"The Incredibles" Heroic Analysis of Mr. Incredible & Elastigirl

"Done properly, parenting is a heroic act. Done properly." 

-Edna Mode (The Incredibles I)

I missed the opportunity to discuss "The Incredibles II" after it hit theaters last year, but now that Disney's greatest superhero family has hit Netflix, I can return to this story and discuss what makes some of the characters as incredible as their namesake from both of Brad Bird's "The Incredibles" films.

There is merit in looking at the journey of various characters individually, however, when viewing both Incredibles films, it is clear that Bob Parr / Mr. Incredible (voiced by Craig T. Nelson) and Helen Parr / Elastigirl (voiced by Holly Hunter) have the strongest heroic journeys. Together, their rise from solo heroic characters to a strong parental unit is what makes their story so refreshing to discuss. Each separate journey is made stronger by the other's, and ultimately end in a combined journey for the family.

In the first film, Mr. Incredible has to re-learn what it means to be a super, while Elastigirl works on being a strong supportive unit and leader of the family. In "The Incredibles II," their roles are reversed, and Bob must learn the heroic powers of being a great father while Helen reconnects with what it means to be a super. Subsequently, the culminating lesson that these two super individuals learn is that of balance, and mastering the two worlds of normal life and secret hero work has never looked (I can't help myself) as incredible as it does here.

Insert my ubiquitous spoiler warning for both "The Incredibles" and "The Incredibles II" and let's talk about it!

SEPARATION / DEPARTURE

The Call to Adventure is often the easiest step to identify. Bob and Helen were superheroes in the past, so any call to adventure they may have had during their own origin stories do not come into play here. In "The Incredibles," Bob has the primary spotlight and character growth. He has the traditional heroic journey. Now that supers have been banned, he must do his work in secret. When other masked heroes begin to disappear, and a secret organization contacts Bob to do undercover hero work, Bob must make the decision to either forego a life of crime fighting crime or keep his life simple and free of super work. Accepting the Call, he decides to commit to the former. In the second film, Bob is forced to do the opposite. He must work on being a strong father while Helen does the hero work. In order to become a superhero again, he must take the bench and allow Helen to shine. Bob fully accepts his role in the family and makes the decision to be there for them by foregoing the hero work. He begins to make active efforts that allow Helen and all of his children to prosper.

Knowing that, Helen is the opposite. Helen's story has her come to terms with being a mother while Bob does secret hero work, but really shines in the second film when she must become the out-of-house hero that Bob wants to be. Her primary motive in the first film is to keep the family together, and she has her Call to Adventure when she discovers that Bob is hiding something from her, something that could destroy their family and thus creates the obstacle she must overcome. In the sequel, she must work as the vigilante Elastigirl in order to make the world a just place, one where her kids do not have to hide who they really are (not the revealing of their secret identities, but more so fighting for them to be able to exist as their own alter egos in the public eye without being banned or outcast). Hesitant, she struggles with Accepting the Call in the sequel, because it would mean not being there for her family in the way that she most knows how.

Both Bob and Helen thus are called to adventure in each film, subsequently struggle to accept that call and go through stages of Refusal, but ultimately Accept the Call and begin their journeys. Their adventures in each film mirror the others from the opposite film, i.e. Bob from the first film shares a path with Helen from the second film, and Helen from the second film shares a path with Bob from the first. This is true for most aspects of their journeys moving forward, so keep it in mind.

Naturally following the Calls and Acceptances, both characters inevitably Cross the First Threshold. Helen, fighting for her family in the first film, takes the leap to discover what Bob is up to (I get this is a stretch, but bear with me) while Bob decides to meet with Mirage (voiced by Elizabeth Pena) and become a super again. In the sequel, Bob crosses the threshold when he has to be a good father without Helen around to assist him, and Helen crosses when she first returns to hero work and rescues the train from the Screenslaver / Evelyn Deavor (voiced by Catherine Keener).

In regard to Supernatural Aids and Mentors, both Bob and Helen share these. Both characters have supernatural powers (as superheroes are wanting to have). Bob has super strength, and Helen has the ability to stretch her body and limbs for an unspecific amount of length. Edna Mode (voiced by Brad Bird) serves as a Mentor figure for both, giving them key advice (NO CAPES!) and other technologies (WHERE IS MY SUPER SUIT!?) that grant them assistance during their struggles. These powers and mentor persist throughout both films.

INITIATION

Mr. Incredible's Road of Trials is more clearly defined when compared to Elastigirl's from the first film. After accepting the call, he faces off against a series of robots on the island, must hide his secret identity not only from the world, but now must additionally hide it from his family. Elastigirl's Road of Trials takes her down a path of detective work. Attempting to discover what Bob is hiding, she uses her sleuthing abilities and picks up on his trail. She discovers that Bob has had a suit made by Edna, and eventually discovers his whereabouts on the island. Through her sleuthing, her children get involved, and her core duty to protect the family is front and center.

In "The Incredibles II" Bob's trials are again easy to place. He has to master the path of fatherhood, and that means helping his son Dashiell "Dash" Parr (Spencer Fox in The Incredibles, voiced by Huckleberry Milner in The Incredibles II) with his insufferable math homework (probably Common Core woes). He has to make amends with his daughter Violet Parr (Sarah Vowell) and help her with her dating life, having meddled in the first place. He must fix a mistake he made as a super but do so as a father. Lastly, in regard to his children, he has to deal with Jack Jack Parr's (voiced by Eli Fucile and Maeve Andres) budding powers. Raising a family is difficult work, and Bob has to learn how to do many things that Helen would have formerly taken care of, with the addition of children with super powers. Bob also struggles with the idea that Helen is getting the super work, and his idea of what it means to be a superhero dad must change. He fights inward struggles of emasculation and jealousy.

Helen's Road of Trials in the sequel is more traditional. As the hero that is allowed to step into the spotlight, she is facing off against the film's primary villain, the Screenslaver, and her journey, while involving her internal struggle of being away from her family, mainly revolves around discovering the villains identity and foiling her evil plot to shame all heroes and ruin their reputation permanently.

Across both films, Bob and Helen share Allies and Enemies, including villains such as Buddy "Syndrome" Pine (voiced by Jason Lee), the Screenslaver, or Mirage to a lesser extent, and including allies such as Edna (one can be both a mentor and an ally), Winston Deavor (voiced by Bob Odenkirk), and Rick Dicker (voiced by Bud Luckey in "The Incredibles," and Jonathan Banks in "The Incredibles II"). Their best-known ally is Lucius Best / Frozone (voiced by Samuel L. Jackson), and they each serve as an ally to one another. They also have their children, who are key to their success as heroes, and obviously as parents. I won't go into too much detail on their villains here, but later in the week check out "Rogues Gallery #2: The Villains of "The Incredibles" which, ideally, will be posted within a couple of days of this post.

One of the coolest aspects about joining both Bob and Helen's journeys is that they are each other's Goddess character. The Meeting with the Goddess archetypal character is usually one whom the hero meets and establishes a powerful bond of some sort, and it is rare to find a bond stronger than marriage. Bob and Helen complement each other in many ways, as parents and as heroes. Without working together, the success of both journeys would not be obtainable.

The Woman as Temptress, as a counter point, is represented in other means. For Bob, the temptation in the first film is the life of a super. The physicality, the respect, the power, the success it brings him at home. Without the balance, he begins to slip further away from what he truly cares about - his family. For Bob, working alone is his true weakness, and must learn to work with others and allow others to connect with him, be it as a super or as a father. We see this in how he hides his super work from Helen and the kids, and we see how his lone wolf-ishness inadvertently causes him to create his own villain, Syndrome. In the second film, Bob's temptation is the same hero work, but this time he has an easier time dealing with it as his focus must remain on being a father first. When he falls back into old habits to be a super and rescue Helen, he leaves his children out of it and goes in alone, a lesson he learned from the first film but forgets and pays for it.

Helen's temptations are a lot harder to place. In the second film, it is clear that she wants to be there for her family, and they act as the temptation while she must focus on her heroic duties. She trusts Bob but has never been in a position where she must rely on Bob to be in her typical role of family support. It would be much easier for her to let Bob be the spot lit hero, but she has to fill that role. In the first film, which is subjectively more so Bob's story, her temptation is to believe that Bob is being adulterous, as he has grown distant. It is harder for her to see what is truly going on (Bob being a secret super) because his behavior is so akin to infidelity. Being that her role is primarily to protect and serve the family, a cheating husband threatens that more than a husband who rescues children from a burning building. In both of their cases, it appears that their temptations are simply the "other" world, the world that they are not a part of but should be, and when they eventually win their quest, they are rewarded with their temptations because they receive the balance.

"Pull-yourself-together! "What will you do?" Is this a question? You will show him you remember that he is Mr. Incredible, and you will remind him who you are. Well, you know where he is. Go, confront the problem. Fight! Win! And call me when you get back, darling. I enjoy our visits."

- Edna Mode (Incredibles I)

In both films for both Helen and Bob, their Atonement with the Father phase actually comes with atonement to their children. Each time, they must realize that they are always stronger as a family team than each of them are as individuals. Bob wouldn't have escaped the island and saved the city without Helen and the kids, and Helen would not have rescued Bob and saved the city without the kids. The children coming in clutch during the climax of both films always makes the parent Parrs realize the power of their familial unit. Without the kids in the second film, Bob and Helen would have simply lost to the Screenslaver. By working cohesively, they finally acknowledge that their kids are ready to fully embrace the world, and this has an added layer of them facing this world as people, not just supers. The kids are maturing, and so too do Helen and Bob when they accept that they are good parents and good heroes. Bob and Helen achieve an Ultimate Boon in both films when they work together as a family of heroes who can exist as heroes and as a regular family.

RETURN

After they achieve that Boon, the heroes race to their Master of Two Worlds. Helen is able to be a good mother and good hero, and Bob is able to be a good father and hero as well. There are, however, moments of resistance. Before Bob accepts aid from his family, he initially rejects them as he isn't ready to lose them. He still places all of the burden on his shoulders. Helen does the same, leaving the children at home and not acknowledging that they are more capable than she can imagine. It may be somewhat of a stretch to suggest these moments indicate a Refusal of the Return as they have not accepted the blending, or rather, the merging of their worlds. However, their kids are powerful, and provide the parent Parrs their Rescue from Without.

"We act normal, Mom! I want to 'be' normal! The only normal one is Jack-Jack, and he's not even toilet trained!"

- Violet Parr

So, working as a family hero team, The Incredibles Cross the Return Threshold as a heroic family that also exists in normalcy. Dash is free to be a kid and do sports, Violet is free to be a regular teenager and date, Jack Jack is still a baby, and is free to be that. Both films end with the family jumping into heroic actions to save their city, allowing the characters to display that they have Returned with the Elixir from their journeys, that they have Mastered the Two Worlds, and they now have the Freedom to Live. Bob and Helen, most importantly, are free to be superheroes and super parents.

FINAL THOUGHTS

It is difficult to dissect two characters across multiple journeys and two films, and though I didn't cover every single step from the journeys with as much detail as I would have liked, the idea that these two characters have two journeys that end with a beautifully done mastery of two worlds was fun to discuss. Ultimately, these films are about family and trust. Without these ideals, "The Incredibles" and "The Incredibles II" would not pack as much of a punch as they do. However, in a time where Marvel is dominating the silver screen, and where the Fantastic Four films have all been complete and total flops, it is nice to see a superhero family shine. While the films highlight the powers and the feats, they really excel when showing the family dynamic, and the film pair equates to not only one of the strongest entries into the Pixar catalog, but the superhero marketplace as well.

The animation of the characters is silky smooth in both films (though of course it is far superior in the second film), the set design immaculate, the special effects impressive, and the visual story telling completely striking. You notice the details on the hair when it flows in the breeze, or when it gets wet after the characters are submerged in water. You notice the lighting against the buildings, and the sexy shadow work against the characters as they move across the seen. Ultimately, you notice the passion and the detailed artwork that went into every moment across both films. The 14-year gap between films only made audiences crave for the sequel, and I think it is just as strong as the first, though both tell a similar story. Neither film outshines the other when compared within the framework of their release, at least in my opinion, and you should view both as often as you can.