“I’ve Got to Succeed, So She Can Succeed, So We Can Succeed”: Empowered Mothering, Role Fluidity, and Competition in Incredible Parenting
Abstract
:“Done properly, parenting is a heroic act.Done properly.I’m fortunate that it has never afflicted me.”(Edna Mode, Incredibles 2)
1. Introduction
Despite the impressive strength and abilities exhibited by the female superheroes in The Incredibles, ultimately the film emphasized the same old patriarchal, heteronormative structure we have seen in family films again and again.While Bob gets his superhero groove back and Dash learns that sometimes you have to hold back in order to make the little people feel okay about themselves, Helen frets about the stability of the family and Violet gains enough confidence to ensure that she can wear more colorful clothes—a pink shirt, of course, because she’s a girl—and talk to the cute boy in school.(par. 11)
Motherhood and Disney Discourse
“Well, a mother, a real mother is the most wonderful person in the world. She’s the angel voice that bids you goodnight, kisses your cheek, whispers, ‘Sleep tight’ … The helping hand that guides you along, whether you’re right, whether you’re wrong … Your mother and mine.”(‘Your Mother and Mine’, sung by Wendy (Peter Pan 1953))
2. Mothering Incredible Children
2.1. Empowered Mothering
2.2. Role Fluidity
2.3. Collaborative and Competitive Caregiving
Yet, Gatrell (2004) notes that there is a power struggle at play in many co-parenting relationships:“The issue of relationships with children and who should mediate theses is linked with a sense of power within the parental relationship, and this might provide part of the explanation for why, once they had gained this, fathers were keen to maintain their involved status, even if this made life difficult for them at times.”
This competition glides alternatively across the public-private dichotomy. Both parents want to be successful as parents, but, both want to be successful in their careers, as well. When The Incredibles parents review the opportunity in bed and Helen balks at taking the new job, Bob persuades her on behalf of their mutual success; “You’ve got to, so I … so we can be supers again.” He then jokes with her before she hits him with a pillow: “Do it, so I can do it better.” As she leaves the house on her custom superbike, their conversation is caring but has traces of envy:“While some women saw the practical involvement of fathers as purely positive change (often meaning that both partners could work, minimizing the amount of time spent by children with paid carers), others were territorial about their role as mother and principal carer, and did not wish to see this threatened by the father.”(p. 147)
Even when Bob breaks down and experiences a manic meltdown with his friend, he remains focused on on mastering parenthood while also opening career doors for them all: “I’ve got to succeed, so she can succeed, so WE can succeed.” And, although his desire for a successful career position is not surprising, as “the provider role is an assumption, a given” (Blankenhorn, as cited by (Ruddick 1997, p. 208)) for men in heteronormative, white middle-class families, his desire to be a successful caregiver so both he and Helen can maximize their potential is.Bob: “You will be great.”Helen: “I WILL be great. And you will too.”Bob: “We will both be great.” (standing stiffly, holding the baby)
3. Discussion
Although this film most definitely is premised on a nuclear family, we are ultimately left with the understanding that, moving forward both mom and dad will likely “shift” fluidly in and out of their public and private responsibilities equally, as the children—and the arm of justice—require.“Dominant feminist theory and the imaginary boundaries established around the field of women and gender studies are still constructed upon the assumed link between women’s oppression in relation to larger social and political structures—including the assumed normative presence of the nuclear family and the public-private dichotomy—and mothering”.(p. 179)
Funding
Conflicts of Interest
References
- Åström, Berit. 2017. Marginalizing Motherhood: Postfeminist Fathers and Dead Mothers in Animated Film. In The Absent Mother in the Cultural Imagination. Edited by Berit Åström. London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 241–58. [Google Scholar]
- Bambi. 1942. David Hand, director. Burbank: Walt Disney Productions.
- Bao. 2018. Domee Shi, director. Emeryville: Pixar Animation Studios.
- Baxondale, Sallie. 2004. Memories aren’t made of this: Amnesia at the movies. British Medical Journal 329: 18–25. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [PubMed]
- Beauty and the Beast. 1991. Gary Trousdale, and Kirk Wise, directors. New York: Silver Screen Partners IV.
- Brave. 2012. Mark Andrews, and Brenda Chapman, directors. Burbank: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.
- Bray, Danielle Bienvenue. 2015. Sissy boy mothering: Male child mother figures in middle-grade fantasy literature. Children’s Literature in Education 46: 160–74. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Bruzzi, Stella. 2005. Bringing up Daddy: Fatherhood and Masculinity in Hollywood. London: BFI Publishing. [Google Scholar]
- Brydon, Suzan. 2009. Men at the Heart of Mothering: Finding Mother in Finding Nemo. International Journal of Gender Studies 18: 131–46. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Butler, Judith. 1990. Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. New York: Routledge. [Google Scholar]
- Coats, Karen, and Lisa Rowe Fraustino. 2015. Performing Motherhood: Introduction to a Special Issue on Mothering in Children’s and Young Adult Literature. Children’s Literature in Education 46: 107–9. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Coco. 2012. John Lasseter, director. Emeryville: Pixar Animation Studios.
- Cohen, Karl. 2003. Finding the Right CG Water and Fish in ‘Nemo’. Animation World Network. Available online: https://www.awn.com/animationworld/finding-right-cg-water-and-fish-nemo (accessed on 30 September 2018).
- Davis, Amy M. 2006. Good Girls and Wicked Witches: Women in Disney’s Feature Animation. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. [Google Scholar]
- Dumbo. 1941. Ben Sharpsteen, director. Burbank: Walt Disney Productions.
- Ebrahim, Haseenah. 2014. Are the “Boys” at Pixar Afraid of Little Girls? Journal of Film and Video 66: 43–56. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Feasey, Rebecca. 2013. From Soap Opera to Reality Programming: Examining Motherhood, Motherwork and the Maternal Role on Popular Television. Imaginations 4: 25–46. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [Green Version]
- Finding Nemo. 2003. Andrew Stanton, and Lee Unkrich, directors. Emeryville: Pixar Animation Studios.
- Finding Dory. 2016. Andrew Stanton, and Angus MacLane, directors. Emeryville: Pixar Animation Studios.
- For the Birds. 2000. Ralph Eggelston, director. Emeryville: Pixar Animation Studios.
- Fraustino, Lisa Rowe. 2015. “Nearly Everybody Gets Twitterpated”: The Disney Version of Mothering. Children’s Literature in Education 46: 127–44. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Frozen. 2013. Chris Buck, and Jennifer Lee, directors. Burbank: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.
- Gatens, Moira. 1999. Power, Bodies and Difference. In Feminist Theory and the Body: A Reader. Edited by Janet Price and Margrit Shildrick. New York: Routledge, pp. 227–34. [Google Scholar]
- Gatrell, Caroline. 2004. Hard Labour: The Sociology of Parenthood. Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill Education. [Google Scholar]
- Gillam, Ken, and Shannon Wooden. 2008. Post-Princess Models of Gender: The New Man in Disney/Pixar. Journal of Popular Film and Television 36: 2–8. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Incredibles 2. 2018. Brad Bird, director. Emeryville: Pixar Animation Studios.
- Inside Out. 2015. Peter Docter, and Ronnie Del Carmen, directors. Emeryville: Pixar Animation Studios.
- Holcomb, Jeanne, Latham Kenzie, and Fernandez-Baca Daniel. 2015. Who Cares for the Kids? Caregiving and Parenting in Disney Films. Journal of Family Issues 36: 1957–81. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [Green Version]
- Lady and the Tramp. 1955. Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, and Hamilton Luske, directors. Burbank: Walt Disney Productions.
- Lynch, John. 2018. Pixar’s Most Successful Movies at the Box Office, Including Record-Breaking ‘Incredibles 2’. Business Insider. Available online: https://www.businessinsider.com/pixar-most-successful-film-2016-6#1-incredibles-2-2018-9648-million-20 (accessed on 30 September 2018).
- McMillan, Graeme. 2012. Brave Old Worlds: Does Pixar Have a Problem with Stereotypes? Time. Available online: http://entertainment.time.com/2012/06/20/brave-old-worlds-pixars-stereotype-problem/ (accessed on 30 September 2018).
- Militz, Thane A., and Simon Foale. 2015. The “Nemo Effect”: Perception and Reality of Finding Nemo’s Impact on Marine Aquarium Fisheries. Fish and Fisheries 18: 596–606. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Moana. 2016. Ron Clements, and John Musker, directors. North Hollywood: Hurwitz Creative.
- Monsters. 2001. Pete Docter, David Silverman, and Lee Unkrich, directors. Emeryville: Pixar Animation Studios.
- Mulan. 1998. Tony Bancroft, and Barry Cook, directors. Burbank: Walt Disney Feature Animation.
- Munkittrick, Kyle. 2011. The Hidden Message in Pixar’s Films. Discover. May 14. Available online: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/sciencenotfiction/2011/05/14/the-hidden-message-in-pixars-films/#.W7Ev_GhKjD4 (accessed on 30 September 2018).
- Nicholson, Linda. 1997. The Myth of the Traditional Family. In Feminism and Families. Edited by Hilde Lindemann Nelson. New York: Routledge, pp. 27–42. [Google Scholar]
- O’Reilly, Andrea. 2016. Matricentric Feminism: Theory, Activism, Practice. Toronto: Demeter Press. [Google Scholar]
- Peter Pan. 1953. Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, and Hamilton Luske, directors. Burbank: Walt Disney Productions.
- Piper. 2016. Alan Barillaro, director. Emeryville: Pixar Animation Studios.
- Pocahontas. 1995. Mike Gabriel, and Eric Goldberg, directors. Burbank: Walt Disney Feature Animation.
- Preston, Daniel L. 2010. Finding difference: Nemo and friends opening the door to disability theory. The English Journal 100: 56–60. [Google Scholar]
- Ruddick, Sara. 1997. The Idea of Fatherhood. In Feminism and Families. Edited by Hilde Lindemann Nelson. New York: Routledge, pp. 205–20. [Google Scholar]
- Sandoval, Cat. 2018. Food, Family Inspired Pixar’s First Female-Directed Animated Short Film, Bao. Newsy. June 22. Available online: https://www.newsy.com/stories/food-culture-family-inspired-pixar-s-short-film-bao/ (accessed on 30 September 2018).
- Takševa, Tatjana. 2018. Motherhood Studies and Feminist Theory: Elisions and Intersections. Journal of the Motherhood Initiative 9: 177–94. [Google Scholar]
- Tangled. 2010. Nathan Greno, and Brian Howard, directors. Burbank: Walt Disney Animation Studios.
- Tarzan. 1999. Chris Buck, and Kevin Lima, directors. Burbank: Walt Disney Pictures.
- Tidwell, Christy. 2009. ‘Fish Are Just like People, Only Flakier’: Environmental Practice and Theory in Finding Nemo. Americana: The Journal of American Popular Culture 8. Available online: http://americanpopularculture.com/journal/articles/spring_2009/tidwell.htm (accessed on 29 September 2018).
- The AristoCats. 1970. Wolfgang Reitherman, director. Burbank: Walt Disney Productions.
- The Incredibles. 2004. Brad Bird, director. Burbank: Walt Disney Pictures.
- The Princess and the Frog. 2009. Ron Clements, and John Musker, directors. Burbank: Walt Disney Animation Studios.
- The Rescuers Down Under. 1990. Hendel Butoy, and Mike Gabriel, directors. Burbank: Walt Disney Pictures.
- Tin Toy. 1988. John Lasseter, director. Emeryville: Pixar Animation Studios.
- Toy Story. 1995. John Lasseter, director. Burbank: Walt Disney Pictures.
- Up. 2009. Pete Docter, and Rob Peterson, directors. Emeryville: Pixar Animation Studios.
- Zipes, Jack. 1999. Breaking the Disney Spell. In The Classic Fairy Tales. Edited by Maria Tatar. New York: WW Norton, pp. 333–52. [Google Scholar]
- Zorthian, Julia. 2015. How Toy Story Changed Movie History. Time. Available online: http://time.com/4118006/20-years-toy-story-pixar/ (accessed on 30 September 2018).
© 2018 by the author. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Share and Cite
Brydon, S.G. “I’ve Got to Succeed, So She Can Succeed, So We Can Succeed”: Empowered Mothering, Role Fluidity, and Competition in Incredible Parenting. Soc. Sci. 2018, 7, 215. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci7110215
Brydon SG. “I’ve Got to Succeed, So She Can Succeed, So We Can Succeed”: Empowered Mothering, Role Fluidity, and Competition in Incredible Parenting. Social Sciences. 2018; 7(11):215. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci7110215
Chicago/Turabian StyleBrydon, Suzan G. 2018. "“I’ve Got to Succeed, So She Can Succeed, So We Can Succeed”: Empowered Mothering, Role Fluidity, and Competition in Incredible Parenting" Social Sciences 7, no. 11: 215. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci7110215
APA StyleBrydon, S. G. (2018). “I’ve Got to Succeed, So She Can Succeed, So We Can Succeed”: Empowered Mothering, Role Fluidity, and Competition in Incredible Parenting. Social Sciences, 7(11), 215. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci7110215