For the past few days, I had the desire to watch “The Incredibles,” so last night I sat down and plunked it in the DVD player. I’ve seen it a number of times prior, each time impressed with the art, the writing, and the acting. This time around, however, I noticed something else in the movie. The way the parents–especially Helen Parr/Elastigirl–acted towards the children was rather depressing.

I know, part of the movie was to show how the “supers” were really just like everybody else, how they had exactly the same sort of lives we do except for the minor fact that they’ve got, well, superpowers. Helen lashed out at her children in anger, made ridiculous threats (“calm down or you’re grounded for a month!” in a life-or-death situation), spun lies to her children (“everybody’s special, Dash”). She was the driving force in suppressing her children’s natural abilities, and Violet’s depression and Dash’s “unruly” behavior are to be expected. The argument goes that it would be “unwise” to display one’s powers in public, which is essentially used as a club to beat her children into submission. The premise that “society” as a whole would rise up against the “supers” is pretty shaky, and I’m not sure that, outside of a movie, such a situation would take place.

There’s probably more to say on the topic, but I’d actually have to go back and take notes, I think, and I’m not interested enough in the topic to do that right now. One final note, however: Bob Parr has a confessional, and I’m sure that it was appropriate to a degree, especially considering that he was not making his family his highest priority (though I wouldn’t go so far as to say that his own passions must take an absolute back seat; surely there’s enough room in life to accomodate family and passion, but I’m still a bit unsure on this one). However, Helen never had anything remotely similar. Shouldn’t Helen have had a similar confessional, apologizing profusely for using false pretenses to hold everybody back from realizing their full potential? Shouldn’t she have apologized for meekly bowing to the demands of society instead of standing up for what is right? Even near the end, right before the final battle, she was running roughshod over Bob, who was struggling to find the words to express himself. I’m just not sure that Helen has very many redeeming characteristics at that point, and I never get the sense that she feels she needs to apologize for her behavior.

Don’t get me wrong–I really do like “The Incredibles.” The interaction between the parents and the children isn’t something that’s specific to this movie, so I’m not sure if it’s worth much more analysis. I just feel that, looking back on it, it would have been outstanding if Helen had also shown some growth.