Character Breakdown: Violet Parr from Incredibles

Violet Parr has been my spirit animal ever since I watched Incredibles for the first time. Like me, she's shy, the oldest, and has a hard time adjusting to things. At the time, we were around the same age too. Over the course of both movies, I've loved her character arc and I feel she's really underrated in the Incredibles crew. Which is why I picked her for today's character breakdown. Let's get started.

Spoilers ahead for Incredibles and Incredibles 2.

Personality

• Mature. While she is a teenager, Violet has some very mature moments in the films. She realizes that her parents are fighting and that could lead to problems. She understands what her father is going through with her mom away. She knows she has to take care of her siblings. This is probably a result of being the oldest and I think it helps her character have depth.

• Awkward. Violet is also in the awkward teenager phase. She has a hard time talking to Tony, the boy she likes or knowing the right way to react to things. It makes her very relatable.

• Humorous. She has a very on-point sense of humor and sarcasm. She's always making excellent comments about the situation, especially when she's annoyed.

Virtues

• Protective. Like any sibling, she fights with her brother, but she's also fiercely loyal to him and the rest of her family. Even though she renounces superheroes in the second movie, when she's needed, she comes back to defend her brothers when her home is attacked.

• Smart. Several times over the course of the movies, Violet shows that she has a lot of brain power hidden underneath that hair. She often comes to realizations before others and has lots of good ideas.

• Responsible. Like I mentioned before, she can be mature and that often shows itself through her responsibility. She watches her brothers when she needs to, gets a sitter for Jack-Jack when she has to chase Dash, and so on. Another trademark of the oldest sibling.

Flaws

• Shrinking violet. At the beginning of the first movie, Violet is severely lacking in self-confidence, unable to talk to the boy she likes while visible or use her force fields effectively. It's debilitating, but she grows out of it as she gains practice and confidence with her powers.

• Doesn't always listen. She's also very stubborn. In the opening of the second movie, while fighting the Underminer, neither she nor Dash want to watch Jack-Jack and miss out on the action. She also follows her mother on the jet in the first movie despite being told to stay behind.

• Sibling rivalry. As I also mentioned, she and Dash fight a lot. He doesn't want to listen to her, she yells at him. It's a pretty normal sibling thing. But the nice thing is, they also know when to stop fighting each other and start fighting bad guys.

Skills

• Superpowers. Violet has the superpowers of being able to turn invisible and generate force fields. These powers are kind of reflections of her personality in the beginning (horribly shy and keeping things at a distance). She learns to use them really well by the second movie and does all sorts of new things.

• Athletic. It's never shown in the movies where this comes from, but she's obviously athletic. She can run really fast, knows how to fight, and is pretty good at hand to hand combat. Maybe her parents trained her or maybe she taught herself. Either way, it's very useful when one is a super.

What Makes Her Interesting

• Her growth. Violet has a major character arc in the first movie. From receding and shy to confident and bold. It's inspiring and what helps her really stand out a character. It's an excellent example of a positive arc.

• Her struggles. Even though she's a super and has problems normal people can't understand, she also has normal problems that anyone can relate to. That's one of the reasons these films are so popular, because the heroes struggle with real problems. Violet has mood swings, eats ice cream out of a tub when her boyfriend accidentally dumps her, and struggles to learn to grow up.

Have you seen Incredibles or Incredibles 2? What do you think of Violet? How can you make your heroes relatable to anyone? Tell me in the comments.

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