For Elastagirl (aka Mrs. Incredible, aka Helen Parr) it means all of these things.
I (appropriately) spent part of my Father’s Day in a movie theater with my family watching Incredibles 2. If you want to know what it means to live the struggle of a working parent, I cannot more highly recommend this film.
For the uninitiated, this movie series takes place in a world in which superheros are illegal. Which presents a huge problem for our family of five main characters, who must take their powers underground. A benefactor’s offer to help brings supers back above ground, with Elastagirl as the focus, drives the story. It transforms Mrs. Incredible from a stay-at-home mom into a working mom out of town on a business trip, and Mr. Incredible into a stay-at-home dad.
It is also a wonderful metaphor for the superheros all working parents must be—the daily juggling of meals, school buses, social dramas, homework, and who-has-the-baby, all of which is exacerbated by the jobs that we all must hold in order to put a roof over our family’s heads and food on the table.
Pixar movies are wonderful creations because they always hold a second level of meaning that digs deeper than the on-the-screen action that entertains our kids. Bravo, Pixar, for making a truly wonderful movie that so perfectly depicts the struggles that all of us parents feel when we walk out of the door daily to go to our other jobs.