#encanto critical

[toaverse]

Bruno Madrigal 🤝 Lin Beifong

Being the scapegoat for their shitty families and having to apologize to said shitty families for leaving them.

[unpopular-popular-opinions]

Someone sent this to me, while wishing to stay anonymous.

[thegirlking]

Continuing a bit from the previous post I made about Bruno, which was more about discussing the storyline in context of my own experience and similar real life situations. But I didn’t really discuss the actual writing of the movie and the general portrayal of such storylines in media, so I felt like sharing some more thoughts - getting a bit more critical here but again, no character bashing, don’t worry.

Storylines about cutting ties with your family are difficult to get right - in a family-oriented media, it can contradict the message and usually has to be toned down.

As I talked about in my first post, the topic is very sensitive and there is still a lot of stigma and shame attached to it - though people are starting to discuss it a lot more and it’s not difficult to find supportive people (at least in online spaces) who might share your experience and show you empathy.

That being said, media still struggles a bit with portraying things like that. It’s especially tricky for movies like Encanto, created by a company known for its “traditional family values” (and you know I don’t mean this in a good way - this has always been an argument against diverse and inclusive storytelling in animated movies, even if Disney is becoming a little bit more inclusive lately). Anyway, back on topic, the themes and message of Encanto are very much that a family can heal and mend their relationships - of course, this is a good message. (A more personal note: I might find it a little too idealistic and delivered in a rushed manner, but it’s a good and positive message after all, and if people can find hope it it, that’s great! I’m not a cynic, just because my own personal situation cannot be resolved positively, doesn’t mean I want all stories on this topic to be devoid of positivity.)

However, showing someone leaving and cutting ties with their family is not completely in tune with this kind of message - after all, this is usually the final step, a pretty extreme measure you take when the situation is really beyond repair. And let’s be honest, it real life, there’s usually no going back once you’ve done something like this.

And I think that might be why the movie kind of beats around the bush when it comes to Bruno’s whole situation and why the framing of it feels a bit inconsistent and not entirely honest at times - because even though he’s supposed to be a likeable and sympathetic character, he did make an extremely controversial decision that goes against the movie’s (and Disney’s) family values.

So the only way to make this kind of plot point work with the intended message was the following: 1) Giving Bruno a “selfless motive“ for leaving rather than doing it for his own well-being; 2) Making it clear he didn’t actually want to leave and that he loves and wants to be with his family.

I’m not saying there is something inherently wrong with this writing. It’s just that it almost feels like (just my opinion anyway, nobody has to agree) this is the only way his decision to leave can be seen as “forgivable” - if he had done it purely for selfish reasons (”selfish reasons” being removing himself from a toxic environment for the sake of his own well-being), then I do wonder if his character would have been portrayed as similarly sympathetic. 

How this all leads to unaddressed trauma

But here's my actual issue - the writing not being completely honest about Bruno's decision to leave, the writing being apparently scared of its own implications...results in problematic handling of Bruno's trauma and character resolution.

His actual trauma is barely addressed properly or taken seriously - the negative (to put it mildly) attitude to his gift, his toxic situation in the family and the ten years he spent in isolation - none of which is treated with enough importance, in my opinion. The large focus seems to be on how much he loves his family and the fact he can’t be with them anymore - this seems to be only thing the movie actually wants you to feel sorry about (see how the whole plate scene is portrayed as a tear-jerker vs how everything else about his situation is downplayed and even reduced to a joke). The fact Bruno can’t be with his beloved family is undoubtedly sad, but it’s not the source of his trauma - it’s a result of it and it’s just weird to dismiss the reasons for it. But it's apparently necessary to ignore and downplay the reasons purely because they lead back to the very uncomfortable topic of leaving a toxic family? That's how it seems.

The closest the movie comes to addressing his trauma and acknowledging the real reason he left is in Mirabel’s confrontation with Alma before the house collapsed - Mirabel (bless her!) does call out Alma for driving Bruno out of the family by always seeing the worst in him. But as great as this moment is, the movie doesn’t quite build on it.

Not when Bruno’s actual reunion with his family mostly consists of him being the one apologizing and trying to make amends. And because this seems to be a bit of a controversial topic - I do think it's fine for him to apologize. I do think that Pepa and Julieta deserve the apologies, it's not an issue that he apologized to them. At the same time, I’m also a bit iffy about how one-sided the whole thing is and that this is the sole focus of the reunion - it’s not even about people apologizing to him (verbal apologies are not everything) as much as I’d have preferred the focus to be on everyone learning his side of the story and finally understanding him, while recognizing they might have been unfair to him and hurt him even if they didn’t mean to. 

You can make the argument that there was simply no time for this, because it’s not his story after all, but I do think the way those reunions play out more or less comes down to my point - that the movie largely ignores his trauma and focuses just on his love for his family and inability to be with them. So of course, just the fact he’s accepted back into the family should be seen as enough to provide him a satisfactory conclusion and a happy ending, while everything else can be presumably dealt with off screen. 

Again, I don’t even necessarily think this is inherently bad writing and I know I shouldn’t expect too much from a Disney movie when it comes to handling a topic like this. The fact this character is generally portrayed in a positive light and not outright condemned by the narrative is already something. But I can’t help but feel that the writers accidentally wrote a subplot that was a bit more than the movie could handle and perhaps not entirely suited for the overall story they were trying to tell - it was always doomed to be handled in an awkward and not entirely satisfactory manner.

Ultimately, I think stories like Encanto are very important for children’s media - which is notorious for putting biological family on a pedestal to a harmful degree. I do think the movie did an okay job somewhat deconstructing this by showing how flawed families can be (without being flat out abusive or malicious) due to generational trauma. And yet, you could still feel the movie is afraid to be perfectly honest about its topics and has to downplay and sugarcoat certain things for the sake of achieving the desired happy ending. Somebody leaving their family is most certainly one of those uncomfortable topics that simply can’t be resolved as easily and neatly as the movie tries to, that’s why it has to bend it into fitting its message instead of dealing with it properly and resolving it in a way that actually strengthens the message. 

[mashairregularity]

let's try to get something straight

it's mirabel not mirabelle

it's pepa not peppa

It's agustin not augustin/augustine 

it's luisa not louisa

it's isabela not isabella

[cosmicredcadet]

All this aroace character shipcourse has proven to me that a majority of people that interact in fandom cannot actually interact with characters and media outside of shipping and genuinely I believe you need to learn how to interact with media outside of shipping.

[toaverse]

She had no excuse for being a stuck-up bitch and should've apologized to Mirabel.

Say something bad about this character!

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

i remember when encanto came out and everyone was complaining about how the abuela was forgiven so quickly. but at the very least she sincerely apologizes to everyone and we see her actually putting in effort to change. not to mention, i saw it less as the family forgiving her and more as them giving her a chance to redeem herself.

i wonder what those people would have thought of spop and catra.

[shellem15]

Thinking about the Dawnfather. A god of light, a god of harvest, a god of the sun itself. Good but not nice, kind but not soft. Life-giving but also scorching. Protective, warm, and kind, but also stern, harsh, and abrasive. His light can foster growth, can protect and guide, but it can also scorch and burn. The sun is warm and nurturing but don’t stare at it too long, child, it’ll blind you.

Was he always so hard? Did he always hide his face with the harsh light of the sun? Or was there a time when he smiled and laughed, let others see him as he truly was?

Thinking about the Schism. Was the Dawnfather close to the Betrayer Gods before they turned? He must have been, Asmodeus wouldn’t be so hung up on him if he wasn’t. Speaking of Asmodeus, he was once a being of light, like the Dawnfather and the Everlight are now. Were they closer than the others? When the Gods came to Exandria, did they come from the same place or were they scattered, a ragtag group of survivors fleeing from predators seeking to devour them? And if the latter is true, did these three beings of light come from the same place? Siblings, born from the same stuff, forever tied to one another?

If this was the case, then, what was their relationship before the Schism? Did they call each other “Brother” and “Sister”? Did they hold each other when they were scared, dry each other’s tears, laugh and joke and tease and fight and make up because they were siblings and they’d always be together, and they loved each other with every fiber of their being and they only had each other. When Predathos came, when it devoured two of their newfound siblings, did the Dawnfather hold them both and promise them that everything was going to be okay because he was their brother and he was going to protect them, all of them. The gods, mortals, the world itself, they would not be devoured, they would not be destroyed, because he was there and would fight until his very last breath to keep them safe.

Wondering then, was that the moment when Asmodeus truly grew to hate their creations? Seeing his brother and sister and siblings risk their lives just to protect some mewling mortal wretches when they could just leave it all behind and start somewhere new. Was that the moment when he realized that mortals had done something to them, changed them when they were not supposed to change. Why else would they risk being devoured by Predathos, why else would they suffer through war with the Primordials? Why else would they choose them over him!? Was this the moment when he decided to conspire with the Primordials and the other Betrayer Gods? To destroy this world and the mortals on it so they could finally leave. And they would leave, of course, because the Dawnfather was his brother and the Everlight was his sister and the Gods were a family, and at the end of the day, they would always be together, and once the corrupting influence of those mortals was gone, they would surely all see reason.

And when the Dawnfather discovered this betrayal, when all the Prime Deities did, he must have been furious. How could they!? His kin, his brother, who had always been by his side through everything, how could they turn around and destroy their creations, their children. And so he and the other Primes took up arms and fought against their own family to protect this world they had created, and their children who inhabited it. Those battles must have been brutal, bonds of comradery broken, kin clashing against kin, screaming curses as they tore each other apart.

During those final battles of the Schism, when the Dawnfather clashed against Asmodeus, did they scream at each other in rage? A twisted reflection of previous squabbles, different because this time it was real, this time there is no forgiveness, no making up. When the Dawnfather knocked Asmodeus down, crushed his throat under his foot and banished him to the Hells, was he yelling when he disowned him? Or was he quiet when he did it, his voice going into a low growl, deadly calm as he told him that he was not his brother anymore. And moments previously, when the Dawnfather could have easily killed him, did he look into Asmodeus’s eyes and see his brother? Scared and hurt by his hands, hands that once held him and swore to protect him. In that moment, did the Dawnfather realize he couldn’t kill him? Because that was his brother and despite everything, he still loved him, and hurting him brought him more grief and pain than he could ever imagine. So instead, he banished him, locked him and all the other Betrayers away because he and the other Primes couldn’t bring themselves to kill their family, but they also couldn’t let them free.

Was this when the Dawnfather obscured his face? Hardened his heart because otherwise he would break, and he cannot break, because the other gods need him to be strong, because Exandria needs him to be strong. And so he stayed strong, despite the grief, despite the guilt, despite the pain of heartbreak, of hurting the ones he loved to protect the ones he loved. And this hardening must have continued, running himself ragged during Calamity, beating back Tharizdun, protecting Ioun after she almost died, sheltering the Everlight after Asmodeus once again betrayed her, stabbed her in the back and left her broken and weak when all she wanted was to do was get her brother back, to save him from his own wrath. Failure after failure after failure to protect those he cared about, to protect his siblings and mortals and Exandria itself. The guilt of his failures must be overwhelming, and these are his failures: Predathos devoured his siblings under his watch, his siblings betrayed them under his watch, Calamity ravaged Exandria under his watch, and even now, the threat of Predathos has once again returned under his watch.

No wonder he is so harsh now, so controlling now: because every time he has failed in his vigilance the world has suffered for it. He can’t fail again; he can’t lose any more siblings. And so, he continues hardening his heart, continues fighting, because the sun must always rise again in the morning, no matter what.

[toodarling]

Always watching over her <3

[would-they-listen-to-that]

Would Isabela Madrigal from Encanto listen to Little Miss Perfect by Write Out Loud?

[toaverse]

Unpopular Opinion:

I hate the Bruno part of the All Of You song, and I hate that BRUNO was the one apologizing!

He did nothing wrong! He had NOTHING to apologize for!

The others need to apologize to HIM! They should have been begging him for forgiveness for how they shunned and vilified and mistreated him! ESPECIALLY Alma and Pepa, but also the rest of the adult Madrigals and all the townspeople!

Exactly!

The movie put it on Bruno, the victim, to apologize to the people who shunned and vilified him, while said people who shunned and vilified him get off scott-free without having to apologize or anything.

What a great way to put the responsibility onto the victim to apologize for something their bullies/abusers did to them….

[azural83]

The "male favoritism" in the encanto fandom was insane

People really watched a movie about amazingly well written female characters suffering from generational trauma and decided to make everything about this dude who had 3 minutes of screentime

[yellowcry]

Isabela, complaining: There's so many beautiful girls and I have nobody in my family to discuss them with...

Bubo: Uh... What about Luisa? She has a girlfriend, right?

Isabela, throwing her hands dramatically: Exactly! Who did allow her to get relationship before me?

[almacambiondaughterofsaleos]

Encanto that movie manage to make the female characters have more depth even just little screentime. Can we say the same thing for helluva boss

No kidding. These writers are incompetent.

[toaverse]

Dolores: *tells Mirabel’s secret about the vision to her whole family and screams it out loud during Isabela’s engagement dinner*

Pepa, at Mirabel: “WHAT DID YOU DO?!”😡

Say something about this aunt-niece duo!

[hollywoodnobody]