The Politics of Language

The Incredibles Group

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  1. Language varieties
    1. Mr. Incredible – GA (Craig T. Nelson)
    2. Edna Mode – GE (composite)
    3. Syndrome – GA (Jason Lee)
    4. Frozone – RA (Samuel L. Jackson)
    5. Gilbert Huph (Bob Parr’s boss) – GA (Wallace Shawn)
    6. Mirage – BE (Elizabeth Peña)
  2. Context and Choices
    1. Post-heroic “golden age,” 50s-60s United States
    2. Anachronistic, but effective for what the movie is trying to accomplish
    3. Samuel L. Jackson (Frozone) was probably hired for voice recognition, but the rest of The Incredibles cast seem to just be good voice actors in general.
  3. Treatment of Language Varieties
    1. Language variety does seem to be used to build character (Mr. Incredible as an average joe, albeit with super-strength; Syndrome as nasally and villainous, but also tragic)
    2. The only voice that is portrayed negatively throughout the film is that of the sinister British spy Mirage.
    3. Most of the characters have “general American” accents. Frozone speaks in vague AAVE, Mirage in BE, and Edna in a composite GE, but none of these are necessarily shown to correlate to gender or class-based character identities.
  4. Disney Comparison
    1. The choices for portrayal and overall treatment in The Incredibles, a joint Disney / Pixar romp, are not very similar to what Lippi-Green found in the analysis of pre-2000 Disney films. Whereas Lippi-Green finds many blatantly racist portrayals, and some not-so-blatant ones, in older Disney flicks, The Incredibles uses talented voice actors to masterfully play unique, strong caricatures. The voices presented in this film maximize comedic and otherwise appropriate value characteristic of their respective characters.