WARNING: This is my opinion of the movie Encanto and some of the larger issues of the film that I've noticed.
Now I know Encanto came out a few years ago BUT there is SO MUCH that bugs me about it that I can't stop thinking about the bigger flaws of the film-
First of all, the movie starts off with the typical fantasy magical intro- not a bad idea- it sticks very close to what is called "The Disney Formula".
The movie seems to have some potential at the start but as I noticed through my multiple watches of the film- the story just falls apart at the seams.
Our main protagonist is Mirabel and not long into the movie while she is singing about her family and their magical gifts, once she is questioned by a child about her gift, she doesn't answer the question. Did no one notice how SHE avoids the question and continues singing about the rest of her family?
This scene showed us that mirabel clearly DID NOT want to talk about her lack of a gift to the point that she refused to really mention herself in the song. This showed how she didn't feel like she belonged in the family and how she seemed to stick out like a sore thumb throughout the whole film.
Then there was the scene where mirabel was trying to help set up for Antonio's gift celebration and her Abuela just looks at her with this cold look and tells her to stand off to the side and do NOTHING.
That is one of the first glimpses that we see mirabel's abuela INTENTIONALLY shove her off to the side.
And don't even get me STARTED on the scene where mirabel was so excited to receive her gift and she didn't get it. People really overlook how abuela's face changes to utterly disappointment when looking at her. Like it's HER FAULT.
As the movie progresses, we see how abuela keeps the rest of the family on some sort of leash like Luisa, Isabela, and Peppa. Peppa wasn't allowed to express her negative feelings because of her gift making it almost impossible to without causing a weather situation. We see this at the dinner scene where she tells Peppa to control herself. This shows how Peppa isn't able to express her emotions as much as she wants to and is forced to shove them down.
Luisa is molded into an image of where she is the strongest of the family and Isabela is heavily influenced to be perfect which obviously inst the case. Throughout the whole surface pressure Luisa is clearly overwhelmed by her responsibilities, her gift, and by the fear of letting others down. Especially her family. She tries to shove it down and act as if it isn't effecting her as much as it is but she eventually cracks and tells mirabel how worried and overwhelmed she is. We can tell that part of that pressure is influenced by abuela as she has a huge influence on the entire family. Not to mention Isabela was pressured not only to be the picture perfect girl with no flaws and insecurities but also arranges a marriage for her with a man she doesn't know. She's basically selling her off and judging from how she behaves she clearly doesn't want to go through with the arranged marriage but she also doesn't want to go against her abuela and family so once again she tries to cover up her feelings. This explains of why she acts so uptight throughout the first half of the film until she lashes out at mirabel in her room.
Once again, abuela molded Isabela into something she didn't want to be as she says she doesn't want to be perfect and wants live her own life without having to worry about disappointing the family just like Luisa.
Its also PAINFULLY obvious that abuela was the reason Bruno went into hiding in the first place because she shamed him for his gift and was responsible for the rest of the family refusing to even mention his name.
She shamed him for something that he couldn't change and acted like it was HIS FAULT.
The worst part is that once mirabel ACTUALLY gets Isabela to feel comfortable for ONCE in her life in YEARS, abuela yells at mirabel and tells her that SHE IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CRACKS. Mirabel for probably the first time in her life stands up to abuela and tells her off for everything she's done and that it is HER FAULT INSTEAD. and I quote from the movie "I LOVE this family! We all LOVE this family! You're the one that doesn't care!". As mirabel stated in the argument scene. And the fact after ALL OF THAT HAPPENED- MIRABEL STILLS FORGIVES HER DEAPITE EVERYTHING SHE PUT HER THROUGH.
I don't understand why it is now a trend that if the person says they're sorry, they are forgiven for all of the abuse, neglect, and manipulation they've done and it's just SWEPT UNDER THE RUG LIKE IT NEVER. EVEN. HAPPENED. That's the case with Encanto. It justifies the abuse that abuela showed towards mirabel and the entire family.
Now before you say "But abuela lost her husband and had to raise her 3 kids all by herself and was in a bad mental place and-" that's not an excuse. It doesn't help that alot of people in the world think that any form of that treatment is okay because it's from a family member or because they said sorry. Just because someone said sorry doesn't mean they will always mean it. When she apologized, that only made me angrier when watching the film and the family moves on, hardly even discussing what even happened or what she did and carried on with their lives. After watching Encanto I was obviously disappointed with the ending and the writing of mirabel. They wrote her to go crawling back to her abuela AS SOON as she apologized.
And then everyone just- GETS OVER IT??? It makes no sense to me and judging by people ranting reddit some people share my opinion on the movie.
The point that people miss is that abuela CHOSE to do this to her family and FORCE them into these molds just because of losing her husband and then that being used as an EXCUSE for everything she has done. I can't even watch the movie anymore due to how it ends and from how all of the problems are just put to the side.
I really think Encanto could have been something but it missed it's potential.
And I'm also speaking this from my OWN EXPERIENCES so YES I will be biased in some ways. I had a similar dynamic going on with some of my distant family and they treated me pretty similar to how mirabel was. Especially by one of my elders that acted just like how abuela acted towards mirabel. I no longer talk to my distant family and I avoid them as much as I can because you shouldn't force yourself to deal with people that don't truly care for you. It's not fair to yourself nor is it fair to the ones who ACTUALLY care for you. And it's not healthy either. That is NOT what family is.
And before you say "abuela didn't ABUSE mirabel" or "you're exaggerating the movie", here are some definitions for abuse.
To put to a wrong or improper use
A corrupt practice or custom
Language that condemns or vilifies usually unjustly, intemperately, and angrily
Neglect: the state or fact of being uncared for.
I feel like I've made my point now with the definitions. And if you search it up it will tell you that abuela "criticizes and ignores her gift-less granddaughter because she is at a loss and disappointed her".
The movie just REALLY strikes some chords with me because of this ending and how they decided to portray this dynamic. Whether you want to accept it or not, abuela DID abuse and neglect mirabel ever since she was a CHILD.
