In a way, I really think Mirabel is okay with no having a Gift, because she is okay with not having a "magical ability". A thing she is not okay, is that she is different from the rest of them and thinks she can't make her family proud without it.
She is okay with not having a Gift, but she isn't okay if that means that she can't make her family proud without having it. Because what she wants is to make her family proud, and in her mind she can't make her family proud without one (not a hater of Abuela, but she really messed up).
In the begin of the film when the little girl said that if she was her she will be really sad, Mirabel said that she is not sad and Gift or no Gift she is just as special as the rest of her family. I think part of her motivations to try to save the Miracle, is not JUST her saving everything that was important to everyone in the encanto (Although of course is still a big par of her motivation), but is that maybe with it she can have a prove that she can contribute to her family, and even SAVE it, without a Gift.
100% agreed. Mirabel’s motive wasn’t that she wanted a gift, it was that she wanted to prove that she could be of worthy, to play her part and make her family proud in her own way, which was something the filmmakers themselves had said. Fun fact, they at FIRST had the idea that her motivation WAS to get a gift, but they scrapped it to make her more relatable, and I’m so glad they made that decision, because the gifts aren’t what’s the important thing, it’s their love for one another, the love that was stemmed from the miracle in the first place. Despite that fact however, that of course didn’t mean that she wasn’t secretly crushed about not having one, because yes, the Madrigals ARE known for their miracle, their gifts. They all have a part to play and a role, to serve the community and shine bright. Mirabel…..has none of that, she’s not perfect like she THINKS her family is, and she doesn’t shine like her family does. Your conclusion is something I ESPECIALLY agree on, because you’re absolutely right. This was exactly why Alma was the problem, and not the gifts themselves. Had Alma just treated her family like a normal family, had she not painted them as this picture perfect family to the village and pushed high expectations on them to the point where none of them could show weakness or share their struggles, things would have been better. Alma loved her family, but she was going about their miracle the wrong way, and we all know that. Instead of a family who could just talk to one another and feel comfortable with their emotions and desires, it was a family who each member had their own burden and secret, their own struggle and hardships yet they could never share it, since they felt alone in their eyes, seeing the other person as perfect and not wanting to rock the boat. I could honestly go on and on about the negative outcome of the previous family foundation, but mainly yes, the Madrigals being known for their amazing perfect gifts and nothing else affected Mirabel’s feelings deeply, because she felt that she wasn’t helping or contributing when everyone else was. It’s like how her parents tell her she’s fine and has nothing to prove, but she still wanted to prove herself anyway, since she’s been practically told all her life how important this miracle is and how everyone relies on them. I will however say that even if Alma let’s say wasn’t as bad as she was in the film, Mirabel would probably STILL feel like she didn’t belong because of mere fact of her not having a gift, BUT sadly, her feeling like she needed to prove her worth was definitely something Alma influenced anyway. Which is exactly why after she figures out her family are all human beings who go through their own hardships and also struggled with these expectations, she realized that she herself was always enough, and so is her family, even if they’re not perfect.
