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Edited Term Paper

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 resist their super powers and wanting to save the world. This full-length animation film by Disney and Pixar has super humans on Earth and defies gravity and the laws of physics. When watching an animation film, we don’t pay so much attention to the 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 in our imagination, however lets take a look at how the laws of physics are put to the test with The Incredibles in their super universe. 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” universe many obstacles keep them from dying, like a normal human would if it had happened to them. Their super strength, their super suits and having gravity make objects fall faster or slower then they would on our universe have these superheroes saving the world from destruction and mayhem.

Super Strength

Hypothesis: Super heroes, in the Incredible universe have super strength, regardless of age, their body and muscle mass. 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 was as light as a beach ball. ElastiGirl didn’t hunch over, or lift from her legs or even make a facial expression as she picked 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 with his super strength 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 on metal. Next he closes the door with some force and the window shatters, again not with enough force to break the window. These are both examples that in their universe super strength happens with effortlessness. 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 while sitting in a nearby chair lifts 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 universe, only in our imagination and the super’s world.

Super Suits

Hypothesis:  The strength of the materials of these super suits can withstand any substance or force, in this universe. 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. The strength of his suit can withstand bullets in this universe. 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 in our universe. 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, definitely not in our universe. ElastiGirl’s power is obviously her elastic arms and legs. Therefore her super suit needs to be able to stretch super long. Of course in our universe there are some elastic fabrics, but in the universe of the Incredibles the materials stretches with ease without ripping. Mr.Incredible’s suit is the one suit that is the most realistic even in our universe, but that is also because of his powers as well.  

Gravity

Hypothesis: There is evidence in this universe that there are some inconsistencies with gravity, objects fall faster or slower then they would in our universe. Gravity is a property in our world because all the objects on Earth have mass. Gravity is weaker on Earth because there are more things around us with mass, therefore objects fall faster then they would with more gravity, like in space. It is reflected in how fast things fall, for example, 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 altered in The Incredibles. Some examples of how this universe differs from the universe we live in are: 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. Gravity in our universe tells 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, which confirms my hypothesis that objects fall faster. 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 the bad guys, 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 a plane and 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. This example also confirms my hypothesis of how objects fall slower then they are meant to. Lastly, in no way can humans 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 density of water doesn’t not allow us to stand on it therefore we would not be able to run on it.

The three points that I covered were, super strength, super suits, and gravity all have different scenes in which you can notice differences from our universe and theirs. Of course this and most animation movies are make believe it doesn’t mean that we have to sacrifice physics. The reason why physics are changed in animation movies is because it adds more intenseness to the scene, its all for dramatic effect. 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.