Encanto: Where are the Corners of Our House?
Encanto, a Disney animation set in Colombian territory, hit the nail on the head by approaching the different (“The Otherness”) differently.
Encanto: When Being Different is Approached Differently
By Nila Maria Costa
The film talks about the family from the perspective of the collective and its neuralgic issues.
One of the first questions posed right at the beginning of the movie concerns the right to belong. To belong as someone that is different.
As all social or communal exclusion generates a shadow. And every shadow manifests itself in the system as a symptom. It has a cumulative effect, and at a given moment, the “house starts to crumble,” symbolically and literally.
Little Mirabel belongs to a family that received in its ancestry a candle that never goes out and that has the ability to provide a Gift to each new descendant.
This candle (the clear representation of the Light) appeared at a time of great pain suffered by the matriarch of the family and her three children. Such a blessing assumed specific manifestations in each one as a personal gift (the Gift of healing, the Gift of hearing, physical strength, etc.)
Nevertheless, the granddaughter Mirabel did not receive any unique Gifts. The lack of Gifts was seen with estrangement by all the other family members.
The Role of our Ancestral Gifts
We have always been influenced by our ancestors, and this ancestry can help us to move forward in life with strength and joy, serving life itself; many gifts that we inherit carry the force of pain generated by them. But if we identify ourselves too much with these roles or gifts, we risk being imprisoned by them, by what should serve us and the collective.
So, we don’t develop our own abilities, we don’t discover our desires, and we don’t generate new gifts. Upholding tradition rigidly can be a betrayal of one’s soul.
This is difficult to understand and accept in a collective context. Having a gift can be both binding and liberating, as well as being different and unique.
This is just one of the beauties that the film sings about, the beauty of the Madrigal family, which, as the name implies, is a “concise poetic composition that expresses a fine, tender or gallant thought that is usually intended to be set to music.”
Another pearl (one of many others) from this movie is the rescue of those previously excluded. Accepting the “Other” that is so different from us makes it possible to rebalance the system permeated by the bonds of love.
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About the Author
Nila Maria Orrico Costa is a poet, avid writer, movie enthusiast, and commentator. She is a lover of fine arts, World Music and an aficionado of various cultural expressions, including theater and Cinema. As a Brazilian medical practitioner, Nila Maria is an M.D specializing in Cardiology and Echocardiography. Among her many other accomplishments, Nila Maria holds a post-graduation in Philosophy of Ethics and Science. She also has several specializations in Human Psychology and Psychotherapy. She lives with her spoiled cat and a pile of unread books.
Walt Disney Animation Studios’ “Encanto” is the tale of an extraordinary family, the Madrigals. They live hidden in the mountains of Colombia in a magical house, in a vibrant town, in a wondrous, charming place called an Encanto. The all-new original film features the voice of Stephanie Beatriz as Mirabel, an ordinary 15-year-old who’s struggling to find her place in her family. “Mirabel is a really funny, loving character who also deeply yearns for something more.”
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