Disney’s Encanto isn’t just about representation — it’s an act of defiance

If the questions I repeatedly answered on first dates while living in Los Angeles were any indication, Americans tend to think of Colombia as a violent, drug-ridden failed state, half-slum and half-jungle, which also happens to be the source of their coffee and Sofía Vergara. Who can blame them? They mostly learned about Colombia from movies and television, and there isn’t much room for nuance in the exoticism of 1984’s The Stone of Romancing, the cartel violence of Netflix’s Narcos series, or Gloria’s humorous otherness in ABC’s sitcom Modern Family.

When Disney made the announcement, EncantoIt is a new animated feature which takes place in Colombia.

There were some caveats to this excitement. Disney’s portrayal of non-European culture has had a long history. Even beyond the clear cases of “This film was made in a different era,” such as the portrayal of Native-Americans in 1953’s Peter Pan or the softened racism of 1995’s Pocahontas, Disney creators still struggle with clichéd depictions of people of color, which understandably come under endless scrutiny in today’s more race-conscious environment.

Disney’s first Black protagonist, The Princess and Frog’s Tiana, was introduced in 2009. Although she has been a well-known actress, the movie was criticised for not addressing race. A few years later, MoanaIt was generally very well received but also faced some criticisms from the Pacific Islander community. However, the film marked an important turning point in how the studio dealt with non-white characters. MoanaThe amalgam of cultures represented by the company found its core. Its nods to Polynesian culture aren’t just set-dressing, they’re key components of her story and its themes.

Get in touch Encanto, which isn’t just set in a pastiche of similar cultures, like Disney’s Latine-inspired show Elena of Avalor. EncantoJared Bush and Byron Howard were the writer-directors. Charise CastroSmith wanted to set their stories in Colombia. Their company’s recent track record of representation was certainly a good sign, but Hollywood’s history of portraying Colombia was reason enough for doubts. All of these concerns found their place in the midst of all the Colombian joy. Encanto’s opening night approached, but for me, at least, they disappeared a few minutes into the movie’s prologue. Once we learn that the central family, the Madrigals, like millions of real Colombians, have been displaced from their home by that abstract, omnipresent force we tend to simply call The Violence, it seemed evident that Bush, Howard, and Smith weren’t just coming from a place of understanding, it was also a place of love.

Image: Walt Disney Animation

EncantoMirabel Madrigal’s story tells how she was brought up in an extraordinary family that has everyone with a unique gift, except for her. Her sisters are super strong, one can grow flowers from nowhere and her mother can heal any illness with food. Mirabel wasn’t given any special gifts, so her inability to use her powers regularly causes tension between her Abuela and Mirabel.

These gifts aren’t innate. They are given to the family by a magical candle the Madrigals call “our miracle,” a force that saved Abuela and her three kids when she was young when they were forced to flee their hometown. As The Violence caught up with them, killing their Abuelo, the candle gave the surviving Madrigals a home: a magical house that became a source of refuge, comfort, and the subsequent generations’ special gifts.

Mirabel is shown as she looks at the house and their reactions. CasitaHer Abuela insists that the foundations are starting to crumble, but her Abuela denies it in order to keep things order. It’s up to Mirabel, the least special Madrigal, to find out what’s endangering their miracle and to protect the home that has protected her family all these years.

The quest to save her home is a noble one. EncantoIt’s more than a story SetColombia has the following: MoreColombia, too. There’s nothing more Colombian than the desire to find a home in an inherently broken country.

Colombia’s problems are so intrinsic that being aware of them from birth almost seems necessary to feel Colombian at all. After the Spanish conquest, and the subsequent decade-long independence, 200 years of messy history were set. In the 19th century, there were nine civil wars between conservatives and liberals that resulted into a national schism. The only thing that unified the sides was their exploitation of and exclusion of the majority racialized rural poor. Gradually, class tensions increased until Communism was introduced to the world. Leftist guerrilla warfare was born and fascist militias were formed across the country. Both sides ultimately gave up their ideology to make way for the blood-soaked profits of drug traficking in this violent conflict.

This is a very brief and even generous summary of our national history, but it’s still more detailed than the image the First World tends to have of us. However, it makes sense that media coverage of us centered on this violence. Violence is an affliction that affects nearly every Colombian household. This focus on the country’s tensions happens in Colombian-made media too, as exemplified by the “narco-novelas” that clutter our networks. This is what we have become accustomed to: an echo chamber full of drug abuse, murders, kidnappings and indifferent politicians. A population with no memory but carrying its own baggage.

The Colombian Cultural Trust — a collection of consultants from a wide variety of fields, brought in to ensure the film’s authenticity — may have spoken to the writer-directors about this problem. Disney’s movie about our country couldn’t overtly include our violent past and present. However, at one point they didn’t ignore it. Disney’s Colombian movie centers on finding a place free of that innate suffering: a place its people can safely call home.

Image: Walt Disney Animation

How wonderful is it to be able to enjoy the colour, the fun and all that comes with it? JoyOf Encanto when so much of the media about ourselves is focused on these vicious cycles of violence that we’re trapped in. Amazing that Disney can still portray beautiful Disney moments, from musical styles to great food to rich storytelling traditions, is a marvel. Just as the Madrigals dIscovered, it’s a miracle that we can still share these gifts at all.

“Representation matters” has become a cliché, especially since representation only superficially addresses the larger cultural problems of Hollywood media. However, there’s no denying that there isYou can make your own world famous by seeing it rise to the level of animated blockbusters or fairytales.

Cultural Trust was a great help EncantoForget stereotypes and caricatures to make something that is true to your subjects, you must leave behind them. This method was used in production of Oceanic Story Trust’s first film. MoanaThe publication, titled “Disney’s European Bubble Storytelling”, is an important step forward for Disney.

Is this the product of a multi-billion-dollar corporation that’s coming to understand what good business it is to appeal to increasingly diverse markets? Of course, but that doesn’t prevent the smaller players within this system from approaching a personal project with love. They set out to create something that would resonate with people around the world — but also specifically with Colombians, knowing that we don’t always get to feel that way. The film is receiving positive reactions in Colombia. Is resonating. It wasn’t because corporate policies were shrewd, it was because the film’s creators cared.

This is more than just the representation. Happiness is what you see in Encanto isn’t just escapism, it’s defiance. It’s about challenging that notion that we Colombians have to be miserable forever.

After arguing throughout the whole movie about how to save the house and who’s to blame for its impending destruction, the Madrigals ultimately have to accept that their miracle wasn’t the magical house, or their magical gifts. It is actually a miracle that the family survived the tragedy after so many years. Their miracle was the power of magic. CasitaYes, it is possible, but TheyThey were those who created love, beauty and community. A broken history got them there, but it’s a miracle that they’re still there regardless. And at the end of the day, that’s worth a lot.

In the process of deeply rooting the film in Colombian culture, whether through Lin-Manuel Miranda’s well-researched music that spans all sorts of regional genres or the unique cast of characters meant to encompass a weird and disparate country, EncantoColombia’s diversity is celebrated.

The best detail of all is that The Violence was not given a face. The short history lesson that I just gave you is enough to show that this force which displaced the Madrigals could be anything, from warlords to militias. Sure, Disney was probably avoiding details because they’d be too graphic or complicated for young viewers (or, more cynically, because they might be taken as a political statement). However, I prefer to view it in a different way.

Encanto, unlike all other American depictions of Colombia, there’s no room for The Violence or its perpetrators. All the attention is focused on survivors. It’s about the miracle of thriving when you seem almost cosmically predisposed to suffer ad infinitum. Because that’s what Colombia is: a country of people trying their best to thrive in spite of themselves.

We’re a country of Mirabels, all struggling to figure out how to fix these evils that seem like our birthright. Like Mirabel’s prognosticating Uncle Bruno, we’re overwhelmed with an undeniably dire future. Like Abuela, we sometimes fight to pretend these threats aren’t there, because we can’t bear the thought of facing them again. Like the Madrigals, we’re each trying to deal with all this alone — and realizing, perhaps through projects like Encanto, that maybe we don’t have to.

EncantoThe film is currently in cinemas and available for streaming via Disney Plus.