Disney's Encanto: Not Far From The Tree

Happy New Year! 

     A few days ago, I watched the beautiful Encanto (2021) for the second or third time with my daughter.  Like Pixar’s Inside Out (2015), I’m impressed at how much truth there is for adults to pick up and process especially on rewatch.  Chances are in our own family tree we all know (or are) the Abuela Alma, Peppa, Luisa, Mirabel, Julieta, etc. characters (D23 Team, 2021) from Encanto.

Raccoon - Far From the Tree (2021)

     In theaters, Encanto opens with the Disney short Far From the Tree (2021) about a raccoon’s relationship with their protective parent.  The description on Disney+ says, “Parenting is hard… this youngster learns to live with an open heart… even as danger lurks.”  As the plot develops, the why behind the parent’s actions is revealed, and we see in the next generation that the proverbial apple hasn’t fallen “far from the tree.”  The short transitions seamlessly into the story of Encanto where much is the same.  At a young age, Abuela Alma endured great loss and was forced to step into an early role she was unprepared for – but endured and survived.  As a result, her past has made her somewhat guarded, protected, and untrusting as the Madrigal matriarch.  “I was given a miracle,” she confesses.  “A second chance.  And I was so afraid to lose it that I lost sight of who our miracle was for.”

Abuela Alma - Encanto (2021)

     Generational inheritance is real, and not merely financial.  We will all inherit and pass down one of our own that is both visible and invisible; physical, spiritual, and emotional, and both positive and negative.  It is not a question of if, but what and when?  Without realizing it, sometimes as parents we live out our lives from past personal or generational pain; passing down and projecting our own fears and worries onto the next.  

     With good intentions, we grasp for control and strive to protect them by vicariously re-creating, re-raising, and re-living better versions of ourselves until the cycle is finally broken.  And in doing so we often are successful: in re-creating ourselves.  The very thing we vowed our next generation would never become if we had anything to say about it.  And we did, and we do…  But if we can quell our fears long enough to look inward and upward and ask the why of ourselves and the higher branches of our family tree, we can better piece together the story of our collective past, and who we are, and who we’re meant to become. 

Blessings to you in 2022,

Mac

References

Bush, J. & Howard B. (Directors). (2021). Encanto [Film]. Walt Disney Animation Studios.

Docter, P. (Director). (2015). Inside out [Film]. Pixar Animation Studios. 

D23 Team. (2021, November 16). Meet the characters of Encanto. D23. https://d23.com/meet-the-characters-of-encanto/

Nourigat, N. (Director). (2021). Far from the tree [Short Film]. Walt Disney Animation Studios.

Walt Disney Animation Studios. (2021, December 22). "Far From the Tree" l Official Trailer l Disney+ [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/dPKg1du3xmI