Ayn Rand and Pixar

While learning more about Ayn Rand and her philosophy I came across an article about movies that exemplifies Ayn Rand’s philosophy. The movie in this article focuses on the beloved Pixar movie The Incredibles, where a family of superheroes are forced to hide their abilities due to government regulations. The New York Times article uses the line “they keep finding new ways to celebrate mediocrity” said by Bob Parr, the protagonist of the film as evidence of Rand’s philosophy. Upon first reading the article I thought it was absolutely ridiculous to state that the beloved children film The Incredibles holds even a drop of Rand’s philosophy and ideals. However, upon further investigation I discovered there were similarities between Rand’s ideals and The Incredibles. 

Firstly, a family is forced to hide their abilities and be normal, to act as though they are not special and live a completely mediocre life like all those around them. This echoes Rand’s philosophy of society’s flaw of worshipping the mediocre and dependence of collectivism while outcasting the brilliant individuals. We see this in Rand’s novel The Fountainhead, where Peter Keating is considered the mediocre man who is worshipped, while Howard Roark is ridiculed despite being a true genius. Furthermore, the movie criticizes the celebration of “mediocrity” in the form of a ceremony from fourth to fifth grade. 


Another tie between The Incredibles and Rand’s philosophy is the villain Syndrome’s goal. Syndrome, who is not super, creates high tech that mimics the affects of super powers. Syndrome’s main goal is to spread the wealth of superpowers. stating that “everybody will be super, which means no one will be.” In a way Syndrome can be tied to Toohey, who is trying to control everything and manipulate society’s dependence on collectivism. Syndrome, like Toohey wishes to control others and take the greatness of the “trump genius” and transform it into one of society’s fads. 

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