Conflict Management Styles in The Incredibles

Travis Howell

What makes a good movie? Is it the characters? The setting? The plot? Although all of those elements are essential to a successful film, the most important element is arguably conflict and how characters deal with that conflict. In the Disney movie The Incredibles, a family of superheroes encounters numerous conflicts and deal with those conflicts by using various conflict management styles.

In the beginning of the film, we encounter Bob Parr (Mr. Incredible) and his wife Helen Parr (Elastigirl) living as normal people under fear of social persecution for being superheroes or “supers”. There is tension between Helen and Bob because Bob is hesitant to give up his life as a super while Helen is content with a normal life. Meanwhile, Bob and his fellow super Frozone secretly carry out vigilante work at night. The struggle between Helen and Bob can best be explained by a “avoiding” style of conflict management. In Working Through Conflict: Relationships, Groups, and Organizations, this style of conflict management is characterized by “[withdrawing] and [refusing] to deal with the conflict (Folger, Poole, and Stutman 110). By failing to address the conflict directly with Helen and instead choosing to go behind her back, Bob engages in this avoidance style of management.

Another important conflict arises in the middle of the film, when The Incredibles are forced to fight a villain named “Syndrome” on a remote island. While on the island, Helen refuses to allow her children to help in the fight against the enemy. However, the children have also been given superpowers and are eager to help. The conflict management style present in this conflict is known as a “competing” style of management. Folger, Poole and Stutman explain that this style “represents a desire to defeat the other and compel him or her to do what the party wants” (109).  By arguing with each other on who can and cannot help fight Syndrome, Helen and the kids are “competing” against one another instead of working together.

Near the end of the film; however, the family does come together to fight and defeat Syndrome and foil his plan of world domination. They do so by bringing their various skills and talents together in order to find the best way of defeating him. This conflict management style is known as the “collaborating” style of management. In this style “the party works to attain a solution that will meet the needs of both parties of the conflict” (Folger, Poole, and Stutman 110).

The Incredibles, like many other Disney films, is a great example of the different styles of management used when conflict arises. Furthermore, although these three examples aren’t the only ones present in this movie, they are some of the most important because they showcase how different styles of conflict management are able to accomplish different things. Initially, avoidance doesn’t work for Mr. Parr. Neither does competition for Mrs. Parr. However, after resolving their own family issues, collaboration ultimately helps them resolve the conflict.

Works Cited:

Folger, Joseph P., Marshall Scott Poole, and Randall K. Stutman. Working through Conflict: Strategies for Relationships, Groups, and Organizations. New York: Longman, 1997. Print.