In-Depth Discussion: Nomanisan Island

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#1

Put on your thinking caps- it’s ime to

dig deep and really brainstorm about some of the meanings behind the name and perhaps some symbolism of the

island. So that means no posts that just say “yeah, I agree with that.” or something of the sort. I

want some real thinking going on. (hence the “In-Depth” part)

First off- The Name.
It’s a

play on the title of one of John Donne’s poems “No Man is an Island”

The poem itself could reflect on how

Mr. Incredible had once told Buddy “I work alone.” Obviously Donne felt that as a human race we must

cooperate and help each other.

Time for your thoughts! (mainly on the name, but if you have other aspects

of the island you want to include, feel free)

#2

Wow; I can’t believe that I’ve never made the

connection with Bob’s “I work alone” comment. I sure feel dumb now. :stuck_out_tongue: I’d really only ever thought

about it being ironic, as Buddy had made himself somewhat of an island by becoming Syndrome and going on his

super-killing quest. You’re probably more right than I am, though. There’s probably elements of both, as

Buddy/Syndrome did isolate himself by moving to the island, and he did want to do a

lot of the “big stuff” by himself, such as “saving” Metroville.

But even then, he still didn’t hesitate to enlist the help of others: his henchmen, the countries to whom he

sold his weapons, and of course Mirage.

Nevertheless, I still think that even if Syndrome wasn’t as bad

as Mr. Incredible had been, it’s not all black-and-white, and there still is at least some element of Syndrome

being unwittingly hypocritical. He’s just not as much of one as I’d thought before now.

#3

Like an island, it is separated and isolated from civilization. It is also sometimes mysterious and omninous.

Like Buddy, he was isolated from his idol, like Delf said. And since he was isolated from all of society, that

made him more mysterious, and ominous.

#4

Syndrome isn’t so mysterious. He’s about as mysterious as he is evil. Everything that he’s

done can be considered evil was either out of spite or for revenge. Take the launching of the missiles at

Helen’s plane- that was out of revenge. The whole Metroville plan he devised was out of spite (and jealousy) of

the supers.

#5

I

believe that the reference ‘no man is an island’ refers to both Buddy and Bob. They both isolated themselves,

like islands, in order to achieve something great (which, in essence, was the same target- they both wanted to be

great superheros) but due to circumstances, Buddy went down the wrong path. This could have easily happened to

Bob, but luckily, his family prevented this, and therefore also caused his island state, so to speak, to be

reversed. The comparison between the two kind of shows how what may seem like little differences at first, can

actually make a bigger difference in the whole picture.

#6

ADJ08 - This is some very interesting piece of

information, and it deserves to be looked at more closely…

I shall take exerpts from the poem you

supplied, and brake it down into sections, according to my predictions and speculations, as follows:

“No man is island, entire of itself” - "No man is and

island", indeed. This is interesting. Rather than referring to isolations, wouldn’t it refer to

accompaniment instead? An island is isolated and cut off from the rest of the world, making it set apart from

continents, away from people or any type of large civilization. However, according to the poem,

“no man is an island”. This seems to suggest that no man is truely

isolated from reality, so to speak.

True, Buddy was quite far away from the rest of world, concerning his

ingenious mind and habitation; however, he was not entirely alone. He had Mirage to support him, and a battalion

of other mechanists, security guards, and technicians to aid him in his plan for conquest. He was not like Bob in

the beginning, who wanted to “work alone”. He wanted a partner, and bad, even this turned out to be his

downfall.

Bob, on the other hand, always planned to have a family, even though he stated that he wished

to work without help. So, in a sense, he went against his own word. :stuck_out_tongue:

“No man is an island” –

does this state that every man wishes to be in the company of some people or some activity? I sure would think

so. Buddy ended up with support: Mirage. Bob ended up with much more than support: a wife: Helen.

“every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main” -

Every man is a part of the world – they all belong to a particular nation on the earth: the main (or their home

continent).

“if a clod be washed away by the sea” - This is

connected to the previous sentence, further exemplifying the fact that a man, no matter how isolated, is still a

part of the world he resides in. Other than, this particular sentence puzzles

me…

[i]"Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of

they friends or of thine own were"[/i] - I have an idea what this means, but I don’t want to

take a wild guess in case I am way off.

[i]"any man’s death diminishes me, because I am

involved in mankind"[/i] - This is rather obvious, and again refers to Buddy and Bob in a way.

Although he did not kill him in the process, Bob saved (and broke the neck of) the man who attempted to commit

suicide (Mr. Sansweet, wasn’t it?), which caused some controversy and, eventually, Bob’s downfall. The death or

injury of one person diminishes another…

I’m trying to see how this could refer to Buddy, though. Ah

yes – now I see it! All of those supers he killed sure did make somebody eager to get rid of him. Bob also was

under the impression that Buddy killed his wife and children during the plane incident, and this further angered

Bob by a considerable amount. The ending of the film, in which Buddy attempted to kidnap Jack-Jack, put the

finishing touches on Buddy’s downfall.

[i]"and therefore never send to know for whom the

bell tolls, it tolls for thee"[/i] - There is no need to tell anyone whom has died, because

he/she already knows that it was him/herself? I have no idea – heh.

Interesting. Very interesting. I’m

sure I’m way off on some of these points, but still. It sure strengthens the mind…

#7

I

agree with most of the points you’ve made there, Mitch. Good interpretation!

As for the line, "if a

clod be washed away by the sea," that might possibly also refer to the sea being the ‘main’, and the clod

being the outcast, such as Buddy. It might be saying that no matter what, the people around you will influence

you, no matter how much you would like to ‘be an island’, as no man is an island.

#8

The sea

representing the Supers of the world, and the Island as Buddy, symbolizing the normal person as a Super

wannabe.

#9

Oh yes,

you’re right! Heh – great thinking. I never thought of that before…

And thank you very much.

:smiley:

The Star Swordsman - Indeed – that is logical, as Spock would say it.

(snigger)

#10

Further more, the

island is a body of land. And like i said in my last post, land represents civilization, in this case, the

non-supers. The water is the Supers. Buddy is a lonely island surrounded by the sea. This means he wants to be a

part of the Supers group. like I said, normal person in the wrong group.

#11

The Star Swordsman - Hey yeah – that’s cool. I never thought of

that…

Buddy is surrounded by a group which he wishes to join, but he is so isolated from that

particular group that he is an island unto himself.

This just keeps getting more and more interesting…

:smiley:

#12

Nice topic AJ. This

could’ve been in the Radio Pixar show.

#13

I agree – they should put that in the show. It would

make a nice topic of discussion, and quite a long one too, come to think of it. However, didn’t they already

finish recording the fifth one?

Of course, they could always put it in their sixth show. Perhaps this

thread could even be named the “Thread of the Week”? :wink:

#14

I wonder if Brad Bird considered this to name the island Nomanisn.

#15

I am almost 100% certain that he did, being the creative genius that he is.

Pixar always seems to insert as much detail and information as they can into their films, which makes them all

the more interesting.

#16

I think in the

commentary, he said something about the poem when Bob was flying to Nomanisan island.

#17

He did? I’ll have to look into

that…

I wonder if he just found the poem by chance, or just knew about it all along and decided to use

it in the film?

#18

It would be odd for him to

call it Nomanisn without him knowing the poem I think.

#19

[b]The Star

Swordsman[/b] - Oh, I meant that I wondered whether or not he knew about the

poem all along, and decided to blend the words in the poem to create the name

“Nomanisan”.

I always thought that he just made it up…before now.

#20

I doubt he made it up.