#encanto meta

[thegirlking]

Mother and son shaped by trauma: a deeper look into Alma and Bruno's damaged relationship

Alma and Bruno's mother-son relationship seems like such a minor aspect of the movie, but when you give it some thought, despite the limited focus, it's not only a very complex relationship, but also a narratively significant one.

Obviously we don't have a lot of information on it, but let me reflect a bit on the things we do know, while trying to fill in some blanks. Long post ahead.

Back to the start - how did it go so wrong?

There's one particularly interesting detail that Jared Bush shared on a podcast some time ago. It mostly comes down to the reason Bruno's visions were usually so negative: because that's how he was taught to use his gift by his mother, who would ask him to look into the future for any possible dangers to their home.

Now, this makes perfect sense for Alma's character and gives a great insight into how her trauma affected her. It's a completely natural consequence of the tragedy she experienced - of course she would be gripped by fear and desperate to protect her home from another tragedy at all cost. And the power of foresight is seemingly the ultimate key to preventing tragedy, so of course she would rely on her child's gift for that...

...and yes, that's a great burden to put on your child's shoulders and something that clearly had troubling consequences. The particularly frustrating thing being that those consequences could have been largely prevented only if Bruno had proper understanding and emotional support.

The thing is...the understanding and support probably were there for some time. Some bonus materials suggest that Bruno was not always the black sheep of the family, but quite the opposite. He was apparently once the golden child of the family - until people began to believe his gift was actually responsible for bad future events.

Which brings me to the important question: why did it go so wrong? If Alma herself believed Bruno's gift could help prevent disaster, how and why did this belief that it's actually causing disaster came to be? Didn't she try to protect her son from his gift being horribly misunderstood?

Well, I'd like to give Alma the benefit of the doubt that she did try to protect him, at least when he was a child. But I do wonder if she simply grew exhausted by Bruno at some point, as he grew older? Exhausted by his unclear visions, which were hard to control and not that helpful after all (I think Dolores' verse in WDTAB kinda suggests it). Exhausted by Bruno's eccentric personality that was so far away from the "perfect image" she wanted for the family. And maybe that frustration led to her ultimately neglecting him emotionally and enabling the negative attitude to his gift, even if it wasn't intentional on her part.

Broken trust

Again, this is all just my interpretation and I don't want to assume the worst without any proof... however, I do think it's reasonable to believe that Alma did fail Bruno in some way.

And she might have not realized it, but I think Bruno himself very much felt she failed him. That would also explain his evident lack of trust in her. I talked in one of my previous posts how Bruno not trusting Alma with the vision about Mirabel is a big red flag that something was very wrong in the family. Ideally, he should have been able to trust his mother with the vision, but we were as far from the ideal scenario as we could be - Bruno choosing to hide the vision is a clear sign how damaged his relationship with his mother was at this point and how broken his trust in her was.

Ironically, if Bruno's decision was a result of broken trust in his mother...the same decision also broke her trust in him.

Let's look at it from her (sympathetic but misguided) perspective for a moment. Bruno's gift was something she had relied on in order to protect her family. And so many years later, no matter what the present attitude to his gift was, she still went to him in a difficult moment. So the fact that he essentially denied her that help would definitely feel like a huge betrayal - for Alma it probably looked like Bruno had betrayed the family and betrayed the miracle.

Those would be the understandable feelings of a traumatized woman who probably couldn't stand losing someone she loves yet again - believing Bruno betrayed and abandoned them because he doesn't care was likely a kind of coping mechanism to numb the grief.

Regardless of how understandable those feelings might be though, this coping mechanism was deeply unhealthy and harmful. What's more, the choice to paint Bruno as the bad guy shows horrible lack of self-awareness. And that lack of self-awareness only intensified the unhealthy environment in the family.

Because in the end, Bruno leaving the family should have been the wake-up call that the "perfect" family might have some issues to work through and something needs to change to avoid driving away anyone else. Alma might have not known Bruno's motives to leave, might have been understandably angry and hurt about him hiding the vision, but she definitely should have reflected on her own mistakes as a mother that led to Bruno making this decision.

Protecting the family and understanding the true miracle

But beyond how trauma shaped their relationship, I think there's something else at the core of the issue: their love for their family and their different understanding of what it means to protect it.

I talked about how Alma went to Bruno in a difficult moment, when she feared for the future of the miracle - and that the fact he never gave her the vision and simply ran away must have felt like a betrayal to the miracle.

In some way Bruno did betray the miracle - he betrayed the miracle in the way Alma understood the miracle at that point, as a source of magic more than anything else. And ironically, by doing so, Bruno showed that he actually understood what the miracle was truly about.

Alma was so fixated on protecting the miracle that she ended up losing sight of what was truly important and hurt the family. On the other hand, Bruno saw a threat to the miracle and yet still chose protecting his young niece's well being over anything else - one "giftless" little girl mattered more than the magic.

My point here isn't "Alma bad, Bruno good", that's a huge simplification. Both of those characters were very damaged and were going to unhealthy extremes to protect what was important to them. I'm not saying Bruno's decision to hide the vision was the "right" one or something to be glorified - I mostly think that it's a decision that should have never been made and again, the fact he felt he had to do that shows the deep rooted issues within the family.

But ultimately, he did have the right priority there - of course Mirabel's well being matters more than the magic. Every member of the family matters more than the magic. That's the whole point of the movie and the core of Alma's character arc - realizing that the family itself is the greatest gift.

And one detail I particularly like is that Alma and Bruno are the two people to tell Mirabel she's the real miracle in the end - it shows their values are finally on the same page and there's finally hope for mutual understanding between them.

[cannibalthoughts]

From page 162 of the artbook.

The family & house are tied together. If the family has problems so does the house.

Cracks - Visual representation of family problems. - A “symptom” of the family’s dysfunction

And like the family, Casita internalizes these problems, presenting a perfect facade while she crumbles apart. We only see the extent of the damage when Mirabel enters the walls. But before we see the spackle, there’s something else broken inside their home:

The walls visibly bow away from the rift in the floor, split open. In a magical house, what else could it be, except the largest of the cracks? And what is the biggest break in the family, an actual rift?

It’s too large to patch. Bruno cannot mend it from inside the walls, cannot even try. And after the family sees Bruno’s last prophecy, while Alma is furious and much of the family is scapegoating Mirabel, Mirabel almost falls into that same crack. But when she calls for help, Bruno reaches out. And Mirabel hauls them both out of the hole in the walls.

[artist-issues]

i know you are in your Wish Criticism and Analysis Era (love to see it, very interesting takes!!), but i was wondering if you could spare some thought as to why you thought that the moral/lesson of Encanto was not great? in my eyes, it was always mostly about forgiving and moving past generational trauma... even if the movie didn't fully execute on that hah

I can try! I haven't gone over it in my brain in a while. Sometimes answering questions helps me verbally do it, though.

I guess I should clarify. The message in Encanto isn't outright evil...it's just a little tricky to try and teach in the story that they used, without also saying a bunch of stuff that is problematic. I'll try to explain.

The main point in Encanto seems to be something like: "You don't have to be perfect: just being yourself is special enough."

Easy enough. When anyone in the Madrigal family tries to meet Abuela's super-high standards, it turns out to be hurtful. The more Pepita holds her emotions in, the more tense and stressed she gets. The more Luisa tries to carry, the more tense and stressed she gets.

But the problem is, the movie so often gets TOO CLOSE to portraying the opposite of "just being yourself is special enough" as "give your life for others." It tiptoes too close toward the "self-focus is beneficial" line.

The Madrigal family occupation, the thing Abuela is pushing them all too hard to do, is not something bad. She wants them to use their gifts to help others. But Abuela is a (sympathetic) antagonist in the movie.

And it's explained. You feel for her. She apologizes and there's forgiveness, like you said--I'm just saying, it's tiptoeing up to a line that isn't always the most responsible line to show to kids, in a kids' movie. Kids do not generally need help questioning whether or not their parents are being too controlling, or too pushy, or wanting too much--kids usually already lean too far in that direction on their own.

But like. The problem is, there's an equal-opposite lesson each of the character could learn that I think is better for kids, when they're kids.

Pepita should be free to feel, genuinely --> yeah, but Pepita also shouldn't let her emotions get so out of control that they hurt others.

Luisa shouldn't be expected to carry every family burden --> No, but in general it's a good thing to "bear one another's burdens in love" and do whatever you can to help, even if it's heavy.

Isabella shouldn't have to act happy & pretty constantly, and marry for the good of others --> Of course not, but it is good to be able to find joy and act genuinely joyful in all circumstances.

Mirabel shouldn't have to have the same level of accomplishments and abilities as everyone else in order to feel loved --> No, she shouldn't at all, but also, it is never a good idea to say to yourself "there's no room for improvement in me because I'm already enough and perfect; no flaws that need apologizing for or changing."

Abuela shouldn't focus so much on controlling what her family does even if it's for their own good --> No, absolutely not, but in general, an older woman who guides and teaches her family on how to selflessly serve others is considered wise, not controlling.

Bruno shouldn't have to only tell people what they want to hear to be accepted --> no, obviously not, but he shouldn't be so constantly negative that he's causing everyone around him to be anxious (I know that simplifying it because he had a literal power to explain the future and they asked him to, but I'm talking about the lessons kids could glean.)

And that's my main beef (it's not even that big a beef; I thought Encanto was so well-done.) My main beef is that it's a movie kids will be influenced by, but the themes and lessons are really more helpful for an audience of college or even high-school-aged people. People who are old enough to have that level of discernment to say:

"Yeah, it's good that Abuela is trying to teach her family to be selfless and safe, but she goes too far by being fearful and controlling; yeah, it's good to control your emotions, but not if you go so far that you're not allowed to be vulnerable at all; yeah, it's good to want to help others by lending your strength to share their loads, but not if you go so far that you get your sense of worth from your success; yeah, it's good to stay positive and be a light to others, but not if you go too far and become a faker; yeah, it's good to be able to recognize your flaws, but not if you get your sense of worth from making up for them."

Those are the sort of sub-lessons Encanto teaches: "don't make decisions based out of fear (fear that you're losing your worth, your identity, your loved ones, your future, the love of others.)"

I'm just saying, kids aren't going to be able to pick those sub-lessons out as easily. What will probably stick with them is the idea of grandmother = wrong; spending your life helping others = stressed and losing your superpowers etc.

But ultimately, it's a movie with a lot of heart, and this idea of grace and unconditional love, so it is not a big mistake or a loss or anywhere near what I'd rank Turning Red and Wish. It's just a little...reckless for a kid's movie. 🤷‍♀️

[whosmarinette]

Sometimes I remember how since Mirabel holds the miracle in herself now, it will probably be a tradition for every new Madrigal to walk with her towards their door during the ceremony, like Antonio did, and I become kind of unwell in a good way

[glitternightingale]

Shower Thoughts

Bruno's Stone Hand: Your Future Awaits

I've been thinking about this statue and trying to get into Bruno's head in case he decided to put it up, and it didn't just appear as a result of Casita's magical rooms. What was the motivation behind it? How long has it been there? And most importantly, what does it mean?

Meaning 1: "Climb all those stairs to get a vision from me."

The most on-the-nose interpretation is that this was simply meant to be a signpost to his Vision Cave for the villagers or other visitors. I can imagine it was set up when there were already a decent number of stairs in Bruno's room. At least, it would make the most sense at that point in time.

Meaning 2: "The way to Heaven/God in Christianity."

So, I saw some gravestones with a similar engraving: a hand with its forefinger pointing up to indicate the deceased's soul has risen to Heaven.

This was a prevalent symbol in the Victorian era (1837 - 1901). Of course, this concept doesn't have to apply to 19XX's Colombia, but it's an interesting thought, especially when one considers the heavy Catholic themes in Encanto and, perhaps, that Bruno might be a little old-fashioned/traditional in one way or another.

Also, most references of these headstone images I found feature the right hand as the "correct" hand for this symbol, regardless of if it's shown from the front or back. Bruno's possible left-handedness shown throughout the movie and his rock statue subverts this theme. He is different, and he is "wrong" in the eyes of the villagers.

Meaning 3: "Now listen up, the Prophet is speaking."

Bruno's expressive hand gestures often come into play when he tries to share his thoughts with other characters (Mirabel and Alma, for example.) I imagine their intention has changed from "Please, listen to me." to "May I just… please… say some–– Okay, never mind." over the course of his life.

[feels-of-a-fangirl]

so I finally watched Encanto. cue Madrigal feels bc what am I, if not on brand.

also please note, I’m a white, Slavic girl living in Central Europe so I probably didn’t get a lot of the Latinx subtext in the movie.

man, first of all, all of the Bruno feels.

Bruno must have had it so hard all his life. the only man in the family, he must have felt the pressure of supporting everyone. and the triplets presumably received their gifts at the same time and it must’ve been scary for each of them in different ways. Pepa obviously, because how do you ask a five-year-old to control their moods because a tantrum can cause a hurricane? Julieta is a different case because cooking is not an obvious gift, so maybe for a while she thought that her siblings got gifts but she didn’t?

and Bruno got future vision. at age 5. it must have been terrifying. no wonder he’s one bundle of anxiety.

I was wondering why Pepa and Julieta were rather late mothers, but now that I think of it, they must have been scared that their kids would get gifts as well. and these gifts would be just as scary.

Dolores and Isabela are both 21 which means Pepa and Julieta were both 29 when they had them. and man, while Isabella’s gift is innocent enough, Dolores’s is also kinda terrifying because imagine hearing all sorts of stuff at age 5. no wonder Julieta had her second child two years later (Luisa is 19) but Pepa waited 6 years (Camilo is 15) and then another 10 (Antonio is 5).

because Camilo’s gift is also kinda scary. Julieta’s daughters got off easy. Prow’s children? not so much.

and then Mirabel got no gift at all. and she saw it as a bad thing, as did Alma, but you can’t tell me the triplets weren’t secretly a little grateful. Pepa and Bruno at least.

Antonio’s gift is scary too, when you think about it. I bet he is gonna convince everyone to become vegan, isn’t he?

but back to Bruno.

Alma’s trauma response was the expectation of perfection from her family. but man, what expectations she must have had from Bruno, who could never replace her Pedro but who must have felt like he should. like he should be the man of the family. on top of his scary visions. I kinda think his invention of Hernando and Jorge was a little bit trying to find a version of himself that was good enough for everyone when he felt he wasn’t.

think about how everyone thinks Bruno was mischievous, when in reality he was a nervous goofball.

his disappearance… one doesn’t make such a decision hastily. I can’t imagine him hiding in the walls on a whim. I can see him finding the hidden room and hiding out there as a child… and then, after admirable doesn’t get a gift and he has his last vision, he goes to his safe place and just… never leaves. the family has another Madrigal man with a gift in Camilo.

for some reason I don’t think Bruno got along well with either of his sisters’ husbands. Felix and Agustin are clearly in love with their wives and happy to take on a more supportive role in the family whereas Bruno probably think he ought to be the patriarch… when he’s anything but. he must’ve felt lonely.

[impossiblefangirl0632]

Religious Symbolism in Encanto

Most of these thoughts spawned from reading, a hair on the head of john the baptist by @icarusinthesand which I highly, highly, recommend you go read if you are at all interested in the more religious aspects of Encanto.

We ended up talking about the religious symbolism in the comments and with their permission I’ve compiled the main points we talked about here. 

Tl;dr Encanto is chuck full of religious symbolism whether it was intentional or not.

Bruno’s Room

Religious parallels: 

John the Baptist (And other prophets, thinking namely of Elijah) spent a significant amount of time living and preaching in the desert

The Temptation of Christ is when Satan tried to tempt Jesus to turn against God for 40 days in the desert

Moses and the Children of Israel in the desert for 40 years

A note about the number 40: In the Bible, numbers are rarely literal and have underlying significance. Forty shows up a lot because it is often used for time periods (40 days/years) that separate two distinct epochs. Bruno’s life can clearly be divided by the point he went into the walls, when he was 40. Plus, like I said the Hebrews were wandering in the desert for 40 years (To me this part of Bruno’s life can easily be described as ‘lost in the desert’)  which represents the time it takes for a new generation to arise.

Staying on Moses for a second, this wasn’t in the movie but a lot of us seem to share the same headcanon that Bruno’s sand waterfall parts for him, kind of like the Red Sea for Moses.

The concept art for Bruno’s room shows a lot of different options they considered but I would like to bring these two to your attention.

The first is a concept that I cannot for the life of my find again but I vaguely remember it being in a youtube video. Imagine a dimly lit, slightly crumbling, cathedral interior with sand dunes instead of a floor and that should give you a pretty good mental picture.

The second concept (above) instantly reminded me of Petra (below) (World Heritage Site, very cool, has ties to a bunch of different cultures and religions including Christianity and Islam) 

Fun fact I learned today is that according to Arab tradition Petra is where Moses struck a rock with his staff and water came forth. A lot of what remains of Petra is tombs which I think is an interesting tie in with the metas other people have written about the design influences from the Tierradentro tombs that did make it into the final design of Bruno’s vision cave.

Bruno’s role as the Prophet

Icarus did an amazing job at summing this up so I’m just going to drop in what was said in the comments here. For context, we were talking about how in the fic it’s alluded to that the Priest wanted Bruno to eventually become a priest himself.

“it seems logical (to Padre Acevedo) for Bruno to become a priest. I also think he has something more expansive in mind that just being the town priest -- when he says "lead" he does mean it. Because I really think that to a devout man of faith, Bruno would be... I mean, you have a prophet, he's the son of the man who made the miracle and the woman who turned it to bear fruit for the town, it feels fated, right? It feels like that man should be Something. Nobody's talking about living saints or the kind of leadership that reshapes the world but people are definitely thinking it, before they learn to be afraid of him.”

This reminds me a lot of this post (that was meant to be funny, and it is) that in my opinion correctly points out that Bruno’s two male role models are his father, who sacrificed himself for his family, and Christ, who sacrificed himself for humanity. To me it makes Bruno’s decisions make a whole lot of sense.

The Triplet's Gifts 

The thing that I've thought about a lot before reading Icarus’ fic is how the original three gifts in a way symbolize aspects of Christ/God. Because essentially, the gifts break down into healing (this is self-explanatory), prophecy/a (potential) sort of omnipotence, and controlling the weather to me falls under the umbrella of having dominion over the earth.

Breaking that down further: 

Bruno’s gift is obvious. He’s literally a prophet.

Julieta literally heals people with food (including bread, which has so many biblical tie-ins: the loaves and fishes, I am the bread of life, etc) 

Pepa is a bit more of a stretch but consider first off, the flood that destroyed the earth, and numerous times in the Bible where there’s a drought and the miracle sent by God is rain. 

Icarus made a good point about how Pepa seems to be more drawn to precipitation even when she’s happy since rainbows need moisture.

We know that when they were younger Bruno was the golden child but it wouldn’t surprise me if at least all three were considered saints at least at the beginning. (There’s a great oneshot that explores something very similar)

There are just too many connections for this all to be a coincidence in my opinion. At the very least someone on the design team thought about it at some point given the cathedral concept art. I mean come on, they literally call it a miracle.

[selcaby]

When do you think Encanto takes place?

Based on tweets from Jared Bush I tend to assume the main story takes place in 1950, but the whole place has been cut off from the outside world since the miracle 50 years earlier. Their fashion and technology are from around the turn of the century.

I assume Bruno’s gift is the only reason he knows what telenovelas are. He’s never watched an actual TV. His football rat theatre scene is of a specific goal that Colombia scored against Germany in the 1990 World Cup.

The tune Agustín plays on the piano is “En Barranquilla Me Quedo” and was first released in 1988. I think either Agustín learned it from Bruno or it’s artistic licence. They were trying to cram as many Colombian things as possible into the film, even if some were anachronistic.

In one of my fics I posited a magical shop that sells goods that they can’t manufacture locally, such as books. (I mean, they could have their own printing press, but they would be short on texts to print.) So now if I spot something that seems too modern I just assume it comes from there.

[foggyfanfic]

So! Now that I’ve finished that!

In the process of writing Mirabel’s Super Secret Adventure, I slowly realized that house was always going to come down. Like no matter what they did, unless they chose to continue the cycle, the house was always going to crumble. The whole idea is that the miracle, the village, the family dynamic, all of it, was based in Alma’s trauma; if the family moves past that trauma, they have to rebuild everything from the ground up.

I have no idea how I’d do it, but I kinda want to write a story where everybody does everything right, and Casita still falls. Isabela speaks up about not wanting to marry Mariano, Dolores steps in and mentions that she does, Luisa doesn’t overwork herself, Bruno advocates for himself instead of hiding in the walls, Mirabel doesn’t get side-lined, and Alma takes steps to acknowledge and work through her grief. And Casita still falls. Because it has to! If the family loves eachother, if Alma is going to heal, if they are going to work through their problems, Casita has to be torn down and rebuilt. They need that new foundation!

But again, no idea how this would work as a story. It’d probs just be a one shot. Actually, has anybody written this yet? If so, drop the link.

[kaermorhenna]

Real talk though...

Abuela's door says 'Abuela' on it, yeah? So was it originally 'Mama'? And did Casita change it to Abuela when Julieta got pregnant with Isabela or did Casita wait until after she was born? Because I'm having thoughts about Alma waking up one morning and seeing the name on the door changed and immediately praying to Pedro for the strength to handle the thought of one of her brood reproducing. 😂

[thegirlking]

How do you think things might've changed in encanto if Isabella had been a boy?

I feel like being a woman is an extremely crucial aspect of Isabela's character.

Her character arc has some clear themes about the toxic gender roles imposed on girls. It's not just that she's expected to be perfect - she's expected to be the perfect woman and all the damaging things that come from that, like being reduced to her beauty and pressured into the conventional roles of a wife and mother regardless of her wishes. That's why it's so powerful when she breaks free from those expectations and reclaims her identity.

Not to mention it's implied Alma (subconsciously) saw Isabela as a mirror of her younger self and in some way wanted to relive her life through Isa (obviously a result of trauma but no less harmful for Isa), hence why all that pressure was put on her. This aspect wouldn't really work if Isa was a boy either, and it adds such an interesting layer to both Isa and Alma's characters, so I really wouldn't want to change it.

I'm not sure if the eldest grandchild being a boy would have added something similarly interesting to the storyline? In such a case, I could see that character being something of a parallel to Bruno with Alma being protective and controlling of that boy as a way to show her regrets about her son. But I feel like this idea wouldn't have worked that well and honestly, maybe taken too much focus away from the female characters and relationships between them.

[cannibalthoughts]

Other favorite ideas about where Bruno slept in his tower:

There’s a bedroom at the top of the stairs somehow, so he had to climb like 50 stories every night

Right there in the antechamber when you first open his door. Villager comes by and the Literal Prophet is taking a nap. His head is next to the pillow, which is instead covered in rats

In the sand

Who needs a bedroom? Yeah sure, he’ll look at the future, but you have to find him first. It changes every night and he’s got insomnia so “night” is used very loosely here. Good luck.

[ambular-d]

So I’m not really in this fandom, and as such I expect I’m way behind the curve.  But I’m mildly obsessed atm with the song Surface Pressure from Encanto and the character of Luisa, and after several days spent down the YouTube reaction rabbithole, I’ve noticed something that I haven’t seen anyone else mention, and I feel compelled to put it out there:

This young woman isn’t just overworked, underappreciated, insecure, anxious and depressed.

She’s in Hell.

Take a good look at all the environments we see her and Mirabel pass through during the song.

It’s all symbolic and metaphorical, of course.  But apart from the brief peaceful interlude during the song’s bridge (I stuck it at the end to contrast with the rest,) this stuff isn’t just challenging, it’s the stuff of nightmares.  There’s either some imminent existential threat, or subdued, foreboding colors and inhospitable terrain in just about every scene.

Cerberus and the flames in that sequence are the most obvious underworld-associated imagery, but scales were associated with measuring a person’s worth after their death in ancient Egypt and Greece, and even early Christianity.  And check out the rest: trapped in a giant coffee grinder, running through a blasted landscape covered with erupting steam geysers, aboard a ship doomed to sink in freezing water in the dead of night--even Luisa’s own glowing golden bedroom door looks ominous and threatening, set against the backdrop of storm clouds, with a tornado approaching, and about to tip onto her and Mirabel.

Carrying the world on one’s shoulders of course evokes the myth of Atlas, for whom it wasn’t just a burden: it was his eternal punishment.  (For rebellion, yet.  Disobedience literally carries a heavy price.)

Hanging off a mountain top?  Sure there’s a nice blue sky, but the imminent fall aside, the air up there is likely pretty thin, and the peak is also covered in snow--characteristic of Cocytus, the frozen ninth circle in Dante’s Inferno, and not something two girls who’ve lived their whole lives in a tropical valley paradise have likely seen much of or would be equipped to handle.

Oh, and this scene, which I forgot to grab when I was putting the big pic together:

Again, nice and sunny, but.  At first I wasn’t sure whether those boulders and clouds coming at them from the mountain in the background might be a landslide set off when the girls fell in the previous scene.  But after checking out the geography of Colombia, I think it’s just as likely the start of a volcanic eruption.  Colombia is part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, and the real-life Caño Cristales river which inspired the one in the movie (light blue dot) lies not too far from a mountain range with active volcanoes.

---

Luisa is canonically nineteen years old, and she’s already fucking exhausted.  Look at the top right image in the big pic.  Her head is bowed with despair as she sings “...never stop, whoah.”

At about age three, she watched as her older sister received her Gift and became the beautiful, graceful, flower-spewing perfect princess adored by all.  A few years later, she got her own Gift...and got a bunch of muscles, which I’m sure was fun at first.  Until she became the workhorse of the family and the entire community, hauling around without question whatever heavy loads anyone asked, up to and including other beasts of burden (hence the donkeys.)

She’s been doing that for fourteen years.  That’s nearly three-quarters of her very young life.  And when she was about nine, her little sister, who was supposed to receive a Gift of her own and with it, some capacity for self-defense (because literally any of the family Gifts, from the Casita itself on down, grant the Gifted one that--some potential to keep themselves safe) was left without one.  So Mirabel needed a protector--as far as anyone knew, for the rest of her life.

Bless her great, kind, generous heart, it’s obvious that Luisa doesn’t blame or resent Mirabel for that.  She loves her little sister.  But that doesn’t mean she doesn’t feel the weight of the added responsibility.

We see in the bridge of the song and toward the end that Luisa, while maybe not quite as lithe and polished as her sister Isabela, is beautiful and graceful in her own right.  She can sing and dance and hope and dream with the best of them, when she is allowed to.  The pink clouds, sunshine, glitter and unicorns not only evoke the classic Disney Princess aesthetic, they’re also pretty close to common depictions of Heaven.

But at the start of the film, Luisa thought she’d never get to have any of that.  Pressure like a drip, drip, drip that’ll never stop.  That was what she had to look forward to.  No thanks, no joy, no relaxation, no pleasure.

Friends?  Not that we saw.  Dating?  Love?  Children?  She probably hadn’t been given a chance to figure out whether she’d even be interested in any of that.  And if she was, who would ever want to date the town mule?

Luisa was in Hell until Mirabel stepped up and rescued her for a change, along with the rest of the family.

[mmollymercury]

Something from the Encanto art book I wanna talk abt real quick

First of all- is this Mariano or Hercules??? Cos omg-

Secondly, he seems frightened? Or disappointed by Isabela being the first person he saw?? It's like a looney tunes bit where he's like: "I'm gonna marry whoever is behind door number 1!😌😎", but instead of an offensive 'ugly' woman behind the door, it's Isabela looking ✨absolutely stunning✨, but Mariano just collapses to the floor crying, scared and afraid.

He's a confused man. Just a little idiot.

[orwellsunderpants]

Blogging about how the gifts received by Alma Madrigal's children and grandchildren are reflections of strengths that Alma wished she herself had. Mirabel's apparent lack of a gift represents an important turning point that shifts things away from Abuela's needs and desire for control and onto the members of the family as individuals.

[glitternightingale]

I'd like to talk about this (unofficial) chart I found on this site (maybe this has already been discussed before, but oh well):

I also converted the list into more tangible numbers (some are rounded, others are not):

Everything on here seems "reasonable", and there are also the relative heights to Mirabel's confirmed 5'2" (157.5 cm). Personally, I'd add two inches (5 cm) to Isabela and Dolores because I don't think she's Félix's height.

But I don't know what they were thinking when they put in Camilo's probable weight because that would give him a BMI of 24.2, and he doesn't look to be overweight (quite the opposite, actually).

And maybe switch Agustín and Félix's weight?

Any (other) thoughts?