Are You “Incredible”?
2008
Our 4-year old daughter loves the movie “The Incredibles.” Because of her love for the movie, we watched it three times in one weekend. Mind you, if we could have watched it more, it would’ve been fine with her.
So our daughter has now re-characterized her family. Our daughter has renamed Manchild aptly as “Mr. Incredible.” She has coined me as “Elastigirl.” And of course, our daughter has temporarily lost her identity in the character “Violet” (although this has gone on long enough, and we constantly try to convince her that she is not Violet, but that Violet is her sister).
Identifying oneself with a superhero is one of those things children innately do, I think. I don’t think she’s doing it because she believes we need to have superpowers. In fact, she doesn’t talk about Mr. Incredible’s strength, or Violet’s power to generate a force field that can keep out all sorts of evil and danger. She definitely doesn’t talk about Elastigirl’s ability to literally stretch and adapt to problematic situations.
But as I think about this and reflect a little deeper about Elastigirl’s superpowers, I realize that she was flexible and resilient in the face of adversity. And she recovered quickly in the midst of the problem, even before the adversity passed, so that with every situation, she was able to immediately respond.
Indeed, what would it be like to have that type of flexibility and resilience when bad things happened, to appropriately respond at a moment’s notice?
And then I think to myself, or at least in this post, “How I wish I had those same superpowers!” (Now I know I can call on God at any time, and I truly have enough faith to do that, but don’t spoil my post!)
If you could be a superhero, which one would you be, and why?
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This is an awesome post! I think I would be Elektra, with the ability to achieve anything I set my mind to…of course, I believe I can do this already (it’s called FAITH), but the addition of having mind control over folks would be kinda nice…
Thanks Marvalus!
Elektra is indeed powerful! And I agree; faith is more powerful. But wouldn’t it be fun to be able to do the crazy things superheroes do. I’m looking forward to Will Smith’s “Hancock.” That looks like it’s going to be fun!
If I could be any superhero, I’d have to make up my own. I’d be able to teleport to any location effortlessly. Oh, wait, I just saw that one on “Jumper” so I’m not being original! But I do love that superpower.
There was a part of “The Incredibles” that disturbed me enough to not want a four to six year old to see it. I have a feeling that when the baby JackJack develops his power of spontaneous combustion, it will deeply affect a young child. Whether it’s a fear of fire or love of fire, I don’t know, but sometimes I wish that child psychologists would review animated movies before they are released, or at least before they are rated. Why would a live baby on fire ever be okay?
Hi Jessica,
We just rented “Jumper.” I fell asleep on it, but my husband enjoyed it. It was interesting, though, how the main character used his powers not for good, at least at the beginning of the movie.
I didn’t think about the fact that baby JackJack’s face explodes would affect a child, but thinking about it, I can see how it’s possible. I’ve not worried about that with my own daughter; there are other things I try to shield my daughter from that appears even on network television. But your point is taken.
Nonetheless, I don’t think that filmmakers are concerned about whether a child will be emotionally disturbed and harmed by some of what they put out. It’s all about the bottom line.
Yes, I know that filmmakers just do what they think will pull in more viewers, more money. It is the naivety of me as a teen, decades ago, that wishes that child psychologists would review movies. I know for sure that no such thing exists in Hollywood!
I loved Jumper! I know he used his powers for self-indulgence, but that is how the original book was crafted. It was meant to make teens think about the selfishness of their actions! This movie was based on the premise that “if the rules do not apply to you, then why would you follow societies rules?”
If I could be any superhero I would be Superman. I mean he’s tough,strong,good looking, and can fly to the moon. Plus with gas prices the way they are…well you get the idea.
Yes I am incredible indeed after reading your great write-up. Good one.