Story: Archetypes at Work™ in Disney’s Encanto
Disney’s latest smashing success, “Encanto,” is a tale about a girl, Mirabel, who struggles to find her place within her village, within her family, and within herself. Mirabel and her Madrigal family live in a charmed house, their Casita, and everyone in the family, aside from Mirabel, is bestowed with magical gifts. When cracks appear in the foundation of both the Casita and the family dynamic, Mirabel must use her ordinary, non-magical abilities to try to save the day.
The Archetypal forces at play on the animated screen are colorful. The ‘shadow of too much’ is evident from the very first song, “The Family Madrigal,” where Mirabel dances us through the dangerously overly-identified characters.
We are first introduced to Mirabel’s Abuela Alma (who represents the “Sovereign” of the family). Abuela has held the light bestowed upon the Madrigal family for many years, and she bears the weight of keeping the family together as a pillar of the community. Abuela had three children; tia Pepa is the “Renegade.” Her moods shift quickly, and in so doing, she shifts the weather alongside them. Mama Julietta (the “Nurturer”) heals you with a meal, and as the song goes, “her recipes are remedies for real.” Tio Bruno (even though we don’t talk about Bruno - no, no, no!)…Tio Bruno represents the “Dreamer” Archetype as he can dream into the future and see the possibilities to come. The Archetypal gifts continue in future generations with Mirabel’s sisters, Isabela (the “Lover”), who is grace, beauty, perfection, and poise, and Luisa (the “Warrior”), is super strong and, as the song says, a “beauty and brawn that can do no wrong.”
We watch as Mirabel struggles in comparing her ordinary self to the fantastical myths each of her family members represent. As the story unfolds, we soon realize that the overly extended family each starts to buckle under the weight of holding up their “too much” Archetypal roles.
With Mirabel’s help, Luisa, the strong one, starts to question what life would be like if she weren’t always the one everyone relied on to carry the heavy load. What would happen to her if she were to, as she feared, crack under the pressure? She begins to dream into a life where she wasn’t always called upon to lift the community burdens and could perhaps even enjoy some time relaxing.
Next, we see Isabela’s perfect facade begin to slip as she butts heads with Mirabel. What would life be like for her if she didn’t always have to keep her hair in a certain way, wear her clothes in a certain way, and bloom flowers that were a particular kind of beautiful? We see Isabela explore her Transformer energy, digging into the roots of who she is and why. She evolves and ultimately stabilizes in a more accessible, more authentic Lover energy zone.
As Mirabel’s journey continues, the Archetypes of ‘too much’ each begin to wane and recalibrate. Abuela realizes the weight she has been carrying as the head of the family for so long is no longer hers to carry; Bruno realizes that he cannot run away and hide from his Dreamer energy, but rather he finds harmony within his Dreamer self by calling upon his Strategist to help him practically assist Mirabel on her journey.
Ultimately and beautifully, Mirabel’s journey ends as she herself lives - imperfectly and authentically. The Casita crumbles and falls into disrepair. Mirabel cannot save it alone. Encanto’s story closes with Mirabel and her Abuela hearing one another out and gaining an understanding of where the other is coming from. There is empathy and forgiveness, all grounded in love. They walk back to the rubble hand in hand and witness the community, the collective, the skills, talents, and energies of all around them rise up to rebuild the Casita.
Disney’s most recent masterpiece hits home on so many deeply human levels. It explores topics such as mental health and the weight we impose on ourselves each day to perform in certain ways. It talks to the demands of social media and the pressures we feel to maintain that perfect facade. Encanto also shines a light on the fear that Abuela clings to that if she doesn’t keep everything together, it will inevitably fall apart. This fear is one each of us has been holding for the last two years in some way or another. The notion that we have to stay on top of everything and keep up the appearance that it’s all going to be okay, while inside, we have yet to take a breathe...
It ends with a lesson that each of us needs to hear and come to spend some time with until we know it deeply within our souls, especially now. That lesson is that love, authenticity, acceptance is the only real magic needed in this world.
— Lisa Kjellström