I saw a tag in an AO3 Mirabruno fic that said Mirabel and Bruno are coded as a couple, and this was definitely a thought I also had during my first watch of the movie. Especially considering that in an animated film, any potential chemistry between actors is not going to play a huge role in what’s happening on screen. Rather, any chemistry between characters is going to be due to the choices animators and writers made, which is fun to think about. So I thought I’d try my hand at analyzing what I think so many of us were picking up on.
Now I’m not saying all of these points support romantic coding alone, but I think when put together, we get something significant between Mirabel and Bruno. I would love to hear any possible additions or elaborations to this that I might be missing.
**use the numbered points as the TLDR**
1. Bruno estranged himself from his family to protect Mirabel.
There is a lot to be said about this move. On one hand, Bruno was motivated to do this because he had already developed a bad reputation amongst his family and the townsfolk that his prophecies were bad news and that he was somehow playing a role in them. It can probably be argued for this reason alone, he left to protect himself. But he was also protecting Mirabel because he knew that with this prophecy, she would be dragged down with him. When Mirabel meets/confronts him in Casita’s walls, Bruno says, “no one was supposed to see that prophecy.” Considering how superstitious/paranoid Bruno appears (to the point of probably meeting OCD criteria), I think it is a fair assumption that at some point, Bruno started internalizing that maybe just maybe he was part of the problem and was to blame for the outcomes of some of his prophecies. So, in addition to protecting Mirabel from his mother’s wrath, I think Bruno may also have been trying to protect her from some doomed fate he might have thought he brought upon her. I think his logic was, if no one else sees the prophecy, maybe it cannot come true. I got on a little tangent there, but ultimately, while I think Bruno had a couple motivators for leaving the family after making the prophecy about Mirabel, it seems the main motivator was to protect Mirabel. While not inherently romantic, it is definitely a decision with a lot of love behind it.
2. They defend each other to the family matriarch.
In the final act of the film, both Mirabel and Bruno defend each other to Alma. While Mirabel is defending herself and her sisters against her abuela’s impossible standards, she also leaps to Bruno’s defense, stating that Alma always saw “the worst” in Bruno and that Bruno does in fact love the family.
Likewise, Bruno literally rides on a horse to Mirabel’s rescue to defend her against any wrath Alma may have against her. This is especially important when considering that Bruno previously expressed to Mirabel that he was afraid of facing Alma. In this scene, he shows he is willing to overcome this fear to once again protect Mirabel. He literally tells his mother, “I don’t care what you do to me.” I think the fact that he is riding on a horse just adds to the coding of a knight in shining armor rescuing his damsel in distress, even if Mirabel is perfectly capable of managing conflict.
3. Bruno comes across as younger than his age.
Bruno holds himself in a smaller posture. He appears shorter than his sisters. And frankly, he seems timid and unsure of himself. He often uses more informal language and catches himself and tries to use more formal language, and I think it’s to appear more mature than he feels he is. It doesn’t help that all of the Madrigal adults look much younger for their age, and he’s no exception. Now, I am going to refrain from going into why he may seem younger than his sisters (despite the graying hair). The point here is that Bruno acting and looking younger created a weird dissonance in my mind. On one hand, I knew he was Mirabel’s uncle and was the same age as her mother. On the other hand, his portrayed youth makes it a little easier to interpret their interactions as a little more romantic than familial. Because honestly, if the plot was just a little different and Bruno was just some seer that Mirabel was seeking out, then a lot of their interactions would read as very shippable to me. I’m sorry I cannot elaborate this more eloquently.
4. “After you save the miracle, come visit.” “After I save the miracle, I’m bringing you home.”
No elaboration for this. Just the way they look at each other during this exchange:
5. Bruno is canonically interested in incest romances.
Ok. I know this has been a central point of discourse between us and antis, but I want to look at this within the context of the narrative. Which is to say, Bruno talking about an aunt/nephew romance plot comes across as a foreshadow when considering the fact that 1) it can be assumed Bruno came up with this plot by himself and enjoys it, 2) Bruno started talking about this plot basically unprompted to his niece who he hasn’t seen in a decade, and 3) this was right after he had saved said niece from what he had assumed was death. I think having one of the characters in a shipcest pairing being canonically interested in incest already gives us a lot of shipcest fuel, but more than that, Bruno’s interest in incest and how it is introduced within the narrative very easily reads as a foreshadow in the first viewing of the movie.
6. Bruno is starved for affection and love, while Mirabel is starved for respect.
I think this is what ultimately colors everything between these two as potentially romantic. Bruno has been isolated for ten years, so any positive regard and affection to him is going to be so meaningful. We can see it on his face when Mirabel is reassuring him that she doesn’t think he makes bad things happen and that he just got a bad rap. We can see it in countless other scenes of Bruno receiving affection from other characters in the movie. He is shocked and very clearly doesn’t know what to do with it:
Likewise, Mirabel rarely receives respect from the adults and even children of the family. Tía Pepe and Isabela tend to be annoyed with Mirabel at baseline. Abuela Alma at her kindest is still shutting down Mirabel and telling Mirabel she has very little value to offer the family. Meanwhile, her parents sometimes accidentally support Alma’s opinion of Mirabel in their reassurances that she has “nothing” to prove. From their first interaction, Bruno listens to Mirabel and talks to her like an equal, like an autonomous adult who matters. As the two work together, Bruno continues to demonstrate that he respects Mirabel. He doesn’t talk down to her, and he apologizes for raising his voice at her when she was spiraling about hugging Isabella to save the miracle and reemphasizes her autonomy (“it’s up to you”):
Ultimately, these two unconditionally offer each other what they are both craving—what they each never properly received from the rest of the family—and this is a trope often used in a romantic narrative. Not to mention, they can also relate to each other; they are both misfits and both feel incredibly displaced from the rest of the family. Add to the fact that the two treat each other more like equals and less like uncle/niece, and suddenly, the couple coding seems more evident.
7. The blocking and imagery choices.
Honestly, most of the ship vibes I saw came from a lot of the blocking/imagery choices the animators made, so I’m just going to have to include some screenshots of the most damning ones because I don’t know how to make gifs. They are as follows.
The concern/desperation in Bruno’s eyes when he saves Mirabel from falling:
All the hand holding during the prophecy scene:
This scene in which we see a lot of mirroring between the two, supporting the idea that they see each other as equals:
This scene in which her parents are singing, “and to watch our little girl grow.” Of all the things to pan to in order to demonstrate that Mirabel is growing up, they chose to show her interacting with Bruno. It’s an interesting choice to me:
And then, of course, the last minute or so of the movie where we get a lot of mirabruno eye contact and shared smiles:
And Casita literally brings them together into a pseudo-dance:
Then there is the family picture. The way Bruno is holding/touching Mirabel does not come across as a typical uncle/niece interaction. Look at them. Regardless of the nature of their relationship, there is a high level of physical intimacy shown here:
And of course, the end credits silhouette:
So there you have it. These are the biggest reasons why I think these two are coded as a couple, but I’m sure there are many more that I’m not thinking of. I love these two so much, and I would love to hear other thoughts in support of their coding as a couple.
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