That’s what I found most exasperating about The Incredibles. That and the preceding scene were a brilliant illustration of the sort of courageous subversion of unjust authority that is within the reach of ordinary people. From that scene, we go on to Mr. Incredible’s midlife crisis, which links up with his childrens’ escapist fantasies – and they end up as superheroes again, with the story explicitly denying the value of ordinary people and their potential.
I’m left wondering if there was some intended theme cut short or lost: that stories about superheroes, and endless adventure stories, end up just making us feel bad, devaluing the things we could do, and sometimes actually do, to make things better.
