In
a world filled with superhero's, how do you make those powers feel real? How
can extraordinary powers that don't exist in real life ever feel like they are
believable? A large part has to do with understanding the physics behind it and
knowing when and where to bend the rules. Pixar's The Incredibles does an
excellent job of this, and they build a very interesting and believable world
that contains these supernatural abilities. Creating a
world that feels believable physically with only a few alterations to serve the
story adds greatly to the effect of creating convincing super powers, which is
vital to the Incredibles' success.
First
of all, The Incredibles has to have a strong and well established baseline for
physics in the universe in order for the bending and breaking of the rules to
feel incredible and yet believable, and to make the super abilities feel super.
They achieve this by utilizing very realistic physics in virtually every
scenario other than those that involve the super abilities. You can see the
realistic simulation of physics throughout the vast majority of the film, but
there are some clear examples that stand out. A lot of things go flying through
the air in this film, and a lot of the arcs feel right. Objects travel on a
parabolic trajectory whenever they move through the air. This can easily be
found in scenes such as when Mr. Incredible jumps across the gap between two
sky scrapers in order to save a suicidal man, when Dash tumbles through the
air, or when Elastigirl is throwing herself over building tops.
There are also
numerous examples of centripetal force throughout the film, including the scene
right before Dash flies through the air when he grabs on to a vine and is swung
around a tree, and once again in that same scene where Elastigirl is throwing
and holding herself to building tops.
Throughout the entire film there is also
a very strong and correct sense of balance and weight. This accurate sense in
weight is very apparent in scenes where Mr. Incredible lifts enormous objects
and they feel balanced right.
All this to say that there is a strong sense that
the physics of this world is similar to our own so that when rules are bent or
pushed they are surrounded by a context that makes them feel even more
extraordinary.
Throughout
the film there are dozens of characters introduced that have abilities that
allow them to either suspend or bend certain laws of physics. One example of
this is Mr. Incredible's super strength which allows him to jump long
distances, lift enormous weights, and in general exert an
incredible amount of power. In the universe of this film he is exempt from a
lot of the rules that exist in our own. For instance, assuming that Mr.
Incredible is capable of the strength it would take to lift a train—though
it is more than a stretch of physical reality that any human could actually
have the brawn of Mr. Incredible—the
physics of the world are still bent slightly to allow for a more interesting
and readable show of his power. In the scene where he is exercising by lifting
two train cars (shown below), he is lifting objects many times his own weight
by pulling down. However, applying Newton's laws would require that the
"object [Mr. Incredible] will always change its velocity in the direction
of the unbalanced force." Unless he weighs as much as the train, the net
force comparing his weight versus the train's would weigh in favor of the
train. So, to be physically accurate in this scene, Mr. Incredible should be
lifted into the air when he pulls on one chain for the train, because it would
require the weight of the other train in his other arm to lift the one. In fact,
he would not be able to lift the train until there were tension between the
chains and him, and then he could utilize the weight of both to lift each.
Throughout the film one can see similar suspension of the rules surrounding Mr.
Incredible, however, the rule bending makes sense because it serves the purpose
of the story well and often creates a more interesting or non-distracting
effect, and the strong and accurate feel of the physical world around these
moments allows them to feel believable.
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| This is a crude version of what may happen with real world physics. |
Dash
is another great example of how the physics of the universe are adjusted to fit
the needs of a super ability. Dash can move and run at extremely high speeds
and it is done in a very believable manner, as with most of the other super
abilities. However, the creators pushed some physical laws in order for him to
feel even faster. For instance, Dash is capable of essentially accelerating and
decelerating instantaneously. In the real world, this kind of acceleration and
deceleration is really not seen coming from anything with Dash's mass. He is
able to start and stop on a dime, while being able to run hundreds of miles per
hour, and in order for him to move that fast with real world physics it would
take him at least some slow-in and slow-out. We can even see an example of this
contrasted in the movie, when we see Dash run into swarm of insects and trip
and fall we then see a more physically realistic slowing-in, for an object with
his mass moving at that speed, as he tumbles across the forest floor.
However,
even though his ability to accelerate is not entirely true to reality, it
functions in such a way that serves the purpose of his ability because if Dash
could not control his acceleration as well as his speed, he would have quite a
difficult time using his ability, and most likely would not even survive long.
Furthermore, if it were in the real world, the speed at which he moves would
probably cause some reactions in the environment around him that would be
disruptive to the function of his character and abilities as well. There's a
scene in which Dash moves across a classroom and back so as to leave a tack on
his teacher’s chair, all in less than one frame of
a video recording.
Utilizing a table provided in the uniform motion video, he
was moving at least 650 miles per hour assuming the distance between his seat
and the teacher's is about twenty feet. The speed of sound is 761 miles per
hour which would create a sonic boom, and since Dash had to be moving only at
least 650 miles per hour to move faster than the recording of the camera it
is quite possible that he actually reached 750 or more in speed. So in the
scene Dash is trying to be sneaky, but realistically there would have been a
sonic boom alerting the class of what was going on, and at that point the thumb
tack on the teacher’s chair would
probably be the last thing he'd worry about. So it makes sense why some of
these physical rules had to be bent for Dash. Also, the friction involved with
that kind of speed with his clothes and the air would probably also have some
negative results. However, the minds at Pixar did in fact address this thought
regarding friction with a bit of technology within the Incredibles universe.
There
is a significant amount of technology that plays vital roles in both
the film’s story and its physical rules. Some
examples of this are with the clothes that Edna designs for the super family.
She is able to construct uniforms that are capable of matching their wearer's
abilities. This includes garments that can withstand heat over 1000 degrees and
enormous friction without heading up or wearing out, can turn invisible, can
stretch incredible amounts and still retain its shape, be
bullet proof, be virtually indestructible, and can even be machine washable.
Now, most of this is far beyond the realm of what current fabrics or technology
are capable of, yet in one scene the film essentially says, "These
materials are possible and exist," so that as an audience we can move
forward and fully believe and excuse the show of superpowers and the bending of
a number of physical laws.
There are other pieces of technology
that seem to fall under the "super" laws of physics, and that
includes the giant robots, who act essentially as anti-heroes. In many ways
they behave very realistically according to real world laws of physics, but
again, some rules are pushed to positive effect for the sake of the story. The
main things that stand out is their incredible dexterity and ability to
maneuver.
There are a number of scenes in which we see these giant machines
moving undoubtedly thousands of pounds quickly and seemingly effortlessly.
Particularly with the arms, there seems to be quite a bit of mass to them, and
yet they can wave around easily, almost as though they're more similar to the
mass of a regular human arm. The amount of momentum they should realistically
have with the speed at which they are moving would take a strength in material,
engineering, and energy that does not seem currently feasible to create.
However, without this ease in movement these monstrous machines would not pose
much of a threat to the heroes, and so it seems like an important rule to bend.
Finally, perhaps one of the biggest and most apparent break away from
realistic physics is Syndrome's built ability "zero-point energy."
This ability that Syndrome uses allows him to nullify the effect of gravity and
the movement of a target. He can also move them anywhere in space as though
they have no mass, so there's minimal momentum and no resistance, at least as
long as the "energy" is active. This is quite clearly a break from
reality, but it is a seriously awesome piece of technology that adds a lot to
the show of superior engineering capabilities that this villain has. It falls
into a similar category as something that has been a part of sci-fi for
decades: anti-gravity. While I'm sure many scientists and physicists would like
to make such a technology a reality, the laws of physics that it overcomes
makes it a target that seems like it will remain only making our tales and
epics feeling more incredible.
The
Incredibles is a wonderfully crafted film, and clearly an incredible amount of
thought went into every aspect of its creation. The physics are carefully and
intentionally pushed throughout the film in order to make the universe feel
epic and extraordinary. The standard rules of the world are only broken in ways
that allow these super characters to feel truly incredible, and to help make
for a very entertaining world to watch.
