The Incredibles, 2004
November 14, 2022 | ERIN KAY
I chose The Incredibles as my movie to relate to the theory of Care Ethics. In the beginning of this movie, two superheroes, Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl are fighting crime on their wedding day. One bad thing happens after another, and Mr. Incredible is doing all that he can to help keep the city under control. A person jumped from the building in an attempted suicide. A boy that wants to be a superhero got involved with crime and allowed the villain to place a bomb on him when he was robbing a bank. Mr. Incredible tried to save the boy, but the bomb ended up on the train tracks so then he had to stop the train from going off the tracks.
Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl work with the police in keeping the city safe. Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl got married! After their wedding, Mr. Incredible gets sued for trying to save the man that jumped off the building because he didn’t want to be saved. He continues to get fined for trying to save the citizens. 15 years later, he ends up working a 9-5 job as a “normal” person. The city placed a Superhero Relocation Program. Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl are no longer allowed to use their powers and must join society as “normal” people. So, they become Bob and Helen Parr and have three kids, Violet, who can turn invisible; Dash, who has super speed; and Jack-Jack, who is just a baby. They all officially move into a new house. It is obvious that Bob hates his life, and he is so over being a normal person. Little does Helen know, Bob has been sneaking out at night to secretly do superhero activities with another secret superhero, Frozone. He tells his wife that he goes bowling every week with Frozone, when in fact they just listen to the police radio station to hear all the crimes happening. In one of their crimes, they were saving people from a burning building and eventually got caught by the police but were able to escape.
There is a girl that's secretly following them around the town, and they have no clue. Bob had a serious talk with his boss about how he’s helping customers too much. One night, Bob found a tablet with a video playing from a woman named Mirage. She asks him if he can become Mr. Incredible again for a superhero activity. So, he goes and completes the mission but doesn't tell his wife and Helen starts to think he’s having an affair. He starts to become happier, work out more, be more involved with the kids and his wife. She starts to become suspicious. He goes to see Edna, the lady that designs their superhero costumes, to fix his costume for his tasks. It turns out he’s been completing these missions for supervillain Syndrome. His evil plan is to create the Omnidroid which kills all superheroes, after killing Mr. Incredible, but then save the city so he looks like a hero to the people.
Bob’s family eventually finds out that he’s been completing these missions, so Helen goes to see Edna as well to create a costume for herself. She goes to rescue Bob on the island from Syndrome, but her family sneaks on the train without her knowing. They try their hardest to come together as a superhero family to take down the villain. He had no clue their family was a family full of superheroes. When they break through, The Incredibles, rush back home to try and stop the Omnidroid that was launched into civilization. The family works together by using their superpowers and defeats Omnidroid. When they get home, they realize that Jack-Jack was kidnapped. The baby eventually figures out his power is to transform into different things and saves himself from the kidnapper and kills it all by himself.
All returns to normal and Bob and Helen rediscover their spark. Dash has an external battle with his super speed and uses it to his advantage in the track meet but eventually he just tries his best in the meets. Violet no longer hides behind her invisible superpower/hair and grows the confidence to approach her crush. Jack-Jack is figuring the ins and outs of his newly found superpower. At the end of Dash’s track meet, the family faces a new villain, the Underminer, and come together to show no one has a chance against the superhero family, The Incredibles.
The theory that I chose to connect with this movie is care ethics. The definition of this theory is maintaining relationships by contextualizing and promoting the well-being of caregivers in a network of social relations. In simpler terms, it means the morality of maintaining the world of, and meetings the needs of, yourself and others. Additionally, it’s built on the “motivation to care for those who are dependent and vulnerable, and it is inspired by both memories of being cared for and the idealizations of self”. I believe the theory, Care Ethics, clearly connects to the movie The Incredibles.
First, at the beginning of the movie, Mr. Incredible almost misses his OWN wedding because he would rather make sure people are safe by saving them from the city’s harm. He tried his best with every obstacle that was thrown at him. He wanted to make sure other people were safe before he cared about himself. He was too busy to realize that he had a wedding to attend. This connects to the Care Ethics because I believe a wedding day is important and if he chose to save other people rather than be on time for his wedding.
Next, Bob was having a talk with his boss about how he was helping the customers “too much”. He gives tips, hints, and solutions to customers that don't know what they're doing. The boss is mad because they're missing out on making money because Bob is helping them too much. During this meeting with his boss, he witnesses someone getting mugged outside and immediately he wants to help them. His boss said that if he left to go help them then he would be fired. He ended up throwing him through four walls because he was mad that he couldn't help. He was so close to leaving the office to help save the strangers if it meant that he would get fired from his only job. In this case, was putting the strangers above him, even if this had the potential to harm his personal life, so in a sense he was not caring for his relationships with this choice.
Third, Bob’s wife puts her feelings on hold to go save her husband from the villain. She’s extremely mad at him for what he’s been doing and hiding from her. She still drops everything she’s doing to go save him even though she doesn’t know how to fly a plane and doesn't know how much trouble he’s in on the island. Additionally, she’s also saving her children because they came with her, so she must watch out for them as well. This relates to Care Ethics because she’s putting her feelings and safety on hold to care for her husband and children.
Fourth, Frozone sees the machine trying to take over the city first. He drops everything he’s doing to go and try to stop it. His wife gets angry at him because they planned for a fancy dinner, but he cares too much about the city and can't watch them suffer. He holds the villain off long enough for the Incredibles to show up and help.
Fifth, The Incredibles, including Frozone, rush back home to save the city when they escape the villain. They work together as a team and family to help the citizens. They don’t care if they get caught by the police because they're supposed to be undercover now. All they care about is saving the city and its people.
Overall, I really enjoyed this movie. I’ve watched it a million times but decided to watch it back specifically focusing on care ethics. It’s crazy to think how much the movie has changed in my eyes since I’ve grown mentally and physically. I think this is a great movie that teaches valuable morals and lessons to younger viewers. I believe older viewers should watch the movie again to get the full effect and grasp of the morals they learned from the movie when they were a kid.