Date Posted:04:18:46 01/22/08 Tue Author: Betsy Peters Subject: The Incredibles
In Triangular Desire, Girard writes: "Only someone who prevents us from satisfying a desire which he himself has inspired in us is truly an object of hatred." When I first read this quote, the first example that popped into my head was the relationship between Buddy and Mr. Incredibles in the animated film The Incredibles. Buddy begins the movie as a child who idolizes Mr. Incredible. He wants to grow up to be just like him. He even looks like a younger version of Mr. Incredible. But Mr. Incredible turns him off and sends him away. "I work alone," he returns, "Go home, Buddy." Mr. Incredible introduces to Buddy the model of the superhero and then stands as Buddy's greatest stumbling block. While continuing to imitate Mr. Incredible, Buddy channels all his imitation into hatred to become Mr. Incredible's arch-nemesis, Syndrome. Once Mr. Incredible unwittingly agrees to work for Syndrome, the struggle begins between imitator and mediator.
