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Many fans of The Incredibles, the hit 2004 animated Disney movie, were ecstatic when they heard a sequel was going to be released fourteen years later. The Incredibles 2 begins right when the first movie ends and features the same main characters — Mr. Incredible (voiced by Craig T. Nelson), Elastigirl (Holly Hunter), Violet (Sarah Vowell), Dash (Huck Milner), Jack-Jack (Eli Fucile), and Frozone (Samuel L. Jackson). A fan favorite, The Incredibles 2 attracted adult viewers as well as children — but beyond the funny dialog and modern animation quality, what kind of messages did it offer?
While the first movie is arguably the tale of a superhero father’s mid-life crisis and a family’s perseverance in the face of evil and internal conflict, The Incredibles 2 tackles somewhat different subject matters. There’s much more glaring evidence of feminism, with Elastigirl taking on the role of breadwinner and Mr. Incredible learning how to be an effective stay-at-home dad.
Several articles have since tackled feminist analysis, including one on The Guardian and another written for Varsity. Largely absent from the discourse, though, are discussions of how The Incredibles 2 provokes viewers to think about technology and the way it impacts people. The villainous Screenslaver calls to mind aspects of postmodern theory, and he represents the dangerous ways technology can influence ideology, identity, and action if people aren’t cautious about what they are exposed to.
What Is Postmodernism?
In order to understand the postmodern significance of The Incredibles 2‘s villain, it’s important to highlight some relevant facets of postmodern philosophy. One of the key beliefs of postmodern theorists is that there is no objective truth we can access. In other words, all of reality and all of our knowledge are constructed based on experience and accepted ideology. Another aspect that ties into this belief is that those ideologies that people accept are irrevocably tied to power (( Duignan, Brian. “Postmodernism.” In Encyclopædia Britannica, September 20, 2019. )).
Some postmodernists go so far as to believe that “the prevailing discourses in any society reflect the interests and values, broadly speaking, of dominant or elite groups,” while others subscribe to a more nuanced view that knowledge and ideology in any given time period are influenced by power dynamics that exist in a society (( Ibid. )). All of this essentially means that the ways that people understand the world and their places in it are a product of what people in power want the masses to believe, as well as what power structures exist in a society’s institutions.
Power’s influence on ideology can be evaluated in our political systems, economic systems, education, media, and more. This is also an inherent reason why postmodern thought involves so much skepticism about the world and about knowledge.
Screenslaver & Postmodernism
Before it is revealed that Evelyn Deavor is the brains behind the Screenslaver, he and his technological mind control are the enemy that Elastigirl must defeat. After Elastigirl agrees to be an advocate for superheroes, her first mission is to stop a runaway train, which is how The Incredibles 2 introduces the Screenslaver. He hypnotizes the train engineer using the screen in the front car.
This is the first evidence viewers get of the technology-induced hypnosis that the Screenslaver uses to control the minds and decisions of his victims. It happens again when Elastigirl is being interviewed by a TV anchor; he hacks into the live broadcast, and the show’s cast and crew suddenly fall under his influence, provoking Elastigirl into action.
How does the Screenslaver fit into postmodern theory, then? He serves as a metaphor for the way someone in power might use technology to deliver knowledge and biased thought to people, directly impacting their behaviors and actions. When the Screenslaver takes hold of the anchor’s mind, for instance, the anchor says, “We are controlled by screens, and screens are controlled by me, Screenslaver” (( The Incredibles 2. Film. USA: Walt Disney Pictures, 2018. )).
This is a blatant example of postmodernism in The Incredibles 2 in that the villain admits to the way that whoever controls mass media can control the people watching it. Under the umbrella of postmodern thought, it’s rare that a single person is identified as the elite force or power that constructs ideology, which is why the Screenslaver is a metaphor for control and not a perfect representation, but he embodies the idea nonetheless.
Postmodernism In The Screenslaver’s Monologues
Beyond just being a metaphor for the power driving people’s knowledge, the Screenslaver has several moments of dialog where he further provokes skepticism about how much truth there is in what people in The Incredibles 2 know about the world around them. The first example is still in the anchor’s part, where he says:
Do I have your attention? Of course I do. I’m appearing on your screen, reading the words I’m saying off of another screen. Screens are everywhere. We are controlled by screens, and screens are controlled by me, Screenslaver.
(( The Screenslaver, The Incredibles 2; Disney Pixar, 2018. ))
The keywords here are “I’m appearing on your screen, reading the words I’m saying off of another screen.” This sentence invokes postmodern ideas about discourse in that people who are watching the TV broadcast when this happens cannot see the Screenslaver himself or know where he is, but he’s still able to speak to them and to influence them. Part of postmodern theory is that people can’t name their oppressors — they abide by the accepted ideologies and institutions of the world, but it is impossible to know who put them in place or what forces uphold them.
The Screenslaver’s presentation of himself through multiple screens and his ability to make another man say his words obscure the masses’ knowledge of him, leaving TV viewers and Elastigirl unable to identify the man in power. Later on, Elastigirl baits the Screenslaver by participating in another interview, which is when we first “see” the villain. He’s in a mask and goggles, and he doesn’t have any identifiable objects in the background of his broadcast. He therefore still doesn’t have a tangible identity, but people in The Incredibles 2 universe and real life movie viewers get a figure to associate with his name, at least.
When he hacks the second interview, he says:
Elastigirl doesn’t save the day. She only postpones her defeat. And while she postpones her defeat, you eat chips and watch her confront problems that you are too lazy to deal with. Superheroes are part of your brainless desire to replace true experience with simulation.
You don’t talk, you watch talk shows. You don’t play games, you watch game shows. Travel, relationships, risk — every meaningful experience must be packaged and delivered to you to watch at a distance, so that you can remain ever-sheltered, ever-passive, ever-ravenous consumers who can’t bring themselves to rise from their couches, break a sweat, and participate in life.
You want superheroes to protect you, and make yourselves ever more powerless in the process, while you tell yourselves that you’re being looked after, that your interests are being served and your rights are being upheld. So that the system can keep stealing from you, smiling at you all the while. Go ahead, send your supers to stop me. Grab your snacks, watch your screens, and see what happens. You are no longer in control. I am.
The Screenslaver, The Incredibles 2; Disney Pixar 2018.
Hyperreality And Secondary Representation
In this scene, the Screenslaver does not act as the oppressor so much as he calls attention to the way the masses are controlled even without his influence. His talk about replacing true experience with simulation and watching real life happen from a distance echoes postmodern sentiments about living through secondary representation. Stanford University’s online encyclopedia explains it this way: “In postmodernism, hyperreality is the result of the technological mediation of experience, where what passes for reality is a network of images and signs without an external referent” (( Aylesworth, Gary. “Postmodernism.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Stanford University, February 5, 2015. )).
This is a complicated way of saying that people cannot distinguish true reality (playing games) from simulations of reality (watching game shows) because of how invested in and controlled by the technology they are. This is precisely what the Screenslaver points out when he says people in The Incredibles 2 would prefer to have relationships and risk being neatly packaged and fed to them on TV instead of experiencing it themselves. They have been conditioned to accept simulation over reality.
He doesn’t stop there, however; he continues on to point out the relation between hyperreality and power. The Screenslaver implies that simulated experiences — people watching TV all day while others (supers) go out and do something meaningful in their stead — has made people docile and vulnerable to exploitation. They have become so complacent due to technology and acceptance of the status quo that they continue to participate in economic and political institutions — “the system” — that don’t serve their interests.
This ties directly into the postmodern idea that those in power are capable of shaping ideology in such a way as to control people and how they view the world. There is no human nature or inevitable truth about the world to blame, but rather, the interests of those in power shape what the masses believe. In the case of The Incredibles 2, the Screenslaver points the finger at superheroes, politicians, and economic owners (the opposite of consumers, who are the ones being exploited) as the agents of that power, the beneficiaries of that exploitation.
What Postmodernism In The Incredibles 2 Means For Us
There is a reason why postmodernism existed as a school of thought before The Incredibles 2 and not the other way around. Theorists and philosophers have been ruminating on how we understand our roles in society and how the truth of the world is constructed around us for decades now. The Incredibles 2 simply does an excellent job of pulling back the blindfolds that viewers may wear, exposing how technology makes us complacent in our own lives. It also provokes questions such as: Who is our screenslaver? Whose interests do the subliminal messages coming across our TVs and phones serve? Has technology skewed our perceptions of reality? Has it damaged the way we experience life?
In the Age of Information, with devices at our fingertips all day long, we have never-ending access to simulation, thought, and ideology constructed by other people — so much so that it can become difficult for us to sort through it all and see the status quo for what it is: constructed. The Screenslaver challenges the people in his universe to think about what they’re consuming and how they’re living. He exposes reality as a product of technological simulation and exploitative economic and societal systems.
In doing so, he gives us, real people, an opportunity to view our world through a postmodern lens, with skepticism and suspicion. Perhaps we can follow his example and deconstruct our own modern world instead of unknowingly falling victim to it.