#encanto headcanons

[justanisabelakinnie]

🩷🩷🩷

I love this take, especially the part about Isabela and Dolores being like sisters. You’re right, they are sisters, especially since Dolores doesn’t have any sisters on her side, so she’ll never truly be alone!

Bringing this post back because I love these add-ons to my theory lol.

Theory Time!

Isabela is closer to the warm-colored family! 

Don’t believe me? Well, to start, she is the only cool-colored family member(aside from Mirabel, of course) to sing in We Don’t Talk About Bruno, a song sung otherwise entirely by the warm-colored family. 

She also is shown to be very close to Pepa, much moreso than to her own mother(I’ll get back to that later.), multiple times in the movie: 

Of course, it makes sense for her to be close to Pepa: water and rain nourishes plants and makes them grow! But it’s worth noticing that aside from background dialogue, Pepa doesn’t talk to Dolores even once, while Mirabel is at least shown talking to both Julieta and Pepa. Isabela also doesn’t talk to Julieta at all throughout the movie as far as I’m concerned. 

And of course, during the lunch scene in which Alma discusses Isabela’s engagement to Mariano, who does she sit with? 

The warm-colored siblings, right between Dolores and Camilo(with Antonio being on the other side of Dolores, though it’s not shown in the gif, so technically she is sitting on the side of the Afrolatine kids, whereas Mirabel would be sitting next to Luisa if Alma hadn’t forced her to move)! Even interacting with them the way siblings would, with both of them playing pranks on her and her responding to the latter in kind. 

But the question is…why? Why does Isabela appear to be so much closer to Pepa’s side of the family than to her own? I have a few hypothetical reasons for this. 

The first is that, due to her pressure to be a perfect, graceful flower(in Mariano’s words), and the older sister of the only Madrigal who didn’t get a gift, her parents didn’t take as much time and energy in looking after her and seeing if she was all right than they did Mirabel. They were more concerned about making Mirabel feel better about not having a gift than they were Isa being perfect because from their point of view, perfect doesn’t need fixing. Isa didn’t have any problems from their point of view and they figured she had everything under control. So she gravitated towards the warm side of the family since they actually paid attention to her outside of being perfect. 

The second(and this partly ties into the first) is that the warm-colored family is the side that actually sees who she is beyond her perfect persona. We know already that Isabela and Dolores are primas-hermanas, and were joined at the hip since they were kids. Who’s to say that Dolores wasn’t the only one that Isa could confide in about the pressure to be perfect, and that she was the only one Isa could be herself around for a while? As for Pepa, they most likely spend a lot of time together, seeing as how they dance together, she hands Pepa the flowers, and they even do the same dance at different points in the movie! Most likely it was Pepa who taught Isabela how to dance as a form of tia-sobrina bonding. As for Camilo, he pesters her like a little brother would an older sister, something he never does to Dolores and probably couldn’t because of her sensitive ears. It’s likely that he does this because he sees past Isabela’s perfect facade, and also because he can’t play those pranks on Dolores so he does it to Isabela instead. 

(They also both race for the candle together and look at each other worriedly when they fail, neither of them paying Mirabel any mind, it’s as if they were looking out for each other the way a brother and sister would:) 

Remember when I said that she is sitting with the warm-colored siblings at the lunch table? At the dinner table, when she is about to be proposed to and thus must keep up her perfection facade, she’s not sitting next to them at all. She is sitting with Mirabel and Agustin, who are on the cool-colored side of the family: 

Gifts may also be a part of this. Notably, unlike her mother and sister, Isabela has a gift that would fit in better amongst the warm-colored family, one that relates to nature in some way: her gift involves growing plants and flowers, Pepa’s gift is controlling the weather with her emotions, and Antonio talks to animals, which is a part of nature. The three are like a natural cycle. Pepa’s rain could make Isabela’s flowers grow and Isa could use those plants to feed Antonio’s herbivore friends. It’s possible that she gets along with Antonio too the way she does Pepa and Dolores, and sees him somewhat like a little brother rather than a cousin. 

All of this is just my opinion, of course, but it’s not too off the mark. I don’t think it’s too far of a stretch to imagine that Isabela feels closer to the warm-colored family than to her own side, as tragic as that might be. Lots of scenes show her interacting with Pepa or relating to Pepa the way a mother and daughter do, and she is shown interacting with Dolores and Camilo the way siblings would. So perhaps she does feel a stronger connection to the warm-colored family after all. 

But that’s just a theory…AN ISABELA THEORY!!! 

Let me know what you think in the comments below! 

[stormy-nights-are-best]

Jjust found out I never posted this drawing I did of lil Antonio introducing his new friends to his parents because he couldn't go to bed without ranting about their surprisingly agitated lives

anyways i like to think the bed in Pepa's room is a cloud so it also changes color and shape to her mood

[encantobrainrot365]

Julieta Madrigal

Ok, I was inspired by a previous post to write a character analysis of Julieta.

So, the deal with Julieta is that she’s not exactly the golden child, at least not at first. It’s more like she’s the Good Girl of the family. The one that Alma doesn’t have to worry about because she’s so mature for her age. She’s quiet, humble, and kind. The one who may have been overlooked in favor of her louder and more boisterous siblings.

She can heal people with the food she makes and the love she carries for everyone in the Encanto. So therefore, no, she’s not the golden child, she’s the Caretaker.

The extra set of hands Alma needed when things were too much for her. If Alma was feeling down or depressed, or too busy, and Julieta’s siblings were anxious or upset, Julieta would take care of it. No need to bother their mother unless it’s an emergency, right?

It’s been said she was born to be a mother and that’s because she’s been mothering her family and half the town since she was five. Those are the sort of expectations she carries around.

I think that’s what allows her to relate to her older daughters and sobrinos who fill a similar role of support within the family. She’s the healer, the caretaker.

She lends a listening ear; she tries to make you smile with food and words of affirmation; she shoulders the family’s burdens; she sees their hurt and tries her best to lighten the load.

She was probably the one Alma was eager to marry off first, because she would make such a good mom and matriarch to the family, kind of like Isabela. So good for the Encanto.

But instead of marrying the perfect guy, like Isa planned to, she married the perfect guy for her, Agustin.

I also think she blames herself for Bruno leaving. He was obviously hurting and she feels she failed him because she couldn’t fix it.

That’s why she parents Mirabel the way she does. She sees a lot of her brother in her daughter and that’s why she tells Mirabel not lose her way in this family the same way her brother did.

She always tries to reassure her daughter that she is perfect, that she’s enough, just the way she is. She doesn’t have to try so hard. She showers them all, with unconditional love and affection. (Something Alma wasn’t very good at doing that much growing up.)

And as great as those things are it wasn’t always what her kids needed. She’s a caretaker, but she’s also very passive. Unlike her siblings, she’s the “unproblematic” one. “Señorita Perfecta” in that she avoids making waves and causing conflict. She tries to be a good daughter, and not give her mother a hard time. That’s what I think she has someone like Agustin for. A husband who stands by her and will firmly stand up for his family, and always support them, no matter what. And that’s exactly what he does. So yeah, I think she’s an amazing mom, and a great role model with her own flaws and problems just like everyone else.

[the-quiet-winds]

just had a random headcanon that the madrigals aren’t able to really talk about christmas presents with each other because they don’t know who is actually themselves and who is camilo trying to find out what his family got for him early

[cheeseanonioncrisps]

It just occurred to me…

So Delores can very clearly hear Bruno in the walls, right? Like the rest of the family may think he's missing, but she knows he's still in the house. She even admits as much to Mirabel in We Don't Talk About Bruno.

I've seen various explanations for why she reveal this to the rest of the family, ranging from 'she was scared of upsetting Abuela', to 'she was angry at Bruno for ruining her chances with Mariano', even 'she straight up assumed she was hallucinating the whole thing'.

And these are all very good explanations. But I have another question:

Does… does Delores know that the other family members don't know where Bruno is?

I mean, it's not as if they're talking about it.

She might be aware that Mirabel, Camilo and Antonio are in the dark, because they would have been either young children or not born when he 'left', but there's honestly no reason for her to assume that the adults don't know he's in the walls.

Dolores can literally hear an eyelid twitch from several rooms away. Bruno, from her perspective, is gonna be loud. He's walking around, knocking on the walls and staging elaborate telenovelas with his pet rats. It's entirely possible that she thinks the rest of the family can hear him as well.

And from her perspective, this probably wasn't a discovery. Like, there was a family argument, she woke up one morning and Tío Bruno was for some reason living in the walls, and whenever she tried to bring it up the adults would tell her not to talk about it, or insist that he was 'gone'.

I dunno, I'm just enjoying the idea of the post-movie family discussion being like:

“Delores! Why didn't you tell us your Tío Bruno was living in the walls?!”

“Wait. You guys didn't KNOW Tío Bruno was living in the walls??? Where did you think he was???”

[jacarandaaaas]

um hc drop ig!

[empty-cryptid]

It's midnight, and there's an elusive mosquito flying around my room preventing me from sleeping, so here are some cooking headcanons for the Madrigals:

Alma: She can cook well but tends to stick to the same meals all the time. She doesn't try many new things in the kitchen and is wary of new food items.

Félix: He is a grilling master. Give him an open fire to cook over, and he can make anything taste great.

Julieta: She had an interest in cooking from a young age, and her gift solidified her place in the kitchen. She can make anything, and everything she makes is perfectly seasoned. She likes to experiment - her siblings or Agustín and Félix are always the taste testers.

Pepa: She never had an interest in cooking, so she tends to burn things when she gets bored and distracted. She makes the best coffee, though.

Agustín: He's a clumsy disaster with everything he does (except being a dad) and that doesn't change in the kitchen. If he cooks, he ends up injured, something is set on fire or broken, and the food ends up ruined somehow. He still likes to be there as moral support while Julieta is cooking though, and serves as a taste tester when required.

Bruno: He's a mediocre cook and everything he makes isn't bad, but he does tend to undercook things because he's anxious about burning it, opens the oven too often to check on stuff, or flips things so much that they end up breaking apart.

Isabela: She likes to study herbs and other edible plants in order to improve them, but would rather have other people cook with them. She would much rather spend her time growing the food and working in a garden than cooking with it. She makes the best tea, though, and loves experimenting with tea mixes.

Dolores: She doesn't have much of an interest in cooking, but does like to make soup. The quiet bubbling sound that the boiling soup stock makes is soothing and drowns out some of the other noises her ears are constantly picking up. It's a long and quiet process that she enjoys.

Luisa: She loves to bake. Bread, cookies, cakes, and other desserts are her favourite things to make. She will often ask Isabela for herbs to experiment with in her loaves of bread.

Camilo: He likes to cook and is good at it. At a young age, he was interested in cooking and often followed Julieta around or watched baking rise in the oven. People usually thought he was after food because of his appetite, but he enjoys the process of transforming ingredients into a delicious dish. Bruno joked about switching his sisters' babies without them knowing once and got a hot arepa thrown at his head.

Mirabel: She's not quite as clumsy as her father in the kitchen, but she tends to avoid cooking. If she can help the cook with anything, she'll jump right in and try her best, though! She does like to make pies. Her favourite part is making designs to decorate the top of the pie. The kitchen usually ends up very messy when she's in there, but she doesn't mind cleaning up after herself.

Antonio: He's especially interested in helping decorate cakes or pies and making fun cookie shapes. He isn't as interested in cooking as Camilo was at his age, though. Guaranteed to have some animal fur get into the food, pet fur is inevitable after all.

[yellowcry]

Nobody:

Nobody at all:

Bruno: You wanna play this game? I'll get you banned!

[honeybeebytheseaa]

Bruno and Agustín?

Another interesting one!

BRUNO AND AGUSTÍN

Agustin, in my opinion, is a pretty open and understanding guy. I think that even though he didn’t entirely get Bruno he never held his visions against him.

Bruno was a little apprehensive towards Agustin at first. He was dating his sister, Julieta, and he wanted to be sure that Agustin was good to her since she’s had some mishaps in past in terms of dating.

Agustin had no idea Bruno was side-eying him though he was just happy his girlfriend invited him over 💀

Bruno warms up to him quickly! Agustin is nice guy who just happens to be kinda awkward, like Bruno himself.

Once Bruno comes out of the walls, Agustin always makes sure Bruno is involved in family gatherings and outings. He spent a lot of time playing this game with Mirabel he’ll add Bruno into mix as well.

I think not a lot of people talk about how family oriented Agustin is! He may not get along with Alma but he looks out for everyone and their mental health. Mainly Bruno who has to be reintroduced into the family.

They both strike me as light weights and have def went to have a “guys night!!!!” only to give up on staying at the bar like an hour in and crash on the couch

Old men at heart I’m afraid

“guys nights” are now sitting on the porch talking they’ve outlived their glory days

These two get along really well. They are both a little awkward and doing their best, and they bond over that. Bruno def appreciates that Agustin never lets Bruno’s gift get in the way of his opinion on him, as well as the effort Agustin goes through to look out for the madrigals.

[hashtagboykisser]

LOVE LANGUAGES P.2 !!

ENCANTO KIDS !!

part one

also reminder! this is in terms of how they like to give their love

part one was how they like to receive it if you wanna check that out!

characters included: mirabell madrigal, camilo madrigal, luisa madrigal, dolores madrigal, isabela madrigal

MIRABELL MADRIGAL: words of affirmation

mirabell constantly felt as if she wasn’t enough throughout the movie

so she knows what it feels like to be all self conscious, so she wants to be your constant reminder that you are <3

she’s also very cuddly and she likes to kiss your cheeks almost every five seconds, but it’s cause she loves ya so :)

she also loves doing things for u! breakfast in bed - which i can see her getting julietta to help cook, helping you with basic chores, taking care of you when you’re sick (unless julietta is around so she can just cook you betta xD)

she also LOOVES making u little homemade gifts (doodles, cards, jewelry, etc)

quality time: 9/10

physical touch: 7-8/10

gift giving: 10/10

words of affirmation: 10/10

acts of service: 9.5/10

CAMILO MADRIGAL: physical touch

camilo (like i said in p1) is a damn love machine, he will give all the love he can, but also (like i said in p1) he CANNOT keep his hands to himself lmfao

he’s constantly holding you, in some way, he just loves feeling your guys skin touch. it makes his heart melt <3 he also may or may not do it to make pepa cry about that her little boy is growing up

he loves telling you how much he loves you, especially in flirty cheesy pickup lines 😭

“mi placer, i think i need a map, cause i keep getting lost in your eyes?~”

“oh my gosh, camilo..”

also yes, i headcanon he calls you “his pleasure” !!

i think he’d like gift giving - but the only thing he can give you is juliettas cooking and isa’s flowers cause this boy can’t make shit without setting the casita on fire 😭🫶

he also loooovesss seeing u all the time (he kinda stalks u when ur away😭) so quality time is a must!!

quality time: 9.5/10

physical touch: 12/10 !! lol

gift giving: 6/10

words of affirmation: 8/10

acts of service: 8.5/10

LUISA MADRIGAL: gift giving

luisa is the damn QUEEN of gifts

she likes to make them most of the time, but she does buy you things a lot too

she’s also very cuddly, but she’s careful becuz she worries she’d crush you when y’all cuddle🥺 (let’s be real, she’s probably taller)

she’s not so much words of affirmation, becuz she doesn’t know what to say a lot of the time

and she does like doing things for u, in terms of acts of service, but she’s a very stressed girl n she needs to focus on herself a lot yk :)

she also love love loveeeees to spend time with u so quality time is a go lol

quality time: 9/10

physical touch: 9.5/10

gift giving: 10/10

words of affirmation: 7.5/10

acts of service: 9/10

DOLORES MADRIGAL: quality time

dolores would hang out with you till the end of time if it were her choice

she loves spending time with you, and it doesn’t matter what ur doing

she also love’s physical touch (as mentioned in the last part) any touch can make her heart go 👆👈👉👇🫵👈👉👇👆🫵 XD so she loves to touch you so she can make you feel the same way :)

she loves words of affirmation too! pet names just make her internally explode lol

and as previously mentioned she loves gifts🫶🫶both making them and getting them

quality time: 10/10

physical touch: 9.5/10

gift giving: 9.5/10

words of affirmation: 9/10

acts of service: 8.5/10

ISABELA MADRIGAL: acts of service

isabela loves doing things for you and loves it when you do things for her

she loves cuddles too, and forehead kisses, whether she’s giving or receiving

she loves little handmade gifts - but she constantly needs ideas because she doesn’t wanna only give you flowers, and she grew up really only knowing her flowers, but she wants to give you so much more <3

quality time: 8/10

physical touch: 8.5/10

gift giving: 9/10

words of affirmation: 9/10

acts of service: 10/10

this took a lot longer than i wanted it to, and i am so sorry about that!!

i have been stressed out, finals coming up for me and all

but my schools just about out for the year, so i’ll be more active!

thanks!

-hermy <3

[justanisabelakinnie]

Transfem Headcanons Because it's Pride Month!!! 🏳️‍⚧️🌸

Everyone knows I'm a big fat lesbo and so ofc have loads of lesbian hcs, but I never shared my transfem hcs. Tbh, even though I'm not a transfem, I have a lot of these too and value them just as much as my lesbian hcs, in fact, some of my transfem hcs are ALSO lesbian hcs! So, without further ado, let's begin!

Pepa Madrigal(Encanto):

Dolores Madrigal:

Ty Lee(Avatar: The Last Airbender):

Katara:

Misa Amane(Death Note):

Rarity(My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic/Equestria Girls):

Fluttershy:

Elise Liedl(Little Goody Two Shoes):

Disgust(Inside Out):

Momo Yaoyorozu(My Hero Academia):

Hatsune Miku(Vocaloid):

That's all for now, but more will be added when I can think of more!

Happy Pride Month! 🏳️‍🌈

[spooky-spextre-arts]

Isabela Madrigal HC:

In the time between Casita's downfall and reconstruction, Isabela obviously got a few new marks while helping on Casita. They could range from small blisters and scratches along her arms and hands, all the way to scars, splinters, and torn fabric along her dress.

While she would have fretted over them in the past, Isabela now embraces these little imperfections. Once the magic returned, she kindly refused her mother's healing food and Mirabel's/her father's offers to repair her dress and wounds, showing her love for being perfectly imperfect.

(Happy Birthday/Feliz Cumpleaños, Isa!)

[encantobrainrot365]

The Evolution of Isabela’s Outfits

Ages 5-8

Age: 8-12

Age: 12-14

Age: 15-17

Age: 18-20

Age 21-22

[wierdartistmarcell]

Some fanart of Bruno and Rafael from right after the movie, when they get united after a decade, and Bruno has built enough courage to finally pursue his own happiness.

Yes, Rafael is an oc. But compared to the cc×cc shipping I have seen from the Encanto fandom's shipping scene, I'd muuuuch rather see more cc×oc.

Rafael Guerrero is a baker. He is 2 years younger than the Madrigal triplets, and was the first person that Julietta healed after getting her powers as he had been born ill and had been bedridden his whole(short) life up to that point. He is never seen without his father's hat, and he tries to live his life to the fullest, both through generosity and his tendency to be wholly himself without shame. And as the Encanto is in a valley that was separated from the rest of the world, the same laws that were applicable for the rest of the world in 1940, were not all enforced in the Encanto.

[zafirosreverie]

Julieta & Bruno headcanons

for @hectic-hector we both know these two are the best!

They're 15 minutes apart

Julieta gave Alma a heart attack because she was born calm, without crying or noise.

But she was the healthiest baby. Bruno was born weaker and smaller than his sisters.

He couldn't sleep alone, he always had to be between his sisters, but over time Pepa became more independent, leaving them alone.

It never bothered Julieta, and even after getting their own rooms and gifts, she would always leave an empty spot next to her on the bed, knowing that Bruno would appear at any time of the night.

While Pepa preferred to play outside and explore, Bruno and Julieta were home children. They would play chess, cards, puzzles, or read together.

They were the ones who could pretend to be each other, which greatly bothered Pepa. They stopped when they realized that it really hurt her not to look like her siblings.

Bruno was Julieta's guinea pig while she learned to cook. He trusted his sister, and no matter how bad the food looked, he would eat it and be honest about the taste.

Because of this, Bruno actually learned to cook and is really good at it, he just prefers to leave the hard work to his sister.

But he doesn't hesitate to take over if Julieta needs to rest.

Bruno was the baby when they played. Always. Sometimes it was hard for him to know when the game ended because Julieta would treat him like a baby anyway.

He's a gentleman and he was since he was little. He would open the door for his sisters or help them cross puddles or give them the hand when they went down the stairs.

Again, with Pepa more interested in exploring and being independent, Bruno stopped doing it with her, but he always did it for Julieta, even as adults, he still retains those instincts and makes sure to be a total gentleman with her.

Pepa complains about this, saying that he was never "good" to her and that it was obvious who his favorite sister was.

Bruno simply agrees and hugs Julieta while he sticks his tongue out at Pepa.

"As if she wasn't your favorite too" (Yes, yes she is. Julieta is the favorite sister of her two siblings, but they still love each other…in their own way)

Julieta just laughs, but she hugs Bruno back while she smiles evilly at Pepa just to annoy her.

"Mamá!! Your children are evil!!" "I don't remember any of them breaking my vases as kids, tho" "I can't believe this family treats me like this, betrayal after betrayal." (Pepa's the drama queen, you can't change my mind)

Bruno was not very good at school, he was better than Pepa, but he still had a hard time understanding many things. Julieta spent afternoons patiently explaining to him what she had understood.

For that reason, Bruno got used to going to her when he had doubts, even after returning to the family.

Julieta's the secret keeper for both her siblings. In a way, she knows them better than Alma (or Félix in Pepa's case) ever will.

When Julieta felt too pressured by the expectations of her mother and the town, she hid in Bruno's room.

He never questioned it, he simply sat with her, listening to her without interrupting and offering hugs from time to time (he didn't know what else to do).

She knew that she didn't have to be perfect with him, that she could make mistakes, do stupid things, scream, jump, just be herself, without fear of being judged.

Bruno loves those moments. He got used to seeing his older sister as a perfect doll, it was nice to be able to see her being human again.

Julieta was the only person Pepa couldn't beat in a fight (the woman is strong, okay? We don't give her enough credit just because she's the calmest of the triplets), which is why Bruno hid behind her every time Pepa intimidated him.

She cooked whatever she was in the mood to make, but it was more common for her to spoil Bruno with food than her sister and mother. But she would never admit it.

When the grandchildren were born, Julieta's daughters immediately chose him as their favorite "mom's sibling".

"It wasn't enough for you to steal my sister, now you are also taking my nieces from me?!" "Pepa, your cloud!"

When his sisters started dating, instead of trying to seem intimidating, he would simply tell the suitors that if they hurt any of them, he would give them a horrible vision (he knows his gift doesn't work like that, but it was his way of protecting Pepa and Juli).

His favorite niece is Mirabel. No questions, no doubts. I'm not even going to argue this point, I'll just say that she was his favorite from the moment she was born (probably because she looked so much like Julieta and in a way he felt like he could repay her for all the love and care she had for him through Mirabel).

The night he disappeared, the only person he had time to write to was Julieta. He didn't tell her where he was going, he just asked her not to hate him and that he promised her he would be okay. He thanked her for everything she had done for him and said he was sorry for not being the best brother to her.

It was the worst pain Julieta had ever felt. It was as if she had lost one of her babies, and she refused to leave her room for weeks, clinging to that letter.

In the end, only Pepa was able to get her out of there, reminding her that she still had her, and that she needed her. The two became closer in those years because of the fear they had of losing each other too.

Julieta hated her mother and sister's unspoken rule not to talk about Bruno. She hated it with all her soul, but she knew that she couldn't do anything about it if she didn't want to make things worse for Mirabel.

She didn't say anything when Pepa went to vent to her and inevitably ended up cursing Bruno, she simply sat next to her and hugged her, even if she didn't agree with what she said.

Still, she couldn't be mad at Bruno. Hurt, sad and desperate maybe, but never really angry.

She could never hate him, she could not curse his name nor could she harbor resentment in her heart for having left her. He was still her brother and even though she didn't know where he was, she still loved him and refused to say a single bad thing about him.

Bruno not only chose the hiding place near the kitchen because of the free food, but because it is the place where Julieta spent the most time, and being with her (even if she didn't know it) calmed him down and made him feel better.

He sometimes wondered if what he did was worth it, as he listened to Julieta break down little by little.

There's no way in the world Julieta left him out of her sight for more than a few minutes when he returned. There was simply no human power that would make her turn away from him, for fear of losing him again if she looked away.

Bruno didn't care, knowing that he had years to make up for hurting her.

Curiously, rebuilding his relationship with her was more difficult than with Pepa and Alma or anyone else.

Perhaps because he had never been as close to them as he was with his older sister, and it broke his heart to realize that the reason the miracle had broken in the first place was not just because of Alma's expectations on the family, but because he himself had broken the strongest bond he had as well.

It took a few months for them to start trusting each other the same way they had. Bruno had to learn to talk to her freely again, without sounding like he was walking on eggshells around her.

And Julieta had to learn to give him space, to trust that he wouldn't leave again and take his word that she hadn't been the reason he left in the first place, that she really had done enough and more for him.

It was a slow process, but they managed to make it work and that was all that mattered to them.

And that's all for now because I could go on and on about these two and we would never leave this post. I just love them so so much!!! (and Pepa too)

[foggyfanfic]

Themes vs Realism

Saw an old debate about how isolated the Encanto is and it got me thinking about my own headcanons.

I watched the movie, saw the windows and wine glasses and thought “Oh! They must have trade, glass requires a specific sort of sand and while glass blowers would be relatively common, the odds they had somebody who knows how to make glass frit are pretty low”. And I can back up that argument with research and facts, buying glass is getting more expensive because we’re running low on sand with the right chemical composition, glass frit production would be more likely to happen in towns near silica rich beaches, where as Alma’s hometown looked like it was in the middle of the forest. Nowadays, not every country in the world has the right sand, when I worked with glass blowers they imported their frit from I think a family in Sweden(?) that are like one of the last few people making frit. So glass is actually a very big deal! I digress. Basically, realistically, the fact that they have glass means that they must have some trade.

But that’s completely irrelevant to the movie, isn’t it?

The movie is all about healing from generational trauma, Encanto being completely isolated is better for the movie’s themes. It’s like how we all love the deleted scene where Bruno argues with Alma and says “I wish I was dead” but the writers cut that scene because it gives Bruno confronting Alma on Mirabel’s behalf an extra bit of punch if he was never willing to do so before. Realistically, a deeply unhappy, almost forty adult who is as blunt as Bruno would have had that argument with Alma; thematically, Mirabel’s mysterious Tío couldn’t muster up the courage/passion to confront the movie’s antagonist until he was doing it for love. Realistically, it is actually necessary for Pepa to control her emotions because she can create hurricanes and that sorta disaster could wipe out the village; thematically, Pepa needs to be allowed to let her feelings flow through her without anyone snapping at her about it. Realistically they must have trade; thematically, they must be completely isolated.

There isn’t really a good way for canon to bridge this gap as far as I can tell, in story telling themes usually take precedence over realism, especially in a fantasy setting. But for a lot of people (like me) the funnest thing to do when writing fanfic is throw in a dash of realism and see what comes out of it. Obviously, the way you want to reconcile this is absolutely up to you. I personally care more about the movie sticking to themes than I do it being realistic or conforming to my background knowledge, I’m fully expecting to have most of my head canons disproven when they release more material. That said, for the sake of fic, I think asking questions like “Where are they getting the raw materials to build that” is a great launching pad.

I don’t know how to word my conclusion. That year I spent working with glass blowers is going to butt heads with my suspension of disbelief for the rest of my life? Realism is great for fanfic but not so much in short stories like movies? My head canons will never be canon and it’s better that way?