bruno’s arc in encanto reminds me of the stigma against mental illness and i don’t know if the writers intentionally wrote it that way but i do find it very interesting. the image of bruno we get during the first half of the film ranges from ostracized trouble-maker to a downright boogeyman-like figure.
even dolores’ verse, which is probably the most sympathetic take on bruno we get before we’re introduced to him, paints him as a troubled individual and that she grew to “live in fear of bruno stuttering or stumbling.” the movie kind of purposely tricks its audience into believing that bruno is, if not a downright malicious character, at least someone that is going to be unsettling and scary.
but then mirabel actually meet’s bruno and he’s, well. he’s a sweetheart.
he’s shy and caring and a little goofy. the way his powers work and the way he’s treated by his community can work as a metaphor for mental illness. going back to dolores’ verse, she sings that he left the family fumbling by telling them prophecies they couldn’t understand. bruno’s powers were stigmatized because they couldn’t make sense of what he would tell them, in the same way that mental illnesses are stigmatized for being misunderstood. but even if you take away the metaphor, bruno is still a a very neurodivergent character. he talks to himself, he has a set of rituals he needs to complete to ease his mind much like someone suffering from ocd, he creates personas to give himself company etc.
once we finally meet bruno ourselves, his neurodivergent traits don’t make him unsettling or scary, they make him more sympathetic. in fact, one of the most interesting thing to me about bruno’s character design are his big eyes.
the first time we see bruno as he really is, he’s saving mirabel, and the focus on the shot is his face and we see those eyes. what’s interesting about it is that in character designing, big eyes are usually reserved for female protagonists, young characters, or cutesy animal sidekicks. big eyes help convey emotions, and are generally used on characters we’re supposed to sympathize and care about. even before bruno says his first line, the animators want us to think “oh, we’re supposed to trust and care about this guy, actually.”
bruno’s an interesting character that plays on audience expectations. his powers and the stigma against them are a metaphor for neurodivergence but his actual neurodivergent traits aren’t unsettling or played for laughs. he’s a tragic character in a lot of ways, but at the end still manages to get his happy ending and is treated with love and care by the narrative.
idk man, i really dig bruno.
