Why Children of Immigrants Struggle | Encanto Character Analysis

If you haven't seen the 2021 movie Encanto, stop reading now. This video and accompanying description will include spoilers.
With that warning aside, my family and I just HAD to watch this movie. With a setting in Colombia, South America we felt a special connection to the story. Aside from the setting though, many of the characters reflected an inner struggle that I personally understand because they are inner demons that I face myself. To start, I want to share with you the connection I felt to abuela Madrigal. The matriarch of our story is a strong and independent woman with a strong sense of responsibility for the welfare of not only her family, but the entire village she helped establish. These are characteristics that helped her immensely as the village and her family grew, but they also manifested in darker ways. As much as I would love to be able to say I only connected with the positive aspects of her personality, I can't deny the fact that I have fallen prey to the same demons she faced.
It's taken me a long time to recognize and acknowledge the demons within me, and it'll likely take me a lot longer to learn to control them. In any case, every goal starts with one small step. The making of this video is one of these small steps. Enjoy and comment below.

[@kuromigirly3]

I love this video! I loved encanto, especially the magical realism elements in the movie- I saw myself a lot in mirabel being the youngest of my siblings and feeling like I have to live up to my moms expectations (my mom would be more related to abuelas ideals). I felt a lot of pressure growing up because my mom stressed education and I felt like I'd be a failure if I didn't pursue that path. Now that I graduated with my M.A. I feel a lot like the comedian Ken Jeong, who got his doctorate for his parents, but became a comedian and actor for himself right after. I'm not as passionate about the M.A. I recieved, and so I'm taking it slow and just trying to live a happy life and see what I want to go into now. Mirabel also was the only one without a power, she felt like she didn't belong to the family, which is how I felt a lot of the time too. Mirabel was also sort of the bandaid/glue of the family- and I felt like that in relation to my mom and siblings. Over the past decade though I stopped being that glue and caring about being the glue, and it has felt like a great weight off my shoulders. The dynamic between abuela and the daughters was "we don't talk about it". Everytime Mirabel brought up a problem, Abuela got mad because she saw Mirabel as the one causing trouble when it was really the Abuela's fault because she refused to acknowledge there were problems in the family, and she refused to talk about those problems, the pain, and the shame. I feel like that's the biggest problem in many Latino and minority family households. When something is wrong, the elders usually don't talk about it openly, and it manifests into the "casita falling apart and losing its magic".

[@LivingMAD]

OMG! You’re so absolutely right. Mirabel, without any powers, was actually the strongest of them all. She was the only one able to muster up the courage to confirm Abuela Madrigal about the issues she was seeing, and she was the one that believed in the family enough to bring everything back together, even though she had no idea the powers would return.
Thank you so much for being vulnerable enough on a public forum like this to share your own life experiences and how you connected to Mirabel.
It’s hard for us immigrant parents to let go of our fears for our children, but I know that for you and others in your situation, it’s not fair. You should not have the carry the burden of our fears.
I’m really happy to read that you’re learning to take care of yourself first. You’re no good to anyone if you’re not in a good place yourself.
Thank you so much for watching and for taking the time to comment. I’m probably going to make another video talking about Luisa.
Please feel free to share it with anyone you think might enjoy it as well.