if you watched encanto and enjoyed it you definitely will
not fucking enjoy magical realism i cannot overstate how unlike magical realism encanto is encanto is a goddamn disney movie where magic is fantastical and sensical and responds to you and you all heal together, magical realism is depressing and a much harsher look into trauma the fact that somebody recommended “cien años de soledad”/”a hundred years of solitude” with only encanto as your springboard is ASTOUNDING to me considering a hundred years of solitude deals with themes such as Incest, Pedophilia and Child Death and it ends with the last member of the family getting eaten by ants
if you want to read some of the most interesting genres i’ve run into, i recomend magical realism (after you read up on the trigger warnings). but the only thing it has in common with encanto is that there’s latin americans in it.
for reference:
magical realism is a gorgeous genre but it does not use magic as a form of escapism the way disney movies do. fairy tales use fantastical elements as a metaphor for real-world hardships. magical realism, especially one hundred years of solitude, uses fantastical elements side-by-side with those hardships to exaggerate them rather than to replace them.
magical realism is not just “latin american fantasy” the way people seem to think. it’s a very distinct genre.
I cannot express enough how funny this post is. Saying “if you like encanto you should read Hundred Years of Solitude” is like saying “if you liked Rango you should read Blood Meridian”
