Pixar’s The Incredibles was written by Brad Bird, the maestro who brought us the wonderful and tragically neglected Iron Giant, and that’s Bird’s voice playing Edna Mode, the eccentric (and unexpectedly well-protected) fashion designer who’s a cross between actress Linda Hunt and famed Hollywood costume designer Edith Head. In the attached scene, which manages, in very little time, to convey an enormous amount of insight into Edna’s style and quirky persona, Mr. Incredible has managed to get past security (Edna brushing off the security guard: go check the electric fence or something), and simply wants a repair to his old superhero costume. Edna, eager to design again for demigods (she describes the fashion models she works with these days as “stick figures with pouffy lips”), will have none of it. Repair that old hobo suit? No! Unacceptable! What’s needed is a whole new costume! It will be modern! Dramatic! Bold! Warming to the idea, Mr. Incredible suggests something classic with a cool cape.
The litany of cape-related disasters recited by Edna, all those doomed superheroes dropping like flies on specific dates that she’s committed to memory – Thunderhead (“nice man, good with kids”), Stratogirl, Dynaguy, Splashdown – is one of the highlights of the entire Pixar oeuvre. Speaking dramatically in an indefinable accent that’s been described as a mash-up of German and Japanese, Ms. Mode is emphatic and immovable. No Capes.
the needlefish 