Following a Twitter thread that went viral this weekend, Disney has asked all theaters showing “Incredibles 2” to warn patrons that the film contains strobe light effects, according to Variety’s Erin Nyren.
The request is the result of a Twitter thread and blog post by Veronica Lewis, a blogger specializing in disability services. Lewis warned that several scenes in the film featuring the film’s villain, The Screenslaver, utilize strobe effects and could cause issues for viewers with photosensitive epilepsy, as well as those suffering from conditions including “migraines, vision impairment, seizure conditions, vertigo (especially flicker vertigo),… ADHD, PTSD,” and those on the autism spectrum.
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
Lewis, who is visually impaired, added that the descriptive audio service she used when seeing the film warned her about some of scenes that featured the effects, but not others. She adamantly stated that she was not calling for a boycott of “Incredibles 2” or any other Disney film, or for the film to be altered in any way, but rather she asked for a warning of some kind to be given to guests prior to purchasing tickets so that they can make an informed decision; a request which Disney has agreed to. Since her words went viral, numerous theaters have complied with the request, including those in the Regal and AMC chains.
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
Regardless of the strobe issue, Lewis said that she and her family enjoyed the film, saying that “If it wasn’t for the large amount of strobes, we would give it a 10/10.”
ALSO:
REVIEW: “Incredibles 2”; Another Super Outing From Pixar
Related posts:
I don’t blame Disney for the reaction, but it’s interesting that this started not with actual reports of any problems or by someone with expert knowledge of such potential problems, but apparently by someone with appears to have gotten their information from the University of Google and only talks about all manner of things that “could” or “might” happen and then positioned all of this as some sort of looming public problem that then went viral. She quoted her relative as saying that the frequency of the flashes were “up to 3 times a second” but that’s outside of the normal personal “trigger” frequency range of 5 to 30 flashes per second that causes seizures in people with photosensitive epilepsy. This isn’t to say that NOBODY anywhere might have issues with the flashes in the movie, but I don’t think it will match the hyperbole of the now viral social media warning.