Last night Joe and I watched the movie The Incredibles again, and it reminded me of an earlier post I wrote about superheroes who have introverted alter egos. Joe found it interesting that one of the characters in the movie, Violet, who in her alter ego is a shy girl in her early teens, has super powers many introverts would love to have: the ability to put a force field around herself (and others), and the ability to become invisible.
I had to agree that these super powers were very appealing to me, and I had happy visions of creating an impenetrable force field around myself the next time I walked down a crowded Paris sidewalk. Of course I’ve also often thought how nice it would be to be able to disappear in an uncomfortable situation—those pushy salespeople and talkative strangers would have no idea where I had gone.
August 5th, 2007 at 4:30 pm
I have gotten to the point of trying to become invisible, and actually believing that I have been successful. There is no way of knowing whether I had been truly invisible, but I know enough about science to postulate that it would be possible. All any of us see is light. When I am shooting candids I set my mind to the shutter speed I am set at. When I am up at 1/8000th of a second…and am there in body and mind, I can photograph a person fron two feet in front of their face without their knowing I am there.
August 8th, 2007 at 5:32 pm
While I did like Violet’s character, what I didn’t like was how at the end of the movie, she was “cured” of her introversion, and had become more outgoing, didn’t wear her hair down in front of her face, or wear dark clothing any more. The implication, of course, is that her introversion was a thing not to be desired, but to be “cured”.
August 9th, 2007 at 3:07 am
Mike:
I just read this article about an attempt by scientists to make something invisible by deflecting microwaves around it (http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2006/10/19/cloak_tec.html?category=technology). Maybe light waves will be next.
David:
I know, I didn’t like that outcome either. In fact, I hesitate to call Violet an introvert because what she really is is shy, and while shy people may be introverts, the two terms are not interchangeable. Violet is the proverbial “shrinking violet,” and having been given that label myself once or twice, I found it deeply annoying since I don’t have a fear of other people, I just find them exhausting at times.