The Things You Might Not of Notice in The Movie: The Incredibles
The great Pixar animation known for their family classics, Toy Story, Monster Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Cars, Inside Out, and the very recent CoCo are all classics that most of the population has watched. Well this is according to their massive box office numbers they get on every movie. Most of us have watched these movies more then once, I know I have. I am not sure since Toy Story, which came out in 1996 that I have gone an entire year of my life without watching a Pixar movie. They are just so good, sorry I probably sound like a crazy fan, but I just appreciate their creativity, and cutting edge animination.
This year I watched Inside out, Cars 2&3, Monster Inc, Monster University, CoCo, Bugs Life, and The Incredibles. Yes, I watched all of these already in 2018, don’t judge.
BUT!
Recently,
I was given an essay assignment (I am currently working on) and I wanted to do this essay on a Pixar film. I chose The Incredibles. I wanted to analyze the Incridibles for tv tropes, but what I found instead are some very dark themes in this family movie. I gotta say it was one of the darkest movies that Disney has associated itself with.
It has themes of suicide, death, bad guys shooting and hitting kids, adultery, and a negative underlining message. You may not of noticed these themes because they are hidded in plain site. I never even noticed them till I watched the movie with a critical eye.
Suicide
The first scene, suicide is shown in the earlier part of the movie when the supers were out and saving people, and Mr. Incredible was in his “prime”. Mr. Incredible saves a man who is falling from a building. What many might not of notice is that this same man is the man who sues Mr. Incredible for saving his life, when he didn’t want to get saved. I quote
“This man was foiled in his suicide attempt by Mr. Incredible”
A topic of suicide in a children/family movie? whoa!
Death
The Incredibles has the most deaths within the movie than any other movie associated with Disney and Pixar. There are a total of six deaths in this movie. Syndrome’s, and the other supers that used capes for their super suit, which is shown in the video above. These deaths are all done very subtly and quick, and they actually never say death or seen die, but the only other assumption from the scenes is that they are dead. It also, has a scene when Mr. Incredible is hidding out and is hiding behind the bones of Gazerbeam.
This has to be one of the most death orintated Pixar Disney movie ever.
Bad Guys Hitting And Shooting Kids
With all my Pixar movie expertise, this is the only movie that has put children and fist togehter. It seems pretty natural in the movie because Dash and Violet are super heroes, and super heroes fight bad guys. Pause for a second tho, and think… Dash is of age 10, and Violet is 14 years old getting punched and shot by grown men, and this makes it feel a bit uncomfortable. Again, a bit different for a kids movie.
Next,
Adultary
Now, this one may not be considered “dark”, but it is a bit of an adult topic for a children’s movie. Not to mention this is a topic that most parents want to avoid, and definitely not have their children see first hand. Mrs. Incredible (Holly) finds this white piece of hair and begins to start to think that Mr. Incredible (Craig) is sneaking around with another women. When he is actually sneaking around doing undercover super hero work. Even though, he was not actually “cheating” he was still lying and going behind his wife back, and this can be seen as a form of cheating. Yes, Mr.Incredible was not having sexual activity with someone else, but it could be made the case that he was flirting with this women in the movie. Also, this under cover super hero work was giving him pleasure much like sex would. Although, this is simply brushed over in the movie, this theme of adultery can not be hidden because the audience 18+ thought the same thing when this scene happened.
Negative Underlying Message
Dash and Mrs. Incredible Scene:
Mrs. Incredible: “Everyone is special Dash.”
Dash: “Which is another way of saying no one is.”
Syndrome’s Final Monologue Scene:
Syndrome: “…When I am old and I have had my fun I will sale my inventions, so everyone will be super heroes everyone will be super, and when everyones super… no one will be.”
Piecing it together? this underlying negative message has something to do with no one is special. It begins the movie with this message, and then it coincidentally comes up again towards the end of the movie. What does this exactly mean? I am not too sure, but it is not positive. But here it is in a family movie, telling its audience that no one is special. I might be reaching on this one, but it still cannot be denied that it is there.
In conclusion, all the other Pixar Disney movie “hits” of the early 2000s have sequels, Toy Story, Finding Nemo, Cars, Monsters Inc.. Why not The Incredibles? I am sure many would consider this movie as a Pixar Disney classic, the box office numbers definitely would. My guess is because of all these weird and dark themes that this film fell into. The complications of trying to avoid these things for the next one, might be the reason it is taking so long for the sequel, but who knows thats my guess, what is yours?
Oh, and here is a honorable mention of dark themes.
