Our family watched the new Disney movie Encanto for the first time last night and the second time today, and I’ll probably watch it again tonight if I’m honest. I’ve been listening to one song on repeat all day because it’s hitting a little too close to home. This will have spoilers so consider this your one and only spoiler alert. Any other moms that have watched it relate at all?
Let us dissect it a little shall we? First off, I’m obviously not funded by Disney even though that would be an absolute dream. However, I’m not. This is not sponsored I just love this movie. The new-age Disney and Pixar movies are absolute bangers and I’m making an exclusively Disney playlist to jam out to because the songs go harder than anything I listen to. Granted, I listen to a lot of pop cello music so I don’t know if that carries that much weight, but that’s beside the point.
Ok so anyway back to what I’m saying. This movie was really relatable content for a lot of different groups of people. I want to first commend the diversity of the movie. They really showcased how different people of the Hispanic culture can be. Many people have it in their head that if you’re Hispanic you have to look a certain way, but it is so much more diverse than that. Please correct me if I’m wrong, I’m always willing to learn more and am open to criticism on this particular topic.
One particular character I really related to, and that was Luisa. She is this incredibly strong, yet still beautifully elegant woman. I’ve seen a lot of older sisters relating to her character because as an older sister you tend to carry a lot of weight from your family on your shoulders. I, however, related with her from the aspect of a mother, wife, and younger sister. I have spent most of my life trying to live up to the expectations set for me living in the shadow of my sister. She is an incredibly strong, independent, and individualistic person and it has been what seems like an impossible feat to try and be my own person and seen as useful having to follow after all the amazing things she has accomplished before me. As a mother and wife, much like her character, I constantly feel like I have the weight of the world on my shoulders. In her song, she says “I’m pretty sure I’m worthless if I can’t be of service”. I have never related to a lyric in a Disney song more in my life. I find myself time and time again taking on more responsibility within my family structure because I feel like if I don’t, I’m useless. My job, my worth in life, depends on how much I can do for others. If I don’t take care of everyone else, I have no purpose. I feel like without it I’m expendable to everyone.
Another lyric that made me think was “I hide my nerves and it worsens, I worry something is gonna hurt us”. I relate this to my anxiety. I try and hide all of my feelings and it makes my anxiety worse. I’m constantly consumed by the thought that the tiny thing will unravel my family or someone will hurt my children. That’s a lot of weight to carry and not talk about.
It was all around such a relatable, emotional movie for me.
Mirabel didn’t have any special gift like the rest of the family, at least not one that was inherently magical like the others. She was the outlier. The outcast. Nothing she ever did was good enough. The reality of that though was that, it wasn’t just her that wasn’t “good enough”. No one in the family was ever going to live up to Abuela’s expectations of them. It was heart warming and crushing at the same time when they came to the conclusion that all of them were under this crushing weight of Abuela’s expectations and not happy.
If you haven’t watched it yet, go watch it. I think it ranks in my top 2 favorite Disney movies of all time. I think the lessons in this movie are a good learning experience and it is a very emotional film.