Screen Slaver from Incredibles 2 was not wrong

After more than a decade since the last Incredibles movie from Pixar, the Incredibles 2 finally hit the big screen to a roaring success, earning over $1.2 Billion in the box office to date. The movie was hailed as a success by fans and critics alike.

However a weak spot of the movie that critics brought up was the villain of the film, Screen Slaver. They mentioned how obvious the identity of Screen Slaver was in the film and felt that Syndrome from the 1st movie was a better villain. However I have to disagree and will share my opinion on why I think Screen Slaver is the perfect villain for our current time.

— -Spoiler warning ahead for Incredibles 2 — -

In the movie, it is revealed that Screen Slaver is actually Evelyn Deavor, the sister of Winston Deavor who helped reintroduce Supers into the world. She initially operated through the shadows, using her hypnotism technology to control others into acting out her will. She even had a pizza guy wearing a pair of the hypno-googles take the fall for her, while she enacted her true plan to ban Supers forever.

It turns out that the motivation behind Evelyn’s actions was a response to her traumatic childhood where her father was murdered by criminals. Unlike her brother Winston who felt that their father would have been saved if not for Supers being repressed, Evelyn mocked her father’s weakness and misjudgment in relying on such Supers instead of dealing with the situation practically (he had a secure safe-room that probably would have saved his life)

Unfortunately for Evelyn, the Incredibles come together again as a family and manage to thwart her plans to ruin Supers. Evelyn gets arrested by the police and Violet makes an observation that she probably won’t be in jail for long thanks to her rich and well-connected background, drawing a clever parallel to white-collar criminals in recent history (Think about the executives in the 2008 financial crisis who got away relatively scot-free with their golden parachutes)

It is not, however, this part of the movie which makes me appreciate Evelyn/Screen Slaver, but her interactions with Mrs Incredible that struck a chord with me.

There are two interactions in the movie that stand out and flesh out Evelyn’s life philosophies and thought process. The first is when Mrs Incredible and Evelyn have a chat over drinks after they celebrate the rescue of the ambassador. Both ladies debate the concept of marketing and optics. Evelyn mentions her brother, Winston, is good at selling and marketing, while she focuses on actually developing the technology and designs that power their family’s business.

Mrs Incredible shares her thoughts through two different perspectives. The believer and the cynic. The cynic highlighting the importance of marketing, using examples like showbiz and selling products, while the believer is the ideal of a superhero, imposing their will on the world, fighting evil for the greater good, regardless of admiration and personal gain.

This interaction made me think about our real world, where at times, it’s the loudest and flashiest products that get the sale, not the one that is the most effective. It’s the most polarizing news and headlines that get media attention, not the well-written unbiased journalism. It’s the gregarious, vocal and less qualified employee who gets the promotion, not the more technically qualified employee who is quiet.

These are wide generalizations but they led me to ponder the question. Should those who find themselves on the other side change themselves to play the same game? Using the same tactics and marketing to propel themselves to the limelight? The answer is probably a healthy middle, a blend of both styles while not compromising on value.

The second memorable interaction is when Mrs Incredible traces the radio signal broadcast of Screen Slaver and tracks down Screen Slaver’s hideout. During this chase, Screen Slaver delivers a monologue which I find extremely poetic given our day and age.

Screen Slaver bemoans the fact that humankind has gotten soft thanks to technological advancements. People live their lives through screens, curated content and can’t stomach any discomfort in their lives. The monologue highlights Screen Slaver’s detest for this change and mirrors Evelyn’s disagreement with her father’s reliance on supers instead of taking charge himself.

“You don’t talk, you watch talk shows. You don’t play games, you watch game shows. Travel, relationships, risk, every meaningful experience must be packaged and delivered to you to watch it at a distance, so that you can remain ever sheltered, ever passive, ever ravenous consumers who can’t bring themselves to rise from their couches, break a sweat and participate in life.” -Screen Slaver

This monologue perfectly describes many aspects of our modern life. We live vicariously through others, from Instagramers, YouTubers, Snapchat, taking a more passive role in life.

We have been programmed through our screens to consume content mindlessly and get caught up in vanity metrics such as likes, retweets and views. Even Medium serves as an example, where writers get caught up with writing listicles, polarizing pieces, whatever get’s people’s claps instead of what they actually want to write.

These two interactions solidified my appreciation for the writing of Screen Slaver, and though some might argue the message is a bit heavy-handed, I believe that there is some truth in Screen Slaver’s words. A cautionary message that all of us should pay attention to, least we truly become the mindless masses that Screen Slaver says we are.