The Incredibles masterfully juggles its focus on family antics and super-heroics as both are key to making the movie as great as it is. The focus on family is so ingrained in the franchise that it was apparently traditional family roles which led to each member being assigned their respective, specific power-set.
During a recent Q&A at Pixar Animation Studios,
The Incredibles director and writer, Brad Bird revealed that he looked at the stereotypes facing each member of a family and used them to create the unique and intricate abilities the titular family were granted with. Here's what Bird had to say:
What interests me is the idea of having a family, having there be a reason to hide the powers. And once I had that insight into what I wanted to do, I picked the powers based on who they were in the family. And so men are always expected to be strong, so I had Bob have super strength. Women, mothers are always pulled in a million different directions, so I had her be elastic. Teenagers are insecure and defensive, so I had Violet have force fields and invisibility. Ten-year-olds are energy balls that can't be stopped. And babies are unknown, maybe they have no powers, maybe they have all powers, we don't know.
So, that's what Jack-Jack was, he was seemingly the first normal one in the family and then at the end of Incredibles you find out that he's the wild card, and that he's sort of the Swiss army knife of powers. And that to me reminds me of the way babies can grasp languages really easily and adopt them easily.
Both Incredibles films are set in mid-century America, where traditional family values and roles were a staple in every household. The father was supposed to be strong man and breadwinner of the family, the mother was supposed to stay at home and take care of the children, and so on. We saw those roles play out in the first movie, but its sequel will be flipping a lot of those traditions on their heads, mainly when it comes to father and mother roles of Bob and Helen.
This time around, Elastigirl will be the one out on adventures, and Mr. Incredible will be left home with the kids, learning just how challenging the life of a stay-at-home parent can really be. You'll be able to see how the Parr family handles the change of pace once The Incredibles 2 hits theatres in June.
What do you think about the director's comments? Had you picked up on the reasoning behind each characters' powers before now?
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