Some specialists have found in the characters of the movie “Encanto” an important resource to address mental health. Below we present some perspectives on this matter.
Charma controversial animation
The latest film from the film giant Disney, inspired by some aspects of Colombian culture, has caught the attention of many and has been the subject of debate and controversy. Some have considered that the film addresses a somewhat childish perspective compared to the production company’s other films. It has been pointed out, for example, that it does not really have children’s characters and that the film’s themes are not entirely digestible for a school audience.. Other controversies have had to do with the racial problem and even with political correctness.
Beyond film criticism
However, One of the dimensions that have been most favorable has been the possibility of analysis in disciplines such as psychology.. Kadesha Adelakun, a psychologist consulted by the newspaper, explains this, since, for the specialist, the psychological profiles of these characters are more than useful to talk about the mental health problems which are currently the subject of discussion.
The aforementioned media published an interesting article where this and other psychologists present their analysis and reading of the characters in relation to their life problems and the lessons that the film could give us. Below, we present some observations regarding the film:
Characters and psychology
Maribel
For Adelakun, Maribel represents the axis around which the family can unite, she is “the glue of the family, but no one really sees it”says the psychologist. The character of Maribel, although she is not the last generation of her family, does frame the possibility of having a critical perspective on previous generations, since it is Maribel who understands the way the family is constituted and the structural problems of this .
The organization of the family group weighs so much that it prevents them, in principle, from healing the fractures and errors in its construction., which leads to a family disaster, at the crux of the story. Maribel is, then, a character from a deep emotional sensitivity and an important critical spiritbut, like Bruno, she is ignored by the moral values that prevail in a family, whose past has been violent and, therefore, traumatic.
Isabella
“Isabella seems to be able to achieve anything,” is mentioned in the CNN article. Isabella has a striking and very easy gift for others to perceive, therefore, Isabela stands out easily, above all family members. Furthermore, she presents herself as a physically attractive and charming young woman. But, despite these apparent privileges, The obligation to the family group and the practice of tradition exerts significant pressure on it. which forces her to have a feeling of perfectionismwhich, in the end, will cause numerous personal conflictsto the point of almost losing his sense of life.
As psychologist Adelakun explains, there are numerous causes of stress in first generation children that can take their toll and create major conflicts with parents or authority figures in the home. Isabella, like the other characters, is not exempt from this family problem.
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Louise
In a similar way to Isabela, Luisa is also plagued by an immense moral and ethical imposition. Although she is presented as the physically strongest character in the family, the obvious metaphor for her strength is clearly used towards the end of the film: she is the cause of the overload that she carries on her shoulders. Her anxiety is no stranger to him, just as she is no stranger to those family members who feel a very strong need to help other memberseven sacrificing one’s own mental and physical health.
Bruno
Isolated from the family, the character who thinks differently, It is understood by psychologist Adelakun as prototypical within family groups, and she relates it to “neurodivergent family members or those who have mental disorders.”, which are frequently rejected. That perspective is one of the possible interpretations. However, This is not a character who presents himself as someone who suffers from some disorder and that is why it is rejectedRather, the film highlights that his gift allows him an important lucidity: can see into the future.
In that sense, Bruno would embody those members of the family that do not necessarily affiliate with the prevailing ethics or values of a family group, at the level of sexual, religious, political preferences and else, and hence, They are usually rejected and can carry a significant emotional condition and traumaticprecisely to be isolated of their first emotional nucleus, such as the family.
“There is no talk of Bruno” says the popular song that corresponds to him in the film. That is to say, his presence has been censored, what the character represents has been cancelled, he has been denied the possibility of expressing himself, because What he says represents a threat that is not appropriate for the establishment, for the primary structure established for the family group.. Although, paradoxically, the vision of this character could have really helped to reconfigure the family structure of the exercise of power in the family, that is, that of the dominant tradition, the same one that relegates Bruno to live in the back room, between the walls of the weakened house. Bruno is the censored, dissonant critical consciousness. The “black sheep” of the family.
The grandmother
Although family protection and the preservation of magic in the house are the main tasks of the matron and what gives meaning to the grandmother’s character, It is these roles that embody a form of trauma transmission that he suffered when he was young. Only when the house collapses, and he almost loses everything, does he realize his role in the family fracture. This character, which largely shapes the symbolic development of the other members of the family, embodies, according to Adelakun, a classic example of intergenerational trauma. This trauma, we cannot forget, was fruit of the violence she suffered in her youth, when she was displaced by the violence of an armed group in Colombia.
According to another psychologist consulted by CNN, It is natural that the grandmother was an overprotective person, as a result of having seen her husband be murdered at the hands of the violent. In that sense, the film also addresses the problem that not only the youngest have or can present mental health problems, but the opposite: that the symbolic formation of parents, grandparents or people who exercise greater power in the family group are those that also structure those of the following generations.
In the midst of the pandemic, a film about cooperation and mutual care
The great conclusion reached by the specialists cited by the media is that, although endings like Disney’s do not always occur, many times Various problems and traumas can be addressed and treated through understanding, compassion, support, togetherness and mutual care..