PSA: “Incredibles 2” Might Cause Seizures Or Migraines, Movie Theaters Warn
Fans of The Incredibles have been waiting a long time to see the sequel — but now that it’s here, some people aren’t too happy. Even though you’d assume that the folks at Pixar would have been extra cautious, especially since the movie is geared towards children, there are scenes including flashing lights and strobe lights that can easily cause seizures and migraines for those with particular health ailments.
The Incredibles, a movie about a family of undercover superheroes, was released in theaters back in 2004. Fourteen years later, the sequel finds Elastigirl, the mom, out on her own adventure while Mr. Incredible stays at home with the kids — a refreshing plot indeed.
Viewers who were looking forward to Incredibles 2 were upset that Disney Pixar didn’t release any sort of warning, so that those with epilepsy would be warned that there were triggers in the film. Veronica Lewis, a blogger and student at George Mason University, was one of the first to bring up the topic, creating a Twitter thread that ended up going viral. Unfortunately, she suffered from some of the effects during her viewing.
Even though she started the conversation on the film, it’s something that everyone who buys tickets should be aware of.
HEALTH ALERT I haven’t seen this mentioned in a lot of places, but the new Incredibles 2 movie (#incredibles2) is filled with tons of strobe/flashing lights that can cause issues for people with epilepsy, migraines, and chronic illness. This thread is spoiler free
— Veronica Lewis, M.Ed. 👩🏼🦯 (@veron4ica) June 15, 2018
So, the villain’s weapon of choice in the movie is bright white lights that are at a rapidly flashing/strobing frequency, with the intent to disorient people. One of these scenes lasts over 90 seconds with continuous strobe light, other scenes last anywhere from 5-30 seconds
— Veronica Lewis, M.Ed. 👩🏼🦯 (@veron4ica) June 15, 2018
These scenes are also spread out across the movie and often come without warning. My descriptive audio device warned me about the larger scenes, but other times it was light strobe lights came out of nowhere for no reason.
— Veronica Lewis, M.Ed. 👩🏼🦯 (@veron4ica) June 15, 2018
I am not calling for a boycott of Incredibles 2, or to change the movie. It is very well done, and the strobe lights are an important point in the plot. I just wish Disney/Pixar and theaters alike would issue a warning that the movie contains several scenes with strobe lights
— Veronica Lewis, M.Ed. 👩🏼🦯 (@veron4ica) June 15, 2018
Lewis wasn’t the only viewer who brought the issue up. Kate Bettencourt, a mom, tried to address Pixar through Twitter. Since her daughter suffers from epilepsy, she mentioned that she was scared to bring her to a viewing. Knowing about the lights in advance, she doesn’t want to trigger an episode.
@DisneyPixar I’m bummed that you didn’t think to put out a warning about Incredibles 2 for those who suffer from epilepsy. I’m so sad that I won’t be able to take my daughter who’s been excited for weeks because she has epilepsy and we don’t want to trigger a seizure.
— Kate Cruz (@KateNicoleBee) June 16, 2018
Conditions like epilepsy are more common than you may think. According to Healthline, 2.5 to 3 million Americans have been diagnosed. One in 26 people suffer from seizures, meaning that everyone should be on alert.
Disney has addressed the issue by putting signs on certain theaters, warning moviegoers that Incredibles 2 contains a sequence of flashing lights that might trigger seizures and migraines.
Thank you to everyone for retweeting this, writing articles, and signal boosting my message! My goal of having signs at the ticket counter was reached so that people can be warned about the flashing lights in Incredibles 2. pic.twitter.com/JljozWlojd
— Veronica Lewis, M.Ed. 👩🏼🦯 (@veron4ica) June 17, 2018
Hopefully, they’ll rectify the issue even more by re-editing the sequences to be less intense when the movie is out on DVD.