over and over again. After all these years, I still find myself thoroughly entertained by the film and its wacky characters. I recall when I first watched the film, I was thoroughly surprised because I never seen superheroes portrayed like that (recall this is was before the Superhero genre had a mass exodus onto the silver screen). They were portrayed as flawed and unwanted but despite that still did the “right thing.” This was both honorable and impressionable to me as a young kid. I too wanted to do the “right thing” and be a good guy(even if it didn’t make everyone, myself included, happy), just like Mr. Incredible. However, the weathering of a decade’s worth of time has caused me to reevaluate this outlook. Growing up, I have become disillusioned with what the “right thing” entails. The world is vast, and we can’t always so readily color things black and white. In fact the “right thing” can be much more subjective than objective. So this brings me to Syndrome. There is no doubt to me that he is in the wrong for killing, but his notion of making everyone super so no one is special. Is that all that bad. In saying some are more exceptional, we are saying others are unremarkable. This can be dangerous because we run the risk of attacking the exceptional individuals(athletes and artists) in our society. But if we look at this as an allegory for the post 9-11 U.S. infringing on the agency of other countries via this notion of America’s exceptionalism, this becomes troubling. The differences between America and the other countries might not denote America as exceptional, instead it might just say that they’re, well that they’re different.
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