Family Charm (Encanto)

Every family is special in its own way. Some family’s are very large while others can be quite small. Some families get together a lot while others only get together every now and then. At the end of the day, no family is perfect but every family matters.

In the new Disney movie, Encanto, we see this beautifully flawed family filled with amazing gifts wrapped in lots of unresolved trauma. The matriarch, affectionately known as Abuela works hard to keep the magic alive for the Madrigal family. We see the concern on her face and later find out where is stems from.

Abuela is worried because many years prior, her grand daughter Mirabel failed to receive her gift! This worried Abuela so much that she could no longer see her children and grandchildren for who they were outside of their gifts.

Unfortunately, Abuela allowed the trauma she suffered from when she lost her husband and was left to raise triplets all alone, to overtake her life and influence her every move. Instead of actually living in the moments and enjoying the miracle her family was given, she spent her life worrying about losing it and trying her best to hold on to it.

This essentially transfers into lots of toxicity within the relationships in the family. Bruno leaves because his mom treats his gift like it’s a curse, Maribel tries so hard to be helpful but her efforts are only met with insults wrapped in dismay because she doesn’t have a gift! Everyone else in the family feels like the only import thing about them is their gifts! What they want and or need doesn’t matter.

This is an all to familiar story as we all have some dysfunction in our families and lack of communication leaves us feeling unheard and upset. In the end, Mirabel explodes and lets Abuela know the really reason for the family problems and that's her! Everybody probably wanted to say it, but only one of them gathered the courage to do so.

The truth hurts but it's necessary, especially when letting it out can save the whole family! It is imperative these days that we respectfully set boundaries and unlearn dysfunctional behaviors passed down to us by the matriarchs of our families. It is also important for us to give grace to the ones we love while encouraging them to do better and choosing to do better ourselves!

No family is perfect and there will always be something we need to work through but surely we can all choose to be better.