You SEVERELY misunderstand Violetâs entire dang story arc, and her characterization at the beginning of the film.
Like, I think you need to rewatch the film. At the beginning of the film, she was scared, self conscious, etc. Those arenât âquirksâ those were her hiding her quirks because she was afraid.Â
Her story arc was about gaining confidence. The wearing of brighter colors was symbolic of that. If you look at concept art, she was meant to be huddled, scared, trying not to be seen, etc. Those dark clothes are meant to show her trying to âblend inâ and be less noticed.
Thatâs also why in the beginning, she lets her hair fall in front of her face: Sheâs trying TO HIDE. Think about it, she wants to be ânormalâ instead of embracing her powers, she wants to fit in, etc.Â
Look at her body language during this scene. Notice how she doesnât want to talk, she mumbles, she wonât even eat. Something is bothering her, but she doesnât want to admit it. She constantly looks sad. Heck, Iâm kind of mad at Helen in this scene for not acknowledging it. Violetâs body language is FREAKING OBVIOUS, any mother should be able to spot it, and ask what the frick is wrong, but Helenâs so preoccupied with trying to be a ânormalâ family that she completely ignores any signs that something is wrong.
And then we get to the problem: When Violet screams about how no one in the family is ânormalâÂ
âWe ACT normal, Mom! I wanna BE normal!â and Dash even agrees, because of the pressure to act ânormalâ that is put on him.
She doesnât want to âbe herselfâ she wants to âfit inâ
She has basically been told her whole life to hide who she is, hide her powers, etc to keep the family safe. Sheâs barely allowed to express herself, something Helen acknowledges later in the film indirectly by apologizing for putting pressure on Violet. Sheâs not just talking about the plane crash, sheâs talking about what sheâs basically done to Violet and Dash THEIR ENTIRE FREAKING LIVES. She basically did the same dang thing Elsaâs parents did in Frozen:Â âConceal, donât feel, donât let it showâ but she never gets called out on it, because she doesnât die before realizing her mistake and fixing it.
Thatâs why after the talk with her Mom, itâs SO DANG IMPORTANT that she pulls her hair back: SHEâS DONE HIDING WHO SHE IS. Sheâs DONE trying to pretend to be normal. She realizes she is someone incredible, and is finally willing to embrace that.
Later, when sheâs wearing bright clothes, it symbolizes sheâs no longer afraid of being seen. Sheâs willing to stand out instead of blend into the background. Seriously, this is some basic cinematography symbolism, here, itâs one of the first things you learn in a film-as-literature class. Her outfit change didnât mark a change in
Violet doesnât become a different person. She learns to be confident with who she is.Â
She didnât change who she was. She gained confidence. Confidence to talk to the boy without turning invisible. Confidence to ask him out. The moral of her story wasnât âLOL those darn introverts need to be extrovertsâ the moral was âYou can do whatever you set your mind to. If you can stop a literal supervillain, you can freaking ask the dang boy out.âÂ
