If you have kids and they're anything like my kids, when they get really into something, they get stuck on it for a while. (Think: a book you've read 1,000 x's, a game they've incessantly asked you to play, a movie they've watched repetitively ...etc.) Well, recently, in our family, the "thing" has been the movie Encanto. Now, my girls were into Encanto back when it came out in 2021. Since then, we've watched the movie more-than-a-handful-of-times, we've bought the action figures & dolls, the Lego sets, and even the costumes complete with glasses, purses, accessories... yes, we're in that deep.
If you haven't seen the movie, I suggest you take a moment and watch it, so you'll have better context for what I'm about to write. But may I warn you? Watch it without your kids, especially if you have little girls. (that is, unless you want to be watching it like 100x's) I digress.
Even if you haven't watched the movie, I'll attempt to give you a nutshell version of it here. Encanto is a movie set in Colombia, and it is about a family who has been given magical powers as a miracle-of-sorts. All members in the family have magical powers. All except one character named Mirabel. Regardless of this, Mirabel loves life and she LOVES her family. She's not treated well by more-than-one member of her family, but she still LOVES her family. There's even a joke at the beginning of the movie where a character says, "Maybe her gift is denial (?)"
So there's this idea right from the beginning of the movie that she just operates on a different level than all others around her. It's often portrayed as negative (because she doesn't have a magical gift like the rest of them). But after watching this movie way more times than I would like to admit, I would like to submit that Mirabel does indeed operate on a different level than all others around her.
But it's not a bad thing.
at. all.
It's actually what the film turns upon (do people still call movies "films" anymore? Lol), and it's what ends up saving her family, their home, their magic, and their relationships in the end.
The whole way through watching this movie, I was trying to figure out what Mirabel's gift truly was. I couldn't settle on that fact that she wasn't given anything at all. Sometimes, my mind would just be turning with ideas like maybe her gift is just something others can't see or are overlooking; other times, I would blurt my ideas out mid-movie. "Hey maybe Mirabel's gift is compassion!"... "or maybe it's kindness even when people aren't kind to her"... "it's bravery, she's so brave! Mirabel's gift has got to be courage." With every blurt out, my girls' polite smiles began to turn to groans at every new interruption. Haha.
So now, after more processing, I decided to turn my inner (and not-so-inner) monologue into this blog & I think it's this. Yes, Mirabel wasn't given a "magical" gift. But the girl does have a gift to give, and it's this: Telling the Truth.
You see, in the movie (why do I keep wanting to type "film"? haha), some of the other family members who have been given magical gifts are CRUSHING under the pressure of perfectionism and family (mostly Abuela's) expectations. Mirabel approaches them individually with empathy (maybe that's her gift?) and begins to set them free from all the pressure. Although this helps interpersonal relationships, their physical house begins to break apart even more and the magic begins to die faster.
The real turning point in the movie comes when Mirabel boldly comes face-to-face with her Abuela and does what? She speaks the truth. She tells Abuela that the magic dying is all her (Abeula's) fault because no one can ever live up to the expectations she has set for them. This is shocking because, though it is true, no one in the family operates by speaking up to Abuela. No one operates in boldness, or reality, or truth. No one except Bruno, but we don't talk about Bruno. (Side note: If we were talking about Bruno, he spoke the truth about the future that no one wanted to hear, so he had to run away from the family in order to protect the family...all topics for another time.) Immediately after Mirabel speaks the truth to Abuela, the house begins to crack for good and the magic disappears, leaving the family in ruins.
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All of that to say this, sometimes, when the truth is spoken, things shatter. Much like the house (read: casita) in Encanto, they can't go back to the way they were before the truth was spoken. That's not a bad thing, but just know this: some rebuilding will be in order.
Sometimes, when the truth is spoken, people get lost in translation. Some people become the Brunos of our stories. We think that if we just tuck it away long enough or don't speak about it long enough, then we don't have to deal with the truth. (But dwelling in truth & the restoration of the Brunos in our lives has possibility to be a beautiful thing.)
(spoiler alert!) The movie ends with restored relationships and beautifully restored house and magic. All of which could have never happened without the truth being spoken.
So friends, if you've gotten this far with reading, know this: Telling the Truth is the (not-so-magical) Gift.
Is there a truth you need to remind yourself of?
Is there a house-of-cards that needs to shatter in your own life?
Is there a person you need restoration with?
If it's not yourself you need to be honest with, who in your life would benefit most from you boldly telling them the truth?
I'll leave you with that...Just some things to think about... as I finish popping popcorn for another round of watching Encanto with my girls. Sigh.
p.s. COMPLETE SIDE NOTES: This movie has excellent music, and I think Lin Manuel-Miranda is a complete and utter musical genius. I even commented to my husband, "Could you imagine singing a song for Lin Manuel-Miranda that he wrote himself?!" And my husband's comment was that he could not imagine singing anything in front of anyone for any reason. Lol. So there you have it. Go check out the movie for the music alone.
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