![]() When we open up about struggles we are dealing with in our lives, as Abuela does at the end of “Encanto,” we become more relatable and accessible to others. Many people worry that they will be judged negatively if they reveal any imperfections, but the opposite is often true. Instead of denying the cracks in the foundations on which we stand, we can admit that there are cracks and allow ourselves to look at them with curiosity. We have agency and can have some influence over how our lives unfold. The future is more than just our past fears repeating themselves. When we come into more adult, present-moment consciousness, we learn that we don’t have to take fears from the past and project them into the future. These patterns can shift in your life too. ![]() But this pattern is not healthy or authentic for the family members who participate in it, and thanks to Mirabel’s determination to tell the truth, the pattern in the Madrigal family finally begins to shift. ![]() Subsequent generations have gone along with this, upholding the image of family perfection and hiding their vulnerability and imperfections, because this is what it takes to feel loved and accepted in the Madrigal family. She can’t tolerate her fear of what would happen if the community knew about the trauma in the family’s past, so she keeps it a secret. The patterns in the family have their origins in Abuela’s fears from the past, which she is projecting into the future. The Madrigals are an example of a family in which trauma is passed down from generation to generation. Interrupting The Transmission Of Intergenerational Trauma Abuela sings: “The miracle is you, not some gift, just you… All of you.” Each person is to be valued not for their gifts, which is a form of objectification, but for who they are as people-three-dimensional people with weaknesses and imperfections that just go along with the territory of being human. The lyrics of the final song in the movie show how Abuela’s perspective has changed by the story’s end. Authentic connection begins to happen, and Abuela can now appreciate Mirabel just for being herself. Nothing will ever be broken that we can’t fix together.” With this new understanding of the trauma in the family’s past and of the reasons why they have been acting as they have been, the family dynamic that had been initiated by the oldest member of the family, and kept going by subsequent generations, finally shifts. ![]() Mirabel is able to see her grandmother with more understanding and compassion now, thanks to her revelation of the truth of her past, and Mirabel responds with kindness to Abuela, saying, “We were saved because of you, given a miracle because of you. The Power Of Allowing The Family’s Trauma To Be Known Because of her new awareness, Abuela starts to collapse into blaming herself for everything, for creating all the family’s problems. But Abuela now realizes the harm she is causing to her family. By imposing impossible standards of perfection, she had been trying to protect the family from the suffering and pain she had experienced during an earlier part of her life when she lost her husband and her home. As Abuela explodes with rage at Mirabel for speaking to her this way, the house finally cracks apart and crumbles, and Mirabel runs away.Ībuela goes after Mirabel, and when she finds her, Abuela finally reveals the trauma in her past that has caused her to behave the way she has been behaving with her family. Abuela seems only to value her granddaughters for the gifts they possess and the feats they can perform. Abuela’s unreasonable expectations are the cause of the problem. She puts the responsibility back on Abuela, telling her that the way Abuela treats the family is the reason the house is cracking apart and the magic is dying. When Abuela blames her for everything that is wrong, Mirabel stands up for herself. ![]() She puts Mirabel down in front of the others and turns her into a scapegoat, blaming her for everything that is wrong, even the cracks appearing in the house. Though Mirabel is telling the truth about the cracks in the house, Abuela accuses Mirabel of making it all up. Mirabel continues trying to save the Madrigal family, trying to anticipate everyone else’s needs and to be helpful, to be there for everybody. Let’s pick up where we left off in our analysis of the Encanto generational trauma. ![]()
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