Carly Mallenbaum | USA TODAY

USA TODAY

It’s been 14 years since Pixar fans laid eyes on Elastigirl, but fans are learning something about the super-mom as the sequel "Incredibles 2" rolls into theaters.

What’s that mean? As “Incredibles 2” producer Nicole Grindle recently found out from her 23-year-old son, the creative spelling of the word “thick” describes Elastigirl as “not a little pencil. She’s attractive as a woman with dimensions.”

Some examples of commentary about Elastigirl in tweets include: "Elastigirl is dumbbbb THICC," as @sssniperwolf writes; "how many squats do i have to do to be as thicc as elastigirl??" asks @arose4598; and then there's this pun: "elastigirl? more like elasTHICCgirl," tweeted @mirandacann.

Indeed, “thicc” has become internet-speak for having a voluptuous lower body. It’s a word that has been approvingly used to describe Rihanna (“Thiccana”) and stars including Kim Kardashian West and Christina Hendricks.

And now it describes an animated mother of three who skillfully drives a motorbike, flies a plane and devotes herself to her family. The capable Elastigirl is notable for being the female protagonist of an action movie and yes, for her thighs and booty. Sure, she does have a minuscule waist as part of her unrealistic, caricature look; but the fact that Disney has welcomed — and the public has embraced — Elastigirl's curvy body type and natural-born-leader attitude (there's even a social-justice Elastigirl Persists Twitter account) shows a step in the right direction toward female inclusion on-screen. Elastigirl is a far cry from the rail-thin, one-dimensional Disney princesses of yesteryear that include a "Little Mermaid" who literally gave up her voice and changed her body for a man.

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Disney Pixar has had mixed results in its quest toward embracing women's dimensions in animation. On the plus side, "Moana" is brave and strong, and "Frozen" features sisters whose central relationship is with each other. But before that, in 2012, there was a tomboy heroine who became controversial.

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Elastigirl is one mother of a superhero in 'Incredibles 2'

“Brave” featured wild-haired archer Princess Merida whose central conflict was with her parents, not with a man. But then Disney temporarily gave the character a glammed-up marketing makeover online, with a skinnier waist and makeup, as part of her induction into the “Disney Princesses” collection.

“With ‘Brave’ there was a whole (national) conversation about her body shape,” says Alicia Malone, correspondent for the movie ticketing website Fandango and author of “Backwards & in Heels: The Past, Present and Future of Women Working in Film.” "They changed Merida to look like other princesses," she said. But after there was backlash including a Change.org petition begging Disney to take down the sexier Merida image because it sends young girls a negative message, the new Merida images were removed from the Disney site.

On “Incredibles 2,” filmmakers inadvertently made a different kind of statement, that Elastigirl’s curvy body is beautiful.

When Grindle was working on the first “Incredibles” film as a simulation manager focusing on the way clothes looked on the characters, she used her own body to inform the character.

PIXAR

One conversation she remembers having about Elastigirl, while making the original "Incredibles," was about how the character should look when she puts her super-suit back on, years after taking it off and having children.

“I explained to (director Brad Bird) that if I put on the miniskirt now that I wore (before motherhood), it would show a lot of skin.”

At Grindle’s behest, tights were added to Elastigirl’s suit.

And there was some talk about “when she checks out her butt in the first movie,” Grindle says about Elastigirl, who in a scene is sighing about how her new red suit looks on her mom-bod.

"What I recall is that really most people understood the intention that Brad had, that this was the female version of middle-age angst at what has happened to one’s body while one was busy having and raising children. At the same time, some of us wondered if it diminished her power to look at her own butt, which could also sexualize her when we really wanted to see her at the height of her superhero powers," says Grindle. "At the end of the day, I appreciated that it makes Helen a better, more interesting character if she is a flawed character, like (Mr. Incredible, Bob Parr), and I think her self-consciousness is really relatable."

Though the scene showed Elastigirl feeling a bit uncomfortable with her appearance, it has since turned into a popular GIF-able, body positive meme.

“I take that as a resounding success,” Grindle says, noting that many fans may have missed Elastigirl’s derriere in the first film because “the articulations of the characters have advanced dramatically in the 14 years (since the first movie),” she says. “We didn’t have that secondary motion in bodies that makes her feel softer.” Translation: Elastigirl's butt and thighs appear fleshier and bouncier in the second film.

So why aren't there more body types in animation, and not just "stick thin or Elastigirl"? Malone looks at the the gender imbalance in the industry as part of the problem.

“It’s been a very male-dominated field,” she says. “But in particular with the directors of ‘Frozen’ (Jennifer Lee, who’s just been named to co-lead Pixar Animation with Pete Docter) and ‘Kung Fu Panda’ movies (Jennifer Yuh Nelson directed the sequels), women are starting to get there."

According to the Animation Guild, women make up 25.6 percent of its members. That’s a jump from 2013, when women made up just 20 percent. But Women in Animation president Marge Dean thinks there's room for improvement. Her nonprofit’s rallying cry: "50/50 by 2025.”

More female representation “behind the scenes,” as Dean says with “air quotes,” can make more fleshed-out (literally in Elastigirl’s case) female characters onscreen.

“I worked in 'Scooby Doo' (in the early 2000s), and in the seasons we did, we really enhanced the characters of Velma and Daphne: Made Daphne not an airhead and more like a MacGyver, and Velma was not just a nerd but a funny nerd who brought some great comic relief to the whole thing.”

Today, with movements including Time’s Up and #MeToo, “people are listening to women and believing what they say,” says Dean. “Studios are absolutely taking meetings with us. (Time’s Up) has just lit the thing on fire.”