If your TikTok feed is anything like mine, it’s still blowing up with the latest from Disney’s Encanto. Encanto tells the story of the Madrigal family who was gifted with magical powers and a fortress home called The Encanto in Columbia. Each member of this extraordinary family has a unique power from control over the weather, unimaginable strength, shapeshifting and more — except for Mirabel, who is giftless. However, when the house falls into disarray, only Mirabel seeks out to save their Encanto and their magic from disaster.
Encanto is a great movie for many reasons. It shows the power of family and how trauma can truly impact people. It has fantastic music, like “Surface Pressure” and “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” to name a few. And the idea of what makes a family, and the role people can play within a family. In the Madrigal family, each family member — except for Mirabel — has a gift that they must share with the residents of their town and as stated by Abuela, “We must always give to those around us.” The members of the family are known to be of service and in ways feel inadequate when they fail to come through in that way. They are all placed under extraordinary pressures that they never speak of, but all feel. Let’s take a look at some of the lessons that are shown throughout Disney’s Encanto.
Warning: This article contains spoilers for Disney’s Encanto. If you haven’t seen the movie, we suggest reading with caution.
- First, honesty is the best policy.
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We’ve heard the phrase since we were children and now we hear it again. In the movie, the entire house crumbles due to the dishonesty and secrecy within the household. From things like why Bruno was excommunicated to how Isabella was crumbling under her role as the golden child, and so forth. The lies we tell and build in our lives come out and the chaos they bring can be permanent. So why let them build up when we can communicate with them?
We must be able to be honest with ourselves and with others so we don’t face this tenseness and pressure. Especially now when communication and miscommunication so often create issues in the world around us. The news, our friendships, family and mass media have gotten us into the bad habit of dishonesty and omission of the truth that it embeds itself in us and only releases itself when it’s too late. In Encanto, they learn that once they begin to be honest with each other they can rebuild their family and their home. It’s a pivotal part of the movie that solidifies the family bond and unites everyone as their true, honest selves.
- mental health needs to discussed.
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Luisa’s whole song tells the story of the struggle we face when we don’t discuss mental health. The crushing weight can take over and make you feel inadequate. Or the imposter syndrome we can feel when we don’t come through or doubt our own abilities and feel like a fraud. We want desperately to overcome the surface pressure and the roles that we have been placed into and step into the light. But how can we open ourselves up to simple pleasures if we aren’t being true to ourselves and how we feel, like Luisa states in the song.
Much like Luisa, we have to be able to advocate for ourselves and not take on too much. Now, I know that we are all guilty of this from time to time, or around finals season. But if we find a way to balance ourselves, rather than letting the surface pressure take over and communicate our emotions we can find those simple pleasures and what we need in life.
- that self-worth is one of our greatest gifts.
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This is perhaps one of the greatest lessons of the film and is especially relatable to the Latinx community. In multigenerational households and dynamics similar, there’s a belief that you must live up to the expectations of those around you or that you must enable toxic behaviors because “that’s how it’s always been.” But thankfully, our generation is learning how to overcome these ideas, just like Mirabel and her family. We’re learning to rebuild our own foundations through therapy, self-discovery and other tools. We’re so much more than these expectations and the roles that we have been left to fill.
In Encanto, everyone in the family is unhappy due to the expectations and weight placed upon them. They fear being their authentic selves due to backlash and disappointment from their matriarch, Abuela Alma. But through Mirabel, they are all able to see how they can envision a better life for themselves and rebuild their ideas of themselves and their own self-worth.
The miracle is you, not some gift, just you
Abuela Alma, Disney’s Encanto
If you haven’t already, I encourage you to go watch the movie Encanto. It’s a hard-hitting film that provides many lessons to build upon and, at the very least, fantastic music that you’ll be replaying all week.