The message—or messages—of Encanto can be interpreted in hundreds of different ways, from the meaning of family roles, mental illness/disability, perfectionism, or even trauma. I believe that Encanto involves all of these themes at once, all tied together with the closest character that applies as the “villain” of the movie: Abuela.
Throughout the movie, Abuela picks on Mirabel, the one Madrigal kid without a gift. In the flashback of Mirabel’s gifting ceremony the two seem close, but it appears that once Mirabel wasn’t gifted then Abuela started distancing herself from her. Mirabel’s lack of a gift could symbolize either a disability or just being a middle child; not young enough to be doted upon but not achieving like your siblings. It could also represent a child comparing themself to their “gifted” siblings. Abuela, subconsciously or not, sees Mirabel as a flaw in their family.
This could be the reason why Isabella, the golden child striving for perfection, also picks on Mirabel, perhaps subconsciously noticing Abuela’s treatment of Mirabel and not wanting the same thing to happen to her. Isabella hides her true feelings for Abuela’s approval. When she’s so uncomfortable at the idea of Mariano wanting to have many children with her, flowers sprout on her head, the way her gift shows her discomfort. But Abuela ignores this clear sign and picks the one white flower out of the other purple flowers off her head; she wants Isabella to be perfect, and she doesn’t really care about her feelings.
This is similar to Luisa (though she doesn’t pick on Mirabel like Isabella), who takes on more than she can carry to please Abuela, making her a good representation of the over-achieving older sibling in family dynamics. This movie doesn’t just label the ostracized child as the victim; it shows how dealing with the expectations of a “gifted” kid can be just as difficult.
More family roles include the outcast, Bruno, and Pepa, whose gift is reminiscent of an anxiety disorder. Abuela frequently tells her to “Calm down, Pepa,” but as someone with anxiety can tell you, someone telling me to calm down only makes it worse.
The most important metaphor in Encanto is the Casita Madrigal, the Madrigal family’s house and miracle. This is the most overt metaphor; it represents their family, and as tensions rise in the family (mostly due to Abuela) the house literally cracks. Their "broken home" is literally broken, not a subtle but well-done metaphor. In Mirabel’s big fight with Abuela where she declares that Abuela is the reason that the family is falling apart, the floor cracks between Mirabel and Abuela, showing the literal and figurative rift between them.
But why is Abuela the way she is? Without making her the victim and justifying her actions, depth is added to her character towards the end of the movie. She was a refugee who had to watch her husband die, leaving her alone with her miracle and triplets. In juxtaposition with the beginning of the movie, this flashback doesn’t portray the miracle as an amazing, magical thing, but rather a shelter to hide away from a traumatic memory. The miracle literally creates mountains to separate Casita from the river where her husband tragically died.
She was given a miracle, but she never felt deserving of it. She had to force her family to be perfect and earn the gifts they were given. But Mirabel helps her realize (as it’s sung in “All of You”) that “the miracle is not some magic that you got, the miracle is you.” Abuela realizes that the miracle isn’t something to be earned, but something to care for and nurture, and she must connect the family back together with Mirabel to get the magic back and fix Casita (their family). In fact, Mirabel’s name is very similar to the word “miracle.”
Then what is Mirabel’s “gift”? While I’m glad they didn’t explicitly state that she had a gift all along (it would have undermined the metaphor for disability or feeling ungifted), Casita’s doorknob becomes hers, representing how she was a part of the magic in reconnecting her family. But also to be noted is the butterfly symbolism throughout the movie: Dos Oruguitas (which talks about two caterpillars turning into butterflies, representing Abuela and her husband), the yellow butterfly that appears throughout the movie whenever Abuela’s husband is mentioned (representing his spirit), and the butterflies that appear on Mirabel’s dress. Mirabel is a symbol of hope and cycle-breaking from generational trauma.
While I don’t come from an immigrant family myself, I’ve heard people who have talk about how they feel like they have to fulfill this expectation to the adult figures in their family who saved them, like they have to be perfect because they were given a whole new life, or a “miracle.” But you don’t have to earn that miracle by being “perfect”; the miracle is you, and you deserve to be happy, no matter what gift you have been given.
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