Music, Symbolism, and Generational Trauma in Encanto (2021)

Disney’s Encanto (Jared Bush & Byron Howard, 2021) focuses on the Madrigal family and their life in their magical house, or Casita. Every member is given a unique power or “gift” from Casita, as referred to in the film, once they hit a certain age, except for protagonist Mirabel. One night she sees cracks start to form around Casita and realizes that the magic and her family are breaking apart and that she is the only one who can save them. Throughout the film, several characters, including Mirabel’s sisters Isabella and Luisa, exhibit tension and unhappiness in the family that is later revealed to come from matriarch Abuela’s generational trauma (as discussed in an earlier blog). Although many analyses of Encanto focus on Mirabel, in this piece I look at how the directors’ use of symbolism in the songs “Surface Pressure” and “All of You” visually reinforce how generational trauma in particular affects sister Luisa, mother Abuela, and the Casita throughout the film, leading to a conclusion in which the family is healed and trauma partially resolved.

Luisa sings “Surface Pressure”.

One of the characters who struggles to keep her troubles a secret is Luisa, the oldest of her two sisters, Mirabel and Isabella. She has the gift of super strength, and her role in the family is described as “the strong one” accordingly. Throughout the film, she is shown helping other people by moving buildings and carrying donkeys, and while she seems fine with her assigned role, she reaches a point where she feels like her power or “gift” is starting to become more of a burden rather than a blessing. These feelings are creatively expressed through the song “Surface Pressure” (see right) and its formal style, specifically its symbolic visuals that depict Luisa dealing with objects that become heavier as the song goes on, representing the weight of the responsibilities she has to carry in the Madrigal family. One of the sections that create the most impact in this respect is where Luisa is seenfloating across several pink clouds and singing: “If I could shake the crushing weight of expectations would that free some room up for joy? or relaxation? Or simple pleasures? Instead, wemeasurethisgrowingpressure”.Heresheisdescribinghowshewished she could take a break from the symbolic ‘heavy lifting.’ The floating across the clouds is meant to represent her not having any weight to carry, both physically and emotionally. At this moment, she is also riding a unicorn and is surrounded by confetti, which gives the impression that she believes that having time to relax feels like something impossible that can only be achieved via fantasy. There is a transition here that has Luisa going from feeling weightless in the sky to almost getting crushed by giant rocks that push her back to the ground, reinforcing and visually contrasting what she wants versus what she is currently feeling. Closer to the song’s end, she is shown lifting Casita and the houses and mountains around it (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1 - Luisa carries the weight of the town on her shoulders.

This musical sequence reveals that not only does she feel pressure from Abuela but the entire town as well. She has had to help others with their problems and has had no time to deal with her own affairs. Marilyn Doucet and Martin Rovers describe the notion of generational trauma as “the intuitive responsibility assumed by children to compensate in various ways for their parent's suffering” (Doucet 2010, 96). In this case, the one who was suffering was Abuela, as she lost her husband some time ago. In a flashback, the film explains how Abuela’s trauma comes from the loss of her husband, Pedro and how she was forced to raise her three children alone. It is important to note that the magic of Casita, or the “miracle” appeared right after this tragic event occurred to help her. Yet the responsibilities have since taken a toll on Luisa psychologically too, and made her feel as if she is only valuable as muscle and not a human being who sometimes experiences weakness. Luisa feels the need to be “the strong one” in the family but cannot bring herself to break out of that role due to the fear of letting down Abuela and the “perfect” family she had formed. The heavy objects in the “Surface Pressure” sequence are intended to not only showcase her physical strength but also symbolize the weight of responsibility she feels that she must carry in her family. There is a point where the pressure in the family becomes too much, and towards the end of the film, Casita, who represents the family’s bond, symbolically falls apart and loses its magic.

“All of You” from Encanto.

Abuela’s need to control aspects of her family, including Luisa but also the gifts, was therefore due to her fear of losing her family once more and, thus, leading to it—and Casita—falling apart. It is around this time that Abuela also accepts that she has a role in pushing the family’s limits. When she saw Mirabel, Abuela felt what Dori Laub, a clinical professor of psychiatry, refers to as “the internal pressure to transmit and tell, the real story that is ‘there,’ and the yearning for and the presence of a listener who receives it” (Laub 19-20, 2016). Abuela accepts that because of her internalized fear, she forgot that the miracle was meant to protect the family. She apologizes to Mirabel and then addresses her mistakes with everyone in the ending song “All of You”.

The song begins with the words “Look at this home, we need a new foundation,” sung by Mirabel. Here, she refers to the foundation built when Abuela lost Pedro. At that time, she was filled with fear and sadness. The trauma caused her to feel the need to take control of her children and grandchildren’s lives to an extent. Since her family respected and loved her, they did not question her authority, and because of this, the family had to push themselves to keep her happy, even if it meant sacrificing their own desires. In this last song, the Madrigals and the townspeople gather materials and rebuild Casita from scratch and without magic. This image of labour is meant to show a new, more authentic, and healthier sense of community being created as before, the Madrigals were praised and treated as an elite group of people because of their powers. Abuela had every family member help the town using their powers but never asked them about their needs. The townspeople also constantly asked them for help, often forgetting that they were human beings that needed distance. After talking about her troubles, Abuela and her family can heal, start over, and create a foundation based on unity rather than fear. Now the Madrigals and the town stand on the same ground, with or without powers.

Fig. 2 - Encanto’s casita.

Over the course of the film, the powers of the Madrigals are used to not only add the magical, fantastical elements familiar from a multitude of Disney animated features, but also to creatively express the tensions of a family crumbling. Luisa was charged with fixing everyone else’s problems yet did not have time to deal with her own, visualised in her song “Surface Pressure” which performs her the burdens getting heavier. Finally, Casita is a symbolic representation of the family as a whole, showing cracks every now and then, crumbling, to getting rebuilt from the ground up, symbolizing new and healthier family ties (Fig. 2). The Casita fell apart after the family’s bond had broken due to a trauma that was ‘passed down.’ After reflecting on the damage, the Madrigals begin their reparations in the song “All of You”. Here, Abuela apologizes to her family for letting her fear take over her and reassures them that their personalities, not the fantasy or the magic, make them special. Without any magic, the Madrigals and the townspeople work together to build a new Casita that would once again act as a symbol, but this time, with stronger walls that would house their now connected and harmonious family.

**Article published: May 26, 2023**

References

Doucet, Marilyn & Rovers, Martin. 2010. “Generational Trauma, Attachment, and Spiritual/Religious Interventions.” Journal of Loss & Trauma 15, no. 2: 93–105.

Laub, Dori. 2016. “Listening To My Mother’s Testimony.” In Wounds of History: Repair and Resilience in the Trans-Generational Transmission of Trauma, edited by Jill Salberg and Sue Grand, 18-38. London: Routledge.

Biography

Jacqueline Gonzalez-Castro is an alumna of the Harry W. Bass Jr School of Arts, Humanities, and Technology at the University of Texas at Dallas. She specializes in 3D animation and motion graphics. Earlier versions of this text were developed with the help of Dr. Christine Veras and peers from the Animation Studies course.