Incredibles

I’m not the first one to notice, by any means, but let me chime in: The Incredibles is an overt attack on egalitarianism. All the bad guys in the movie want to flatten out the differences between “supers” and everyone else – the litigious people who are injured during rescues, Bob Par’s (!) boss at the insurance company who sees everyone as an interchangeable cog in a corporate machine, the big bad guy Syndrome who wants to release the secrets of his “superpowers” so that “everyone can be super.” Little things reinforce the theme, as when Bob goes into his rant about Dash’s “graduation” from fourth to fifth grade.

Some of my favorite moments: When Dash realizes he’s running across water, and lets out a giggle of pure delight; when JackJack the baby turns into a demon when he’s being kidnapped by Syndrome; the Incredibles coming to the rescue in an RV. The movie is lots of fun, and almost all of it is at the expense of all the right people.

Dear Reader,

Can I be direct with you?

War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.

First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.

But we can’t do it without readers like you.

Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.


Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.

Make your Fall Campaign gift now using the button below.

GIVE NOW

If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.

Next
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE

The Church in the Age of Therapy

Matthew Loftus

In 1966, Philip Rieff wrote in The Triumph of the Therapeutic that “Religious man was born to…

Canada’s Deadliest Blind Spot

Anna Farrow

On September 20, the Daily Mail ran a story with the provocative headline, “Our 83-year-old Christian grandmother…

The Faithful Joy of Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen

Mike Aquilina

Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen seem to have had little in common. She favored rhinestones; he wore…