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The Laws of Physics in an Animation Universe

The Laws of Physics in an Animated Universe: “The Incredibles”

A family of superheroes is trying to save the world in their quite suburban town in The Incredibles movie released in 2004. The world of these super heroes is just like ours, except some minor physics alterations. In the movie superheroes become exiled and they are forced to relocate into suburban life with their families, however they cannot stay away from their super powers and wanting to save the world. This full-length animation film by Disney and Pixar wanted to have super humans on Earth and push the laws of gravity and physics. When watching an animation film, we don’t pay so much attention to the laws of physics because after all, would that be important when we have talking animals and kids running forty miles an hour? Not really, its meant to be an imagination, however lets take a look at how the laws of physics are put to the test with The Incredibles. The movie takes place on Earth, where it is assumed that the laws of physics and gravity apply, although sometimes more than others. In the “supers” world many things keep them from dying, like a normal human would if it had happened to them. Their super strength, their super suits and having the gravity be optional at times have these superheroes saving the world from destruction and mayhem.

Super Strength

Of course all super heroes have super strength, because how are they supposed to save the world if they cant lift a tree out of the ground to save a kitten? Even super heroes struggle to pick things up, but in the first five minutes of the movie ElastiGirl picks up and drops the thief who stole her purse as if he as light as a beach ball. ElastiGirl didn’t hunch over, or lift from her legs or even make a facial expression as she pick up the man. Another example of the super strength of the Incredibles is when Mr. Incredible arrives home from work, he gets out of his car and slips on a skateboard, as he slips he grabs onto the car for support and he makes a hand impression on the roof of the car. In no way is it possible for the weight of a slip to make that kind of indentation in metal. Next he closes the door with some force and the window shatters, again not with enough force to break the window. Mr. Incredible is by far the strongest super as he lifts objects heavier than him with ease. While ElastiGirl is vacuuming the house, Mr. Incredible known as one of the strongest superheroes can lift a couch as if it was as light as a feather, while of course still reading the newspaper in the other hand. Another demonstration of Mr. Incredibles strength is when he gets laid off from his job, he arrives home and opens his briefcase where he takes out his handbook which is 100s of pages thick, from his job and rips it in half effortlessly. Incredible strength is not something that actually exists in our world, only in our imagination and the super’s world.

Super Suits

The Incredibles, being super need super suits. Each member of the Incredible family has a different feature in their suit that means its unique to their powers. Jack Jack, the baby, whose powers are unknown until the end of the movie, his super suit is fire resistance and bullet resist. Even bulletproof vest cannot withstand the penetration of it bullet, it just keeps it from fully making contact with the human body. Dash with his super speed needs to be able to move fast, which causes a lot of friction. His super suit is able to resist the high speeds without damaging the fabric. Any fabric would wear out in time and with that much constant friction, it would wear out faster. One of Violet’s super powers is the ability to become invisible; her suit can also become invisible. How would fabric be able to become invisible? No clue! ElastiGirl’s power is obviously her elastic arms and legs. Therefore her super suit needs to be able to stretch super long. There is no material, that I know of, that can with stand that much stretch with ripping. Mr.Incredible’s suit is the one suit that is the most realistic, but that is also because of his powers as well.  

Gravity

The laws of gravity exist in our world because of the atmosphere on Earth. It is reflected in how fast things fall, how an axel would fall fast then a rabbit, how an object will hit the ground, how anything will sit, stand, walk etc. However, gravity is slightly varied in The Incredibles. In the beginning of the movie Mr. Incredible is flying around, yes, I said flying. Humans cannot fly on their own, they need a plane, or a parachute, or even something is replicating a wingspan even. But Mr. Incredible does not need any of those things; he simply jumps off roofs and flies. While he is flying he encounters a suicide jumper, who jumps off a building that seems to be about 30 to 40 stories tall. He falls about 15 stories before Mr. Incredible intercepts him. He fell 15 stories in about 5 seconds and appearing to be falling at the same speed throughout the fall. The physics of gravity tell us that when something falls, it accelerates on the way down. The formula is a quarter down in half the time, and in this instance, the suicide jumper fell too fast. Another scenario with the same concept is when Mr. Incredibles falls minutes later after struggling with Buddy and the bomb. He starts falling fast then slows down before hits the ground. By the time he actually hits the ground, his speed should be the fastest it will be in the fall. A different form of gravity is the ability to have our bodies and objects stay planted on the ground.

A superhero movie would not be complete without villains. Syndrome’s character is introduced when Mr. Incredible realizes he isn’t working for other supers but he is actually work for Syndrome, who was Mr.Incredible’s biggest fan growing up, turned evil. His hair breaks the concept of gravity, it is standing vertically as though he is being hung upside-down, even when he isn’t. Even with the largest amount of gel this wouldn’t be possible. His hair also moves as if it was normal, except vertical. Another hairy situation is when ElastiGirl breaks into the villain’s chambers and she gets stuck in the automatic doors. She gets knocked down and her head falls forward, but her hair doesn’t move at all, but in the previous scene her hair was flying all over the place. A major failure in the movie is when ElasitGirl is flying the plane was it is shot at by missiles and the plane goes down. Elastigirl gathers Violet and Dash and uses her elastic body to form into a parachute to softly land in the water. They land in the water and moments later a piece of the plane’s engine falls into the water. The plane is made out of steel, which is heavier than humans. Therefore, it should have landed first in the water. Not to mention that they parachuted down, which slowed down the time they would have landed in the water if they had free fallen. Lastly, in no way can we run on water, regardless of how fast we are going, but Dash seems to do it. Dash is running away from the bad guys and clearly his super power is his ability to run at incredibly high speeds. Dash begins running on water, which actually shocks him because it’s not possible. 

The three points that I covered were, super strength, super suits, and gravity all have different scenes in which you can notice flaws. Of course this and most animation movies are make believe it doesn’t mean that we have to sacrifice physics. The reason why physics in changed in animation movies is because it adds more intenseness to the scene. Simple things could have been changed and still made the movie believable. The Incredibles made their world their own and stuck to it, which made an incredible movie to watch.

Note: Difference from outline. Took out squash and stretch and replaced it with super suits. 

Extra Credit

Outline for Term Paper

The Physics’ of “The Incredibles”

I. Introduction

•   The Incredibles (2004)
•  Superhumans on Earth
• What is being a Superhero? Being able to bend the laws of gravity and physics that humans cannot.

II. Body

A.   Superhero World

a.    Strength

·      Hitting the car 32minutes

b.    Outfits

·      Talking about capes 45 minutes

·      Material of their super suits

B. Squash and Stretch

·      Van bouncing 1:35 minutes

·      Crushing the force field 1:36 minutes

C. Gravity

·      Syndrome’s Hair 51 minutes

·      Engine falling 1:10 minutes

·      Hair blowing the opposite direction 1:20 minutes

·      Running on water 1:26 minutes

III. Conclusion

•  Compare points to reality
• Restate points
• Thesis

Stop Motion Animation: Falling Apple