Blog Entry Week 7 - Encanto (Part 3)~

 

💓 Encanto Review Part 3 💝

Welcome back to my final Encanto Review! For this last part, I figured on sharing my thoughts about specific scenes, characters, and their dynamics. I know that I did state about wanting to explain about plot elements and such, but I prefer giving a well-rounded sharing than explaining only one aspect. Well, let’s drive straight into it!

 

 

--Favourite Event/Scene--

Firstly, I think it’s only suitable to start with my favourite event/scene in Encanto. This enchanting tale supposedly set in the 1950s most certainly has a myriad of scenes of which I adore. However, the one scene that catches my eye the most is towards the end of the movie, where all the characters are singing “All of You”, and Mirabel Madrigal is encouraged and feels loved. I particularly love this scene as it revisits the time when Mirabel was only about 5 years old and she was walking towards the shiny glittering door inside the house, where she was supposed to be bestowed upon a gift, but she wasn’t.

Circling back to the current situation, Mirabel around the age of 15, is once more walking towards the main door, the biggest door of the house, Casita. The figurative meaning is extremely apparent in the sense that instead of a door inside the house, Mirabel is the door to the house; she is their miracle. In my opinion, this symbolizes growth and expansion of the family’s love and Mirabel as a whole. The scene includes all her family members singing by each side as she walks towards the door. To me, this symbolises the immense and unconditional love from the family to Mirabel, telling her that they see her as who she is, with a gift or with no gift.

I love this scene because tiny details such as the letter ‘M’ carved onto the doorknob can be so easily missed by many, even though it’s such an important detail to note. I think the letter ‘M’ does not only stand for Mirabel’s first initial, but also for the word “me”. To support my argument, Mirabel is always thinking about her family, constantly being the person who tries their very hardest to show that she is just as capable as the rest of her family and continuously rises up to face the crisis that lands their family, a crisis that places everyone and Casita itself in danger. Mirabel does all of this, but doesn’t take time to really appreciate herself. I truly believe that the letter “M” also means “me”, as the last thing Mirabel says before she places the doorknob is, “I see me. All of me”. At the same time, this scene also showcases and highlights the relationship Mirabel has with Casita. Throughout the movie, Mirabel is the one that communicates with Casita the most. In the end, Mirabel is also the one to bring Casita back. Perhaps, Mirabel does have a gift after all.

In short, this scene brings me so much of joy as I can almost feel the happiness and acceptance that Mirabel feels from her very own family. After being silently judged for so long, she is finally seen for who she is.

 

 

--Mirabel taking a life-changing action--

Although the average audience wouldn’t see any sort of “life-changing action” in a Disney movie, I beg to differ. Of all that has been portrayed in the movie, the one crucial life-changing action as performed by a character would most definitely have to be when Mirabel risked her very own life to save the magic candle while Casita was breaking and collapsing. This scene also happens to be the climax of the movie.

To show how Mirabel is motivated to do this, once again I must bring up the relationship Mirabel has with Casita. Since they communicate the most, their relationship is friendly and close. In this scene, while Casita is crumbling down, it pushes every family member out, except Mirabel, which most probably shows literally and figuratively that Mirabel is indeed the one tasked to save their miracle, which is to secure their foundation and power source, the magic candle. Casita knows that Mirabel is the ‘chosen one’ (as it is seen in Bruno’s vision) to care for her family, possibly even to take over Abuela’s place as the matriarch of the family. The whole scene of Mirabel calling out to Casita to help her get up to the candle while it is already crumbling further highlights how Mirabel has to be the only one that can save their family. Although Camilo and Isabella try to help her, their gifts fail them.

At the very end, as Casita finally collapses, it still sends random furniture to protect Mirabel. For obvious reasons, Mirabel is willing to risk her life as she loves her family, her “encanto”, her Casita. This is a major change as the family no longer has their home, their second chance at life that Abuela tried so hard to maintain is ruined, and the family is broken apart, as their foundation no longer exists. This point is proven as the magic candle, already so small and at its very base, flickers out and dies in Mirabel’s hands.

If Mirabel had not rushed up to try and save the candle, it would have signified that she has finally given up, and all of her efforts would have really gone to waste. All the time and effort spent trying to uncover the reason why she saw the cracks and the reason why she’s in Bruno’s vision, would have all gone to the bin. Mostly, it wouldn’t be very ‘Mirabel’ of her to give up so easily, or at all for that matter. Therefore, Casita made a great choice by bestowing Mirabel as the chosen one.

In conclusion, Mirabel being the chosen one had no choice but to risk her life to try and save their magic candle, the source of their family’s light and power source. In my opinion, at this point of the movie just as the climax ends, and when both Abuela and Mirabel are sitting on the floor of their once-known Casita, reality finally dawns on both of them; Abuela’s feeling of regret, and Mirabel’s failure.

 

 

--A change of heart on Abuela’s character--

In most cases, a change of heart for a character or situation is inevitable. In the same way, my thoughts and feelings on Abuela as a whole have changed dramatically from how I saw her in the exposition of the movie and how I view her at the denouement. From the very start, Abuela comes across as cold, harsh and very demanding, especially when it comes to her family. Perfection is not a trial-and-error method, it is needed. We can see from the diction she uses, as she always talks about to need to “protect our family”. She is especially hard on Mirabel, the only Madrigal grandchild without a gift. For example, when she tells Mirabel to “step aside” during the preparations of Antonio’s gift giving ceremony that is to be held later in the evening. Another example would be the scene just before Casita starts to crumble, when she and Mirabel have their direct conflict, in which Abuela shouts “I don’t know why you weren’t given a Gift, but it is not an excuse for you to hurt this family!”.

However, my opinion on Abuela’s character starts to shift during the real-life motion of the flashback scene to Abuela’s youth, when she was young and full of life, when “[She] thought [she] would be a different woman”. The flashback exposes every detail, from Abuela falling in love with her late husband, Pedro, to them having triplets together, and Pedro’s sacrifice for Abuela, his children, and his entire community.

Losing her young husband, and stricken with grief, young Abuela had to raise her three children all on her own, as a single mother. Not only that, since the magical candle (Abuela’s and Pedro’s marriage candle) had blessed her with a new home, a new foundation, Casita has also bestowed upon Abuela the greatest responsibility, by becoming the de facto matriarch of her family and her entire community. Therefore, to rebuild her community in their darkest moments, her children were given gifts, to serve their beloved community.

I can really empathise with Abuela. Having to lose everything, one can never be too sure that it wouldn’t happen all over again. The so-called ‘perfection’ she demands is somewhat valid, in the sense where she never wants to lose her home, her family, and her life all over again. The scene where Abuela and Mirabel embrace each other is the turning point for me, that their family will indeed be saved as Abuela says, “I asked my Pedro for help, he sent me you”.

Abuela’s whole demeanour changes. She is more accepting of her children and grandchildren, and we actually get to hear her say “sorry” to her family, and especially to Mirabel who needed to hear it the most. To end, my favourite quote from Abuela that signifies her change in attitude has to be, “The miracle is you, not some gift, just you”.

 

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To sum up, I had a lot of fun watching Encanto many times, as well as researching the movie as a whole. I still stand that Encanto is one of my favourite movies of all time. I really hope you enjoyed my content on Encanto, and I shall choose more films to criticise, analyse and review in my upcoming posts~