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''The Incredibles'' is a 2004 American computer-animated
superhero film A superhero film (or superhero movie) is a film that focuses on the actions of superheroes. Superheroes are individuals who possess superhuman abilities and are dedicated to protecting the public. These films typically feature action, advent ...
produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by
Walt Disney Pictures Walt Disney Pictures is an American film production company and subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, which is owned by The Walt Disney Company. The studio is the flagship producer of live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Studios unit ...
. Written and directed by
Brad Bird Phillip Bradley Bird (born September 24, 1957) is an American film director, animator, screenwriter, producer, and voice actor. He has had a career spanning forty years in both animation and live-action. Bird was born in Montana and grew up i ...
, it stars the voices of
Craig T. Nelson Craig Theodore Nelson (born April 4, 1944) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Hayden Fox in the sitcom ''Coach'' (for which he won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series), Deputy Ward Wilson in the 19 ...
,
Holly Hunter Holly Patricia Hunter (born March 20, 1958) is an American actress. For her performance as Ada McGrath in the 1993 drama film '' The Piano'', Hunter won the Academy Award for Best Actress. She earned three additional Academy Award nominations for ...
,
Sarah Vowell Sarah Jane Vowell (born December 27, 1969) is an American author, journalist, essayist, social commentator and voice actress. She has written seven nonfiction books on American history and culture. She was a contributing editor for the radio pro ...
, Spencer Fox, Jason Lee,
Samuel L. Jackson Samuel Leroy Jackson (born December 21, 1948) is an American actor and producer. One of the most widely recognized actors of his generation, the films in which he has appeared have collectively grossed over $27 billion worldwide, making him ...
, and
Elizabeth Peña Elizabeth Maria Peña (September 23, 1959 – October 14, 2014) was an American actress, writer and musician. Her work in films included ''Nothing like the Holidays'', '' Batteries Not Included'', '' La Bamba'', '' Down and Out in Beverl ...
. Set in a retro-futuristic version of the 1960s, the film follows
Bob Bob, BOB, or B.O.B. may refer to: Places * Mount Bob, New York, United States *Bob Island, Palmer Archipelago, Antarctica People, fictional characters, and named animals *Bob (given name), a list of people and fictional characters *Bob (surname ...
and Helen Parr, a couple of superheroes, known as Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl, who hide their powers in accordance with a government mandate, and attempt to live a quiet suburban life with their three children. However, Bob's desire to help people draws the entire family into a confrontation with a vengeful fan-turned-foe. Bird, who was Pixar's first outside director, developed the film as an extension of the 1960s comic books and
spy film The spy film, also known as the spy thriller, is a genre of film that deals with the subject of fictional espionage, either in a realistic way (such as the adaptations of John le Carré) or as a basis for fantasy (such as many James Bond films) ...
s from his boyhood and personal family life. He pitched the film to Pixar after
Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...
' box office disappointment of his first feature, '' The Iron Giant'' (1999), and carried over much of its staff to develop ''The Incredibles''. The animation team was tasked with animating an all-human cast, which required creating new technology to animate detailed human anatomy, clothing, and realistic skin and hair.
Michael Giacchino Michael Giacchino (; born October 10, 1967) is an American composer of music for films, television and video games. He has also served as a director for television. He has received many awards, including an Oscar for his work on '' Up'' (2009), ...
composed the film's orchestral score. ''The Incredibles'' debuted at the
El Capitan Theatre El Capitan Theatre is a fully restored movie palace at 6838 Hollywood Blvd. in Hollywood. The theater and adjacent Hollywood Masonic Temple (now known as the El Capitan Entertainment Centre) is owned by The Walt Disney Company and serves as the ...
on October 24, 2004, and was released in theaters in the United States on November 5. It earned $632million worldwide, finishing its theatrical run as the fourth-highest-grossing film of 2004. ''The Incredibles'' received widespread acclaim from critics and audiences, with praise for its animation, screenplay, action sequences, humor, voice acting, themes, music, and appeal to different age groups, and is frequently considered to be one of the greatest superhero movies of all time. It won two
Academy Awards The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
for Best Animated Feature and Best Sound Editing with two additional nominations for
Best Original Screenplay The Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay is the Academy Award for the best screenplay not based upon previously published material. It was created in 1940 as a separate writing award from the Academy Award for Best Story. Beginning with the ...
and Best Sound Mixing, as well as winning the
Annie Award for Best Animated Feature The Annie Award for Best Animated Feature is an Annie Award introduced in 1992, awarded annually to the best animated feature film. History In 1998, the award was renamed Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Theatrical Feature, only to revert t ...
. It was the first entirely animated film to win the prestigious
Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation The Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation is given each year for theatrical films, television episodes, or other dramatized works related to science fiction or fantasy released in the previous calendar year. Originally the award covered both ...
. A sequel, ''
Incredibles 2 ''Incredibles 2'' is a 2018 American computer-animated superhero film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Written and directed by Brad Bird, it is the sequel to ''The Incredibles'' (2004) and the second ...
'', was released in June 2018.


Plot

On the day of his wedding with Helen Truax (alias Elastigirl), superhero Bob Parr (alias Mr. Incredible) rescues Oliver Sansweet from committing suicide by tackling him through a window of a skyscraper. Discovering supervillain Bomb Voyage robbing the building, Bob fights him, but is interrupted by his devoted fan
Buddy Pine The following is a list of fictional characters from the 2004 Disney/Pixar computer-animated superhero film ''The Incredibles'' and its 2018 sequel ''Incredibles 2''. The Parr Family (The Incredibles) Bob Parr (Mr. Incredible) Robert "Bob" Pa ...
pretending to be his sidekick "Incrediboy". After Bob rejects Buddy, Bomb Voyage clips a bomb to Buddy's cape. Bob pulls the bomb off, but it destroys an el-train track, though Bob stops the train from falling off. After Bob and Helen marry, Sansweet and the train passengers sue Bob for collateral damage. These lawsuits spread to other superheroes, turning public opinion against them, and the government initiates the Superhero Relocation Program, forcing "supers" to adhere to their secret identities and abandon their exploits. Fifteen years later, Bob and Helen live with their children, Violet, Dash, and baby Jack-Jack, in Metroville. Although he loves his family, Bob resents the mundanity of his suburban lifestyle and job as a
claims adjuster A claims adjuster, desk adjuster, field adjuster, or general adjuster (claim adjuster, claims handler, claim handler or loss adjuster in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, South Africa, the Caribbean and New Zealand) investigates insurance cla ...
, and moonlights as a vigilante with his longtime friend, Lucius Best (alias Frozone). After Bob is fired for assaulting his supervisor, who prevented him from stopping a mugging, a woman named Mirage secretly offers him a mission to subdue a savage multi-limbed robot called the Omnidroid on Nomanisan island. Bob succeeds by tricking the machine into ripping out its own power source. Rejuvenated by the action and pay, Bob trains to get back in shape while awaiting another assignment. He visits superhero uniform designer
Edna Mode Edna "E" Mode is a fictional character in Pixar's animated superhero film ''The Incredibles'' (2004) and its sequel ''Incredibles 2'' (2018). She is an eccentric fashion designer renowned for designing the costumes of several famous superheroes, ...
when he discovers a tear in his super-suit. Incorrectly assuming Helen knows of Bob's new job, Edna makes new suits for all the Parrs. Back on Nomanisan, Bob discovers Mirage is working for Buddy. Now wealthy and calling himself Syndrome, he has invented many devices that mimic superpowers. He has been perfecting the Omnidroid by hiring superheroes to fight it, killing them in the process. Syndrome intends to send a rebuilt Omnidroid to Metroville, where he will secretly manipulate its controls to defeat it publicly. He then plans to sell his inventions to the world to make the term "super" irrelevant. Helen visits Edna and learns what Bob has been up to. To find Bob, Helen activates a
beacon A beacon is an intentionally conspicuous device designed to attract attention to a specific location. A common example is the lighthouse, which draws attention to a fixed point that can be used to navigate around obstacles or into port. More mode ...
Edna built into the suits, inadvertently causing Bob to be captured while infiltrating Syndrome's base. Helen borrows a private plane to fly to Nomanisan. Violet and Dash stow away, leaving Jack-Jack with babysitter Kari. Despite knowing that the children are on the plane, Syndrome shoots it down, but Helen and the kids escape to the island. Syndrome also reveals his indifference to Mirage's life, and a disillusioned Mirage releases Bob and informs him of his family's survival. Syndrome's guards pursue Dash and Violet, who fend them off with their powers and reunite with their parents. Syndrome imprisons the family while he transports the Omnidroid to Metroville. The Parrs escape to Metroville with Mirage's help. The Omnidroid shoots the remote control off Syndrome's wrist and knocks him unconscious. The Parrs and Lucius fight the Omnidroid; Helen and the kids retrieve the remote control, allowing Bob to destroy the robot's power source. Returning home, the Parrs find Syndrome retaliating by abducting Jack-Jack to raise as a sidekick. As Syndrome flies away, Jack-Jack reveals his own superpowers and attacks him, causing Syndrome to lose hold. Helen rescues the falling baby, and Bob knocks Syndrome into one of his own plane's engines. Three months later, the Parrs witness the arrival of supervillain the Underminer. They don their superhero masks and suits, ready to face a new threat.


Voice cast

*
Craig T. Nelson Craig Theodore Nelson (born April 4, 1944) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Hayden Fox in the sitcom ''Coach'' (for which he won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series), Deputy Ward Wilson in the 19 ...
as Bob Parr / Mr. Incredible, Helen's husband who possesses
superhuman strength Superhuman strength is a superpower commonly invoked in fiction and other literary works such as mythology. A fictionalized representation of the phenomenon of hysterical strength, it is the power to exert force and lift weights beyond what is ph ...
and endurance. *
Holly Hunter Holly Patricia Hunter (born March 20, 1958) is an American actress. For her performance as Ada McGrath in the 1993 drama film '' The Piano'', Hunter won the Academy Award for Best Actress. She earned three additional Academy Award nominations for ...
as Helen Parr / Elastigirl (Mrs Incredible), Bob's wife who has the ability to shapeshift her body. *
Sarah Vowell Sarah Jane Vowell (born December 27, 1969) is an American author, journalist, essayist, social commentator and voice actress. She has written seven nonfiction books on American history and culture. She was a contributing editor for the radio pro ...
as Violet Parr, the Parrs' eldest child who can become invisible and generate force fields. * Spencer Fox as Dashiell "Dash" Parr, the Parrs' second child who possesses superhuman speed. * Eli Fucile and Maeve Andrews as Jack-Jack Parr, the Parrs' infant son who demonstrates a wide range of superhuman abilities. * Jason Lee as Buddy Pine / IncrediBoy / Syndrome, Mr. Incredible's obsessed fan-turned-supervillain who uses his scientific prowess to give himself enhanced abilities. *
Samuel L. Jackson Samuel Leroy Jackson (born December 21, 1948) is an American actor and producer. One of the most widely recognized actors of his generation, the films in which he has appeared have collectively grossed over $27 billion worldwide, making him ...
as Lucius Best / Frozone, Bob's best friend who can form ice from humidity. *
Elizabeth Peña Elizabeth Maria Peña (September 23, 1959 – October 14, 2014) was an American actress, writer and musician. Her work in films included ''Nothing like the Holidays'', '' Batteries Not Included'', '' La Bamba'', '' Down and Out in Beverl ...
as Mirage, Syndrome's right-hand woman. *
Brad Bird Phillip Bradley Bird (born September 24, 1957) is an American film director, animator, screenwriter, producer, and voice actor. He has had a career spanning forty years in both animation and live-action. Bird was born in Montana and grew up i ...
as Edna "E" Mode, a fashion designer for superheroes. * Teddy Newton as Newsreel Narrator, heard narrating the changing public opinion of the Supers. * Jean Sincere as Mrs. Hogenson, an elderly lady to whom Bob pretends to deny an insurance claim. * Bud Luckey as Rick Dicker, a government agent responsible for keeping the Parrs undercover. * Wallace Shawn as Gilbert Huph, Bob's demeaning boss. *
Lou Romano Lou Romano (born April 15, 1972) is an American animator and voice actor. He did design work on '' Monsters, Inc.'' and ''The Incredibles'', and he provided the voices of Bernie Kropp in ''The Incredibles'', Snot Rod in ''Cars'' and Alfredo Ling ...
as Bernie Kropp, Dash's teacher. * Michael Bird as Tony Rydinger, Violet's crush. * Dominique Louis as
Bomb Voyage The following is a list of fictional characters from the 2004 Disney/Pixar computer-animated superhero film ''The Incredibles'' and its 2018 sequel ''Incredibles 2''. The Parr Family (The Incredibles) Bob Parr (Mr. Incredible) Robert "Bob" Pa ...
, a French supervillain who uses explosives. * Bret Parker as
Kari Kari or KARI may refer to: Places *Kari, Jhunjhunu, a village in Rajasthan, India * , a village in Mouhoun Province, Burkina Faso *Kari, Tikamgarh, a town in Madhya Pradesh, India * Kari, Iran, a village in Bushehr Province, Iran * Kari-ye Bozorg ( ...
, Jack-Jack's babysitter. * Kimberly Adair Clark as Honey, Frozone's wife. * John Ratzenberger as The Underminer, a mole-like supervillain.


Production


Development and writing

''The Incredibles'' as a concept dates back to 1993 when Bird sketched the family during an uncertain point in his film career. Personal issues had percolated into the story as they weighed on him in life. During this time, Bird had signed a production deal with Warner Bros. Feature Animation and was in the process of directing his first feature, '' The Iron Giant''. Approaching middle age and having high aspirations for his filmmaking, Bird pondered whether his career goals were attainable only at the price of his family life. He stated, "Consciously, this was just a funny movie about superheroes. But I think that what was going on in my life definitely filtered into the movie." After the box office failure of ''The Iron Giant'', Bird gravitated toward his superhero story. He imagined it as a homage to the 1960s comic books and
spy film The spy film, also known as the spy thriller, is a genre of film that deals with the subject of fictional espionage, either in a realistic way (such as the adaptations of John le Carré) or as a basis for fantasy (such as many James Bond films) ...
s from his boyhood and he initially tried to develop it as a 2D cel animation. When ''The Iron Giant'' became a
box office bomb A box-office bomb, or box-office disaster, is a film that is unprofitable or considered highly unsuccessful during its theatrical run. Although any film for which the production, marketing, and distribution costs combined exceed the revenue after ...
, he reconnected with old friend
John Lasseter John Alan Lasseter (; born January 12, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, animator, voice actor, and the head of animation at Skydance Animation. He was previously the chief creative officer of Pixar Animation Studios ...
at
Pixar Pixar Animation Studios (commonly known as Pixar () and stylized as P I X A R) is an American computer animation studio known for its critically and commercially successful computer animated feature films. It is based in Emeryville, Californ ...
in March 2000 and pitched his story idea to him. Bird and Lasseter knew each other from their college years at
CalArts The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a private art university in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of both ...
in the 1970s. Lasseter was sold on the idea and convinced Bird to come to Pixar, where the film would be done in computer animation. The studio announced a multi-film contract with Bird on May 4, 2000. ''The Incredibles'' was written and directed solely by Brad Bird, a departure from previous Pixar productions which typically had two or three directors and as many screenwriters with a history of working for the company. In addition, it would be the company's first film in which all characters are human. Bird came to Pixar with the lineup of the story's family members worked out: a mom and dad, both suffering through the dad's midlife crisis; a shy teenage girl; a cocky ten-year-old boy; and a baby. Bird had based their powers on family archetypes. During production,
Hayao Miyazaki is a Japanese animator, director, producer, screenwriter, author, and manga artist. A co-founder of Studio Ghibli, he has attained international acclaim as a masterful storyteller and creator of Japanese animated feature films, and is widel ...
of
Studio Ghibli is a Japanese animation studio headquartered in Koganei, Tokyo."Studio Ghibli Collection - Madman Entertainment". ''Studio Ghibli Collection - Madman Entertainment''. Retrieved 2020-12-14. It is best known for its animated feature films, and h ...
visited Pixar and saw the film's story reels. When Bird asked if the reels made any sense or if they were just "American nonsense," Miyazaki replied, through an interpreter, "I think it's a very adventurous thing you are trying to do in an American film." Syndrome was originally written as a minor character who assaults Bob and Helen at the beginning of the movie, only to die in an explosion that destroys the Parrs' house (in this version, the Smiths), but he was made the main antagonist because the filmmakers liked him more than the character of Xerek, who was intended to fulfill that role. The Snug character that Helen talks to at the phone in the final film was intended to fly Helen to Nomanisan Island and to die, but he was removed from that position when Lasseter suggested having Helen pilot the plane herself.''Finding Nemo'', 2004 DVD, commentary


Casting

Holly Hunter Holly Patricia Hunter (born March 20, 1958) is an American actress. For her performance as Ada McGrath in the 1993 drama film '' The Piano'', Hunter won the Academy Award for Best Actress. She earned three additional Academy Award nominations for ...
, cast as Helen Parr/Elastigirl, never voiced an animated character before and saw the role as an exciting opportunity to expand her repertoire. She was also drawn to the film by its unique and "unconventional story about family and human dynamics". Bird considered Hunter "one of the finest actresses in the world", capable of playing a "sensitive" character who also has "a very sturdy center". Spencer Fox was cast as Dash Parr, which was also his feature film debut.
Brad Bird Phillip Bradley Bird (born September 24, 1957) is an American film director, animator, screenwriter, producer, and voice actor. He has had a career spanning forty years in both animation and live-action. Bird was born in Montana and grew up i ...
wanted to give Dash a realistic out-of-breath voice in certain scenes such as the jungle scene so he made Fox run four laps around the
Pixar Pixar Animation Studios (commonly known as Pixar () and stylized as P I X A R) is an American computer animation studio known for its critically and commercially successful computer animated feature films. It is based in Emeryville, Californ ...
studio until he got tired.
Samuel L. Jackson Samuel Leroy Jackson (born December 21, 1948) is an American actor and producer. One of the most widely recognized actors of his generation, the films in which he has appeared have collectively grossed over $27 billion worldwide, making him ...
was cast as Lucius Best/Frozone, Bird cast him because he stated that he wanted the character to have the coolest voice. Lily Tomlin was originally considered for the role of Edna Mode, but later turned it down. After several failed attempts to cast Edna Mode, Bird took on her voice role himself. It was an extension of the Pixar custom of tapping in-house staff whose voices came across particularly well on scratch dialogue tracks.
Sarah Vowell Sarah Jane Vowell (born December 27, 1969) is an American author, journalist, essayist, social commentator and voice actress. She has written seven nonfiction books on American history and culture. She was a contributing editor for the radio pro ...
was offered the role of Violet unexpectedly; Bird wanted to cast Vowell as Violet after hearing her voice on the
National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...
program, '' This American Life''. Bird stated that she was "perfect" for the part and immediately called her to offer her the role.


Animation

Upon Pixar's acceptance of the project, Brad Bird was asked to bring in his own team for the production. He brought up a core group of people he worked with on ''The Iron Giant''. Because of this, many 2D artists had to make the shift to 3D, including Bird himself. Bird found working with CGI "wonderfully malleable" in a way that traditional animation is not, calling the camera's ability to easily switch angles in a given scene "marvelously adaptable." He found working in computer animation "difficult" in a different way than working traditionally, finding the software "sophisticated and not particularly friendly." Bird wrote the script without knowing the limitations or concerns that went hand-in-hand with the medium of computer animation. As a result, this was to be the most complex film yet for Pixar. The film's characters were designed by Tony Fucile and Teddy Newton, whom Bird had brought with him from Warner Bros. Like most computer-animated films, ''The Incredibles'' had a year-long period of building the film from the inside out: modeling the exterior and understanding controls that would work the face and the body—the articulation of the character—before animation could even begin. Bird and Fucile tried to emphasize the graphic quality of good 2D animation to the Pixar team, who had only worked primarily in CGI. Bird attempted to incorporate teaching from
Disney's Nine Old Men Disney's Nine Old Men were Walt Disney Productions' core animators, some of whom later became directors, who created some of Disney's most famous animated cartoons, from ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' (1937) onward to ''The Rescuers'' (1977) ...
that the crew at Pixar had "never really emphasized." For the technical crew members, the film's human characters posed a difficult set of challenges. Bird's story was filled with elements that were difficult to animate with CGI back then. Humans are widely considered to be the most difficult things to execute in animation. Pixar's animators filmed themselves walking to better grasp proper human motion. Creating an all-human cast required creating new technology to animate detailed human anatomy, clothing, and realistic skin and hair. Although the technical team had some experience with hair and cloth in '' Monsters, Inc.'' (2001), the amount of hair and cloth required for ''The Incredibles'' had never been done by Pixar up until this point. Moreover, Bird would tolerate no compromises for the sake of technical simplicity. Where the technical team on ''Monsters, Inc.'' had persuaded director Pete Docter to accept pigtails on Boo to make her hair easier to animate, the character Violet had to have long hair that obscured her face; in fact, this was integral to her character. Violet's long hair, which was extremely difficult to animate, was only successfully animated toward the end of production. In addition, animators had to adapt to having hair both underwater and blowing through the wind. Disney was initially reluctant to make the film because of these issues, thinking that a live-action film would be preferable, but Lasseter denied this. Not only did ''The Incredibles'' cope with the difficulty of animating CGI humans, but also many other complications. The story was bigger than any prior story at the studio, was longer in running time, and had four times the number of locations. Supervising technical director Rick Sayre noted that the hardest thing about the film was that there was "no hardest thing," alluding to the amount of new technical challenges: fire, water, air, smoke, steam, and explosions were all additional to the new difficulty of working with humans. The film's organizational structure could not be mapped out like previous Pixar features, and it became a running joke to the team. Sayre said the team adopted “Alpha Omega," where one team was concerned with building modeling, shading, and layout, while another dealt with final camera, lighting, and effects. Another team, dubbed the "character team," digitally sculpted, rigged, and shaded all of the characters, and a simulation team was responsible for developing simulation technology for hair and clothing. There were at least 781 visual effects shots in the film, and they were quite often visual gags, such as the window shattering when Bob angrily shuts the car door. Additionally, the effects team improved their modeling of clouds, using volumetric rendering for the first time. The skin of the characters gained a new level of realism from a technology to mimic "
subsurface scattering Subsurface scattering (SSS), also known as subsurface light transport (SSLT), is a mechanism of light transport in which light that penetrates the surface of a translucent object is scattered by interacting with the material and exits the surfa ...
." The challenges did not stop with modeling humans. Bird decided that in a shot near the film's end, baby Jack-Jack would have to undergo a series of transformations, and in one of the five planned he would turn himself into a kind of goo. Technical directors, who anticipated spending two months or even longer to work out the goo effect, stealing precious hours from production that had already entered its final and most critical stages, petitioned the film's producer, John Walker, for help. Bird, who had himself brought Walker over from Warner Bros. to work on the project, was at first immovable, but after arguing with Walker in several invective-laced meetings over the course of two months, Bird finally conceded. Bird also insisted that the storyboards define the blocking of characters' motions, lighting, and camera movements, which had previously been left to other departments rather than storyboarded. Bird admitted that he "had the knees of he studiotrembling under the weight" of ''The Incredibles'', but called the film a "testament to the talent of the animators at Pixar," who were admiring the challenges the film provoked. He recalled, "Basically, I came into a wonderful studio, frightened a lot of people with how many presents I wanted for Christmas, and then got almost everything I asked for."


Music

''The Incredibles'' is the first Pixar film to be scored by
Michael Giacchino Michael Giacchino (; born October 10, 1967) is an American composer of music for films, television and video games. He has also served as a director for television. He has received many awards, including an Oscar for his work on '' Up'' (2009), ...
. Brad Bird was looking for a specific sound as inspired by the film's retrofuturistic design – the future as seen from the 1960s. John Barry was the first choice to do the film's score, with a trailer of the film given a rerecording of Barry's theme to '' On Her Majesty's Secret Service''. However, Barry did not wish to duplicate the sound of some of his earlier soundtracks; the assignment was instead given to Giacchino. Giacchino noted that recording in the 1960s was largely different from modern day recording and Dan Wallin, the recording engineer, said that Bird wanted an old feel, and as such the score was recorded on analog tapes. Wallin noted that brass instruments, which are at the forefront of the film's score, sound better on analog equipment rather than digital. Wallin came from an era in which music was recorded, according to Giacchino, "the right way," which consists of everyone in the same room, "playing against each other and feeding off each other's energy." Many of Giacchino's future soundtracks followed suit with this style of mixing. Tim Simonec was the conductor/orchestrator for the score's recording. The film's orchestral score was released on November 2, 2004, by
Walt Disney Records Walt Disney Records is an American record label of the Disney Music Group. The label releases soundtrack albums from The Walt Disney Company's motion picture studios, television series, theme parks, and traditional studio albums produced by its ...
, three days before the film opened in theaters. It won numerous awards for best score including Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award, BMI Film & TV Award, ASCAP Film and Television Music Award, Annie Award, Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award and
Online Film Critics Society Award The Online Film Critics Society (OFCS) is an international professional association of online film journalists, historians and scholars who publish their work on the World Wide Web. The organization was founded in January 1997 by Harvey S. Karten ...
and was nominated for
Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media The Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media is an honor presented to a composer (or composers) for an original score created for a film, TV show or series, or other visual media at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was establishe ...
,
Satellite Award The Satellite Awards are annual awards given by the International Press Academy that are commonly noted in entertainment industry journals and blogs. The awards were originally known as the Golden Satellite Awards. The award ceremonies take place ...
and Broadcast Film Critics Association Award.


Themes

Several film reviewers drew precise parallels between the film and certain superhero comic books, like '' Powers'', ''
Watchmen ''Watchmen'' is an American comic book maxiseries by the British creative team of writer Alan Moore, artist Dave Gibbons and colorist John Higgins. It was published monthly by DC Comics in 1986 and 1987 before being collected in a single-vo ...
'', '' Fantastic Four'', ''
Justice League The Justice League (also known as The Justice League of America) are a team of superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The team first appeared in ''The Brave and the Bold'' #28 (March 1960). The team was conceived b ...
'' and '' The Avengers''. The producers of the 2005 adaptation of ''Fantastic Four'' were forced to make significant script changes and add more special effects because of similarities to ''The Incredibles''. Bird was not surprised that comparisons arose due to superheroes being "the most well-trod turf on the planet," but noted that he had not been inspired by any comic books specifically, only having heard of ''Watchmen''. He did comment that it was nice to be compared to it, since "if you're going to be compared to something, it's nice if it's something good". Some commentators took Bob's frustration with celebrating mediocrity and Syndrome's comment that "when everyone's super, no one will be" as a reflection of views shared by German philosopher
Friedrich Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, prose poet, cultural critic, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philosophy. He began his ...
or an extension of
Russian-American Russian Americans ( rus, русские американцы, r=russkiye amerikantsy, p= ˈruskʲɪje ɐmʲɪrʲɪˈkant͡sɨ) are Americans of full or partial Russian ancestry. The term can apply to recent Russian immigrants to the United Stat ...
novelist Ayn Rand's
Objectivism Objectivism is a philosophical system developed by Russian-American writer and philosopher Ayn Rand. She described it as "the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievemen ...
philosophy, which Bird felt was "ridiculous." He stated that a large portion of the audience understood the message as he intended whereas "two percent thought I was doing '' The Fountainhead'' or '' Atlas Shrugged''." Some purported that ''The Incredibles'' exhibited a right-wing bias, which Bird also scoffed at. "I think that's as silly of an analysis as saying ''The Iron Giant'' was left-wing. I'm definitely a centrist and feel like both parties can be absurd." The film also explored Bird's dislike for the tendency of the children's comics and Saturday morning cartoons of his youth to portray villains as unrealistic, ineffectual, and non-threatening. In the film, Dash and Violet have to deal with villains who are perfectly willing to use deadly force against children. On another level, both Dash and Violet display no emotion or regret at the deaths of those who are trying to kill them, such as when Dash outruns pursuers who crash their vehicles while chasing him, or when both of them witness their parents destroy several attacking vehicles with people inside, in such a manner that the deaths of those piloting them is undeniable. Despite disagreeing with some analysis, Bird felt it gratifying for his work to be considered on many different levels, which was his intention: "The fact that it was written about in the op/ed section of ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' several times was really gratifying to me. Look, it's a mainstream animated movie, and how often are those considered thought provoking?"


Release


Marketing

A teaser trailer of ''The Incredibles'' premiered on May 30, 2003, and was attached to the screenings of '' Finding Nemo''. Several companies released promotional products related to the film. In the weeks before the film's opening, there were also promotional tie-ins with SBC Communications (using Dash to promote the "blazing-fast speed" of its SBC Yahoo! DSL service)
Tide Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tables ...
,
Downy Downy, also known as Lenor in Europe, Russia and Japan, is a brand of fabric softener produced by Procter & Gamble that was introduced in 1960. Lenor is a brand name of fabric softener and dryer sheets, also produced by P&G, sold in Europe, Rus ...
, Bounce and McDonald's. Dark Horse Comics released a limited series of comic books based on the film. Toy maker
Hasbro Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational conglomerate holding company incorporated and headquartered in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Hasbro owns the trademarks and products of K ...
produced a series of action figures and toys based on the film. Kellogg's released an Incredibles-themed cereal, as well as promotional Pop-Tarts and fruit snacks, all proclaiming an "Incrediberry Blast" of flavor. Pringles included potato chips featuring the superheroes and quotes from the film. In July 2008, it was announced that a series of comic books based on the film would be published by BOOM! Studios in collaboration with Disney Publishing by the end of the year. The first miniseries by BOOM! was ''The Incredibles: Family Matters'' by Mark Waid and Marcio Takara, which was published from March to June 2009 and collected into a trade paperback published in July of that year.


Theatrical

''The Incredibles'' was released theatrically in the United States on November 5, 2004. In theaters, ''The Incredibles'' was accompanied by a short film, ''
Boundin' ''Boundin'' is a 2003 American computer-animated short film, which was shown in theaters before the feature-length superhero film ''The Incredibles''. The short is a musically narrated story about a dancing sheep, who loses his confidence after bei ...
'' (2003). The theatrical release also included a sneak peek for '' Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith''. While Pixar celebrated another triumph with ''The Incredibles'', Steve Jobs was embroiled in a public feud with the head of its distribution partner,
The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Disney Stud ...
. This would eventually lead to the ousting of Michael Eisner and Disney's acquisition of Pixar the following year. In March 2014, Disney CEO and chairman Bob Iger announced that the film would be reformatted and re-released in 3D. ''The Incredibles'' was re-released and digitally re-mastered for IMAX theaters (alongside its sequel, ''
Incredibles 2 ''Incredibles 2'' is a 2018 American computer-animated superhero film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Written and directed by Brad Bird, it is the sequel to ''The Incredibles'' (2004) and the second ...
'') using their DMR Technology in a double feature on June 14, 2018.


Home media

The film was first released on both VHS and a two-disc
collector's edition The terms special edition, limited edition, and variants such as deluxe edition, or collector's edition, are used as a marketing incentive for various kinds of products, originally published products related to the arts, such as books, prints, ...
DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...
set on March 15, 2005. The DVD set was THX certified, consisted of widescreen and a pan and scan full-screen versions and included two newly commissioned
Pixar Pixar Animation Studios (commonly known as Pixar () and stylized as P I X A R) is an American computer animation studio known for its critically and commercially successful computer animated feature films. It is based in Emeryville, Californ ...
short films, ''
Jack-Jack Attack ''Jack-Jack Attack '' is a 2005 American computer animated short film produced by Pixar and written and directed by Brad Bird. The short film is a spin-off on his 2004 film ''The Incredibles''. Unlike many of their previous shorts, it was not g ...
'' and '' Mr. Incredible and Pals'', which were made specifically for this
home-video Home video is prerecorded media sold or rented for home viewing. The term originates from the VHS and Betamax era, when the predominant medium was videotapes, but has carried over to optical disc formats such as DVD, Blu-ray and streaming med ...
release, and ''Boundin, a Pixar short film that premiered alongside the feature film in its original theatrical release. The VHS release only featured the short, ''Boundin'.'' It was the highest-selling DVD of 2005, with 17.38 million copies sold. The film was also released on UMD for the
Sony PSP The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in PAL regions on September 1, 2005, ...
. Disney released the film on
Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...
in North America on April 12, 2011, and on 4K UHD Blu-ray on June 5, 2018; this marks Disney's first 4K Blu-ray reissue on the format.


Reception


Box office

''The Incredibles'' earned $261.4million in the United States and Canada and $370.1million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $631.6million. It was the fourth-highest-grossing film of 2004, behind ''
Shrek 2 ''Shrek 2'' is a 2004 American computer-animated comedy film loosely based on the 1990 picture book '' Shrek!'' by William Steig, produced by DreamWorks Animation and released by DreamWorks Pictures. The sequel to ''Shrek'' (2001) and the ...
'', '' Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban'' and ''
Spider-Man 2 ''Spider-Man 2'' is a 2004 American superhero film directed by Sam Raimi and written by Alvin Sargent from a story by Alfred Gough, Miles Millar and Michael Chabon. Based on the fictional Marvel Comics character of the same name, it is the ...
''. ''The Incredibles'' was released with ''
Alfie Alfie may refer to: Theatre and film * ''Alfie'' (play), a 1963 play by Bill Naughton * ''Alfie'' (1966 film), a film based on the play starring Michael Caine * ''Alfie'' (2004 film), a remake of the 1966 film * ''Alfie'' (2013 film), an Indi ...
'' on November 5, 2004. It debuted earning $70.7million from 3,933 theaters. This made it the second-highest opening weekend for an animated film, trailing only behind ''Shrek 2''. The film opened in the number #1 spot at the box office, dominating ''
Saw A saw is a tool consisting of a tough blade, wire, or chain with a hard toothed edge. It is used to cut through material, very often wood, though sometimes metal or stone. The cut is made by placing the toothed edge against the material and mov ...
'', ''
The Grudge ''The Grudge'' is a 2004 supernatural horror film directed by Takashi Shimizu, written by Stephen Susco, and produced by Sam Raimi, Robert Tapert, and Takashige Ichise. A remake of Shimizu's 2002 Japanese horror film '' Ju-On: The Grudge'', i ...
'', ''
Shark Tale ''Shark Tale'' is a 2004 American computer-animated comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by DreamWorks Pictures. The film was directed by Vicky Jenson, Bibo Bergeron, and Rob Letterman (in his feature directorial de ...
'', '' Ray'', ''
Ladder 49 ''Ladder 49'' is a 2004 American disaster thriller film directed by Jay Russell and written by Lewis Colick. The film follows Baltimore firefighter Jack Morrison, who is trapped inside a warehouse fire, and his recollection of the events that got ...
'' and other films. Despite its opening, the overall Hollywood revenues fell, continuing a box office slump that had lingered for most of the fall season. The top 12 movies took in $136.1 million down to 5% from the same weekend the previous year, just after the openings of '' The Matrix Revolutions'' and ''
Elf An elf () is a type of humanoid supernatural being in Germanic mythology and folklore. Elves appear especially in North Germanic mythology. They are subsequently mentioned in Snorri Sturluson's Icelandic Prose Edda. He distinguishes "ligh ...
''. For 15 years, ''The Incredibles'' had the biggest November opening weekend for an animated film until it was dethroned by ''
Frozen II ''Frozen 2'' (stylized as ''Frozen II'') is a 2019 American computer-animated musical fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The 58th animated film produced by the studi ...
'' in 2019. It continued to rule the box office while staying ahead of ''
The Polar Express ''The Polar Express'' is a children's book written and illustrated by Chris Van Allsburg and published by Houghton Mifflin in 1985. The book is now widely considered to be a classic Christmas story for young children. It was praised for its detai ...
''. Its second weekend earnings dropped by 28% to $51million, and followed by another $26million the third weekend. ''The Incredibles'' completed its theatrical run in the United States and Canada on April 14, 2005.


Critical response

On
review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
website
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, ''The Incredibles'' holds an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . The website's critical consensus reads, "Bringing loads of wit and tons of fun to the animated superhero genre, ''The Incredibles'' easily lives up to its name." Another review aggregator,
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, which assigns a
weighted average The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...
score to reviews from mainstream critics, gave ''The Incredibles'' an average score of 90 out of 100 based on 41 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film a rare average grade of "A+" on an A+ to F scale, making it Pixar's fourth film to receive this grade (after ''
Toy Story 2 ''Toy Story 2'' is a 1999 American computer-animated film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. The second installment in the ''Toy Story'' franchise and the sequel to '' Toy Story'' (1995), it was directed by John ...
'', '' Monsters, Inc.'', and '' Finding Nemo''). Roger Ebert of the ''
Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago ...
'' gave the film three-and-a-half out of four, writing that the film "alternates breakneck action with satire of suburban sitcom life" and is "another example of Pixar's mastery of popular animation."
Peter Travers Peter Joseph Travers (born ) is an American film critic, journalist, and television presenter. He reviews films for ABC News and previously served as a movie critic for ''People'' and ''Rolling Stone''. Travers also hosts the film interview prog ...
of ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...
'' also gave the film three-and-a-half, calling it "one of the year's best" and saying that it "doesn't ring cartoonish, it rings true." Giving the film three-and-a-half as well, ''
People A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of prope ...
'' magazine found that ''The Incredibles'' "boasts a strong, entertaining story and a truckload of savvy comic touches." Eleanor Ringel Gillespie of ''
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the only major daily newspaper in the metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the result of the merger between ...
'' was bored by the film's "recurring pastiches of earlier action films", concluding that "the Pixar whizzes do what they do excellently; you just wish they were doing something else." Jessica Winter of ''
The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, th ...
'' criticized the film for "playing as a standard summer action film", despite being released in early November. Her review, titled as "Full Metal Racket," noted that ''The Incredibles'' "announces the studio's arrival in the vast yet overcrowded Hollywood lot of eardrum-bashing, metal-crunching action sludge." ''The Incredibles'' was included on a number of best-of lists. It appeared on professional rankings from ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' based on retrospective appraisal, as one of the greatest films of the twenty-first century. Travers also named it as number 6 on his list of the decade's best films. Several publications have listed it as one of the best animated films, including: ''
Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cu ...
'' (2009), '' IGN'' (2010), ''
Insider ''Insider'', previously named ''Business Insider'' (''BI''), is an American financial and business news website founded in 2007. Since 2015, a majority stake in ''Business Insider''s parent company Insider Inc. has been owned by the German publ ...
'', ''
USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgi ...
'', ''
Elle ''Elle'' (stylized ''ELLE'') is a worldwide women's magazine of French origin that offers a mix of fashion and beauty content, together with culture, society and lifestyle. The title means "she" or "her" in French. ''Elle'' is considered the w ...
'' (all 2018), ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...
'' (2019), '' Parade'', ''
Complex Complex commonly refers to: * Complexity, the behaviour of a system whose components interact in multiple ways so possible interactions are difficult to describe ** Complex system, a system composed of many components which may interact with each ...
'', '' Time Out New York'', and '' Empire'' (all 2021). ''The Incredibles'' appeared on several lists of the best superhero films, by outlets including: ''
Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...
'' (2011), '' Paste'', '' Vulture'', '' Marie Claire'' (all 2019), ''IGN'' (2020), '' Esquire'', '' The Indian Express'', and ''Parade'' (all 2021). In December 2021, the film's screenplay was listed number 48 on the
Writers Guild of America The Writers Guild of America is the joint efforts of two different US labor unions representing TV and film writers: * The Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE), headquartered in New York City and affiliated with the AFL–CIO * The Writers Gu ...
's "101 Greatest Screenplays of the 21st Century (So Far)". Others have named it one of the best conservative films, best action films, and best political films.


Accolades

''The Incredibles'' led the
77th Academy Awards The 77th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), took place on February 27, 2005, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:30 p.m. PST / 8:30 p.m. EST. During t ...
season with four nominations (including
Best Original Screenplay The Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay is the Academy Award for the best screenplay not based upon previously published material. It was created in 1940 as a separate writing award from the Academy Award for Best Story. Beginning with the ...
and
Sound Mixing Audio mixing is the process by which multiple sounds are combined into one or more channels. In the process, a source's volume level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated or enhanced. This practical, aesthetic ...
). It received two Oscars: Best Animated Feature and Sound Editing. Joe Morgenstern of ''The Wall Street Journal'' called ''The Incredibles'' the year's best picture. ''Premiere'' magazine released a cross-section of all the top critics in America and ''The Incredibles'' placed at number three, whereas review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes cross-referenced reviews that suggested it was its year's highest-rated film. The film also received the 2004
Annie Award for Best Animated Feature The Annie Award for Best Animated Feature is an Annie Award introduced in 1992, awarded annually to the best animated feature film. History In 1998, the award was renamed Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Theatrical Feature, only to revert t ...
and the 2005 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form, and it was nominated for the 2004 Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. It also won the Saturn Award for Best Animated Film. The American Film Institute included it as one of the top 10 films of 2004. It was included on Empire's 500 Greatest Films of All Time at number 400.


Video games

It has received several game adaptations: '' The Incredibles'' (2004), '' The Incredibles: When Danger Calls'' (2004), and '' The Incredibles: Rise of the Underminer'' (2005). '' Kinect Rush: A Disney–Pixar Adventure'' (2012) features characters and worlds from five Pixar films, including ''The Incredibles''. '' Disney Infinity'' (2013) includes ''The Incredibles'' playset featuring the film's playable characters. '' Lego The Incredibles'' was released in June 2018.


Sequel

A sequel, titled ''Incredibles 2'', was released on June 15, 2018 and was once again a critical and commercial success.


Notes


References


Citations


Works cited

* *


External links

* * * * *
''The Incredibles'' production notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Incredibles 2004 computer-animated films 2004 action comedy films 2004 films 2000s American animated films 2000s animated superhero films 2000s superhero comedy films 2000s English-language films American action comedy films American computer-animated films American superhero films American animated feature films Animated action films Animated films about families Animated superhero comedy films Best Animated Feature Academy Award winners Best Animated Feature Annie Award winners Best Animated Feature Broadcast Film Critics Association Award winners Boom! Studios titles Child superheroes Fictional families Films scored by Michael Giacchino Films set in the 1950s Films set in the 1960s Films set on fictional islands Film superheroes Films directed by Brad Bird Films produced by John Walker Films that won the Best Sound Editing Academy Award Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form winning works Midlife crisis films Pixar animated films Superhero teams Termination of employment in popular culture Walt Disney Pictures animated films Films with screenplays by Brad Bird 2004 comedy films American children's animated superhero films Discrimination in fiction