Caltrops - Peter Molyneux's The Movies





	[quote name="Horrible Gelatinous Blob"]The through line of <i>The Incredibles</i> is the arrogance of hedonism versus the humility of service to others. Consider Mr. Incredible's arrogance towards Buddy/Syndrome as a boy, the insurance company boss's arrogance toward Mr. Incredible, Mr. Incredible's arrogance towards his wife w/r/t hiding his double life, Syndrome's arrogance towards Mr. Incredible specifically and society generally and look at the consequences of these actions. Contrast with Mr. Incredible and Frozone crammed into the car monitoring the police scanner, Violet throwing herself in front of a defenseless Dash, Mr. Incredible sparing Mirage's life, and the teamwork exhibited in the final battle and look at the consequences of these actions. A lot of people have latched onto Syndrome's line in the scene MM posted as a tacit endorsement of Objectivism, and then proceed to frame the conflict in the film as ubermensch Incredibles versus Prometheus Syndrome. What these people miss is that Syndrome fundamentally misunderstands who the Incredibles are, why they are motivated to do what they do, and the nature of the conflict between them. Syndrome thinks that Mr. Incredible rejected him because he wasn't "special," but there's absolutely no evidence given in the film to independently support that assertion. Buddy/Syndrome is the one who brings it up, Buddy/Syndrome is the one who keeps flogging it, Buddy/Syndrome is the only character in the film who espouses a belief that eliminating the distance between normals and supers will harm supers in some way. Rather, Syndrome's belief that the Incredibles and other supers rejected him because they wanted to keep a certain "specialness" for himself reflects a certain insecurity and single-minded selfishness; instead of becoming a hero himself when rejected by Mr. Incredible, apprenticing under another hero, or simply merchandising his inventions and becoming a billionaire years ago, he starts this murderous revenge plot <i>because his feelings were hurt when he was ten.</i> The more important exchange in the film is between Elastigirl and Dash, when he wants to know why he's not allowed to go out for sports and do his best and his mother tells him that right now they have to fit in, followed by the first appearance of the "If everyone is special, than no one is" line from Dash. It's no coincidence that the first time in the film that we hear this, it's from a ten year old boy. Dash wants to know why he can't dominate others with his god-given skills and abilities and doesn't understand his mother's message of the importance of fitting in and what "everyone's special" really means, instead attributing it to authority's rules shackling him from being his true self. Likewise, the sheltered, emotionally undeveloped man-children who think <i>The Incredibles</i> is a powerful tract addressing the plight of the gifted in a world of mediocrity don't understand why normal people don't like to be around them and fail to recognize the importance of being kind and welcoming to others, instead attributing it to fear and jealous of their intellect. When Elastigirl says that everyone's special, she's trying to help Dash understand that other people's lives are not necessarily less important or less valuable than their own just because they don't have powers. When Dash says that means no one is, he's rejecting that premise, petuantly asking what the point of having powers is if he isn't more important, more valuable? Again, this isn't an unusual or evil position for a ten year old to take, considering their lack of life experience and level of emotional development. However, when Syndrome, a grown man, wields the same position as a threat, it demonstrates his inability to think outside of himself. Dash believes that his specialness is only worthwhile if demonstrated to others, others less special than him. Similarly, Syndrome believes that if he removes the Incredibles' ability to demonstrate their specialness to others less special than themselves, then they will be hurt. He believes this because he is a ten year old boy emotionally. The Incredibles and the other heroes do what they do because they view their specialness as an opportunity to help others. These others may not be "special" in that they lack powers, but to truly recognize their humanity means accepting that no one's life is intrinsically more valuable than anyone else's, regardless of whether you can lift a car over your head or turn invisible. I'll address Fabio's "Watchmen for kids" assertion later, because that's a position so wrong, misinterprets both works so badly, and is so indefensible that I need fresh eyes for it. And oh yeah, it's a kids movie, like <i>Star Wars</i> and <i>Pacific Rim</i> and <i>Fight Club</i>. Just because it stands up to a close viewing better than other kids movies and mixes in a few themes besides "evil is bad" and "good is attractive" doesn't mean that water is deep enough to dive.[/quote]