Defending Abuela’s Apology and Mirabel’s Forgiveness (⚠️ spoilers ahead!)
This whole scene and “Dos Oruguitas” was so beautiful and soul tearing!!! People don’t have to like Abuela Alma, but I don’t understand why they act as if Abuela was completely irredeemable. People give Abuela Alma so much backlash and villanize her and I’m sitting here like: “Did we not watch the same movie???”
And before y’all come at me, I want to clarify that NONE👏🏾 OF 👏🏾THIS 👏🏾DISSERTATION 👏🏾EXCUSES 👏🏾ABUELA’S 👏🏾TRAUMA 👏🏾SHE 👏🏾UNINTENTIONALLY 👏🏾INFLICTED 👏🏾ON 👏🏾THE 👏🏾FAMILY. I KNOW! I KNOW!)
There’s a reason why Abuela was the one who found Mirabel and not her parents, sisters, aunt/uncles, or cousins. It was to set the scene for this powerful moment to transpire.
To be clear, Mirabel did apologize first because she felt she destroyed Casita, the town, and the miracle candle. However, Abuela said something Maribel did not expect to hear out of her mouth. Abuela took out the Uno reverse card and apologized right back to her. And it takes A LOT for an adult to apologize to a child. (Especially in the POC community…😓)
Abuela literally admitted fault to everything and she apologized to Mirabel. Granted it wasn’t a fully-fledged 100 word essay that we expected, but we didn’t need that. (It would have been nice, but this is a movie and it will be on a time constraint.) The apology itself was deeply sincere and emotional. It came from a place of vulnerability. It provided transparency for Mirabel to understand and sympathize with Abuela’s pain that she has been repressing for 50 years.
She wasn’t able to process her emotions and greif properly. She lost the love of her life in front of her eyes, became a single mother to her baby triplets, and became responsible for a whole town of people and families practically overnight. Moreso, she had to learn about the miracle and how to use it to help those around her starting with her children who would soon get their own superpowers at a young age.
From the start, Encanto’s strongest storytelling element was in its colors. Notice how the lake and the scenery was dull and unsaturated, signifying not only Mirabel’s guilt and sadness in the moment, but the start of Abuela’s trauma that took place in that very spot.
It wasn’t until Mirabel forgave Abuela and Abuela’s realization about Mirabel being the true miracle that the lighting and background gradually changes into a beautiful, colorful and enriched environment filled with beautiful yellow butterflies, which are strong symbols in Columbian culture for love, hope, transformation, and new beginnings. And that’s the thing: Forgiveness is a gradual process and depending on the person, it does not require physical reconnection. (Speaking from experience with a toxic family member. I cut them off by the way and I’m doing just fine.😎👍🏽)
And some of us who suffer in silence by holding in our own pain and deep dark truths everyday could totally relate to Abuela Alma. We might even take it out on our loved ones unknowingly. But that’s when self-reflection and emotional intelligence comes in. And sometimes it takes the right person to bring that out of us. That’s what Mirabel was for. Real talk, none of her children or other grandchildren would have called her out on her actions. (Probably except Bruno. Wouldn’t it be dope if he did that?)
Also, people wanted accountability for Abuela. While I strongly agree on that standpoint, I believe she’s been through enough. In fact, I believe the candle going out and Casita being destoyed was already consequences of her actions. Besides, wtf did y’all expect Mirabel to do? Burn her at the stake? Drown her in the lake? Push her out the window? (Even though Casita would have saved her.) Vengance is simply not in Mirabel’s character.
Ever since her gift ceremony, Mirabel had no choice but to come to terms with the fact that won’t have superpowers like the rest of the Madrigal family (excluding the fathers, Abuela Amla and Abuelo Pedro) and being the odd one out. At 5 years old, I can only imagine how embarassed, confused, and scared she was that night. Her parents wiping her tears trying to reassure her. Louisa trying to give her as many soft hugs as she can. Camilo trying his best to make her laugh. Delores trying to listen around for any possible answers. Pépa creating rainbows endlessly. Felix trying to dance with her. (I’m gonna stop listing hypotheticals I’m gonna freaking cry!🥺🥺🥺) But somehow, she was able to overcome those emotions and does her best to help her family and the village. And while she has such a bright and cheery disposition, she has been longingly wanting to be of use in the way that all the other grandkids were.
While Mirabel’s backstory has all the makings of becoming arguably the hardest villain arc in history, she chooses not to go down that route. She loves her family unconditionally and because of her love, she sees both Abuela Alma and Isabela in a whole new light and improved their once strained relationships. And she also resonates with Isabela and Louisa’s long-standing pressure, expectations, and burdens that came with gifts. If it wasn’t for Mirabel, the whole family and Casita itself would have imploded eventually.
All I’m saying is, there are no villains in this movie. Just hurt people. And hurt people hurt people. Keep in mind that this is a Disney movie. And y’all already know that it does not happen like this in real life. Forgiveness was necessary for Abuela, Mirabel, and restoring the miracle as well as Casita. Obviously rushed, but it got the point across.
That being said, Mirabel Madrigal has to be arguably THE BEST protagonist I’ve seen from modern-day Disney animated movies so far next to Moana. (And my new favorite!) If you have not seen Encanto yet, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE watch it! Then watch it again! It’s so good, I often forget it’s a Disney movie!
Look, I can understand people being conflicted about how an abusive parental figure, even if it wasn’t Abuela’s full intent to harm Mirabel, would feel about them being granted forgiveness. However, another thing I’d like to throw out here that’s a seriously important building block leading to their excellent moment near the river of them reconciling is this scene. Abuela pleading to her deceased husband Pedro for guidance in what she should do to fix their home’s issue of jeopardizing their magical gifts, while Mirabel was listening to her whole vulnerable concerns underneath. This scene set everything into motion on why this movie’s message works.
“Pedro, I need you…Cracks in our Casita…If our family knew how vulnerable we truly are…If our miracle is dying…We cannot lose our home again…”
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