Encanto And Toxic Families

Disney's recent animation movies have displayed a clear pattern: away from romantic love and a turn to the love shared within a family. Starting the trend in 2013 with Frozen and a focus on the sisterly love between Elsa and Anna, Moana continued this idea in 2016 and dealt with the idea of family and legacy. 2021's Encanto is the natural outcome of the fusion of these themes all brought together in one movie.

Flawed, difficult, or toxic families - whatever term you prefer - are a heavy subject when done right and with care. To tackle such a loaded topic is a real venture for the family-friendly mouse house. Let's find out what Disney has to say about toxic families, trauma, and how to deal with it.

Basic Premise And How We Relate To It

Encanto tells the story of giftless teen Mirabel and how she struggles to find her place in a family full of gifted people with superpower-like abilities. Without any powers herself, Mirabel becomes an outcast in her own family almost by default. 

The story works so incredibly well because Mirabel is and stays likable throughout the whole movie. She is sweet and kind and tries to help her family as best as she can while not letting herself be consumed by jealousy for her relatives' powers. It is not her fault she didn't get a gift and although her siblings and Abuela overlook her constantly, she loves them dearly. Waiting on a miracle is an incredible musical number pretty early in the movie which is kickstarted by her (unintentional) exclusion of a family picture. While all the gifted people are allowed to join in, she reminds herself not to be jealous although her missing goes unnoticed.

The movie portrays a situation too many are familiar with. You can be the "black sheep" of the family and still love them. You can be cast aside over and over and still long to be a part of the people who treated you so badly. You can stay true to yourself and still look for the fatal flaw in you they seem to despise you for so much. Encanto tells the story of young children who are not cherished in their own families; who have to deal with neglect and are trained to feel inferior to others. This movie is for the kids who are mistreated by their families and stuck in their toxic behaviors and still love them deeply. What are you supposed to do when the person who hurts you the most is your own family?

It gets apparent early in the movie that Encanto is ambitious. For that, not only does it focus on Mirabel and her struggle but it also tackles the idea that not all that shines is gold and even the most gifted people in this family carry a burden. 

Ambitious Storytelling And Ambitious Deep Dive in Family Dynamics

One by one we get to see how everyone in the family struggles to fulfill the burden of their family to be useful to the community their Grandmother built all those years ago. 

Sister Luisa, an incredibly strong girl, has to attend to the needs of the citizens no matter how heavy the chore is. In her own solo number, she admits how close she feels to cracking under the pressure everyone puts upon her - as the older sister and as the physically strongest.

Middle child Isabella has the nickname "Senorita Perfecta", is incredibly beautiful, and has the ability to grow the most beautiful flowers. She is the family member Mirabel fights the most with in the beginning as she cannot see how Isabella too crumbles under the expectations of their family - going so far as to agree to a marriage she doesn't want to.

The last one who gets time to shine is Bruno, Mirabel's long-lost Uncle. With the gift of visions of the future people were quick to blame him if they didn't like what he saw. Feeling like a trouble-maker and despised by his own family he left - or tried to, at least. In reality, he lived between the walls all those years as he couldn't bring himself either to leave them or reconnect with them.

Against all of them stands their Grandmother, Abuela Alma. She is the one who puts their children and grandchildren under all this pressure. To whom nothing is more important than to obtain the family's gifts and reputation within the citizens as well. She was always the hardest on Mirabel for not having powers and it is her Mirabel has to stand up to in the climax of the movie. So, the path is clear from here, right?

Family Is The Villain? 

Alma is the closest thing this movie has to a villain. Nevertheless, just like in toxic families, there are layers to the situation. 

The main thread in the story are the cracks in the magic house the family lives in. As we find out along the story, the cracks do not only get more frequent they somehow also correlate to the powers of the family. A simple but elegant metaphor for the state the family is in.

In the end, Mirabel confronts her Abuela with her wrongdoings: how she put the gifts and their usefulness to the community over the holder of said gifts and their wishes and desires. How she cut Mirabel out of the family the moment she didn't get a gift and couldn't be useful just like Bruno was cut out for his uselessness. With these honest words, the house crumbles, the facade of the "Happy Family" breaks, and the magic of the family is lost. 

Now the layers I mentioned above come into play. Because Alma cannot really be called a villain. At least, not in a classical sense.

The movie does something very clever. It opens with a seemingly very generic flashback accompanied by a voiceover. It is Alma who tells a young Mirabell the story of how their family got said powers. She paints a heroic story that ends with the noble death of her husband. But after the climax, we come back to this scene. This time in a much more honest way where we are allowed to see why Alma became the way she is today.

She is a broken woman who never let herself heal properly from these events and instead hyperfocused on her self-made mission to protect her new community. And in doing so, sacrifices were made. Generational trauma was created.

She never planned on hurting her family along the way, yet she did. 

It is such an honest portrayal of toxic relationships and general toxicity in family dynamics. I think a lot will relate to it. I do. I have had too many people in my family who really tried their best and never meant me any harm and still screwed me up big time. They were too consumed by their own issues and struggles that they overlooked how I got affected by their behavior. 

I am not saying all toxic people are deep down good people with a sad backstory. I am however saying that families can grow toxic very easily and although it is not done out of a bad heart, the damage is still done. And even though the person who inflicted harm never meant for this we deserve to feel angry or sad or hurt. 

Although Mirabel is not particularly angry, she does not forgive Alma in any "classical Disney" way either. Alma acknowledges her faults in front of Mirabel who listens and is ready to move on with her Abuela but she never utters the words "I forgive you". As she shouldn't have to! It is upon Alma now to earn back the trust from her family she lost over the years.

But Family Is Also The Solution?

I'm going to be honest here: the ending is a little lame and very "classic Disney". They rebuild the house alongside their relationship with each other. As a result, they all get their powers back and Mirabel is finally included in that sweet sweet family picture.

Meanwhile, the others get their own happy ending when Bruno is greeted back into the family by Alma herself while Mirabel's sisters are allowed to be themselves and let loose. Lesson learned I guess. 

Healing takes time

Of course, a Disney movie doesn't take the time to allow its characters to fail along the difficult way of changing and re-learning what it means to be a loving family rather than a toxic one. In real life, however, these setbacks are normal and inevitable. 

Forgiveness has to be earned. It is allowed to take time. And it should never be presupposed.