Film Review: Story Vs Plot Within The Narrative Of 'The Incredibles'

 Today I was introduced to the idea of story vs plot. This idea explains that story and plot present themself as being very similar, when in actuality they are two different things. 

Story is all about who, what and where

Who is involved within the narrative

What conflict may they be facing

Where is the narrative located

Plot refers to how, when, why

How the main character is presented with the conflict

When the narrative takes place within the characters life

Why the character is confronted with the conflict and how they react the way they do

The plot dictates where the direction of the story goes as it is the reason for the event taking place. The plot is what happens within the story. For this reason it is important to frame the plot

Plot frames are a tool which help to identify the focus of the story. By framing your plot it helps to identify what the protagonists goal or objective is and define the main conflicts within the story. 

Their are 12 different plot frames in which most films fall under

• Quest
• Riddle
• Threat 
• Trap
• Revenge/Justice
• Rivalry
• Temptation
• Discovery
• Underdog
• Love
• Pursuit
• Rescue 

In order to help draw out the main protagonists in the story, it is best to make the character as least generic as possible (faceless characters as long as henchmen are example of generic characters). Wants and needs, flaws and backstory are all essential in order to make your character interesting and provide depth. Each of these traits go hand in hand in order to develop and interesting character. They should be presented to the audience throughout the narrative in order to provide context as to how the character will act within certain situations. Depending on the character's personality and flaw, they may act very differently to a scenario. The characters need is essential in order to drive the plot, as it is usually the reason how, why and when, the character is confronted with the situation. 

After identifying the difference between story and plot, I then watch the 2004 cartoon, The Incredibles.

The Incredibles 

The film is centred around a retired superhero, name Mr Incredible (Bob), who along with his wife, Elastigirl (Helen), decide to leave their old life behind in order to raise a family together. They attempt to live an ordinary life, without being ordinary themselves. Bob being the famed Mr Incredible is extremely strong, Helen has the ability to stretch and their three children, Dash, Violet and Jack-Jack, have super speed and invisibility and an dormant super power respectively. 

The Story

Who is involved within the narrative? - The narrative for the greater part focuses on the four members of the family, Bob, Helen, Dash, Violet, as they attempt to live out a normal life. 

 What conflict may they be facing? - The main conflict each the family is facing together, is concealing their powers from the outside world so that no one knows that they are supers. This is all as an attempt to lead a normal life. 

Where is the narrative located? - The narrative is split up into two halves, the beginning is set in Metroville, a suburban city and the second half is set at Nomanisan Island. The two locations are indented to contrast each other, which represents the grand difference between the characters real and fake lives. It is only when they travel to the island, they are allowed to reach their full potential. 

The Plot

How the main character is presented with the conflict - Mr incredible begins doing hero work again as he misses it and doesn't like the amount of crime which is going on in the world. Shortly after resuming his duties, he receives a letter from a mysterious company who requests his help. Unknown to Mr incredible, the companies true intentions is to build up the main antagonists technological empire, which kills other superheroes in the process. This is all in an attempt to have a better superhero status than Mr Incredible and make technology so that their is no longer anyone unique in the world. The company is run by the antagonist of the story name Syndrome, who wants to take revenge on Mr Incredible for the way he treated him in his childhood. When learning of Mr Incredibles family, he then makes it his mission to kidnap Bobs youngest child and raise it, so that he can make Mr Incredible feel the same pain he did. 

When the narrative takes place within the characters life - The beginning of the film takes place at the peak of Mr Incredible's superhero career. He is seen stopping many crimes, meeting his wife and is overall loved by the public. His career as a hero, along with peoples views of heroes as a whole, takes an unexpected nosedive down when he saves a man who didn't want to be saved. This mass hatred towards superheroes forced him into retirement and the film resumes its narrative 15 years later. Bob is now a family man, who works a depressing 9-5 office job. He hates the fact that he is unable to help those in need and is shown to be saddened by the direction his life has taken. The only positive thing in his life is his family, who all have superpowers. Because of the reputation superhumans have developed, the family decide to hide their true self and opt for a typical suburban family upbringing. Bob tries his best to live this way, however still takes it upon himself to secretly stop crime during the night. After loosing his job he receives a mysterious letter, requesting for his super-hero work, in which he enthusiastically excepts. From this point on his life turns around and finally seems as if he enjoys life again. 

Why the character is confronted with the conflict and how they react the way they do? - Before the time skip, Mr Incredible is at the peak of his career and has many beloved fans. One fan in particular is named Buddy and he is seen at the beginning interfering with Mr Incredibles job in the hope that he will make him his side-kick. Mr Incredible kindly rejects the offer at first, however with his increased annoyance of buddy's interference with his heroic acts, gives him a cold response that he "works alone". 15 years later Buddy has managed to take his inventions he was going to use to help Mr Incredible as his sidekick and developed a multi-million tech company. He feels that Mr Incredible rejected him because he didn't have superpowers and so made it his mission to develop technology which would make the need for superheroes redundant as everyone would have powers. After scheming for 15 years, Buddy then makes his move by inviting Mr Incredible to his private island in order to carry out "heroic acts". He knows that Mr Incredible misses his old life and so develops a narrative involving deadly robots, which he knows Mr Incredible will not refuse. His true intentions is to overwhelm Mr Incredible with the amount of robots, to the point that he will not be able to save the day on his own. As Syndrome has killed most of the other heroes their will be no other person to help in the invasion of the robots. When all hope is lost, Syndrome (a non super) will swoop in and save the day. He will then be able to sell the narrative that he, a normal person, was able to do something a super couldn't do. He can then sell his technology in order to make everyone superheroes. 

I've grown up always liking the Incredibles as a child, however I never really thought of why the story is written so well. After watching it again from the perspective of story vs plot, I am now able to identify how there are many different elements working together in order to make the film so good. I really like how the story plays into the plot, in order to create interesting characters and situations within the narrative. It enables the film to generate characters who are interesting and the audience cares about, even though it is a cartoon aimed towards children. The inclusion of the plot in which Mr Incredibles career takes a nosedive, causes the audience to root for him, when finally given the opportunity to work as a super again. I really like how the family dynamic changes when they finally get the opportunity to be their true selves. When contrasted against the beginning of the film, you can see how the family get closer after finally addressing the massive issue they all equally share in their lives, that they are all supers. After the story plays out, they are able to accept themselves for who they are, which intern allows those who looked down on them to change their perception of superheroes as a whole.