#in town to goddamn diversify or something

[xcziel]

currently cranky that kpop is never played on the radio??

i am old and i just want to hear txt's tinnitus while i'm driving home from work without like having to hook up a phone playlist

why are radio stations so stupid?

[skimblyshanks]

I’m just. Obsessed that Encanto is so obviously about the effects of Intergenerational trauma and how it hurts everyone.

spoiler ramble under the cut. very long lmao.

From the start Alma is the one insisting the family is “on” near-constantly. They are providing for the town at large at almost all times; they don’t accept any actual gifts or assistance from the village save for the backup party favors. Like the fact that Luisa loses her power the moment that she allows herself a healthy boundary of moderation (she didn’t even stop helping anyone! She just wanted to go a little slower!!) is an immediate sign that this is more linked to Abuela than it ever would be to Mirabel.

And we know courtesy of a bangin’ song that Luisa has defined herself by her strength. And of course one of the things it seemed this movie was going to be about was the family learning they didn’t “need” their gifts, and that is still there, but I really do like that it’s there because they aren’t solely defined by having their gifts, so much as what their gifts can provide to others. Mirabel’s sisters define themselves by what they provide.

I know ppl have expressed disappointment that Isabella didn’t “become a better person” or diversify her powers to be more helpful to the village but that is the point. She is the same age as Dolores but presumably a little bit older as her marriage is the first one to be considered. But therefore she is not only supposed to be helpful to the village, but even more importantly she is integral to the family and their blessing. She has actively stifled herself in case she does something to harm their image and ruin her (and by extension, the family’s) prospects. She doesn’t even know herself. She doesn’t owe the village everything she does with her powers; she’s allowed to have fun with just making things grow in her own house goddamn. She was 5 steps away from a marriage she didn’t want which would have potentially led to 5 children she didn’t want and a strengthened cycle of “your boundaries and desires don’t matter. The Family’s legacy matters. You wouldn’t be what you are without it, you have to repay for that.”

Because Alma clearly believes that the continued blessing of their Encanto is something to be earned/deserved, and it is to be earned by helping others and making them happy, which explains why she’s so awful to Mirabel (As a born Madrigal without a gift, clearly she the 5 year old has failed somewhere, and has continued to fail the next 10 years), and why she was presumably awful to Bruno to the point he was afraid to be seen by her again. Remember: she was ready to put a Five Year Old Little Boy to work the day after he got his Gift, and it’s safe to assume the same happened to the others through the years.

And we know everyone has internalized her belief that the gifts must be used to make people happy to varying degrees because of the general treatment of Bruno. And LOOK AT HIM when Alma requested he look into the future after Mirabel didn’t get a Gift; it’s distressing to him! He hasn’t performed any divinations in 10 years! People likely went to him asking about bad things, he tells them what he sees, they decide that he has spoken it into being, and therefore is to blame for the fallout, and since he is causing negative reactions he is hurting the family and endangering their Gift.

And then when the Encanto begins weakening in the present, of course Mirabel is Alma’s scapegoat. Again, though it’s likely subconsciously, Alma considers those born in the family with the gift as being given grace that they must spend their entirety repaying; it was first earned through Pedro’s sacrifice of his life, and his (worthy) descendants get to use what they’ve been given to sacrifice for others in turn. But Mirabel throws a wrench in that because she is not Gifted. Even though she’s Pedro’s grandchild too. Yes, Alma herself doesn’t have an actual Gift, but she was the Survivor; Pedro’s death sparked the Encanto and she maintains it. In her eyes Pedro is the Encanto itself; he gifts their children and then their grandchildren. But not Mirabel. So even if it’s not an active thought in Alma’s head, the association here is that born Madrigals are Good, so they are given Gifts, which they then use to prove their Goodness by helping others without consideration for themselves. If Mirabel didn’t get a Gift, she isn’t Good, and can’t provide for the community because she doesn’t have a Gift to give back.

And this view of it makes sense when you also look at how relatively well-adjusted Julieta is compared to the rest of her Gifted family, because while it can definitely get stressful, her power largely manifests through baking. Not at all to diminish the work and stress that goes into baking, but

-her Gift doesn’t really have room to backfire on her or others

-her Gift is not immediately linked to her person, nor to her mental state

And that’s also why I’m like. Really bummed that we didn’t get to really see Pepa’s side of the family, though I understand why we didn’t in terms of timing and plot clarity. But like. God, I feel bad for Pepa she presumably spent her whole life in a mindset of toxic positivity because for her to be able to make others happy she’s probably going to have to keep herself “happy” and as we all know on this hellsite that is a breeding ground for neurosis. And if she’s already an emotional person by nature?

WHICH COULD ALSO BE why despite Isabela and Dolores being the same age, Isabela is favored; her mother was the one who really seems to have “earned” her Gift as opposed to Pepa who is an intensely emotional individual Gifted with something linked to her emotional state and who seems to often catastrophize, and will gain a cloud at the slightest stressor which of course is likely to cause a spiral.This also hinted at with that tiny little scene of her and Camilo where he’s encouraging her to take deep breaths and release her body tension.

So Alma watched her husband be killed after they were displaced, suddenly has a home and an Encanto, and is also raising three infants on her own. By the age of five, one young child can cause weather  insanity by having emotions, one can see into the future and sees lots of bad things, and one can heal physical injuries if she makes food and gives it to someone. I think favoritism emerging was kind of inevitable. Which isn’t excusing it so much as just. Yeah I can see this setting up expectations for extended family dynamics.

Of course there’s also the fan confusion about if Dolores’ power is always turned on (and I’m going to assume yes because I doubt she wanted to hear Luisa’s eye twitch all night), and of course that Camilo shockingly has no real sense of himself yet and tbh he really does encapsulate what Alma wants from the family and considering he is the same age as Mirabel while also rarely interacting with her...

Like everything about the family’s dysfunction clearly traces back to Alma’s enforcement that if you aren’t a born Madrigal using your Gift to better other people’s lives and securing the Family’s place as useful and needed and Good, you are detrimental and hurting the family. Which of course traces back to the fact that her husband let himself be killed to buy his family some time to get away, and in return Alma likely gave herself to her children, because what else could she have done? She was displaced, there’s no hint toward having other family around, and you’re not gonna tell your infants about how you watched their father be killed. She didn’t have the chance to take care of herself, so she didn’t. And she doesn’t expect that mentality to change for her family because that mentality gave them their Encanto. Sacrifice at all times. Then you are always deserving of the protection; any blip in the system must be because of a failing on someone’s end.

So Alma is undeniably traumatized. And her response to that trauma creates trauma in her children. And her treatment of her children and grandchildren creates trauma in those grandchildren. And now you have:

The daughter who is a nervous and emotional wreck because she has climate manipulation abilities.

The son who has convinced himself that he can’t help but hurt his family if he’s around them, but loves them too much to actually leave. Also he’s terrified of his mother and what she might do to a 5 year old girl because of a vaguely ominous vision he was pressured to have because his mother couldn’t accept that maybe Mirabel just. Didn’t have anything highly exceptional to bring to the table.

The daughter who has likely assumed a caregiver role from an early age who probably has to do a lot of those “sorry I wasn’t there in the moment but here have some food” talks because food has to be prepared, presumably in bulk.

The perfect Granddaughter who cannot have desires and ideas of her own that don’t help the family.

The granddaughter who can’t help but be hyperaware of her surroundings and regularly keeps her immediate family updated. Also who knows that she is not going to be prioritized by the family at large.

The granddaughter with superhuman strength who is depended on for everyone’s physical needs and believes she is nothing if she isn’t able to hold up the world for others.

The grandson with no sense of self as he’s going to change his form as needed or desired which. Experimentation is good but he likely has few chances for any meaningful exploration of himself vs quick shifts for jokes and long shifts to fulfill others’ needs.

The granddaughter without powers who must have failed somewhere in her first 5 years, or who otherwise was fated to be bad and therefore undeserving of the family Gift.

The grandson who was terrified at the thought of not receiving a Gift, who has an easier time talking to animals than people.

Anyway I don’t really have. Much else to say except I’ve also seen ppl annoyed that Alma “didn’t do enough to make up for what she did to Mirabel” and like. To that my genuine, good faith question is: What would you have had her do? What can be done? You can’t just undo 10 years of trauma. She apologizes, both to Mirabel and to Bruno, and it’s implied she helped rebuild where she could. She  caused damage to her children and grandchildren. Learning the full extent of her own past trauma, Mirabel decided to forgive her and move forward. I’m genuinely not sure what you would have a 74 year old woman who just realized that she is the cause of her family’s continued trauma do to redeem herself for that, both in terms of narrative function, and as someone else’s family member.

Like it’s very complicated and it’s not some perfect ending where everything is fixed, but they move forward; Mirabel’s family finally recognize that she has been stuck in a living hell of rejection within her own family home. She is every bit as involved in the Encanto’s blessing as the others, which is why her final doorknob contribution returns it in full.

They aren’t going to undo past trauma to any of them, but they can rebuild and move forward. that is why they have to rebuild the home, and re-recieve the Encanto.

And what’s most important imo is that the Town are there to help them rebuild. 50 years of Madrigals giving too much of themselves without proper setting of boundaries is met with a community response to help them build up. They are not expected to do this themselves. And they accept it.

Anyway yeah. I needed to put it all out there in text lmao.