Raya vs. Encanto - How One Message Failed and Another Succeeded 

I also think it’s interesting that barely anyone remembers or cares about Raya’s 5 main characters, while Encanto has 11 main characters that people love and basically create mini fanbases for. People always tried to argue Raya would be better if it had more time to develop the characters, but Encanto disproves that by having a cast twice as big and still way more memorable than evil baby and eye patch man.

Mirabel's Dad response of "I was thinking of my daughter" is such a G move

Raya in a nutshell: "Don't be so hasty to judge children, maybe the creepy stranger really does have candy in his windowless van."

my literal younger cousin got so confused about the message of trust in Raya and the Last dragon. Like she legit asked "But were supposed to not trust some people? What if they are bad?"

What Encanto did properly is how Mirabel didn't say "I forgive you" after Alma's apology. She says that "nothing could ever be broken that we cannot fix" which is beautiful because it means she doesn't instantly forgive Alma, however she will work towards full forgiveness while also fixing the broken relationship the family has.

Another aspect that makes Alma's redemption feel valid is the fact that she seemed to honestly believe that she was doing right by everyone. She thought she was honoring her husband's sacrifice by using her family to take care of the whole town, and that she was doing what was best for all involved. She was completely wrong, of course, but she learned and acknowledged it.

It's like Raya was written by a narcissist who thinks, "Why don't people just unconditionally trust me?"

So Sisu was that one person who believed everything they read on the internet

I'm a cake decorator. Nobody so far has asked me about Raya. I have done 5 orders for Encanto recently - just took one today in fact. That says a lot to me.

Raya's message is actually pretty toxic. It just says "You should fully trust every person regardless of how well you know them and if you don't, you're the bad person."

Namari is basically like “I wanna bring everyone back, but I want the credit.”

The most infuriating thing about raya is that sisu is constantly beating the moral of trusting others to raya's head when trusting naamari was what caused their society to collapse to begin with. I am surprised the writers didn't catch this.

Can we just talk about how Disney nailed that painful ugly cry perfectly from Alma after she lost her husband. Idk why it's so captivating, but its just, "mwah", chefs kiss!

appreciate how you pointed out that Alma was the antagonist but not the villain.

Raya’s story is sadly how many people live, others denying abuse. My grandmother still denies to this day that my father ever abused me, and i felt so alone for a long time, but Encanto is incredible man.. beautifully animated, and Alma has an amazing redemption arc

Will never forget my godawful experience watching Raya. I was in a social skills group, and the teacher decided to put on a movie. 7 of us voted for Tinkerbell, 1 person voted for a Nic Cage movie. Teacher didn't want that one person to be unhappy, so she put on Raya as a compromise. Literally all of us hated it. We were shittalking the movie the entire time, multiple people just straight up left partway through, and we asked the teacher not to show the movie to her kids bc it had such terrible values. The kicker? I looked over partway through the movie to the Nic Cage guy and he was watching a different movie on his phone. We got put through all of that for nothing. I wanted to strangle him.

“Explains her actions without justifying them” explains alma so well and drives the theme of generational trauma. It’s not talked about enough how trauma is cyclical in nature. Abusers have often been abused themselves. That’s why it’s up to the abused to break the cycle, just like mirabel did. It doesn’t excuse the abuse an abuser gives from what they’ve endured, it just explains their actions and unsolved underlying issues. I’m glad a movie like encanto exists-to show an abuser realize they’re wrong and make an attempt to atone for their actions and help who they’ve hurt as a way to heal from their own trauma

A detail I really really liked in Encanto is how Mirabel did get the candle when the house crumbled, but when the others rush back in when it’s safe, when her mother runs to her asking worriedly if she’s okay, checking her for injuries, she doesn’t even *think* to look for or ask about the candle

Mirabel’s dad saying, “I was thinking about my daughter!“ Is such a G move.

The review on Raya is spot on. It’s very irresponsible of Disney to release a movie that insists that the world is merely black and white. A lot of people can lose their lives should they believe the message of this movie. Also, the part where Namari gaslighted Raya after the sword fight between them and Raya realized that Namari was right just screamed “trust narcissists and empathize with them.” Dried up well of creativity Disney?

Mirabel's "I will never be good enough for you" after the brief moment of silence during their argument caught me totally off guard and hit like a truck. Whenever I rewatch the movie, it just gets me everytime.

Raya’s theme of trust is honestly hilarious considering the fact that most of the movie spends its time trying to hammer in the fact that some people can’t be trusted

Raya's message actually reminds me of a class I had once, in which the teacher said that no matter the abuse or differences, we should NEVER disconect with someone or chose to keep the relationship purely professional. On his words: "It's cruel and immature to not have a relationship with someone. You always should put in the work to build something, even in a broken/one sided relation". He eve went out of his way to say that even a r4pist dad should receive a chance/attempt at relationship fixing from the r4ped daughter. Till this day his class is infuriating to me. And Raya is exactly the same kind of message

I think that there is an even better scene with Zuko redemption. In the western air temple where all four members of team avatar all had different acceptance levels of Zuko. Toph was fine with it because the only other experiences she had of Zuko were Iroh talking about him and when they teamed up against Azula, so she didn't mind Zuko. Aang who was reluctant still was accepting because he needed a fire bending teacher and he has had a few positive interactions with Zuko before. Which the next episode showed that they became a good team. Then Sokka who didn't trust Zuko that much was ok with it because Aang was. During the boiling rock, they worked together and ended up making a good team causing Sokka to be fine with Zuko. Then Katara who was hurt the most hated the idea of Zuko working with them and was mad at Zuko until the Southern raiders. Then Katara finally decided to forgive Zuko after the episode. This shows great multiple levels of trust that Raya didn't even try to do.

I loved how there was no twist villain in "Encanto", with Abeula being the closest thing to an antagonist, yet she's revealed to have understandable motives behind her actions.

As someone that grew up in a toxic household. I understand the whole "Toxic family should never be forgiven". Totally. But man I still ugly cried at Mirabel getting an honest apology from Alma. For a lot of us, an apology like that will never happen. So hearing it in this movie just broke me down for awhile. Just one of those good long cries.

Imo, in a way, the house breaking WAS Mirabel's fault. But it wasn't a bad thing. The cracks in the house are such an excellent metaphor for the breakage of the family. Their family was always broken, but no one would acknowledge it, perfectly encapsulated by "We Don't Talk About Bruno." They sweep this huge family issue under the rug. The first two people who see the cracks with us is Mirabel and Bruno. Mirabel only AFTER her ballad about how she can't keep pretending she's fine. She finally stopped lying to her self and acknowledged how hurt she was. Other members of the family only saw the cracks when they recognized there was a problem, even if they thought Mirabel was the problem. The house breaking apart was the "climax" to this metaphor. When Mirabel confronted her Abuela, she exposed all of the issues that had been festering for the whole movie. It shows that we need to confront these issues and, in a way, seemingly break them further. Then, and only then, can you begin to rebuild.

The thing is, the message could've been SOO much better if Namari even just showed a little remorse. A little doubt, a little guilt, just anything. They could've had one small scene where Namari admitted her guilt, or just one line where she says, "I wish I didn’t tear us down." But no. It's heartbreaking watching this movie and understanding the missed opportunity

I'm so glad to see someone giving Raya the dragging it deserves tbh. "Sisu died because you didn't trust her" No she died because you fucking shot her. And even the intended message if you ignore how reductive it is fails because, like, Sisu has been demonstrably naive to the point of self endangerment several times already?

What's especially crazy about Raya's message is that THEY HAD AN ENTIRE SCENE SHOWING WHY BLIND TRUST IS A BAD THING! When Sisu just trusts the old lady from the sea village, she gets betrayed! Raya calls her out for it, but the movie still tries to say that SISU is RIGHT!

Everyone in Encanto was suffering alone. Except for Pepa, but she couldn't really help that. Alma lost her home and her husband in one night, in front of her baby triplets, and she suffered alone for 50 years. She's terrified of ever being vulnerable again. Now, there's a certain truth to the idea of using your blessings to bless others. It's beautiful, and it makes our world better. But she slipped into a common trap of focusing too much on it, and thinking that you "earn" miracles. It's not just about projecting an image of a perfect family. She thinks that if they serve the community, she'll never have to face loss like that again.

Raya and the Last Dragon seems like the kind of movie a dead beat/abusive parent would show to their kids on loop to brainwash them. See kids, no matter what I do, you need to trust me.

the only thing I didn’t like about encanto is that bruno doesn’t get an apology from anyone, instead he tries to apologize.

To Raya defense, Raya being gaslighted for the whole movie that everything is her fault and Namari never apologize for her mistakes...are one of the essences of Asian culture.

Something I think is worth noting about Encanto is the fact that Mirabel wasn't the only family member without a gift. Alma herself also doesn't have a gift either. So imo I got the feeling that Alma pushed those with gifts to be of use because she felt like she had nothing to offer herself, so she relied on her kids and grandkids to help others and protect their family in her stead, hence why she put so much stake in them, so they could make up for her own perceived shortcomings and inability. I also felt like she projected her insecurities related to this onto Mirabel, and it wasn't until Mirabel spelled it out to her that she realized what she'd been doing. Because Mirabel telling her that she was the one causing the house to break down was probably a confirmation of her worst fear, that she was the weak link in the family, and it would be because of her that it would fall apart. Because of how tightly her issues are tied with her behaviour, it makes her apology and desire to make things right feel that much more sincere. In acknowledging that Mirabel doesn't need a gift to be a vital and loved member of the family, Alma can also learn to view herself that way as well, which would be an important part of her healing process so she can address her own insecurities and how it affects her treatment of others. Granted this is just my interpretation.

Raya is basically the colonizer's/bully's view on how trust works. You repeatedly break trust over and over but you deserve to be forgiven and give us your trust and power again anyway 🤣 . I can't believe you actually watched that movie a second time for this video, you have truly suffered for our benefit here.

and the fact that Alma is not wearing her black shawl anymore after the *"Dos Oruguitas"* scene and after she and Mirabel willingly took accountability and apologized to each other is literally my favorite detail of the movie because finally she's free of the trauma and the pressure she puts herself under and that she finally acknowledged that no gift is greater than the gift of having a loving and supportive family that will help you, accept you, and help you change and be the best version of yourself. --fuck why did I cry writing this--

Oh boy. Raya got an Oscar nomination. It surely can’t ONLY be because it’s a Disney movie and if it were any other studio it wouldn’t of gotten any attention. Not at all.

Funny how this movie does practice show and tell. It shows us how trusting people blindly is dangerous And it tells us to trust people blindly.

Disney really is super hit or miss nowadays. Some movies have a very strong message that they handle very well like Encanto or Coco, and others are like "Do you get it?! DO YoU gEt tHE mEsSaGE?" I really hope they manage to pull themselves together soon.

Someone pointed this out before, but I'm gonna say it again here--- the house falling apart scene probably also helped to open Alma's eyes to how much she was hurting the whole family. Not just because the house broke, but because everyone was trying to save the Candle instead of themselves. Not just Mirabel, no no! EVERYONE. Isabela and Camilo both nearly get themselves killed along with Mirabel trying to save the Candle instead of trying to get out when the house is clearly falling down. If it had just been Mirabel, maybe then Alma could have thought ""Oh its just her who feels like this."" But it isn't! Camilo is also trying to save the Candle and Isabela- her Golden Child is also putting the safety of the Miracle/Candle over her own life! Because that's the message she instilled in the grandkids their whole lives. They could have been crushed and killed so easily. Especially as their gifts faded. But they didn't care. The Miracle is more important than they are! They ALL truly believe this! Not just Mirabel. ALL OF THEM. And having to see that right in front of her face... That had to really be eye opening.

A small thing, but I love when you first see the grandfather’s death, it’s sad but not very emotional. But when you get Abuela’s telling, it’s so intense and heartbreaking. She’s screaming and bawling her eyes out. It’s kind of like how everyone knew what happened, but they didn’t realize just how heartbreaking and tragic it really was

Missed opportunity to name the video: “How Raya failed, and Encanto sailed”

What I love about dos orugiutas(I can’t spell) is that when the origin of the miracle is shown in the beginning of the movie, it’s seen as a beautiful and happy thing because it’s being told to a child. Alma is explaining it to a 5 year old mirabel in a way that doesn’t share the unknown details of that night that Alma never opens up about. But with the dos orugitas scene, the start is beautiful, but it shows every detail about how terrifying and heartbreaking it was for Alma. Seeing her scream and fall to her knees when her husband is murdered, and how drained her bloodshot eyes look in the new home with her kids. That scene is her fulling opening up about her experiences after holding in that pain for 50 years. It’s not excusing get actions, but it shows just hot much heartbreak she went through. That’s why encanto is one of my favorite movies.

It always frustrated me to an insane degree how Sisu constantly gets her and Raya in danger due to her ridiculous nativity, then CONTINUES to lecture her about the importance of trusting people even after LITERALLY DYING because she got shot by someone who betrayed her.

What I love about Encanto is that the message is portrayed so casually and it's never hitting you over the head, unlike Raya, who repeats the lesson about trust so many times.

Abuela admitting she was at fault and that Mirabel isn’t the issue in terms of the families toxicity was an amazing and beautiful moment that made even me cry and it takes a lot for a scene to make me cry unless something really feels genuine. Raya however angered me as no one admitted that they were the problem and almost made Raya seem like she was the problem for either trusting too much or too little. Even a simple scene with Namaari sitting and apologizing to Raya like the river scene in Encanto would have redeemed the horribly written and rushed ending of this movie.

That avatar the last Airbender scene is no joke. the feels

If I was in Raya’s shoes, at the end of the movie I would’ve been like “great thanks for saving the world, please don’t ever contact me or talk to me again”

Just with the Zuko apology, the part i find the best of that, is that Zuko asks 'how can you forgive me so easily'. He went in fully expecting Iroh to, well, hate him. Then the way Iroh says 'I was never angry, just worried you had lost your way'. It was truly emotional Edit: Thank u so much for all the likes

Namari: "I didn't mean for any of this to happen!" Ok, but you meant to betray us. Twice. And both times, you effed the whole world. This is a direct result of what you MEANT to do. You knew it was bad. Why should I care if you didn't want it to be THIS bad?

Honestly, if the movie was about how Raya betrayed Namaari and that's how the world got effed up, I think it would've been a lot more compelling. Because now, it would be about her trying to fix things and win back Namaari's trust, which is understandably hard and makes Namaari's antagonistic nature a lot more reasonable.

One simple way to fix the big problem with Raya’s message: Raya’s dad’s first get together with the other tribes actually goes really well, and Raya and Namari become best friends. Flash forward a couple of years or so, and Namari is staying at Raya’s place when a bunch of bandits come in to try to steal the gem. Namari, who is in the right area at the right time, catches them in the act and goes to put the gem back, when Raya (who’d been alerted to the fact that there were thieves in the area after the gem) sees Namari holding the gem and assumes the worst. She attacks Namari, they get into a fight and the gem breaks. That way-Raya really did ruin the world due to lack of trust, and Namari actually has a good reason to hate her, since Raya was the one who ruined things due to not trusting her.

The message for Raya is "trust everyone even if they stabbed you in the back over n over"

There's another very important, and rather unfortunate reason why Raya's message failed, while Encanto's succeeded: It's easier to fix a broken family, than a broken world. Unfortunately, it's not that the world can't get along, so much as it doesn't want to get along. The world's issues aren't as simple as a mere lack of trust like in Raya. As nice as the movie's message is, our world just can't attain that, mostly because it doesn't want it. I mean, just take what's currently going on in the East for example. No, it's a lot easier to mend family bonds than it is to mend a broken planet.

It's been said a lot but I love how Nerdrotic phrased it: You can communicate any message as long as you prioritize storytelling, but you can't get good storytelling when you prioritize the message.

One scene I feel is a bit overlooked in Encanto is when Antonio is going to get his gift and feels scared/pressured and asks Mirabel to go with him, we see Alma just looks worried that Mirabel might jinx him or something giving no thought as to how Antonio or Mirabel are feeling. That was so heartwarming to see Mirabel trying to overcome her own trauma of not getting a gift by helping Antonio feel more comfortable in that moment.

Mirabel’s parents are the most underrated characters in the family. They’re the only ones that don’t treat her like less than a person because of her powers and actually acknowledge that others treat her that way.

26:01 Well actually the Madrigal family is a perfect mirror of how many traditional families used to work in Colombia, even you can say that every Colombian family has its own Bruno and its own Mirabel, people who is ostracized for being different or for not follow or agree with the customs and tradition of the rest of the family or even worse for trying to protect the family and failing at doing so like Bruno. For more younger people these situations are pretty alien, because in the last 20 years our society has changed a lot, there is not so much families with a lot of aunties, uncles, brothers, sisters and cousing anymore, this is something more from the time of our parents and grandparents, but I remember that my dad cried (a 60 year old man) with this movie because he really feel identified with the circumstances of the Madrigal family especially with Mirabel and Bruno, you can say he was kind of a Bruno himself.

I feel like Raya's saving grace is the aesthetic of the world, which I will admit looks super cool. But while I was less on board with the aesthetic of Encanto, I enjoyed every second of watching it.

It's important to understand WHY Alma put so much pressure on her family. She witnessed the worst in humanity, and obviously would have a hard time trusting people after that. Her children were born different--and from her past, she learned that people kill what is different from them. So, having her children tirelessly serve everyone is really a defense mechanism. "If everyone sees my children's differences as a blessing to the community, then the community will not fear them or kill them." And for all we know, she may have been right (at first). The issue arises when after time is given, she doesn't reflect upon this line of thinking, she allows it to continue unchallenged, because she is afraid of another massacre happening.

The face on Alma when Pedro is killed is absolutely soulcrushing. She looks like what someone would have on their face when it happens in real life. It was incredible.

I agree with everything you said, the ONLY issue I have with Encanto is that I think Bruno should've also had a moment where he got to vent to Alma like Mirabel did and to his other family members as well. I think his story line was concluded a bit too easily. He was hated by his family for so long and talked negatively about for so long that he even created characters out of inanimate objects and mainly got happiness from them more than his own family. So, while I do love the movie, I do think they rushed his angry to forgiveness arc a bit too fast.

Movie: Trust is always the correct solution :) Audiences: But Raya trusted Namari at one point... And it plunged the world into ru- Movie: TRUST 👏 IS ALWAYS 👏 THE CORRECT 👏 SOLUTION

Alma is like Joy from Inside Out: a controlling, self-centered, antagonistic person for the majority of the movie, who realizes her mistake in the 3rd act and puts genuine effort into redeeming herself. And I love that!

What i like about Alma’s backstory is it does NOT excuse her But it *does* explain her

Namari was the worst gaslighting character who wasn't an evil stepmother and they had the gall to make her teach Raya a lesson in trusting people?? That blew my miiiiind

The sad things about Encanto is that many families who have such a crisis with an overbearing grandmother (either narcissistic or traumatized into abusiveness) DON'T get a happy reconciliation montage, and instead just slowly drift apart... especially after the grandmother is gone. Without being trapped in the Encanto, most families like this bleed members off and split over the years. Ask me how I know.

People who have hurt you can be forgiven... Encanto: If they are willing to change. Raya: Under all circumstances, no matter what.

Alma is a character that is the combination of everything that the younger Latino community hates about their older relatives and everything they wish they could have. We all wish that our parents or grandparents can face their trama and realize how it's hurt their children but few actually do. A few friends have even told me that their parents or grandparents hate Encanto because 'The ending was dumb' or 'They made the Abuela the villian'. The message went right over their heads

There is no better idea or more responsible than the message telling children to put complete and full trust in complete strangers

When Namari tried to say that Raya was just as to blame for Sisu's death and the film language backed her up, I actually rage quit the movie for like 2 weeks because I could not even and I barely made it through the rest. I could not and still can't believe that Disney would put out a movie that was basically 'victim blaming 101'. I cannot stand this movie, or it's ridiculously irresponsible message. 😡😫

The biggest problem with Raya is the Raya is the protagonist instead of Namari. Imagine how much better the story would have been as a story about a villain trying to earn their redemption; rather than a generic story about a hero trying to fix the world. That's the biggest problem: and I theorize its a *Disney* problem even; my theory is by trying to make the story message fit Raya as a character, it spoiled the whole story, but they had to, because Disney movies never have villain protagonists as far as I remember.

Abuela's reaction during the murder of her true love in the Dos Oruguitas segment is the most heartbreaking reaction I've seen in any animation. It's like if Disney studied grief and the pure pain of losing someone and embodied that in Abuela. I bawled my eyes out and felt it to the core

I love encanto, but it's so relateable to our family that it's almost too hard to watch now. My mom is pretty much exactly like Luisa, and her relationship with my grandmother was very much like the relationship between Mirabel and Alma. Their fight at the end that breaks the house sums them up pretty well. Unfortunately, my Grandmother died yesterday on christmas eve. We found out because my aunt made a facebook post about it. They never got to have the reconciliation that mirabel and alma had because nobody cared enough to tell my mom that her mother was in hospice, or to tell her when she died. Not even my mom's identical twin sister reached out. My mom is completely broken, and she feels so alone. When I watched Encanto with her last year, she cried durring Surface Pressure and the final argument because it described her and her mother exactly. I wish my mom could have had a happy ending like encanto. Not every estranged family has a Mirabel to bring them back together, and that's really hard to come to terms with.

Raya's script sounds like a massive gaslighting for it's titular character. Raya: I've been hurt by trusting people. Shizu and script writer: You're confused, you just need to trust people more.

mirabel’s gift being bringing her family to reality was such a great peaceful resolution, but i really wish we saw what kind of room casita built for her! after all that work repairing generational trauma she deserves all the sewing machines and skeins of yarn she wants.

The movie is trying to say that Raya is at fault for thinking that Namaari is an enemy. I'd like to counter that by stating the following: Namaari has literally never been anything to Raya other than an enemy. So Raya is well within her right to suspect Namaari's intentions. That's not prejudice! That's pattern recognition!

Raya would’ve been better as a series. It would have allowed for more time to be spent in each new location and the characters to have actual character development. That way it would have made more sense in the finally when they all trust each other. Instead we got THAT

My favorite part of Encanto aside from the amazing storytelling, is when they all use their powers to try to get to the candle. It’s pretty cool to see what they could do.

Alma's cry in the very first scene showing the origins of the miracle vs her cry when showing her full, raw trauma in Dos Oruguitas is so heart wrenching to me. It's such a small detail, but the fact the cry is drawn prettier and gentler at the beginning shows the more flowery version of the tale, while the final scene, Alma is fulling embracing that trauma

Nemari just embodies a psychologically abusive friend who blames you for everything wrong and never admits when they’re in the wrong. She literally reminds me of a toxic friend I had in my childhood who constantly treated me like shit and took advantage of my kindness and generosity, and whenever I called her out on it she just threw it in my face and called me a bad friend for not being nicer to her. The entire movie feels like something a toxic friend would make to justify their actions.

Yeees! I don’t hate Raya, but the ending of the movie is really hard for me to overlook. To me it felt like an emotionally manipulative person blaming the person that keeps trusting them. It’s definitely weird.

"Movies aren't fun when they're shaking you and screaming 'DO YOU GET IT? DO YOU GET THE MESSAGE?' over and over again!" This.

I feel like Alma has a form of survivor’s guilt, trying to justify her survival over her husband in the form of service to the community.

It’s important to see WHY Abuela Alma was so hard on her family. We don’t get to understand why Namaari took the gem.

The fact that you shouted people actually involved in the culture of the films instead of delving into it yourself is why you’re the GOAT dude, so cool of you. Great work man.

I never thought a review video could make me cry. lol I live in Colombia and, despite not being born here and always having this feeling that I experience the culture as a tourist and I'm trying to catch up with at least a decade of history classes, childhood experiences and pop culture that set me apart from the rest, I feel a huge and very strong connection to the movie. And it's simply so good. Characters, message, animation, character design, music, culture.. It's one of my favorite disney/pixar/whatever movies. I have come to the realization that I might be trans. Every week I come into terms with a part of myself that I feel will push me away from my family or will make them hate me if they found out. One day it was me liking using feminine avatars/skins in games, another day was buying sanrio products, then it was having long painted nails, then it was make up, then skirts.. My mom is sometimes so disturbed by things that I find unharmful like me not cutting my nails because I don't like to keep them short as men tipically do (But I do try to keep them round and pretty), and tends to make weird comments like "You've always been my handsome, MALE son which other moms have always complimented" when discussing gender and sexuality, almost like guilt-tripping me to fall into that expectation that others and she herself have on my gender. Sometimes she gets very erratic under situations I speculate are moments where she feels she lacks control. When I used to let my brother watch fnaf videos a few years ago, making sure he doesn't walk into any weird content other than silly convoluted theories/analysis and fan animations, she would start screaming at me when I wouldn't turn it off because she *knew* better than me and was not gonna negotiate her son watching some "brainrot" disturbing content, when he legitimately enjoyed it and euphorically talked to me about the theories he would come up with. We had a lot of fights like that, and it's to the point I fear she could kick me out of the house just by making it a habit to paint my nails, or to let my hair grow more than it is expected for me as a biological male because she'd feel such a lack of control and disappointment at that point that she wouldn't be able to think rationally. + She has a belief that I cannot challenge her views by protesting what she teaches my brother or the things he's shown, and that there are "Household" values that I shouldn't challenge, which simply sounds like a way to say "Be gay in this catholic household and you're out". Your breakdown of the ending scene where Alma hugs Mirabel made me tear up, and I'm still crying as I write this comment. Alma realizes she's breaking the family because she at some point stopped seeing them as family members but rather blessings at the service of the town, and now is heartbroken to see that her trauma and her wish to help others inspired by her dead lover's sacrifice spilled and spread all throughout the following generations. However, she wants to fix it, not only by easing up on the kids, but by accepting that Mirabel is just as valuable as anyone else in the family despite not being a superhuman that can help the town in the same way the other gifted characters can. She's a blessing because she is her grandkid, product of the cascading love of the Madrigales (The love between her and Pedro, the love for her kids, the love between her kids and their respective partners, and so on). Even if she isn't blessed with powers, she is a blessing, because Mirabel, and any of the children growing up inside the family are ultimately why she is a mother and grandmother. I am scared to come out or simply start doing the things that make me feel myself in front of my family and not in secret, because I'm not sure whether my mom would be as understanding as Alma eventually was. I have no idea what she has gone through other than a very catholic childhood, and to me it simply seems like my mom was always the "Do as you're told, don't question stuff" kid amongst her siblings, so she has the kind of personality that has very specific, strict values that she doesn't wanna change, which are mostly just "Follow the bible 1:1. If bible say gay bad, then gay bad". I don't know what it is, but she's breaking me by pushing me into this box of what I'm supposed to be and it hurts. It's beautiful to think that, all the times she hugs me and tells me I'm important, loved, handsome and a man of good, she's being honest and seeing past my appearance and those values I don't fulfill. It's nice to think she has that in her, to be able to not judge me for what I want to look like and only because of what I give to the family and to society. It's nice to dream of a day she hugs me like Alma did, and says that I'm a blessing, even if I don't look just like what she wanted me to, initially. Thanks for the breakdown of an amazing movie, and thanks for making me realize one of the reasons why it connects with me and why I love it so much.

I really like the subversion of Mirabel being prepared to leave, packing up a purse to go out to save the Miracle... before she realizes she has no idea how to do that, and the movie ends up actually mostly staying in the same location. It sets itself up to be a huge journey before we realize with Mirabel that the problem lies solely at home.

I feel like people don’t talk enough about Pepa’s struggles in their videos. Every scene that Pepa is in, people are telling her to bottle her emotions so they don’t inconvenience others (even Pepa herself, with her “clear skies” incantation). It made me so happy to see Pepa embracing her emotions and dancing in the snow(?) with her husband. I love that Bruno was the one to tell her it’s okay to let herself feel what she’s feeling. It’s such a subtle thing but still a powerful message! Just like the struggle of Luisa, Isabela, and Bruno.

Imagine if in Encanto Mirabel and Alma just went “You should stop being toxic” “Ok” “Cool, I’m gonna not help at all and blindly trust that you’ll completely fix the entire family”

Raya's writers are like that teacher who punishes and forces to apologize the victim to the bully for defending themselves. This is so unfair and infuriating.

Having watched both of these basically back to back recently, I couldn't help but think Encanto succeeded so hard in every place Raya failed to the point where it seemed like the film makers looked at Raya and went "What if we took that and did the exact opposite?" So needless to say I'm excited to see what you have to say...and also tear Raya a new one

7:07 Sisu actually has ONE funny line in the movie : Sisu : "YOU BROKE THE GEM?!" Raya : "Well I still have a big chunk of it tho..." Sisu : "Is that supposed to make me feel better? If you lost a puppy and I said "Well we still have a big chunk of it", would that make you feel better???" It's not really the line itself, it's just that I didn't expect such a graphic image to be put in my head by a Disney movie.

I went into Encanto with a negative mindset, ngl... but watching it all, I really did enjoy it and relate HEAVILY to it. I live in a toxic household, myself... with people tending to do things like let mistakes define who you are and what treatment you get stuck with for a while. There was a lot in that movie that had me connecting the dots, it's a bonus it really fit with the heritage being shared here, too. It's a surprisingly deep movie and I'm pretty grateful for the message and insight it shared. Genuinely? It's kind of helped me collect my thoughts more coherently for potential future therapy sit-downs that need to be had with family about that kind of behavior.

28:51 “She [Abuela Alma Madrigal] gives a full, honest apology and admits that everything is broken because of her. Which is something a SPINELESS, SNIVELLING COWARD LIKE NAMAARI could never do.” BEAUTIFUL. You perfectly captured exactly what I (and certainly many other viewers) think of Namaari. This video of yours carefully covers each area that demonstrates why Namaari never earnt our heroes´ forgiveness and trust. Contrastingly, if you look at the _Raya_ _And_ _The_ _Last_ _Dragon_ entry on TV Tropes, some writers victimblame Princess Raya.

raya’s message: ah yes, even if a person emotionally abuses, betrays, stalks, harasses, and manipulates you into destroying the world and breaks your trust several times, you should continue trusting them. It is a horrific message that should not be shown to kids.

Alma reminded me of Joy from Inside Out. Doing what she thought was right, keeping her family strong, but never realizing until everything crumbles around her that she was the problem all along. And the movie never tries to hide it. In Inside Out, all Riley wants is to cry but Joy won't let her. Encanto is similar. I mean, look at poor Pepa.

I only recently watched Encanto, and it quickly became one of my favorite movies all around. And one crucial aspect of the movie is how I feel not just Almas grandchildren suffering from the pressure, but how she herself is too, believing that she needs to do everything in her power to earn the miracle. That's why even after that crushing argument with Mirabelle I don't and can't hate her. The weight of expectations, even when they are false, can be depressing.

Dude, the scene of zuko and iroh reuniting never fails to make me cry. Even you just describing it and showing the scene made me cry again. It’s just so good.