The 2021 mega hit Disney film Encanto is still something everyone’s talking about nearly a year later. The film won the 2022 Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. It was also nominated for Best Song for "Dos Oruguitas" but lost. (And we won’t talk about the song that should have been nominated.) The story is set in Colombia and takes place in the magical Casita of the Family Madrigal. The story is told through the eyes of Mirabel (Stephanie Beatriz), the youngest child in her family. And let me tell ya, Mirabel and I have a lot in common.
Here’s a quick rundown of the Madrigal family. At the helm of the family is Abuela Alma (Maria Cecilia Botero). She lost her husband Pedro back when her triplets were infants, and they were attacked trying to escape an armed conflict in their tiny village. Those triplets were Julieta (Angie Cepeda), Pepa (Carolina Gaitán) and the one we’re not supposed to talk about… Bruno (John Leguizamo).
Pepa is married to the charming Felix (Mauro Castillo) and they have three children, Dolores (Adassa), Camilo (Rhenzy Feliz), and little Antonio (Ravi Cabot-Conyers). Julieta is married to the lovable Agustin (Wilmer Valderrama). The two have three daughters, Isabela (Diane Guerrero), Luisa (Jessica Darrow), and Mirabel. There are plenty of family politics at play with everybody and a lot of things to navigate as they are approaching the magical ceremony to see if young Antonio will receive a magical gift. Every descendant of Abuela and Pedro seems to have a magical gift. All except Mirabel.
That Not-So-Magical Feeling
The magic factor adds a whole other level of pressure to the family, especially on Mirabel as at her ceremony, it seemed she had no gift, an embarrassment to her family, especially Abuela. But magic aside, what is really at play here is family dynamics and politics. Isabela, Mirabel's oldest sister, has the gift of making flowers bloom at her will, while her sister Luisa is super strong, and is the one that is most depended on for manual labor around the village.
The movie itself deals with family dynamics on every level, and magical pressure sure doesn’t help. But Mirabel has enough trouble dealing with the biggest problem of all: being the youngest. Youngest children are often viewed as spoiled brats or the ones who get away with murder, but in reality, they’re just invisible. How do I know? Well, I am one.
Now, I fully admit to being spoiled. Being the youngest of eight brothers and sisters, I was pretty spoiled. But guess what? It doesn’t last long. After a while, the older siblings get bored and move on to something else. And then what? I mean it’s all been done before. "Oh, you’re taking your first steps? How original." Not to mention that by the time I reached high school, my parents were exhausted. All my teachers had my siblings before me in class, and I was often called the wrong name. I had no identity besides being “so-and-so’s little sister” or “you know who’s daughter.” By the time I got to my senior year in high school, my sister had a kid, and he was the ONLY thing my parents wanted to talk about. The heralded first grandson of the next generation was all that mattered. After more grandchildren arrived, they became the focus and that’s okay.
The Fear of Not Measuring Up
But getting back to Mirabel, we can apply this all to her. Isabela and Luisa are basically superheroes in the Madrigal Casa. Mirabel tries to kill everyone with kindness and is constantly trying to prove her worth to her parents and her Abuela. It’s not that they don’t care, they just don’t have time to notice. Mirabel is desperate to find out if she in time will have a magical gift, but more than that, she is in a fight to be seen. She wants to be seen as a sister on equal footing who has value in the family unit. As she starts digging into her sisters’ lives, she realizes that they too feel unseen and just used for their gifts and nothing else. Isabela doesn’t find pleasure in making everything beautiful and perfect while having to adhere to societal norms for beauty. Sometimes she just wants to get a little crazy. And Luisa is bogged down by so much pressure that her strength is both literally and figuratively starting to crumble. It takes having a conversation with her sisters to make Mirabel realize that they ignore her because they have their own problems and have to figure out ways to support each other. And that’s really the answer, isn’t it? Younger children may feel invisible, but it’s only because everyone has their own stuff going on. Soon, Mirabel understands that what they were doing wasn’t intentional, they just needed help with their own issues.
And speaking from experience, once I began to understand that the world didn’t revolve around me, and my siblings (and my parents) had troubles too, it all became a lot easier to swallow. I never felt neglected or held any resentment towards them. And to be honest, I wouldn’t take any of it back. In the era of the latchkey kid, I was the first to arrive home from school. I learned how to cook for myself, got the TV to myself, and learned how to treasure alone time. And in a family of 11, getting to do any of those things by yourself was a miracle.
So what am I complaining about? I’m not. It’s just a different set of problems than middle children or older children have.
But Maybe The Youngest Brings the Family Together
Mirabel comes to the same realization. Her sisters need her support, not her resentment. In fact, they kinda need her help. Because in the end, in Mirabel's case, her magical gift IS her ability to bring everybody together. And the only way her gift was going to come to light is if they were torn apart. With Mirabel's newfound gift, the Casita is restored, the townspeople come together, her cousin Dolores is able to reveal her crush on Mariano (Maluma), Isabela is able to get out of an arranged marriage, and we can finally talk about Uncle Bruno. Abuela admits her embarrassment in not seeing it sooner, but she finally sees Mirabel's value. Mirabel’s gift is literally magical but also in the grand scheme of things, practical. There’s always that one person in the family that is the glue that tends to keep everyone together and in the Casita Madrigal, it is Mirabel.
And now that I'm thinking about it, maybe that’s me, too!