Encanto

This is the first post in my discussion of important changes, additions, or inclusions in Disney storytelling. I am starting here because it is the most recent and also because it is my discussions with others about this film that was the impetus for starting this series.

Earlier today, my husband reposted a discussion post from Facebook where user Aimee Ford wrote and supported her observation that “Mariano is the most important character in Encanto. Not for the story, but for *Disney.” The post has since been removed or hidden, so I cannot link to it, but here are my screenshots of it:

I think Encanto is important because many of the characters break a mold. Here are just a few of my thoughts:

Augustin and Felix are very strong men to love and marry women who are objectively stronger and more powerful in their community and are recognized for their gifts. In “our” world, they would be seen as weak for not dominating their wives.

Augustin is in a particularly interesting position. He married into the family without powers and no expectations of getting them. Mirabel was expected to have them, but didn’t get them. He tries to empathize with her because he knows how it feels to be powerless among the gifted, but he never experienced the rejection and disappointment Mirabel did because he was never expected to be more. He has to watch his family crap all over his youngest daughter.

The head of the family is a woman. Not a king. Not a king and a queen. Not even a queen. Not anyone from whom leadership was expected. Not someone who had been groomed for power or raised learning how to bear such a huge responsibility. Just a “regular” woman. And she is in charge. Although the story involves the recognition that she made mistakes, Mirabel’s speech emphasizes that it was Abuela’s strength and sacrifice that allowed her to receive the miracle in the first place and save the family, but now the burden is no longer solely on her shoulders and she can let go and enjoy life without all of the responsibility.

I love the tensions being caused by Louisa. She is strong physically and is drawn consistent with that strength. They did not make her petite and magically strong. She looks like a physically strong person. But she in unapologetically feminine in dress and mannerisms, particularly when dancing. People are fighting about whether she is trans, but I think the beauty is that we don’t and won’t ever know. It isn’t relevant to the story and it isn’t any of our business. We have to accept her and her pronouns as is. We can’t test her DNA or look up her skirt. We have to live without knowing. And I think that is exactly the right answer.

I love that even though Dolores is interested in Mariano, she has no objections to Isabella marrying him without getting to know him because of family expectations. Indeed, arguably, Dolores knows Mariano even better than Isabella because she has heard him—as she tells him. But once Mariano is available and it is her relationship, she is not about to rush it. “Slow Down!” is her response to his proposal. Following in Frozen’s footsteps, instant marriage is off the table. I LOVE that about her!

Disney Series

Those who have known me for any length of time know that I am a lover of (almost) all things Disney. Now that they own Marvel and Star Wars, it would be nigh on impossible for me to separate myself from them forever. We watch and rewatch Disney movies in this house as background noise. We are saturated in the music and the stories, playing make-believe in the worlds that have been created. As such, these stories play an outsized role in shaping who my daughter is becoming.

As you may be aware, Encanto came out late last year and finally appeared on Disney+ on Christmas Eve. The first watching left my daughter and me both in tears, and we have watched it individually or as a family probably more than once a day since then. We have had numerous discussions about what we love in the music and story, pointing out details of visual foreshadowing and little funny Easter Egg type things we find anew with each watching, and having deep discussions about how rich and powerful the character and storytelling changes is Disney are. Today, my hubby reposted someone’s Facebook post that took the position that Mariano was the most important character in Encanto, not for Encanto’s story, but for “Disney.” I thought there was a lot of wisdom there, but I thought that there were many other pieces of Encanto that needed recognition for much the same reason. After quickly dropping a few in the comments, I went on to breakfast and started to think of some major changes that had shown up in Raya and the Last Dragon. And thus, this new idea was born. This is my discussion of many of the positive changes in Disney storytelling that have come “in my time.” The dividing line for these changes could be any number of places and there is arguable support for any of them. For my purposes, I have decided to make the division pre- and post-The Little Mermaid for three reasons:

1) Disney had very much fallen out of the blockbuster animation business until The Little Mermaid resurrected it from the dead.

2) Beauty and the Beast was the first Disney animated movie I saw in the theater, and since The Little Mermaid is the movie right before it, this is the Disney “I grew up with.”

3) Disney films were only available on VHS “back in my day” and “came out of the vault” once every ten years, so I was an adult before I had seen most of Disney’s early animation films, but I had been exposed to their art and story in book form for as long as I can remember. Thus, those stories still had a significant impact on my childhood in terms of princess worship and dreams, but not in the same way that the animated movies did.

Chances are that I will not manage to say everything about a particular movie in one post, and I am not planning on doing these in any particular order. I will try to tag them for search purposes, however. So, if you’re interested, I would love to have you come along on my journey through changes in Disney storytelling.