My Problem With Brad Bird part II

Was talking with the brother about Ratatouille, and how my initial rant was somewhat silly, if not accurate in its criticism; and the subject of The Incredibles came up. In an odd role reversal, it turns out that while I find the film mostly harmless, bro has serious objections, rant size objections about that film. I had similar thoughts, but it wasn’t until we spoke that I got a chance to think about it, and it turns out bro is right, there are two major problems with the underlying theme of the film; problems that echo the overarching problem with Brad Bird films.

Incredibles was hailed by critics for its unabashed political uncorrectness in celebrating people’s uniqueness versus the socialistic impulse to equalize everyone. It seemed like every single review I read all quoted the same one line: “If everyone is special, nobody is special.” Seems like a pretty courageous stand for individualism, no? Actually, no, it’s not. The real message here, and this is the same theme we find in Ratatouille, is that a few select people are Very Very Special, and the sooner the rest of you unimportant nobodies understands this and get out of the way, the happier we’ll all be. It’s a very Ann Ryand-ian message.

One of the great enduring myths of America is that everybody in fact is important. It’s why we tell ourselves that voting is important, and that every votes counts. It’s why the country’s identity is so closely tied to it’s history of democracy. The other great cultural myth is that anybody has the potential to be great with a bit of luck and  lot of hard work. Carnagie, Jobs, Ford, Gates, Disney, and Lincoln; the great American myths aren’t about how these people were inherently better then their peers, it’s about how with a lot of hard work and a little luck, these nobodies pulled themselves up into greatness.

Who in the movie is the one person who tries, with cleverness, determination, and pluck, to rise above his limitations to achieve greatness? Why, the villian, of course! And how does he try to accomplish his transformation? By being smart and using technology, which makes him a bumbling clown, of course. Because if there’s one things Americans cannot stand, it’s an enduring faith that technology can solve all our problems. This is not the land where weekend duffers flock to titanium carbon fiber oversize golfclubs to overcome their high handicaps and golf like Tiger Woods. This is not the land of triple spring loaded $200 sneakers to run and jump like Kobe Bryant. This is not the land where enthusiam for new technology like the internet reached such a fever pitch that it lead to a 2 year stock market bubble. This is not the land of Blackberries and iPhones, Title IX and Equal Opportunity, computer animation and special effects, or going West to California to reinvent yourself. This is a simple land of low ambition and technological wariness, where only the special people are allowed to get ahead at the expense of the rest.

The none too subtle message of The Incredibles is that you are a fool for trying to be a better person than you are. You are a clown for using technology to overcome your physical limitations. And you are a villan for being smart and ambitious, and a dope if you actually work hard to boot. It is perhaps the most decidedly UnAmerican movie to be marketed towards children, and it’s a very funny message to be advanced by a company founded by Steve Jobs and distributed by a company founded by Walt Disney.

My Problem With Brad Bird, part I

I have a problem with Brad Bird. You see, I just recently watched Ratatouille last month, and then caught The Incredibles a few days ago, and both films present problems that really annoy me to no end. The problem is that both seem kind of deterministic. Let me explain.

The Incredibles is about a family of super heroes who have been forced by society to hide their identities and rein in their abilities. The protagonists throw off the shakles of the mediocraty they are forced to endure, and once again champion their rightful title of being heros. No one is special if everyone is special. Or put simply, some people are great, and you ungrateful unspecial people should learn to keep your place.

The Incredibles presents more problems obviously, but is more forgivable because the issue underlies the entire super hero genre. You have people (or aliens) weilding great power to fight super villans who have similarly great power. With great power, however, comes great responsibility. A responsibility that is notably absent in most storylines, minus one obvious exception. The way to overcome that structural default is to make your heroes cartoonishly good and your villans obviously evil. And the first 15 minutes of Incredibles is actually a facinating deconstruction of the conceit that holds together the super power hero world. Mr Incredible fights bad guy, innocent bystanders get hurt. Who’s responsible? Mr. Incredible? The government? Cops have rules regarding high speed police chases, to mitigate and contain the collateral damage to innocent civilians. super heroes do not. Why not? Who’s responsible for Mr. Incredible? Who’s going to clean up his messes? The government, it seems out of gratitude, but then who gave Mr. Incredible permission to do any of the things he does in the first place? He stops a robbery, but nearly kills his boss. Why shouldn’t he be financially and criminally responsible for his actions? Any normal person would.

The answer provided, however, is to reaffirm that Mr. Incredible is, in fact, special. And normal people rules do not apply to special people. Rules in general do not apply to special people. And in fact, normal people aspiring to be special people are dangerous (through clumsiness) and deranged (through envy) and are obviously the villans of this story.

But, like I said, this is more forgivable, because it’s the easier solution to the super hero problem. The logical answer, regulate super heros like anybody else, doesn’t work well in a children’s action cartoon. Training not to use your super powers, taking a drug and alcohol test after doing super battle, being placed on administrative desk duty while a standard incident probe is completed, and filing and settling insurance claims doesn’t make for sexy action movie.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a dangerous precident to set for children, it’s just more Hollywood obvious. I mean, the blond jock with the extra flexible wife (ie: football quarterback and head cheerleader) vs. evil annoying gadget inventor (nerd) is classic Hollywood formula. The dangerous part is the fact we need more nerds. We can kick the world’s ass in American Style Football, what we can’t do is build reliable cars that anybody on planet Earth wants to buy (including ourselves). I mean, being super strong is cool and all, but why is the genius guy who invents stuff that the rest of the world wants to buy the villan? Math and creativity are the tools of evil? Don’t study math kids, or try to build stuff. And never, EVER, aspire to be like your hero, you’re not special enough.

Really? This is the message we want the kids to absorb?