Encanto Musings
Jan. 9th, 2022 02:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kiranwearssciencebluesI watched Encanto on Friday! Overall, I thought the movie was fun and cheerful, and so I enjoyed it. But there is definitely one major overhaul I'd do for the script if I was in charge.
So, like, the biggest thing is I don't think Isabela's storyline worked. Her arc wasn't meaningfully different from Luisa's, and Luisa's arc was so much more compelling. Also, apparently, Isabela was supposed to be the oldest? That's just, like, patently wrong -- Surface Pressure literally had the line referring to Luisa: "give it your sister/your sister's older", and there's nothing throughout the movie suggesting Isabela is the oldest. If you want to write Isabela as the oldest you really need to make that, uh, not contradicted by the text?
Anyway. As I said, Isabela's arc of "needing to be perfect" was fairly vague and not different from Luisa's "no mistakes" arc. One way I would have fixed this is given Isabella her aunt's arc, which I felt was way more fleshed out even though it was kind of blink-and-you-miss-it. Aunt Pepa's powers are tied to the weather -- including unwanted weather -- and so she's pressured to not feel anxiety or other negative emotions throughout the movie, until the final scene, when she's letting it hail and no one minds. That would have worked way better for Isabella's "must be perfect" arc, in which she's pushed into feeling happy, positive emotions at all time.
I also would have liked a different approach to Isabela's and Mirabel's rivalry. Maybe I just have a bit of baggage regarding mean sisters myself, but Isabela is just outright mean to Mirabel at the start of the movie, and the reconciliation doesn't seem to involve Isabela taking any kind of ownership for that. I know the movie seems to be going for mutual sibling rivalry, but it would have felt better to me if they explored the reasons for that rivalry (especially since, apparently, Isabela is six or seven years older than Mirabel?). For instance, mentioned that Isabella is jealous of Mirabel for not having expectations, or feels like that since Abuela is also too harsh on Mirabel, pushing Mirabel away cements her role as the "perfect" grand-daughter. Something like that.
But, overall, I still liked the movie and I have Surface Pressure stuck in my head now, lol.
So, like, the biggest thing is I don't think Isabela's storyline worked. Her arc wasn't meaningfully different from Luisa's, and Luisa's arc was so much more compelling. Also, apparently, Isabela was supposed to be the oldest? That's just, like, patently wrong -- Surface Pressure literally had the line referring to Luisa: "give it your sister/your sister's older", and there's nothing throughout the movie suggesting Isabela is the oldest. If you want to write Isabela as the oldest you really need to make that, uh, not contradicted by the text?
Anyway. As I said, Isabela's arc of "needing to be perfect" was fairly vague and not different from Luisa's "no mistakes" arc. One way I would have fixed this is given Isabella her aunt's arc, which I felt was way more fleshed out even though it was kind of blink-and-you-miss-it. Aunt Pepa's powers are tied to the weather -- including unwanted weather -- and so she's pressured to not feel anxiety or other negative emotions throughout the movie, until the final scene, when she's letting it hail and no one minds. That would have worked way better for Isabella's "must be perfect" arc, in which she's pushed into feeling happy, positive emotions at all time.
I also would have liked a different approach to Isabela's and Mirabel's rivalry. Maybe I just have a bit of baggage regarding mean sisters myself, but Isabela is just outright mean to Mirabel at the start of the movie, and the reconciliation doesn't seem to involve Isabela taking any kind of ownership for that. I know the movie seems to be going for mutual sibling rivalry, but it would have felt better to me if they explored the reasons for that rivalry (especially since, apparently, Isabela is six or seven years older than Mirabel?). For instance, mentioned that Isabella is jealous of Mirabel for not having expectations, or feels like that since Abuela is also too harsh on Mirabel, pushing Mirabel away cements her role as the "perfect" grand-daughter. Something like that.
But, overall, I still liked the movie and I have Surface Pressure stuck in my head now, lol.
Encanto
Date: 2022-01-15 06:12 pm (UTC)I think that because the song is sung to Mirabel that it makes sense. Luisa is technically older than Mirabel and perhaps she's saying that she also has to pick up Mirabel's slack for her lack of gift.
The movie was really cute but definitely not up there with my favorite Disney films.
Re: Encanto
Date: 2022-01-17 10:21 pm (UTC)Re: Encanto
Date: 2022-01-18 10:25 pm (UTC)Not at all my favorite Disney movie but it’s fun so long as we don’t think about those tiny details. I’m sure Lin Manuel Miranda wasn’t thinking about them that much since he renamed an entire character for one song.