#disney encanto analysis

[jacarandaaaas]

sometimes I feel bad for talking about mirabel so much then I remember how she used to be so ignored in the fandom people didn’t even know she was the main character

#encanto #encanto disney #disneys encanto #mirabel madrigal #mirabel encanto #people thought bruno was the mc like omfg #I still consider mirabel underrated compared to other madrigals and Disney protags in general actually #we know well the company doesn’t like her😭 #anyways I’ll always be a mirabel defender like that’s my daughter #she deserves more!! #I have to edit that analysis and it’s almost ready #mirabel my beloved #disney’s encanto

[phoenixlionme]

These two screenshot comparisons are VERY telling. Now, before I start, I want to make it clear: This is not me calling the Madrigals "evil" or anything like that, it's just an observation. Kind of a sad one but still a simple observation.

In the first shot, we see all of them listening to Alma's speech. All of staring up at the matriarch with attentiveness and reverence; at the same time, huddling together in closeness and vulnerability - Luisa's hand on Julieta's shoulder. Julieta and Camilo holding each other, Isabela and Dolore holding one another, and Agustin holding onto Dolores' shoulder. We see that they are tight knit and close family that have zero qualms about being affectionate with each other. But, then something happens...

Onto the second screenshot, their closeness doesn't change but their attention and attitudes shift. Why? They just witnessed Mirabel (whose ceremony failed) agreeing to help Antonio to his door. And they don't smile at Mirabel's sweet gesture even after shock dissipates. All of their reactions are either shocked (Camilo, Dolores, Agustin), concerned (Julieta), quiet understanding (Luisa), or quiet disapproval (Isabela, when asked about her reaction Jared Bush confirmed on Twitter that Isabela made that face because she thought Mirabel was going to mess up Antonio's night).

And given how Mirabel was positioned with Antonio, she most likely noticed the reactions of her family. And even though it's not said, I think it paints a clear picture of something even Mirabel most likely knows but doesn't say out loud: For all the talk about familial love, the Madrigals don't have the highest respect for Mirabel. I am NOT saying they don't love her, but they don't fully respect her.

#disney #encanto #luisa madrigal #camilo madrigal #julieta madrigal #isabela madrigal #dolores madrigal #agustin madrigal #madrigal family #favfams #my posts #fam analysis

[themattress]

Why are these Disney heroines "adorkable"?

Rapunzel (Tangled): Because she was raised in isolation her entire life. She doesn't have a clue about the outside world or social graces or other people besides her "mother" in general. But she's extremely eager to learn and eager to please, not to mention is a pent-up ball of energy waiting to run wild, which leads to her adorkability. It makes perfect narrative sense.

Anna (Frozen): While not as badly as Rapunzel, she was also raised in isolation for much of her life, largely having to rely on the books in her castle library to teach her about the world and things such as proper etiquette, life skills and romance. But real life is not a book, so when she actually has to do these things, she often flounders due to her nervousness, excitement or inexperience, which leads to her adorkability. It makes perfect narrative sense.

Moana (Moana): From early in her life, she was raised under a very strict set of rules and instilled with a strong sense of responsibility, which is at odds with her instinctive desire to break these rules and her fears that she isn't up to the challenge her responsibilities pose. All of this pent-up stress she carries within her will often cause her to explode with emotion at the slightest provocation, which leads to her adorkability. It makes perfect narrative sense.

Mirabel (Encanto): As a young child, she failed to receive a special gift and room the same way the rest of her family did. Now feeling like the failure of the family, Mirabel's coping mechanism became trying to make herself as extravagant and quirky as possible. She's an incredibly "Try Hard" person, which leads to her adorkability. It makes perfect narrative sense.

Asha (Wish): Um.....well, she.....yeah, I got nothing. There is no narrative justification here.

Disney doesn't have an Adorkable Problem. Just an Asha Problem.

#Disney #Female Characters #Tangled #Rapunzel #Frozen #Anna #Moana #Encanto #Mirabel Madrigal #Wish #Asha #Analysis #Comparison #Bad Writing #Anti-Wish #Anti-Asha

[picklepie888]

I hope we continue this trend of having a breakout animated film at the end of every year from now on.

#for 2021 it was encanto #for 2022 it was puss in boots #both have latino protagonists too #and both have spawned fandoms with a lot of creative artwork memes and analysis #it's delightful and i hope this continues #encanto #puss in boots #puss in boots the last wish #animation #disney #dreamworks

[my-little-safe-corner]

Good and Evil Magic in Wish and Disney

In Wish, Star, a pure representation of good magic, has gold color. This is also the color of star power in each organism's heart:

And of course, the color of the magic wands Star gives Asha:

The gold color symbolizes good magic in other Disney movies, too, such as in the Fairies franchise with Queen Clarion and the miracle candle from Encanto:

In the first wish ceremony, Magnifico also uses golden magic:

But, wait! There's another color involved here:

And, indeed, Star is also associated with dark pink:

And so is the magic in Encanto:

However, after Magnifico uses the dark magic book, his magic becomes green / emerald, which is the classical color of evil magic in Disney, for example:

Even in Lion King, which has no magic (maybe except for Rafiki's rituals), the good lions are golden, while Scar is associated with green:

In Encanto, there's no evil magic, but Bruno, whom everyone is afraid of, is represented by this color:

And notice how Mirabel, who has green glasses, intentionally decorates her clothes and mochilla with gold and pink, trying as best as she can to belong and not be seen as an outsider:

Therefore, the second wish ceremony looks different:

And when Simon's wish is granted, even his heart becomes green, corrupted to the core:

#disney wish #wish analysis #the lion king #encanto #encanto analysis

[inamindfarfaraway]

Isabela Madrigal, Heights and Vine Symbolism

Before “What Else Can I Do?”, Isabela is repeatedly positioned higher than Mirabel. She appears on the landing when they’re preparing the birthday party in a dramatic entrance and later rolls her eyes at Mirabel’s claims of the cracks from up there too, while Mirabel is on the ground floor both times. During the argument she drags Mirabel flat on the floor and stands tall over her. Heck, her bed is even on a raised platform with stairs leading up to it.

This shows the imbalances between them of others and especially Alma’s regard, their privilege and implicitly inherent worth. Everyone looks up to Isabela… and she looks down her nose at Mirabel. We sympathize more with Mirabel in these scenes, her feeling to herself and us not just a helpless victim of her sister’s pride, but more reasonable and, well, down-to-earth.

Flowering vine swings in particular symbolize this idea. Her bed, as seen there, is attached to vines strong enough to lift and swing it. Based on how she lowers it when Mirabel first enters her room, I infer that she pulls it up into the enclosing curtains (said by the creative team to represent how she feels trapped) to retreat even further from the world when she’s upset, hiding her messy, ‘bad’ negative emotions out of anyone’s sight and earshot. Besides the bed being a big swing, she’s suspended from vines in the “Did somebody say flowers?” moment; in “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” complete with a spotlight, her vision seemingly the only desirable one foretelling her happiness and prosperity; and in promotional art designed to effectively present her pre-story character, suggesting it’s in-universe something she does often and is known for. Her trademark as “Señorita Perfecta Isabela”.

This demonstrates her skill, strength and precision with her gift, and does a lot to serve her perfect image - and Mirabel’s perception that she’s spoiled and has had everything handed to her. It’s an efficient method of transportation that no ordinary person could use. A glamorous, elevated vehicle reserved for a specific individual and allowing them to sit connotes privilege and superiority, like litters. Her being seated, the vines descending from somewhere unseen rather than us watching her grow them from scratch, their smooth, fluid movement and her not visibly exerting herself in the slightest make her command look totally effortless. It’s easy to forget that she’s controlling the vines at all instead of getting (more) cosmic help. And look at her gorgeous hair and dress as they swish and flow with the elegant motion! Look at the flowers she didn’t need to add, but did, because all that she touches is beautiful to behold! Lovely Isabela, an angel deigning to visit Earth from the heavens. Perfect Isabela, too good to take the stairs like a normal person. What a vain fucking showoff.

In the early part of “WECID” when Mirabel isn’t actively listening to her, she uses vines again. Yet it feels different. She sits on another swing to travel to the location of the verse where she explicitly describes the monotony, oppressiveness and exhaustion of always growing the same perfect flowers and always keeping up a shallow facade. “I grow rows and rows of roses/Fleur de mayo, by the mile/I make perfect, practiced poses”. Oh. It does take effort. It takes energy and time and thought, enough to leave her drained of enthusiasm for life itself. She’s been silently giving her whole self away all these years. Furthering the revelation that using her gift, at least in this way, is actually taxing, she then manipulates the vines to swing her bed not ‘effortlessly’ through her magic but with her arms and weight like a normal person. The movement is a defiant, forceful pull, as if straining against restraints or seizing her personal autonomy. The only time we’ve seen force anything like that from her before is…

emphatically ripping a flower off her own vine while ranting about how the arranged proposal she was going to accept, her ultimate sacrifice in the name of her family, has been ruined.

Now we realize: to Mirabel, the vines’ symbolism is that Isabela is better than her. To Isabela, they’re puppet strings. She doesn’t look in control of them because she isn’t in control of her life, merely a pretty doll Alma moves around, pressured to be passively pulled wherever the supposed needs of “the family” demand. A precarious position that she must constantly work to keep her balance in, lest she irrevocably, unforgivably fall from grace. She literally uses vines as a barrier between her and Mirabel. To try to remove the ‘imperfection’ of Mirabel from her room. They are tools of restriction, division and imposing your will on someone else.

But during “What Else Can I Do?” she thinks of ascension and heights positively. She wants to “climb”, to “rise” right “through the roof, to the skies”, and reflects this by rising on a growing palm tree and going up to the roof, jumping and riding plants higher than she’s ever been before. What changes?

Instead of hanging, she’s standing on her own two feet. On the foundations of her family home and plants she constructs for herself. When she does swing from vines, like when leaping off the roof and later racing to save the candle, she grips them unsupported Tarzan-style, which feels much more active and independent. She even rides on thicker, sturdier moving vines! She initially leaves Mirabel behind to climb after her, Isabela caught up in the rush of discovering and experimenting with freedom of expression and Mirabel still seeing her as a means to the end of protecting the miracle and family (hey, like Alma does… it’s as if they’re foils or something!). But by the bridge they’re both on top of the palm tree.

They’re both on top of the palm tree because Isabela helps Mirabel up. She wants to share her real self with her, for her to be part of this. This is the first moment when she directly addresses Mirabel and asks for her opinion: doesn’t she want freedom and authenticity too? Mirabel is inspired to really listen to her sister, reevaluate her assumptions about her and process the new side of her she’s seeing. Her conclusion - “All I know are the blossoms you grow/But it’s awesome to see how you rise” - is that she likes, loves, even admires the true Isabela and wants to understand and see more of her, no doubt wishing that they’d had this conversation sooner. She chooses to embrace and support her. Isabela sinks to her knees and Mirabel in response sits down next to her, so even their standing height difference is eliminated.

They finally see eye to eye. They rise together.

After that, they stay on the same level throughout the rest of the movie.

The toxic imbalances of power, autonomy and perceived value are gone. They’re equals and respect each other accordingly. At the end of the song, Isabela lets herself fall into a cushioning pile of her new, vibrant flowers, safe in the knowledge that she can catch herself.

#you know what that is? growth #literally #of a lot of plants #I’m sorry i couldn’t resist #isabela madrigal #i love her #if i cannot find in-depth analysis of her i will create it #curse tumblr’s ten-image limit #i wanted to add images for all the scenes #maybe this would have worked better as a video essay #mirabel madrigal #encanto #disney encanto #madrigal family #familia madrigal

[viridianvisions]

Animation details in Encanto (probably one of many, many, many posts)

#1 - Bruno before his visions:

His face immediately before the vision forms behind his eyes is serene, though clearly burdened with anticipation...

But you can see the immense effort that it takes to steady and prepare himself for the vision as it materialises and projects from his irises; his hands clench tighter, brows furrow and jaw sets harder. It actually looks painful.

The same can be seen when he has his vision ten years later with Mirabel: although subtle, his frown deepens and his mouth pulls tighter as he steels himself for the onset of probably sharp, stinging bursts of light behind his eyes.

Only when he exhales and stretches out his hands do we see his features relax a little.

But then, right before his eyes light up, we can see just how difficult it is to keep himself poised through the strain. It's clear that, although rusty after a decade, he's learned how to cope with it through this pre-relaxation routine.

It's telling that they took the time to animate all these miniscule details to further convey why Bruno was not only reluctant to perform the vision for Mirabel, but also how part of his anxiety likely stems from the very real expectancy of pain before, and probably during, the vision itself - and all this before he's even had to decipher what symbolism he sees, then convey what that means to the requester.

Dolores was definitely on the mark when she sang that Bruno's gift was "a heavy lift", and the animators made sure to let us know this is the case. 🥺

~If this is the number of years it's taken to get to this point of managing it, I can only imagine how excruciating it must have been when he first started out. He's suffered more than we know. 😭~

#encanto analysis #Bruno Madrigal #bruno encanto #Encanto #Disney #He handles it amazingly well #But upon closer inspection it's easy to see how much practice it's taken to get to this point #Why did they do him with his gift like that #I want to comfort him 🤧 #He needs more than a hug #Where are the headache pills 1950 magical town?! #I need to speak to the apothecary

[sakuraswordly]

Translated: When you think of Disney's female protagonists, you tend to think, ``It's just a fairy tale romance, right?'' However, there are many modern Disney heroines that have no romantic elements at all. Romance is not necessarily necessary when creating a story about the success of a teenage woman, so please watch it without any preconceptions! ! That's cool!

#moana 2016 #encanto 2021 #disney encanto #raya and the last dragon #wish 2023 #disney #Disney #Analysis

[thewickedmerman]

This is an issue I've been noticing for years. Disney seems to be prioritizing humor and it often hurts what should be powerful, dramatic, and subtle moments in their movies because they throw in pointless humor in scenes where it isn't needed. Plus, I might be trying to appeal to the algorithm and since criticizing Disney is the big thing now, I thought I would talk about this issue I personally have with the company's most recent era. Please like, share, comment, and subscribe. What do you guys think? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. You can also follow me on these social media accounts.

Instagram

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Credit for my character stills goes to my good friend, @gem-among-gems. If you would like some stills for yourself, she can make some for you and can do it in any style.

#disney #disney animation #disney movies #wish 2023 #wish #disney's wish #valentino #asha #king magnifico #big hero 6 #moana #encanto #winnie the pooh #ralph breaks the internet #maui #strange world #critique #critical analysis #constructive criticism #humor #youtuber #Youtube

[artist-issues]

Just saw a couple video essays on Lilo & Stitch where self-acceptance is mentioned. And like. There is NO “self acceptance” in Lilo & Stitch. 

If there were, there would be no reason for this ☝️ 

The whole entire POINT of Lilo & Stitch is that who Stitch is is BAD. His very nature is evil. He is made to, and finds joy in, destruction. It is NOT  TRUE that he has to learn to accept himself. Aladdin has to learn to accept himself. Mirabel has to learn to accept herself. Freakin Mei from Turning Red has to learn to accept herself. Stitch is not like them. Stitch’s character arc is to learn to REJECT himself so that he can be made new. It’s part of what makes Lilo & Stitch BETTER than Aladdin, Encanto, and Turning Red. 

Because it’s an EASY message to tell everybody to accept themselves. Everyone already wants to hear that they’re loved and okay the way they are. It is a much HARDER thing to make a movie about love that is unconditional AND active enough to call you out when you’re wrong. If there’s no such thing as being wrong, there’s no need for grace or forgiveness, two of the most powerful indicators of real love. It’s a much harder thing to make a movie that says, “no, you know what, sometimes you’re just WRONG and BAD and you need someone from the outside to FIX YOU. YES, you do. You are NOT okay the way you are; and that doesn’t mean you’re beyond hope.”

Furthermore, literally no character in Lilo & Stitch has to learn self-acceptance. If Nani and Lilo accepted themselves as they were at the start of the movie, they’d be fighting and screaming at each other as a plot point by the end. If Nani accepted herself at the beginning of the film, she’d be saying, “‘yup, arrest that little alien, he’s mutated and he wrecks my house and makes my life harder.”  If Jumba accepted himself the way he was at the beginning, or even near the climax, of the film, he wouldn’t have let Stitch rescue Lilo. He’d be tearing him apart for the trouble Stitch caused him, and then he’d be fleeing the Galactic Alliance to cause more mischief himself.  Heck, even if PLEAKLEY had accepted himself, he wouldn’t be saying “does he really have to go?” to the Grand Councilwoman. He’d be saying, “‘yes, remove this creature from Earth’s habitat, it is destructive to the planet’s delicate ecosystem.”

Lilo & Stitch is not about self-acceptance. It is about self-denial. It is not about self-help. It is about not being able to help yourself. Needing saving. Do not make Lilo & Stitch into some twisted banner for our stupid, nonsensical modern values. 

#Lilo & stitch #lilo and stitch #stitch #lilo #meta #disney meta #disney analysis #essay #character analysis #experiment 626 #writing #lilo and stitch writing #aladdin #encanto #mirabel #turning red #self-acceptance #themes #symbolism #animation

[jacarandaaaas]

in this shot the candle is positioned higher up in the shot than mirabel, showcasing how she feels this candle is worth more than she is. This is also foreshadowing for the moment she quite literally values this candle more than her own life!

#encanto #encanto disney #disneys encanto #mirabel madrigal #this is just how my mind interpreted it lmao I’m not claiming it’s canon #but like that’s just a theory #it would not surprise me if they did that on purpose #anyways more mirabel angst woo!! #it’s a piece of wax mirabel #magical wax but it’s still wax #like save yourself!! #encanto theory #encanto analysis #encanto discussion #notice how she’s always below it? #even in the opening scene like ???? the candle is always higher than her😭

[phoenixlionme]

Encanto: Madrigal Family Relationship Analysis Part 28 - Antonio and Bruno

This is my favorite moment between this uncle and nephew duo; admittedly, it's one of the very few scenes they have together, but I still stand by my point. Antonio offers his stuffed jaguar, made by Mirabell (his favorite relative), to Bruno (a man he's just met and only heard about through his family and town's bias opinion). Jared Bush as confirmed in a twitter post that Antonio considers Bruno his pal. And I can understand why - given his gift, Antonio was told by Bruno's rats not only of the future teller's true personality but also the lengths the latter went to, to protect Mirabel, who Antonio greatly loves, cherishes, and admires. Of course, he would think of Bruno as his pal. And while it wasn't seen in the movie (which should've been), Bruno definitely returned Antonio's jaguar and genuinely thanked his young nephew for the help. And they would develop a tight bond because they are both shy but helpful guys who have an affinity towards animals more than people, and would do anything to help Mirabel, the person in the family who helped them the most (not hating on the Madrigals but the way Mirabel helped them was more beneficial). I can totally imagine Antonio cheerfully dragging Bruno along to play with him and his animals and Bruno happily agreeing since he loves being an uncle in general. I can also see Bruno trying to give good advice to Antonio that it's okay to prefer animals to people, a similar convo like the one Mirabel and Antonio had before his gift ceremony. In conclusion, these are PHENOMENAL PALS FOR LIFE.

#disney #encanto #bruno madrigal #antonio madrigal #madrigal family #fam analysis #madrigal family relationship analysis #my posts #favfams #fam appreciation

[allthingsencanto]

Maturing is realizing that the Madrigal family are all good people, they just lost sight of what was important over time because they were all so focused on their own struggles and desperately keeping their magic afloat that they ended up hurting each other and either not being there for one another, or not recognizing the other’s hardships. They’re a family who loves one another, but they’re broken due to the generational trauma. Certain characters hid their true feelings, certain characters weren’t there for others, certain characters kept their mouth shut and didn’t intervene, certain characters didn’t see or understand others. They were told how important this miracle is practically all their lives and how they can’t take it for granted that they eventually forgot about what was most important to them in the beginning, their love for each other. The Madrigals being a broken and flawed family but a family filled with good people who still care about one another deep down are statements that should coexist. 🕯❤️

#encanto #jared bush #walt disney animation studios #disney’s encanto #walt disney #disney animation #bryan howard #family madrigal #mirabel madrigal #isabela madrigal #alma madrigal #encanto movie #pepa madrigal #bruno madrigal #dolores madrigal #camilo madrigal #julieta madrigal #encanto disney #charise castro smith #encanto analysis #encanto take #agustín madrigal #antonio madrigal #felix madrigal #luisa madrigal #encanto themes #pedro madrigal #madrigal #la familia madrigal

[dragonflavoredcake]

I just came to a really sad realization

I don't think Mirabel got a quinceñera

One of the traditional gifts for a girl's quinceñera is a jewelry set. Mirabel is 15 and the youngest Madrigal girl. Isabela and Dolores are 21 and Luisa is 19. All three of them have some kind of jewelry. Take a look

Luisa has little gold studs

Isabela has dangly pearl and gold earrings similar to Alma's

And Dolores has these dangly red and gold earrings and a matching necklace

This isn't limited to just this generation. Alma has dangly pearl earrings, Julieta has gold droplets, and Pepa has her big golden sun earrings

What does Mirabel have? Little blue pom-poms

They're adorable and fit her perfectly, but they're clearly homemade. Of all the Madrigal women, Mirabel is the only one whose earrings aren't gold. Her ears must've been pierced at some point, but she probably wasn't given a jewelry set. If she had, she'd be wearing it.

I've been led to believe that jewelry is one of the more important quinceñera traditions, so given that she doesn't have gold earrings, I'm not sure if Mirabel had a quinceñera at all

Disclaimer: I didn't grow up in a culture that celebrates quinceñeras so this might be based on a flawed understanding

#encanto #encantober #media analysis #disney #mirabel madrigal #isabela madrigal #luisa madrigal #dolores madrigal #alma madrigal #pepa madrigal #julieta madrigal

[hourglass-dreams]

Something I Think About Often Regarding Isabela Madrigal

The movie really didn't do her character that much justice... kind of riding her off to be this aggressive sister without explaining why but then chalking it up to "having to be perfect", giving her a song (even though I adored her transformation), and then all was solved with a hug.

They don't go in depth like they do with Luisa before and during Surface Pressure.

They don't mention how truly miserable Isabela must have been, how suffocating that pressure of perfection truly was. Isabela, like the rest of the Madrigals never really had a childhood. She was never able to just breathe and be a human being instead of this plastic, "picture perfect" shell she was forced into.

She didn't have her own life, her own autonomy, and was paralyzed by the fear of disappointing the family, of being shunned. She had to craft this image that was nothing but a lie. Everything was a façade she had to put on for years and it most likely drained the life out of her.

No wonder she was so bitter and angry, sadly Mirabel was the easiest target for this projection of resentment (Not excusing it, just making an observation.)

And when she is finally able to express her true self, Alma indirectly scolds her for it. (Yes, it is mainly geared towards Mirabel. But, she literally said that Isabela was "out of control".)

Isabela's whole life was controlled by others so for Alma to say she was out of said control must have really hurt her. Hell, in that scene she looks like a scared little girl.

Overall, I wish the movie delved deeper into this. But hey, the fandom is doing it for them so it's all good ^-^

#isabela madrigal #mini character analysis #mini rant #isabela my beloved #encanto #disney encanto #isabela madrigal angst i guess

[ellapastoral]

Discussing my favorite genre <3! Link below !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKTUOCbaOds&t=3s

#tangled #mommy issues #video essay #ella pastoral #tangled video essay #tangled the sries #disney video essay #tangled analysis essay #enchanto video essay #tangled theory #tangled review #disney enchanto #video essay film #mirabel encanto #video essay film analysis #everything everywhere all at once #everything everywhere all the time