The Incredibles - Feminist Film Theory

Introduction

Disney cartoon can be said to be feminist cartoon, especially the Disney princess series. From the Snow White in 1937 until the latest, Frozen, these cartoon always passing the message of girl should be strong and kind. Not every princess need a prince or somebody to rescue her. Girls can think and make their own choice, where they start to be independent. But today my topic is not about the princess, I would like to discuss another film from Disney Pixar, The Incredibles. There are some female characters that show different characteristics in feminism.

Theory Discussion

Feminist film theory is a theoretical film criticism started in 1920s. This film theory focuses on women’s expression of her own subjectivity. Then, this film theory matured in late 1960s, after radicalized feminist movement of sexual liberation and political debate of female representation. The feminist film theory analyses the social or historical position of women, which is subordinated and social relations of patriarchy. Woman does not have a place in earlier society. They had been oppressed and exploited. They are under male domination, been controlled by father, husband or son. In this case, feminist theory films are viewed as reflection of society. It shows the ideological and social construction of women in that time.

There are four theories in feminist film theory which are oppression, stereotyping, objectification and patriarchy. Oppression is women being prolonged cruel or unjust treatment for a long time. They been controlled and repressed by men. Stereotyping is a thought of generalization to certain group of people no matter good or bad. In this case, women always being seen as a weak side, they cannot defend the men. For example, woman is born to reproduce children, if she does not do so, she is wrong. Objectification in feminism means looked women as object. Women often seen as a kind of advertising or incentives to attract men's attention. Patriarchy is a social system which males are the dominant and in control of everything. It is very popular among the Asian countries as males hold the dominant power from political leadership to households.  

Synopsis

          The Incredibles is an America computer animated superhero film produced by Pixar Animation Studios, and released by Walt Disney Pictures in 2004. This film is written and directed by Brad Bird. The story is about the family of Incredibles. After the marriage of Bob and Helen Parr, who known as Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl. The government forces the superhero to hide their superpowers and become normal people due to several lawsuits over peripheral damage caused by their crime-fighting activities. Then, Bob and Helen have no choice but to live like a normal family with their children, which are Violet, Dash and Jack-Jack. Bob is not happy with this life and his white-collar job. He longs for the glory days as superhero. One day, Bob finds a message for a mysterious woman named Mirage, who convinces him to become superhero again and give him a mission to destroy a robot. But actually all the things is planned by Syndrome, who wants to avenge Bob. The Incredibles family need to learn how to against the enemy to save the world. At the same time, they need to overcome their own troubles.

Theory Application

Helen Parr / Elastigirl

Normally, we can look at various female representation in film and compare them to seek out the final resolution of “preferred” female representation. One of the main character in this film, Helen Parr, who known as Elastigirl as well. She is Bob’s wife and mother of Violet, Dash and Jack-Jack. Helen is a strong female representative. Before she gets married, as a superhero, she is brave and strategist. She has to finish the robber on the rooftop quickly, so that she will not be late for her own wedding. As a wife, she controls her husband sometimes so that they can keep their family low profile and their “supers” identity will not be discovered. She also tries to talk to Bob fist instead of just quarrel with him in the living room. She investigates her husband carefully so that the harmony of family can be maintain. As a mother, she needs to take care of her family well. She plays a good housewife jobs. She prepares the meals, cleans the house, fetches the children from school. When her children are in danger, she also put their safety at first. She hugs Violet and Dash in her arms when the airplane exploded. She also appeases them not to panic when they fall into the sea. These shows that she is a dominant and independent woman. She knows what to do even though her husband does not by their side. Her superpower is elastic body. This superpower indicate that she is flexible to all incidents or challengers that she faced. She is a family oriented woman. She is protective to her children. She makes her own choice to look for Bob at Nomanisan Island. She also decides to stands with her husband to fight the robot. Helen is the representative of strong female.

Violet

The second female representative is Violet, the daughter of Bob and Helen. Violet is shy, obedient and lack of confidence. Her characteristics just like her superpower, the invisible power and force shield. She is shy, so she uses her invisible power to hide herself so that no one can see her. She always covers half of her face with her hair. She did not dare to speak with the boy she likes. She even doesn’t like people talk about what she likes. For example, in dinner time, when Dash says about the boy Violet likes in school, Violet is not happy and starts to quarrel with Dash. She always listens to her mother, Helen. She does not use her power because Helen said so. When Helen asks Violet to use her force shield to protect the airplane, she starts to panic. Because she remembers that Helen asked her not to use the power before. She also not confident to do it. She does not believe in herself. But slowly, Violet changes. She practices to use her power when they hide in the cave in Nomanisan Island. She forced to use her power to protect Dash when they attacked by Syndrome's guards in Nomanisan's tropical jungle. But then she realizes that she can do it. She overcome her low confident by saving her brother. She starts to control her power well. She also saves her family by force shield at last when the helicopter falls towards their house. We can clearly see Violet changed and become more confident to herself. She puts her hair back with hairband and starts to talk to other friends. She even invited by the boy she likes to watch movie together. Violet shows us that women should be confident and take charge to their own life. 

Mirage

The third female representative is this film is Mirage, the femme fatale representative. Mirage is beautiful, sexy and mysterious. Her slim body and bright silver hair makes her looks more attractive. She works for Syndrome to find the superheroes and convince them to work for Syndrome without knowing the truth. At last, those superheroes die. We can see that Mirage is an attractive and seductive woman, especially one who will ultimately bring disaster to a man who becomes involved with her. She is beautiful but dangerous. She knows what she wants. She is clever as she can convince the superheroes to work for them. In this film, Mirage also makes her choice to help the Incredibles. She understands that Syndrome is wrong and she decides to betray him to help Mr Incredible to rescue his family as well as the world. In this case, Mirage as a femme fatale character did not get serious punishment like those femme fatales in earlier time film. It is because women are not allowed to fight for what they want. When they did, they will categorise as femme fatale and will get punished. But in this film, Mirage has the chance to change. She decides to do the right things which is helping the Incredibles.

Conclusion

          In a nutshell, this film shows several female representatives to bring out the message of woman should make their own choice for their future. Helen choices to stay with his husband to fight for what they love, Violent choices steps out her comfort zone to change and be more confident, and Mirage choices to change her vision and fight for what is correct. People always said that animation is just for children, but how many people can really understand the deeper meaning of it.