Rewatching Encanto 5 years later is a weird experience. I was such a hateful teenager. (Long Post)
I was fifteen when this movie came out. 2019-2022 were the absolute worst years of my life. Dealing with constant family drama, deaths, and a pandemic that confined me to my house made me hate my life. Ironically, my paternal grandmother was the center of most of this. Unlike Abuela, it had nothing to do with protecting anything or making sure everything was perfect; She just wasn’t a good woman. When I watched Encanto with my friends, I hated it. I hated that Mirabel was so forgiving. I hated that everybody was lucky to get a gift except for her. Honestly wanted to jump at Isabela through the screen. I thought every family member except Bruno and Antonio was phony and didn’t love Mirabel until the end of the movie. I low-key wanted her to blow out that candle and let the house fall regardless. I even remember rolling my eyes at Abuela’s tragic backstory because I thought it was such an overused trope: “Person does bad things because bad things happened to them." I ate up every “villain Mirabel” Au I could find back then, all because the thought of a main protagonist getting revenge on those who hurt her seemed like such an underused trope.
At twenty, I recently saw an edit of the “dos oruguitas” song on TikTok, which prompted me to watch the movie again. I genuinely cannot understand what the fuck was wrong with me back then?
Mirabel’s parents literally adored her (especially Julieta). They didn’t care about that candle the moment their baby girl was risking her life to get it. She seemed to have a pretty close bond with Luisa, and even Felix and Pepa had a decent relationship with her. Like, why did I think this girl was living like Cinderella before the ball? It didn’t even seem like the village had that much of a problem with her either, apart from a few insensitive comments being made here and there.
Don’t get me wrong, her feelings are completely valid and Abuela was absolutely no help whatsoever. It still hurts my heart to imagine a little Mirabel being publicly humiliated after her door vanished. She was so cute in the flashback. I just don’t know why I was so convinced she was being starved in a basement. Hell, even a lot of fanfics I saw involved Mirabel being bullied, beaten, starved, etc.
My brain never even registered how taxing it was for the other madrigal family members either. I just assumed they all had it made because of their gifts.
Abuela: Still think she has a lot of apologies to make, but I feel for her. It’s jarring to see the light in her eyes had completely faded after her husband was murdered. Then having to lead an entire village while also raising three babies pushed further and further into her attachment with the miracle.
Julieta: Cooking food every single day for accident-prone villagers. (Not Agustin tho, I love that guy)
Pepa: Can’t be anything other than happy because her mom gets onto her about a cloud. Probably has to force herself to be upset if the farmers need water for their crops. Thank god she has a man like Felix.
Bruno: Literally the entire movie this man is shat on. The fish lady needs therapy. His family made a hit soundtrack song about how much he sucks. This guy should’ve gotten a lot more apologies.
Isabela: Still a little annoyed with her attitude, but god I would hate to be in her shoes. Marrying a man she doesn’t love is bad enough, but her powers. Like hey, I have access to all plant life in the world, but noooo. I can only make roses because grandma says so. 🥀
Dolores: I wasn’t happy she ratted Mirabel out, but I really feel so bad for her. All the noises, Bruno in the walls, the fact that the guy she liked was marrying her cousin. I don’t know how she didn’t go insane. Mirabel was probably the first person that actually listened to her about Bruno.
Luisa: “Luisa the donkeys got out again!” Probably was moving churches before she was ten.
Camilo: Lord knows how many identity crises this boy has.
The whole theme of the movie was centered around family. Nobody knew how Mirabel felt, that much was obvious, but Mirabel also never really considered how her other family members felt either. She even acknowledged this when she was singing with Isabela. It’s not that none of them ever cared for the other, they really all just had their own shit going on. They just felt so conditioned to keep it to themselves. “Conceal, don’t feel." I don’t think the dynamic was as bad before Mirabel’s gift ceremony, but I think Bruno leaving is really what made everything worse.
The only complaint I still really have about the movie is that it should’ve been longer, but I could say the same for so many other movies. For a movie, it did its best with the amount of time they had. I do wish Encanto had been a TV series instead, because there are so many things they could explore. But at least there’s fan fiction. (The non-incest kind)