Encanto Is Bad.mp4 

15:30 Small nitpick, Bruno DIDN'T tell Abuela about his vision about Mirabel. The whole reason Bruno disappeared into the walls is so that he wouldn't have to tell anyone about it so that Mirabel wouldn't be shunned like he was.

I think an important thing to keep in mind is culture. This story takes place in Colombia in the 1900’s. It would be out of line and very inappropriate for Isabella or Luisa to talk back to Abuela and it’s such a hard mindset to break out of. I think a lot of people see Abuela as more cruel than she’s portrayed because they see themselves in Mirabel. I understand Abuela’s perspective and I don’t think she’s evil. I think her trauma lead her to have certain standards and their culture made it so no one would step up to her. I also see Mirabel’s perspective because being told to step aside and let everyone else set up feels like you’re being told you’re worthless and that feels terrible. I loved your video and I enjoyed hearing your thoughts on it!

Dolores says multiple times that she could hear Bruno the entire time both in "We Don't Talk About Bruno" (with the line "I can always hear him sort of muttering and mumbling" )and in "All of You" (where she explicitly says "I knew he never left, I head him every day"). I mostly think the family is too scared to stand up to Abuela. She is the matriarch of the family and she has been the defacto mayor of the entire town for two generations.

I disagree with your position on abuela; I think it's pretty clear that they don't talk back to her because they can't, and she sees Isabella having some goddamn fun for once and sees that as being 'out of control.'

The point about most of the stuff being either off-screen or never said directly to Abuela (like Isabela telling her she doesn't want to marry Flynn Rider) is unfortunately cultural differences, speaking as a latin American myself, the generation before myself especially took their parents/grandparents word as gospel, you almost never see people standing up for themselves or challenging their ideas even if they disagree or actively act against them, which isn't to disprove the point mind you, it is bad for a movie and a story and Coco, another movie about latin America, did it much better, but it is an explanation so you're a bit less confused about why that very obvious thing never happened

I feel like there's a lot of subtlety that you missed. Isabella and Luisa are rarely criticized by Abuela because they're so accustomed to their roles that it comes like second nature. People are always asking Luisa to do stuff and she doesn't hesitate, but she's also always in the middle of another task when they asked so it's just one thing after another. On the other hand, the fact that you, a Media Understander (complementary), didn't pick up on it supports your initial thesis that it should've been a miniseries. And I think a lot of people watched it like one, going back over scenes to pick up details they missed the first time. It's one of those films that only got so popular because of how the pandemic changed the viewing experience. If it had been released exclusively to theaters it would've had a decent but ultimately disappointing run before the streaming/DVD release, after which it would have exploded into a smaller but super dedicated Twitter/Tumblr fandom.

"Just step up to your abusive family member" is a bold take to have, particularly as a criticism towards a piece of media about normalized familial abuse.

While I disagree that Encanto is bad, I think it’s quite good actually. I do recognize that a lot of these issues ring true. I also know that part of my joy of this movie is being hispanic and knowing and feeling the generational trauma on a very personal level and plugging in my own experiences to fill in the holes in the story telling.

Yeah honestly, I'll have to disagree with this take. The question of "Why doesn't Isabela just tell Abuela she doesn't want to marry someone she doesn't like?", I feel comes from people not understanding how it's like to be put in a household where you're afraid to speak your feelings because of fear of disappointment. Isabella is the "golden child" of the family and because of this, feels the pressures of having to be the perfect child that never speaks out of line or goes against the family's, or just Abuela's, wishes which we see when Abuela says that Isabela is "out of control" in the climax when what she views as her being out of control is Isa just being herself and having fun. It's not that she can't speak out, it's simply that she doesn't want to which is a fear that I have experienced many times. Couple this with the fact of when and where this movie takes place in. It's not only set in Columbia but also in the 20th Century, you have that critique of why exactly do they need to have a big sign that says this takes place in Colombia, but it's important to establish where this movie takes place because of real life events that parallel what happen in this movie's plot. I also feel like some of critiques were levied towards the fanbase and not the movie itself. Why have a whole segment about how some fans view Abuela when that has nothing to do with the actual movie itself? I feel like you're also missing why Luisa was struggling as well. Luisa's struggle isn't just about her feeling like she has to do so much to help out others, it's about how so much of her identity is tied to her powers and how she feels like she is worthless without them. The over-importance of the family's gift plays a hand as to why things are beginning to fall apart and was first shown with Mirabel NOT getting a gift in the first place, because she's the only one who can see these cracks beginning to form. Bruno was shunned because his gift didn't bring anyone anything good, which left to him leaving because he knew it would negatively impact Mirabel. Isabela grew resentment toward her gift and her role in the family because she felt trapped in her role as the golden child and didn't speak out in fear of being a disappointment, and Luisa had her gift become her whole identity. So I don't understand how one could come to conclusion that the Madrigals were a happy family when it is shown repeatedly, even with Pepa's side of the family who didn't get much of a focus, that a lot of them were miserable.

11:20 Colombian here. Its an Andinian Coati not to be confused with the Ring Tailed Coati. The former lives on the central mountain chain of Colombia were the movie setting is placed (more or less near the Cocora Valley), while the later lives near the Amazon Rainforest... and yeah it is indeed basically a South American Racoon, they are on the same family after all.

I remember watching a video once that discussed the strengths and weaknesses of different mediums. It said the greatest strength of Musical Theater, is it's ability to deliver information faster and more directly than any other medium, because the characters can sing very bluntly about their feelings without alienating the audience. For example: Les Miserables, the book, is exceptionally long. The unabridged audiobook is nearly 58 hours. Les Miserables, the musical, manages to fit most of that into a span of 3 hours, by condensing grand events and complex emotional arcs into short catchy songs. I think the reason Encanto doesn't work for you, is because you're analyzing it from the perspective of a traditional movie, when it's conventions are more in line with a musical. The songs are chock full of exposition and implied history, because that's what musicals do; they tell their story through lyrics, rather than show it through character interactions. The audience is meant to believe the grandma is oppressive, not because they're shown it on screen, but because the characters sing passionately about how she feels oppressive to them. Granted, Encanto isn't exactly a musical. And even if you judge it on those terms it's not a great example of the medium. It's kind of a hybrid; a series of music videos strung together by a thin plot. Which might be the key to it's success. Its a mediocre musical, but it's creative and vibrant visuals make it much more appealing to general audiences than something like Hamilton, which is mostly just people standing in a single room.

As much as I appreciate the "show us Abuela being a tyrant on screen" sentiment generally, I think the greater impact IS in showing us only the implications and aftermath. Mirabel is 15 years old and should be at the height of her rebellious phase, Louisa is a demi-god, Isabela is expected to give up the last real choice she can ever make for herself - they are ALL unwilling to voice their life altering problems. This IS showing us something; even if it leaves the exact nature of "how" to our imagination, whatever she did is frighteningly effective because not one of them considers opposing her for their own sake. These are people who know what happens when someone says no. I think it's CinemaSins level "critique" to see all that and say "Why didn't anyone ask?!".

SomethingI think you didn't notice, when you mentioned that Abuela doesn't critique, Isabella, or correct, her looks, or anything like that, is, during the breakfast scene, when Isabella reacts to Dolores' announcement that Mariano wants 5 babies, all, but one flower that Isabella creates on her head is pink, and Abuela removes that one flower, because she wants Isabella to look "perfect."

idk, i don't really get how you can't see that abuella's treatment of mirabelle isn't fair since... you literally said it yourself. the problem isn't anything mirabelle is doing, the problem is mirabelle just existing. she somehow started to tear the family apart just by being born, and yeah, she might've made it worse by her actions during the movie, but her original "crime" wasn't anything she could have controlled. she just didn't get a gift.

Bruno didn’t leave because of Mirabel. He left because he was afraid Abuela would ostracize her so he took the fall instead. Also, it doesn’t fucking matter why he left, you don’t blame a 9 year old for it that did nothing wrong aside from not receive magic.

My colombian mother and her sisters got the shit kicked out of them for talking back to their mother as children, it was completely normalized at the time. and even now as adults in their 50s its something her sisters (who never immigrated and stayed firmly rooted to the culture, unlike my mother who came to the US at 23) struggle with. so it does make sense to me that the family would be so hesitant to challenge abuela, but the movie doesn't do a good job of telegraphing that cultural expectation and making it feel like a true barrier for communication

Soft disagree. Part of the generational trauma being passed down through the family (mentioned somewhat-ironically in Family Madrigal) is that they need to use their powers to help people, and the movie shows/tells that Abuela will only accept her version of helping people. Isabela is the better version of the under-pressure sister, true. And you can see her being pigeon-holed into the pretty, perfect golden child. However, it's not fair to say that Luisa (while definitely not being as strong a character) doesn't show signs of being overworked, either: if I recall correctly, literally every scene she's in before Surface Pressure has her working in it, so when she starts the song about helping everyone it connects with the previous scenes, recontextualizes them. I will also disagree with your interpretation of Abuela, while also correcting what I think the internet believes of her: she's not some tyrant enforcing her will, she's a scared woman afraid of change. Her song shows she spent years as the sole protector and guide for the family, leaving her inflexible in her beliefs. However, her arc is about learning to listen and reflect when other people tell her what she's doing is harmful, so it's weird that your defend her by saying things are Mirabel's fault from her perspective when it's LITERALLY her greatest flaw that her perspective is too narrow. Also a minor point, but saying trauma doesn't appear happening because everyone in the family is happy misses out on the traumatic effect forced-happiness can have on a family as a whole; however, the movie doesn't do a good job showing this, so the misunderstanding is understandable. I do agree with your other points: we don't know why the magic is dying, Dolores is inconsistent, and Bruno makes little sense in the current version. I suspect the magic was dying because the family was fracturing, but I have no evidence to back that up. Personally, I think the movie would have been stronger had the miracle remained dead: showing the family putting in the work to build the house from the ground up as a metaphor for repairing the family, without the powers that were causing all the issues (or were at least the root cause) is the better ending in my opinion. I don't know how much time you spent writing the analysis, but I think it could have used a few more passes and been punched up a bit more. However, I respect your opinion not to like the movie, and acknowledge there are better movies that depict the same issues; Coco is the better version of this movie even if I do like both. Thanks for the video; I'm looking forward to your "something different" project coming up!

I don’t like encanto, because as Latina who has dealed with generational trauma, it has a TERRIBLE MESSAGE. It’s basically telling everyone that if you feel like Maribel, you should never speak up, never question authority and sacrifice your own happiness to “save the family” We never explore how to solve MARIBEL’s problem, it’s always the family’s problem, the miracle, abuela, Luisa, Isabela…but we never solve the root of Maribel’s issues. She feels like her whole family doesn’t care about her and thinks less of her bcs she doesn’t have a miracle. And no one (aside her mother a few moments after the movie starts) reassured her she they care. That they love her. That she doesn’t have to be anything that the family expects of her to deserve love and a place in her family. Instead she has to fight tooth and nail, mess up, comfort her abuela, and help around the house without powers or a thank you - just to be granted the bare minimum of familial affection from others. In fact, it seems like “surface pressure” can fit Maribel more. Cause she constantly has to put more effort into her work (since she doesn’t have a miracle), help Antonio and reassure him while acting happy, find why the miracle is dying, and ALL with no one looking or helping. Almost like she has to support the burdens of other people, while keeping up the appearances that not having a miracle doesn’t bother her 🫠🫠

Also on the last point of Abuela being justified from her POV, I agree but I also think that's an internet problem of demonizing Abuela, it is very explicitly said in the movie that she was the one with the burden of carrying the family and miracle which led to her acting the way she does, including the mistreatment of Mirabel which as you proved, from her POV is justified. Abuela is not a villain, she's an antagonist to our protagonist Mirabel, they're diametrically opposed with Mirabel trying to get the family to change and Abuela trying to make the family stay static and a pillar for the community, neither of them is right and both of them acted in what they believed was the best they could do for the family, the cracks imo only represent the growing differences between these two positions, neither of which is wrong they just have downsides the other side believes to be irreconcilable (Mirabel would not let Isabela and Luisa suffer under the expectations and Abuela wouldn't let people believe the family is getting lazy or they can't rely on them), as such the cracks show and at the height of it when both of them are doing everything they can to make their positions happen the house falls apart

"If someone tried standing up to her & shrugged it off" *stares at the bit DIRECTLY AFTER THE DINNER where Mirabel's parents are going "WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS" at Abuela* Also, like another comment mentioned, Bruno DIDN'T tell Abuela the vision because he knew how she'd react. Seeing that vision is what made him go into self-imposed exile out of fear of the reactions.

You can tell he had a healthy family dynamic growing up

Love the content, even if i don't agree with a lot of the points in this video. People always say not to yuck someone's yum, but I think it's also important not to overly yum someone's yuck. Not every piece of media needs to be for every person, and we should be allowed to express that both ways

My man really missed the line "under the surface". The intro song tells us how the family os perceived as perfect, happy and stable, even by Mirabel. Then we have a first cotrast to that in the scene where they prepare the party behind closed doors and suddenly there is a tiny bit of bickering and tension. A huge element of the movie is that no one speaks up before Mirabel does. Everyone hides. Luisa does what she's asked for, burying her anxiety in work. Isabella practices secretly to live up to her own hype and gets frustrated when watching Mirabel undermine that effort and getting just as much love from Mama seemingly without ever excelling as much. Luisa and Isabella needed to be separate because one is about never being able to do enough, the other is about being on the pedestal of the golden child and anxiously clinging to it. The Madrigals aren't all happy, oh my Goodness, you entirely missed how anxious Peppa is about her weather constantly. Or how Antonio was incredibly scared of not being accepted without a gift. Julietta being so torn between her mother and daughter. No one *talked* about it until Mirabel did. That was the whole point of it. Their unhappiness was constantly pushed down under the surface in an attempt to present the image expected of them. Which is the trauma Abuela passed down. She always had to be strong and hide her pain and fear to provide for everyone else, and she passed that on to her children. By the end of the story, she wins her family back when she finally makes herself vulnerable to Mirabel. I agree that Turning Red is a fantastic spin on the same themes, but Coco really isn't...

Commenting as I watch: I disagree with the criticism of Luisa. I think it's a somewhat shallow interpretation. I agree that the characters needed more time to be really fleshed out, but I don't think Luisa and Isabella are the same character. They have two different kinds of trauma. Luisa purpose it to be useful, she's capable and confident, or at least that's how she's portrayed. And she's stressed because she doesn't feel as if she's allowed to get a break. Isabella is the face of the family, she's seen as the next generation of Madrigals. So she tries to stay in her lane and fit the image that she's been told to fit. I also disagree with the point that no one stands up to her. We see Mirabel's mother talk to her about it before and after the breaking of the miracle, and we also see how easily she brushes things off that she disagrees with. I don't think Abuela is openly abusive, I think she's ignorantly abusive. She doesn't realize that the things she does hurt those around her, like a lot of families. Most cases of abuse are from people who think that they're doing what's best for those around them. It's far from a perfect movie, but I feel the criticisms you brought up regarding those two points are quite weak.

I think the problem with this movie is that it shouldn’t require you to have a specific background to be able to watch it. Amazing film, but a majority of the audience won’t get it unless outside research is done, which SHOULDN’T BE REQUIRED FOR A STANDALONE MOVIE

I think what this video has showed me most is that some films rely heavily on the audience filling in the gaps and understanding what's going on. It trusts the audience to fill in the gaps and puts the burden on them to make it make sense. And for a film, which already has a short runtime to begin with, they can be forced to rely on this. In a way I think that's nice, it shows the creators respect their audience enough to be sure they'll understand the situation. And it seems a lot of Encanto's fanbase did. They didn't need to explicitly see Abuela being a bad parent or an overly stern matriarch, we just got it and moved on. But on a textual level it's faulty because it can leave important gaps in the story, and some audience members aren't willing to co-operate or don't want to have to do most of the work. I still think Encanto is a wonderful film, but I can totall see where Explination Point is coming from. I think this film at least needed to be longer to better flesh out most of these elements.

Im maybe halfway through this vid, but I feel like the Bruno bit was really misinterpreted. The older family members know Bruno is not evil, but his powers show the cracks in the family. Abuela is obsessed with the family looking strong and capable so the village doesn't have to worry. Bruno shows them all the ugly truth, though. He can't use his powers to coddle the villagers and he can't even really use them to make the family look better. That's why he was estranged. Abuela is the matriarch of the house (which is common in Colombian families), so she decided to shun him and scold anyone who spoke about him. Her children know Bruno is not evil, but they aren't allowed to talk about him. This was instilled in them at a young age. The youngest family members barely know him, so they only know to fear his name. Dolores is still very young and had to grow up knowing she couldn't talk about Bruno living in the walls. If she mentioned it, he'd suffer great consequences. So she has to keep it secret, which is easier to do because the family Does Not Talk About Bruno. They don't even want to mention his name. Mirabel says that she shouldn't have brought up Bruno because of the emotional responses from her family members. Pepa complains about her wedding day, Dolores tells her that she's worried Bruno will be caught living in the walls, Camillo describes him as a rat monster, and Isabela (of course) has some "perfect" prophecy and still finds a reason to complain (which is clarified later in the movie). Mirabel isn't getting a straight answer and no one in the family can tell her why Bruno is so bad because even they don't know. They only know their own experiences with him. She's exasperated and complains that she shouldn't have even brought him up since it just throws everyone in a tizzy. The biggest theme of this movie is generational trauma, abuse, and fear, and it is entrenched in Columbian culture and family dynamics. A lot of the behaviors exhibited in the movie become more clear when viewed through that lens and that culture cannot simply be separated. Some of the things that you claimed "didn't make any sense" are more metaphorical. Mirabel doesn't get a new room because she is being left behind by the family. She was powerless but was loved for her potential. But now she has none, so they dropped her immediately. Isabela and Luisa have very similar struggles. Even Abuela has those same struggles. It represents how women are expected to behave and live within the Madrigal household: Push down your feelings and concerns and look good for the family. Even Pepa has to deal with this. Its a pretty common way of thinking in more community-focused cultures and it can lead to serious problems. I dunno. Your other videos seemed to have a lot more care and interest for nuance. While you raise some semi-decent points here, I don't feel like the same care was given to this movie.

on another topic, with all of the family members, and their gifts, the youngest, to have their gift, minus Antonio, has had it for 10 years, Luisa has had hers for 14, and Isabella and Dolores for 16 years. Any sort of learned behavior regarding the gifts is definitely solidified by the time of the movie. Isabella has to be perfect, Luisa has to be always doing work around town, etc. In terms of Luisa, always doing work, it's not that she has to protect the town from invaders or anything, but she feels she has to. She grew up hearing the story of how her grandfather, "was lost," (which she would obviously realize later meant killed), by invaders. This, along with what her gift is, along with the pressure from her grandmother to, "make good use," of their gifts, it would definitely make her feel pressured to be the protector. There's also the fact that, whether the villagers can do their own work or not, a lot of things just couldn't happen without Luisa, or would take a lot of time, such as moving a church or bridge or rerouting the river. Without her, the town would definitely have to change to keep operating in the same way. Also, remember, this pressure would've been initially put on a five-year-old! Everybody who had been given gifts, started the pressure when they were five! And the pressure continued until the end of the movie, and by that point, the adults, the triplets, would've had their gifts for 45 years, and, as I said, before, Between 10 and 16 years. I don't know about you, but I would definitely crumble under that sort of pressure. I'd be the Bruno of the family, probably, either that, or almost crumbling lake, Luisa.

Personally I liked the movie, but as a colombian I'll fully admit it was mostly because my experience watching it was me or a friend pointing at the screen every 5 minutes to proclaim "Look they're eating this!" "Look they're wearing that!" "Look they're in that place!" "Oh this is sooo like here!" "Oh this is based on that!" "This is a reference look!" "They said this! They did that! Sooo colombian man soooo relatable so well researched" (And I stand by if, I think regarding the culture the movie was genuinely very well researched) But yeah you're right about pretty much everything about this movie. Specially about Isabela and Luisa not working quite as they're intended to. Idk if the internet demonizing the character of abuela can be used as criticism against the movie itself tho? I never saw her portrayed as evil in the movie, but you're right they didn't show enough of her having too high expectations. You're right alright Except the dinner scene. Idk if it's a colombian thing but I've been on that exact dinner where a harmful rumor mill begins to form and everyone whispers it against their better judgement until someone tells the person that will blow up hearing it and the meal is ruined. I cannot see it as unbelievable man. I just can't.

Don't be silly! Luisa can't have Isabella's role in the story because only conventionally attractive (by Hollywood standards) women are allowed to have romantic relationships!

That 109 minute runtime is important, I feel, and I think it's where a majority of your problems (and my own) come from: It chugs along at a breakneck pace and needs the audience to insert their own experience onto the story. I feel as though what Encanto needed was a song about Abuela, ideally right where she screams at Mirabel about breaking the family apart that could just as easily feature Mirabel striking back by pointing out the people in the family were suffering, and not just her... someone to actually stand up to the family matriarch. But I'm also someone who thought that Frozen would have been a better story if Hans wasn't a basic bitch betrayal villain and instead just failed to revive Anna with his kiss because despite what he thought he wasn't actually in love with her (and his attempted regicide on Elsa is a confused heroic attempt to save the dying sister), so what do I know? Edit: Accidentally misremembered the name the one guy Anna fell in love with after one song with the other guy she fell in love with after one song. (It's a miracle she didn't fall in love with the damn snowman...)

I always thought Luisa was done dirty. I did see her song as her existential crisis because her powers are failing and she has nothing but her strength as a character.

Don't exactly agree that they should've been willing to voice their grievances to Abuela given the context, but HARD agree that there's like no reason to suspect that their grievances have any merit when we basically never see them going through much on screen.

The Backstreet Boys reunion tour has been ravaging the globe and it must be stopped

I think an important thing to notice is that as the movie is am allegory for intergenerational trauma, the "powers" of the characters correspond to roles in the dysfunctional family: the "golden child", the "strong one", the emotional bulwark, the one who nurtures and picks up the pieces, the one who has to know everyone's business, the one who tells uncomfortable truths and gets scapegoated, and so on.

I like your take on the content itself, but I also feel like one of the reasons this movie is so beloved is how well it was constructed stylistically. The telling vs showing issue is certainly there but there is a major difference between a five minute exposition dump about family history and the absolute majesty that is “We Don’t Talk About Bruno”. While being somewhat disconnected from the events of the plot, each characters arc is pretty well brought across by their personalities and the animation and VA that forms those personalities. Isabelle is the prime example. While there is basically no major plot beats establishing where her arc starts and the why she changes in the way she does, everyone watching can see the change happen by how her personality and character design shift. It would be a far better movie if the stylistic elements supported much actual substance, but I think it’s still a major point in favor of the movie and a big reason why it was received so well.

“It looks like abuela fretting about Isabella’s looks constantly because she never Can be perfect enough”. Did you notice when, during breakfast, Isabella sprouts flowers in her hair from the shock when Dolores teases her about how many children Mariano has, and Abuela very non-chalantly picks out the one flower of a different color and throws it away? Subtlety dude. Subtext. Also, as a Mexican… parties like that are honestly not something rare, and it almost never says *anything* about the dynamics of the family or families involved.

Now that I've finished the video, this analysis falls short in many different and disappointing ways with only a handful of valid criticisms. The music in this film does fall victim to typical musical theatre pitfall of "Tell don't show," as well as mentioning strange and unnecessary things that wont matter by the end of the performance. To play advocate for Luisa allegedly never being criticized or controlled by abuela; note how whipped she is in the scenes involving her holding a piano. She doesn't need to HOLD IT UP but when abuela (literally) snaps her fingers or claps her hands, Luisa knows that is her cue to show off for guests. She also helps the entire village without any push back at all. I think it should be clear that abuela has put it into her head that she NEEDS to unflinchingly use her gifts to everyone else's benefits and not talk back or shirk her "duty." I very much agree with your hypothetical of Luisa being the one to stand up to abuela and keep the family from tearing apart, rather than Mirabel. Or that Luisa and Isabella should be combined. I think that you are failing to see how thoroughly controlled the family is by abuela and that's why I vehemently disagree with the last point you make about her not being a manipulator or "bad guy." I agree that she has fair points when she says things are Mirabel's fault, because it seems to be so from her point of view. I agree that we should have seen someone blatantly stand up to her prior to that scene to witness first hand how she reacts to disobedience. It frightens me that you don't understand this next part: You have to understand people can and do hold extravagant parties just to keep appearances in front of others. It may be "hard to believe" but MANY families with abusers can be genuinely happy at certain times, have smiles, and parties but still know that it will quickly go wrong when the abuser is upset by anything. There are so many instances of showing that the Madrigals fear abuela, or at least don't want to upset her in any way, talk back or question her. So unless you're just assuming that every single one of them is spineless and clueless allowing themselves to be walked all over, then you are willfully ignorant to the fact that this sort of kowtowing doesn't happen unless one is AFRAID of the person they are submitting to. Think of it this way.... we never once saw what her power is...

I think you're missing an important distinction between Luisa and Isabella's characters (and why they *are* two separate characters): Luisa needs to be strong for the sake of the family. She is, literally and figuratively, holding the family together with her strength. When the cracks start to show, right after Mirabelle looks "Under the Surface", Luisa is suffering. She's hurting. She's *not* strong enough for what's being demanded of her - the pressure of being strong enough to hold their fracturing family together. It's already been proven after Bruno "left" that her grip isn't strong enough to hold onto everyone, and part of her feels like a failure for that. Even if he was the "black sheep" of the family, he was still family. That pressure's been building up more and more, and the general family treatment of Mirabelle probably doesn't help matters because she's *also* being pushed out for not having a gift. Isabella, however, needs to be perfect /specifically/ for Abuela. It's subtle, and I didn't realize this until it was pointed out, Isabella has a strong resemblance to Abuela when Abuela was younger. And, when we look at Isabella's chosen suitor, he has a rather strong resemblance to their deceased grandfather. Abuela is trying to live vicariously through Isabella. She's not dealing with quite the same pressures the rest of the family is. While everyone has to use their gifts for the betterment of the family, Isabella has to be a perfect woman for Abuela to project the life she never got to have onto her. This is also subtly shown during the breakfast scene where Abuela is walking by everyone, reminding Isabella of her future commitment. For a moment, we see Isabella's cracks show and she creates several flowers. We, as the audience, are lead to believe this is excitement, but we later learn that it was frustration. Additionally, one flower was different from the rest, and this flower, specifically, was the one Abuela plucked. This was Abuela reminding her, directly and subtly, what was her place in Abuela's eyes. These pressures on the older siblings are fracturing the family, and, as we later learn, the gifts and the miracle are a direct result of them being a family. If the family falls apart, the magic weakens/dies. That's why Mirabelle doesn't have a gift - her family was the weakest.

I neither love nor hate Encanto & I'm happy that you are willing to say that you don't like it! Too often I see people with "controversial" opinions about media (comics, movies, TV shows, video games, etc.) feel like they can't talk about the problems they have with it because "everyone" either loves/hates it & if you don't agree with "everyone" than you are wrong.

Yeah, it's Brave all over again. I figured the moral was when you're a kid you see you family as either superheroes or magical, but as you grow up that dissipates and you see them as the flawed, struggling people they really were. Til that revelation, you feel unremarkable and the misfit of the family. That's why the ending where they get their magic again kinda disappointed me. I think overall, most of the cast was really charming and well acted. Even if the whole was kind of a mess, the individual parts were entertaining. Encanto could have made a good miniseries.

Not gonna lie. That video sounded like "I am American" and I don't necessarily mean anything bad for it. I can't expect you to understand things as if you lived your whole life in someone else's shoes... I wanted to explain how it is super believable for me as a brasilian and for my whole family that: 1. Abuela is not evil, but is still the root of all these problems 2. How the gossip kept her mouth shut for years 3. How Luisa and Isabelle's role in the family are diferente 4. Why having such a huge family was essential 5. How come everyone is happily smiling in constant parties, but still falling apart. But to be honest, I would need to either make a 1h long video response or invite you to live with me for a year.

I know I grew up in an bad household, but y'all make it seem like talking back to an adult when you live with them, or respect them, is easy and not at all a scary and stressful thing to even contemplate. Abuela was strong and firm, yes, but it never felt like anyone could, well, talk to her without feeling like they were being talked down to. Abuela had closed herself off to maintain the image of a leader, the unmoving bedrock of not just the family, but the entire community. It's no surprise to me no one in the family would openly speak to her about their feelings and problems. I think you are missing the biggest differences Luisa and Isabella. Luisa is physically strong, but is not emotionally strong. Nearly everytime she's on screen she's lifting some heavy thing that would take multiple people to comfortably move. Why wouldn't EVERYONE in the community ask her to carry the heavy burdens, it's time saving. While she is physically capable, she's always worried about messing up. Oftentimes when someone is always successful, and has not failed, they can have an irrational fear of failure. Hell when her powers do start failing she eventually breaks down crying. Without her strength, who even is Luisa? This is the key difference between Luisa and Isabella. Isabella's gift is growing plants, not being perfect. She practiced her "perfection", whereas Luisa's Gift was strength. Luisa's identity is tied to being "the strong one", tied to her Gift, but Isabella's identity is being "the perfect one", which is tied to her actions and mannerisms, only supported by her Gift. Without her Gift, Isabella can practice hard enough to still be "the perfect one". Even their songs highlight this difference, Luisa's is about constantly feeling the pressure to succeed, of being the big, strong older sister and she wants a goddamn break, to lean on someone's shoulder for a change, because she's clearly a nervous wreck like Pepa, but she's better at bottling it up. Isabella on the other hand has a song that is triggered not by her problems, but on the discovery of something she didn't know ABOUT HERSELF. She for one was okay with going through life being Abuela's perfect granddaughter to the point she practices poses for when she uses her powers. If anything she only thought, not explicitly stated mind you, that following Abuela's plan was fine, if boring. Accidentally sprouting a cactus, something she didn't know she could do, and Abuela definitely didn't know, was all the catalyst she needed to try seeking new things about herself, no perfect blossoms, no perfect smile. Clearly flowers were a major thing with Isabella, most likely because Abuela liked them. Now though, what else can she do that isn't "perfect" but is still hers? She's having fun!

You know, I’m even of the stance that the abuse that is going on in this household is something that is explained through the way that the characters tend to do common things I directly relate with abuse (like trying to maintain peace without raising an issue or hiding from family members) but even then I have to admit none of this is substantiated by the actual things going on on screen. You make a really good point about the movie showing us absolutely nothing of substance when it comes to the conflict, it feels like those moments of things like Antonio hiding under the bed was part of an earlier draft or a side comment from someone who wanted a little more clearly defined of conflict in the movie but was cut, and it really leaves the movie with the kind of feeling of when you go over to someone’s house and you only see the effects of abuse with a much more functional cover up. Which, I think would be giving them too much credit to say was intended, because, again, the plot is all over the place, the conflict is all over the place, and none of the character’s feelings are backed by actual on screen issues.

In fairness, we do see Julieta stand up for Mirabel and tell Alma to go easy on her only for Alma to brush her off and act like her own concern for the family as a whole is more important. BUT that’s a background shot (easily missable; my wife didn’t catch it until I pointed it out), and it’s really the only overt instance of this that I can think of off the top of my head.

Another thing I forgot to mention in my other comments regarding Dolores, is that she does know when to say something, and not to say stuff. During the dinner scene, she knew her Isabella, doesn't want to marry Mariano, she knew she did, and her way of messing with that engagement, unfortunately involves revealing her cousin's secret. Also, in regards of her, knowing whether Bruno was in the walls, she says, during we don't talk about Bruno, "I can always hear him sort of muttering and mumbling." Keyboard, here, being, "can." Present tense. She also says, later in the song, "I can hear him now." Also, present tense. This is including, obviously, what you mentioned about, "the rats talking in the walls."We're not sure why she kept a Bruno secret, but it's also worth, noting that she was like 11 when he went into the walls, and although he's not her parent, he's still an elder in the family, and she was a kid, so either Bruno asked her to keep her secret, or she felt she had to, or just couldn't tell people. It's also totally possible. She tried to tell people, and they didn't believe her.

Looking at all the comments, this movie's main problems come from the gap between the culture it's portraying, and the culture it was produced for. The driving forces of the movie are almost entirely things that fall into that gap. Which really leads to one question on my end; why does the movie do almost nothing to portray these important ideas, to an audience for whom they're foreign? If Encanto was originally written in Spanish, for a Latin American audience, and then translated to English, this would be understandable. The primary audience would understand the culture. But Encanto was first and foremost made in English, for an English American audience. An audience for whom family is much less important, and for whom speaking out against your grandparents isn't an unthinkable act of defiance. Why does the movie not lay this out in clear terms? Mulan's opening is almost dedicated to presenting how the Chinese revere their ancestors and the importance of maintaining you family's honor. Ideas that have little impact on the story after Mulan joins the army. There's a song that, in no uncertain terms, tells the viewer that Mulan's the opposite of the culture's "ideal woman", which isn't exactly a driving force in the story either. In Encanto, there's barely a few lines scattered around the entire movie to imply "by the way, people don't speak out against Abuela, not because of any deliberate fear tactics, intimidation, or abuse, but because they respect her and her title as the head of the house, alongside the massive social pressure to not speak out which results from this." You could have an entire song dedicated solely to the how much a character wants to speak out, and can't. That would be a BEAUTIFUL subject for a song that would resonate with rebellious teens, fast food workers, and adults who have to bend to the expectations of corporate hierarchy and out of touch bosses. But does that song exist? We have a song about how one character feels like they have to be perfect, but is it also about how absolute the authority is that demands their perfection?

1:32 What happens if you’re a minority and republican?

Abuela isn’t an abuser, she just has toxic habits built on trauma unfortunately that’s to nuanced for internet discourse so people simplify her into being the baddie

I didn't agree with the main message of the movie. All of the family's magical talents are metaphors for having successful careers or caregiving roles. Mirabel feels bad because she doesn't do anything that's seen as valuable. For me, this could go one of two ways: either she finds a job/hobby she likes and realizes that you don't have to be born with talent, you can become good at something with a lot of practice, and finds her purpose that way; or she realizes that having an impressive career isn't what's most important to her, and fixes other aspects of her life until she's satisfied with it overall. Instead, Encanto basically says "if you feel insecure because all of your family members are more successful than you, don't worry! They're actually ALL secretly crumbling under the pressure of their high-paying jobs and being admired by everyone! You're actually needed to tell them how much they're suffering so they can get better mentally by not doing so much work!" I never liked the 'everyone better off than you is actually secretly suffering' trope, it always feels like sour grapes to me. One or two people, sure, but everyone??

You know that moment where the faimly is taking a picture and either Mirabel is accidently left out or she feels she should stay out of the photo and starts to cry? That single moment where everyone loves me but I'm still excluded. HIT so close to home. I like it for that moment it's not just relatable that is how I felt.

oh I thought the title was joking, you actually dislike it? this'll be interesting edit: OK I see your point in some places, I disagree w/the Abuela take very strongly... but with all of that your videos are still always entertaining and your use of Agustín in the visual gags cracked me up for some reason

4:41, Mirabelle absolutely tells us what her relationship is with her family is. The entire back third of the song is her putting herself aside to refocus the attention on other people, because she doesn't want people to associate her lack of powers with the family she idolizes, because it's how she was raised to act by her grandmother. This is what leads into the tension of her "I want" song, dealing with the neglect that comes from being excluded. The next two songs, meanwhile, use that perspective to highlight the neglect born of expectations in Surface pressure, which then shows how these two things can ruin a life and reputation in We Don't Talk about Bruno. That, in turn, brings us to What Else Can I Do, which is about breaking away from expectations, and actually communicating, and thus being able to do more from a previously restricted situation, making it a hell of a lot easier to at least try to mend a relationship. Which finally leads us to Two Oruguitas, which punctuates a scene telling us why the grandmother, whose enforcement cause much of the strain, acts the way she does in a means of self-reflection, while literally telling the characters to step away from each other a bit, grow up, and reunite for the better. That, in turn, highlights the character growth allowing for the reprise of Family Madrigal, where the home is LITERALLY rebuilt to better service a family together. 6:50, You really didn't notice the themes of excess authority and lack of communication, huh? Not an easy bit for a family movie, but it's pretty damn real. Especially outside South/Central America, where arguing with family, especially older members, is pretty much sacrilege. Social connotation is important. Bruno isolated himself, Abuella refuses to talk about him out of shame (basically all she does to her family), and everyone else (the ones who were young when he left, and his emotionally unstable sister whose wedding was crashed by a storm) just associate the bad memories with the visions they received from him. He's been gone for a decade, and the main characters in We Don't Talk About Bruno are barely older than that. As for Dolores, you start a family argument about the guy in hiding when every word is a migraine in process. Though I do agree it doesn't jive with her gossip personality. I'd say Abuella definitely needed more time for her character, but given how most of her lines are either shutting down Mirabelle or controlling every aspect of Luisa and Isabella's lives, plus the fact that two of her three children are clearly traumatized by what Abuella thinks should be considered gifts, while the third never really speaks to anybody, I'mma say inference can carry a lot where direct visuals don't. Again, communication issues = primary theme. I do agree Coco is absolutely the better put-together movie. Bruno, Dolores, and Pepa are utterly miserable, with the latter two putting on a happy face. Stated pretty explicitly in the movie, especially given all of their powers are both stressors, and prevent them from confronting others, thus furthering the whole "don't communicate" thing. That just leave mom who doesn't talk, cousin shapeshifter, who is criminally underused, and cousin Jungle Book, who feels really out of place barring his ceremony at the beginning. Good wrap up from Abuella's POV though. It can be legitimately hard to argue otherwise if you don't see her fault in the plot. If she had a bit more screentime controlling, like you said, it could definitely be stronger. Still, inference is important, and most people, myself included, could infer Abuella's behavior towards her children and grandchildren well before Bruno or the confrontation. That said, Coco and Turning Red are both excellent alternatives to Encanto. Or ya know, you can watch all three like I did. Lots of stress after each tho. EDIT: A structural thing I noticed. Encanto can be fully understood if you just watch the musical segments, but without them, the story if very scattershot and lacking details. The story is the music, rather than the music supporting the story.

what bugged me the most was that scene where mirabell is trying to... apologize??? to izabella and after their yelling fit are suddenly best friends. as someone with sisters, A YELLING MATCH IS NOT IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWED BY A "YAY OUr PrOBLEMS ArE SOLVED WE'rE BESTIES NOW" just... there was no waiting period. it was literally: im mad at you. well im also mad at you. oh yeah well i'm even more mad. im so mad i made a cactus, wait what. you made a cactus. i made a cactus. you're not perfect so we can be friends now

It's hard to know where to start, but when you ask why does Mirabel have to stay in the Nursery, it's both complicated and simple at the same time. As you see at the end of the movie, Mirabel's power is the same as Abuela's, in that she keeps the Miracle alive. It's why it goes out when those two fight so directly, or when she doesn't feel like part of the family. Her primary concern has always been the entire family, and encouraging everyone, which you see in the beginning a lot, especially with how much Antonio needs her in the beginning. She is also foreshadowed as the next Abuela in how the kids of the town all care about *her* over the rest of her family. When they were asking about how does she remember everyone in her family, what she (and the audience) hears is they want to know about the family, while what they meant (arguably) is how is *Mirabel* able to remember and care because that's quite amazing to them. While yes, she "deserves" her own room, and it would mean more if she had been offered the choice of having a "normal" room "made" for her, and not one the Casita grants, there's some level of symbolism to her staying in the "nursery" to help the other, younger members of the family, to encourage them, and tell them it's okay to be *them, now.* If you look at the doors, literally all of them with Abuela show them as their adult form/size, what they will *become*. Whereas when Mirabel helps Antonio to his own room, *his* shows him *as he is now.* Abuela has the mindset of what will you become and that's what to strive for, whereas Mirabel's mindset is what you are now is what I love, and will continue to love whatever/whoever you become. Or, you know, I'm just reading too much into it. -shrug- Also, on Luisa, I highly recommend you look up Why Surface Pressure Works & Why It's Catchy by Howard Ho. It does an amazing job of breaking down the song and surrounding info to help explain just how well it shows the pressure Luisa feels to be useful. Because that's the difference between Luisa and Isabell. Luisa is made to feel useful in what she DOES, and is the only one to actively pursue excellence in her power. (We see this in the song when she's exercising first thing in the morning.) She is the middle child who has to contend with the bossy "Perfect Princess" Isabell while also feeling she has to protect Mirabel because her baby sis has no powers, and the easiest way to do that is to try to do *everything* so that Mirabel doesn't. After all, Mirabel has no power, and could get hurt if she tries to do too much! It's the toxic workaholic mindset of have to do everything because I'm the only one who "can" do everything... even when she can't. Isabell, however, has to present the face of perfection, the picture model of just how "together" the Madrigals are. That's why Abuela is so aghast at seeing her dress splotched with colors, because it looks messy and "immature". Isabell's struggle is how she has to mask her feelings, how she presents herself, etc. which is a different kind of mental pressure than what Luisa faces. Still mental pressures, yes, but different kinds.

So, basically this movie falls apart unless you project either a Colombian “you don’t disagree with the matriarch, no matter how unhappy you are” context or a “these few lines from Isabella/Luisa show how abusive Abuela is” sort of analysis.

10:00 she says in the climax that yes, she knew Bruno was there.

I have just been thinking as I read a lot of these comments, if the issue is that American/white people don’t get the context for the movie (and I think that’s the main problem), why not have written the story to actually have the context within it? Most comments here are basically saying more or less the same thing about how American people don’t get the culture, so why not inform us?

In todays news: Channel talking about a lot of non European culture forgets South America isn't europe

There are a lot of points here picking apart what he said in this video, but they all have a problem he already addressed: none of that is actually ever displayed in the movie, only "implied."

Louisa is being used as a pack mule to a degree that she has no time for herself, I think that's it. That's her burden. She feels like she's seen more as a source of labor and not a person. I agree they could have done a lot better, especially with how they did Bruno dirty, but I still liked it.

Abuela is not a villain, but I think there's a point to be made that all of the children are over worked and burdened with heavy expectations as it's established Abuela commits them to working for the community as soon as their powers develop at the age of 5. It's literally the day after Antonio's birthday and Abuela is talking about finding a way to put him to work for the town. And the cracks didn't start because of Mirabel, they were happening for years before the start of the movie, as Bruno says. Abuela assumed Bruno left because of Mirabel but he left to protect her from Abuela. We see the way she yells at Peppa, and it is ridiculous to say it's ok to yell at a 15 year old that they are ruining the family. That is a child, a grown ass adult should not be yelling at them for their not malicious actions.

Come to think of it the movie does squeeze a lot out of assumptions it leads you to have instead of Actual Text. This is a bold title to throw out there, but definitely solid points. Leaves me just wanting to rewatch Coco.

You know, I’ve been chewing on this thought for a while, and I want to share my thoughts here. Encanto isnt bad… but its not served well by the movie format. It isnt a story about the characters as individuals, its a story about the family as a whole unit, about the complications that come with being a massive family. Its trying to say something different than just ‘family good.’ Its trying to say that a cohesive, loving family is a special, yet fragile thing, and that cracks can easily form between the members and lead to the whole thing falling apart. its a tough story to fit into a 2 hr runtime. so yes I agree that it would be better served by a 12 episode tv show. A short seires that lets every family member breath, have a moment, then move on, with the whole picture of ‘family’ being visible after brushing past each member.

Wasn't the largest problem with the issues the members of the family had that they had essentially normalised their suffering? They either didn't think of an alternative way to live, like Isabela or Pepa, or did their best to ignore their issues altogether like Luisa. No one talked about it because why would they? Even ignoring the cultural values of respecting elders, bringing up a problem you have with the system the family has in place can very easily be reflected back on you. Everyone else is getting along fine, *you* must be the problem. The last person who failed to live up to their role, Bruno, isn't even talked about now by the rest of the family. Hell, the whole song "We Don't Talk About Bruno" is essentially about how it's better to ignore the uncomfortable truths rather than confront them and see how to work past them. Once someone hears a prediction of the future (or what they think is a prediction), they expect the worst, don't do anything to to work around it, and blame Bruno, who is only guilty if saying that the problem exists. They do this not because they're stupid, but because it's easier to shoot the messenger than acknowledge something's your fault: getting a gut? Maybe you could have eaten better. Your fish died? Did you feed it? Did you check on its health? Your hair's going to fall out?... Okay, not so much you can do about that, but it's easier to blame Bruno than it is to accept that you just got one of the genetic short straws. And when Mirabel says "I never shouldn't brought up Bruno", that's mirroring how when someone mentions something that's wrong, the family doesn't try to fix the problem, they just tell whoever brought it up to stop talking about it. It's paint over the cracks in the walls. Edit: Also, the miracle didn't fail when Mirabel didn't get a power. All of the powers exist to protect the family from a situation like the one that traumatised Abuela (healing, listen for danger, strength, controlling plants, communicating with animals, etc.). They act as another representation of the generational trauma itself. Mirabel not having a gift is supposed to show that she is the member of the family who can break away from the trauma and do something. The Casita chose not to give her a gift, because if she had one, she'd just become another part of the system Abuela put in place. If Abuela views her family via their gifts first and foremost, then having a granddaughter with no gift would highlight that. It would force them to confront the problem rather than avoid it like they always do. Antonio getting a gift, and there being no mention of the miracle failing for the years up until then should have been a strong indicator that the miracle hadn't started failing.

Isabella and Luisa seem the same to you because you’ve completely misinterpreted Luisa’s character. She is a chronic people pleaser who spends so much time on helping the village that she barely knows who she is and has no time for other things she cares about, like her family, which is why the moment near the end where she’s just hanging out with her sisters is so satisfying. “Doing what’s best for the family” is whatever standard Abuela sets because she is the matriarch, she is the head, and her standard is that the Madrigals use their gifts to help the town 24/7 to keep up their reputation and keep them safe, bc that’s the only way she knows how to honor the miracle. Luisa is there as one example of the family’s overcommitment to productivity hurting them internally. Isa is having completely different issues, the ones you pointed out, which stem from the same source as Luisa’s, but manifest totally differently.

Mr. Point, the candle is a metaphor for burn out. That's why it starts dying and accelerates because when you feel burnout coming people will panic and try to fix it quickly instead of the hard job of letting yourself rest. Mirabel not getting a gift started to snowball negative emotions in the family and during the film they hit critical mass, hence the candle literally burning itself up and going out.

Literally all the viewers: "I'm sickened, but curious."

Im reading the comments, seeing that you didnt understand the underlyings reasons why isabella didnt confront abuela. But, thats kinda the point that you were trying to make, that, they dont show it If they had shown us that isabella tried that and didnt worked. Like, showing us a flash back or something, it would be believebly But, with it doenst being the case, then its all just assuming.

Dude, are you really justifying Abuela's poor treatment of Mirabel in the movie? Imagine defending emotional neglect and abuse. Ridiculous!

I liked Luisa's song because recently three members of my close family died within six months. My little sister is twelve, and her grandma, her uncle and one of her aunts died. I felt as if no matter how sad I was, I had to look after her. My mum was broken after her mother died, and my dad wasn't the same after his siblings died. I watched helplessly as my whole family slowly shattered within six months. We were together, but all sad. As the older sister, I was the one who didn't cry, who didn't break. Long story short, I know what pressure is. So the song hits hard.

There's a lot of comments talking about Latin American culture being the reason no one stands up to Abuela, but you guys are all missing the point. He's saying that, beyond the arranged marriage, there's almost nothing she does for anyone TO stand up to her for. Explanation Point was simply expressing that the bare minimum of at least a throwaway scene or two of someone being angry at her for her actions would've been better than the nothing we got.

I love this because even though I love Encanto, I want to know why others wouldn’t and you shined a perfect light onto the problems of the film that I otherwise wouldn’t have seen.

You're being very, very unfair to the kids in the way that they interact with abuela, and Mirabel in particular doesn't really deserve any of the shit you're giving her. It's like you're reserving every single drop of "benefit of the doubt" for abuela and abuela only

Your major complaints so far as I understand them Why didn't Dolores hear Bruno: She did, she explicitly states it several times in "We Don't Talk about Bruno," again speaking up about a long standing issue just to be ignored. No one stood up to Abuela on screen: Mirabel's dad did and recieved explicit support from his wife when Abuela is blaming Mirabel for destroying the family/miracle Abuela should've nitpicked Isa's appearance: Breakfast scene, when the "he want's to have five babies" line pops out and Isa sprouts blooms one is off color, Abuela immediately plucks it off and throws it away, this is done casually and no one reacts, implying it is a normal occurrence Abuela's treatment of Mirabel: Bruno never told Abuela about the vision with Mirabel and the magic failing.

I think Encanto is mid because of plasticity animation, songs are fine, story is pretty weak. It’s all resolved immediately at the end like a baby movie, it doesn’t have the magic, it’s not the only one, examples: lightyear, Raya and the last dragon, strange world, these are all 5-6 out of ten movies

I spent half the video saying: *dumb take, stupid* But the other half saying: 'Huh. I hadn't considered that.'

The biggest problem with Encanto is the fact that it's a movie about the bonds of family in which you barely see any member of said family for more than about 2 minutes. And the superpowers are completely pointless beyond the "everyone is special but I'm not" metaphor, it's a gimmick that didn't need to be in the movie.

for minute 11:41 as a colombian I can confirm we have no puszles squirrels here

I greatly enjoyed the movie, but I also 100% agree that the movie relies on you believing what it's telling you rather than showing any evidence of it and also that the movie had too much content for too little run time that should have been spread out and expanded in a series instead. A good foundation, but it's really just the cliffnotes instead of a fully fleshed out movie.

You talk about how abuela isn't as evil as the internet says and that's kinda an issue. Here me out. The general take on Abuela is wrong. A lot of people come from a very Western disneyfied field of view on films. People expect a villian and she is the closest thing. BUT Abuela is the antagonist. This doesn't make her a villian. I found her as a character to be interested because of this. She's meant to be relatable, especially to those with intergenerational trauma in the family, not your average Disney viewer. Your points on the show, not tell are very true, though I think the film was aiming for portrayal of those issues in the same way a musical would; using the songs to show them and move the plot along. Though I definitely agree this does produce issues in the show don't tell department. The film is very entrenched in musical tropes like that. Honestly, my biggest gripe with the film though is the ending. It ends too fast. They should have taken longer to flesh out the ending, to solve the conflict which is jarring.

It's funny. When my partner and me watched Encanto we both loved it, but when we talked about ut we found the same issues. The vibes and intended message is what we enjoyed, but noted the film itself failed to convey them. We also noted Abuela was pretty reasonable overall, with an aggro focus on Maribel.....as you stated, reasonably so. Def gonna file this one under "Disney can't write stories anymore"

true encanto for me is like they where trying to do something but then say "lets make it for babies cuz real family conflict is traumatic" now we have a movie that is way too afraid of showing actual family arguments and just have characters that somewhat have some related personalities so that the people would forget about the plot

To be fair about the sign… domestic audience is American and from personal experience, more than half of the audience likely would have assumed that the movie takes place in Mexico. You could take an average American to Spain and half expect the American to assume that the people there were all descended from Mexicans. I wish this was a joke.

One thing about the “Colombian” squirrels. Those are Coatís (singular coatí) and they’re quite playful. They’re a protected species now, but people used to poach them and had them for pets

If the comments are anything to go off of, it seems like the movie hinges a lot on cultural understanding/lived experience not everyone has. I haven't seen it yet, but I plan on it.

Ui crying when Yui asked if Louisa's song was relatable was so spot on lmao

Soft disagree about Bruno’s song and everyone being an idiot. During the song plenty of villagers also talk about him foreseeing bad events into the future and that causes their public opinion to go down very quickly because they dont understand his powers like his family does (kinda like Absol from pokemon ‘bringing disaster’ when really he just senses when disasters are about to occur) and think he is the one causing these issues, also public opinion is very important to the madrigals so when the town hates Bruno for causing problems that really puts a stain on the reputation of the madrigals

My fanfic brain just kicked in with that idea of a more overtly villainous Abuela and a more explicitly Cassandra'd Bruno. Call it Encanto AU: As a child Bruno is scared of his gift and doesn't use it much. At some point he's playing with a friend who asks him to show off his power; he's hesitant but eventually gives in and shows a vision of something bad happening. The child freaks out and thinks Bruno has cursed him to *make* the bad thing happen and runs away. Bruno of course runs home crying and tells Abuela about it. She comforts him like a good grandma and asks him to show her something too, just to get his mind off it and get him used to using his power. That's when he gets the vision of the miracle dying. Abuela fears their family will be ruined if this gets out, so she uses her special connection to the miracle to place a charm/hex on all the other family members through it: That they will never believe in his predictions. And just to be sure, she also tells them that she was mistaken about Bruno's ability, that he *does* cause the bad things to happen rather than just seeing them coming. After Mirabel doesn't get a gift, she shuts Bruno away and keeps Mirabel in the nursery to make sure the two never meet, because if Mirabel isn't connected to the magic she's not affected by the charm and will be able to see and believe Bruno's visions. This would also explain an insistence on Isabela getting married as fast as possible: Abuela knows their power is going to be gone soon, so she wants to get at least one more of her grandchildren into a stable family before she loses all leverage. Might not fully fit, but I'd say it's an interesting thought.

I always look forward to these videos even if I go into it thinking the opposite of whatever he’s talking about ^o^

Strong disagree on how the movie handles Abuela’s antagonistic role, but other commenters have explained that a lot better than I could. You hit the nail on the head with ‘it should have been a miniseries’, though, since that would’ve helped flesh out and give narrative justifications for characters like Louisa’s and Isabel’s feelings. Personally, though it’s not without flaws, Encanto really spoke to me and I felt it had a very nuanced and empathetic portrayal of generational trauma. Interesting video as always m8.

I agree with a lot of what you're saying, and I especially feel that your "if the location of your movie is important, then make it important" remark points to a lot of the problems I have with this movie. I went back and watched Coco after this video. The film clearly establishes the location and culture of the characters which helps connect the dots as to why the people behave as they do. Encanto is in a weird position where they don't really explain the setting when it would inform how we view the characters. It has that weird ass "COLOMBIA" sign, but its in the background, implying that the setting for this story is merely window dressing and not imparative to the story....which it really is. Coco, right out the gate, tells you it's story is set in Mexico and displays/explains its cultures and conventions, and as you take them in you immediatly see characters bumping into and interacting with them. Despite taking place in 1900s Colombia, Encanto is settingless. People exist in a physical space, but I could not tell you what cultures and conventions come from the location they reside in, which is REALLY important if your making a story commenting on the familial bonds that spring from it. In Coco, I can tell you that music and the memories of your family and ancestors are what makes the world go 'round. In Encanto, I can only see its setting as some nameless village where the people are happy and things are magical.

Whoa! Thats dedication, doing the vid while sick with the VID. We all hope you feel better. As for the feelings towards Encanto, personally i liked the movie when i first watched it BUT then when i watched again for some reason something just kind of bothered me about it. Yeah the music is super catchy but there were a bunch of plot holes that I noticed (like the ones you pointed out about the girl who could hear anything and can't she just hear Bruno? or WHY does the flower granddaughter have to marry prince charming when in the long run all Grandma wants is any one in the Madrigal family to marry the other prominent family of the town?)

I enjoy the video, and I can see why you would have a different take on it from people who have dealt with this kind of situation. Speaking as a person with a culture that is similar in how family dynamics develop and are dealt with, this is VERY accurate. People “read into” the story because it’s intended to emulate a specific family experience. In a lot of households, you don’t even think to question or stick up for yourself EVER, especially not against an elder or your parents. People can be “happy” or “content” in that family structure but that doesn’t make it healthy. It’s not just “not sticking up for yourself”. Culturally people can receive violence as a result of being “disrespectful” and since that’s different for every person you’re taught to fear those individuals.

I agree with character waste potentials. After the movie ended. I legit said “we havent explore the other family members, this should be a series “

Fully agree on the show don't tell. My god did I feel frustrated seeing the line on Wikipedia that the opening song was intended as "proof" that twelve main characters can be efficiently introduced. As if the purpose of stories is to efficiently introduce their characters instead of showing them through the story...

Completely agree. I always thought the film had an issue with pacing and it felt unfinished. It seemed like it couldn't commit to which character it wanted to give screen time; and just rushed who they were and their issue instead of properly developing it. I think it should've been a miniseries instead. It had a good premise for a monster of the week deal where every episode is another character with a issue, the house breaking a bit more, building up what Bruno did and building him up as a villain or a misunderstood villain; then it could of finally connected all their issues to either the abuella or Bruno in a final episode where they're forced to be destroyed or change. It felt like it spent too much time rushing throw character songs and showing an action piece in Bruno's room that didn't seem nessasary, then it had to shorten the house dying at the end. I get that it's a deeply personal story about specific cultural family dynamics. But I feel like it could've done it better. I feel like Encanto had a lot of great things to say. But it needed a few more drafts to focus on what it wanted to be. Then to stick to that.

Clearly this movie just wasn’t for you. I don’t know how someone can get so many fundamental aspects of a film wrong. Encanto isn’t a perfect movie by half, I also don’t like the opening number, I wanna cringe out of my skin a bit, but after that? After that it’s a well told story about family, trauma, and the consequences of miscommunication. Half of this video I was just thinking ‘do you talk to your family at all??’ Wild to me that every family dynamic flew right over your head. It’s fine that this isn’t your movie, but none of your points even made any sense and some of them were debunking other bad takes that you heard second hand. This video was a miss dude. The editing was on point as always tho, great job.

Oh man, I am absolutely DYING for a take on Turning Red from you. Especially with that end bit, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

With the smaller points, I do disagree. However overall I agree, yes the movie does a lot of telling, not showing. The only instance of telling and not showing that I would argue for is the sign of Columbia. The purpose serves nothing for the movie, but as I'm sure others have said "my culture". The sign helps legitimize those arguments by saying yes this movie is based on Columbia and their culture without a weaker argument like Author Intent. Yes the movie does much more tell, than showing, could have shown plenty of the examples they claimed. This prevents others from connecting with the movie as much as, those who relate to it, inherently do. People saying "it's not intended for you", "your not the target audience", "not everything is made for you (the individual)", etc. are making appeals to "art is about (your) perspective" and so not everyone is going to have knowledge to properly understand. This also means that other can "dislike/hate" the movie because they don't have the knowledge, since "art is about perspective", so I (foolishly) hope you're not getting hate for this video