We Didn’t Watch the Same Thing: Encanto and Film Theory, Round 2
Welcome back to the miniseries: We Didn’t Watch the Same thing, where we break down media where viewers, somehow, don’t quite get the media we all consumed and the dissonance is so strong it makes you go, ’We Didn’t Watch the Same Thing.’
Today on We Didn’t Watch the Same Thing is Encanto and Film Theory.
Again.
What Is Encanto and Who is Film Theory?
As we’ve already discussed and introduced these two, click here, to find out refresh yourself or learn for the first time.
FIlm Theory and Encanto, Where MatPat Heavily Misses the Mark and Continues to Miss the Mark.
When Encanto first came out, it was to be excepted and anticipated that there would be an influx of fanworks and other content made to celebrate the film’s existence, whether it’s about the relatability of the film to the individual film to the wider discussion of the narrative themes that the film introduces. However, Encanto introduces a medium of content specific to the film that is divisive amongst fans: theory videos, where many YouTubers make ‘theories’ on the film that only summarize what was already in the film, or worst of all, do not add anything meaningful to the conversation surrounding Encanto.
In addition, there was also the unfortunate prediction that characters would be villainized thanks to the lack of the traditional villain within a Disney film. Following the release of Encanto, Abuela was the character that was most commonly villainized and vilified by fandom and fans.
Do note that this villainization and vilification of Abuela’s character was done by white and queer fans(white queer fans, specifically).
Where does MatPat fit into this?
MatPat, like many popular theorists’ videos who covered Encanto, is white. That’s the elephant within the room that we have to get out of the way. It’s the elephant we have to address again because of today’s topic. We must call it out because it will fundamentally change the way that he approaches the film compared to myself or any BIPOC viewer. Now you’re going to ask, where exactly does MatPat miss the mark in his video, again?
Good question, I have answers. Again. Let’s begin.
First, to make sure that we’re all on the same page, go watch his video and then come back. Discussion and breakdown of these media are more impactful when we have all watched that content together, as well as to make sure that MatPat is not being taken out of context.
Now, we can truly begin.
Dolores is the True Villian of Encanto
No, she’s not. That’s obvious from the narrative but we have to dissect the points made in Matpat’s theory(which is possibly stolen from Reddit without credit) to disprove this fallacious and slanderous accusation.
This is the Thesis that MatPat states, “Dolores is actively working against
the family. She is miserable she is sick of getting passed over and she’s
weaponizing Mirabel in order to sabotage the family and extinguish the miracle.”
How does he prove this thesis of his?
Matpat starts off by mentioning details that he picked up from Dolores that align with her powers of enhanced hearing, such as her recoiling from the fireworks, her clapping with her fingers, and soundly ties these reactions to the science of the brain. His reasoning is that the amygdala, the part of the brain responsible for processing emotional responses among other things, is constantly receiving input all the time in Dolores’ brain, giving her sensory overload. He also ties in how Dolores and Pepa’s powers are constant, and how the two women plus Bruno got the short end of the stick when it regards to the miracle.
So with this we lead into Motive #1: Dolores wanted to save herself and her mother from the curse of their miracles.
Dolores and Pepa’s gifts can not be turned off, ever. They are both invasive in a way, with Dolores’ superhearing picking up things she doesn’t want to hear and Pepa’s gift being reliant on her emotions, with disastrous emotions being invasive to others because of physical damage that can be caused by the emotional weather. Because of it, Pepa is constantly told to internalize her emotions and made out to be dramatic, a burden, and even hysterical at times due to her clouds.
But if we were to go further with this motive, then it would be helpful for the rest of the family. Luisa is overburdened and overworked to the point of a mental breakdown. Isabela is held to impossible standards and is being pressured into a marriage that she doesn’t want. Mirabel is neglected by her own Abuela, and to an extent, her own family due to being ostracized for not having a gift. Camilo seems mostly harmless But her biggest example for why the magic must go is definitely her mom, Pepa.
Isabela, as well, but we’re going to cover that in the second motive.
But that can easily be disproven when the Madrigals initially lose their powers and when everyone is looking for Mirabel, Dolores is seen trying to use her powers to search for Mirabel, knowing that they don’t work and feeling heartbroken when she can’t hear Mirabel, disheartened that she can’t do the one thing that she’s known for to help her family.
Either way, it’s disingenuous to paint Dolores in such a malicious light.
Motive #2: Dolores, Isabela, Mariano and Unrequited Love
The second reason that MatPat lists as his evidence for Dolores being the villain is that it “might help with the whole unrequited love thing.”
He turns to the ever-popular diss track, “We Don’t Talk About Bruno,” he turns to the lyrics Dolores sings as Mariano approaches Casita:
He told me that the man of my dreams
Would be just out of reach, betrothed to another
Using this, MatPat posits that “it’s likely that Dolores could want to destroy the family’s magic in an effort to either a: derail Bruno's prediction, or b sabotage the engagement with isabella thereby allowing Mariano to be free for her. I mean we see how eager she is to scoop him up when he becomes a free agent at the end of the movie.”
Here is the moment being scrutinized
Dolores’ magical gift, as established is the ability to hear every the faintest of sounds, she listens to everyone but no one listens to her NOR is her presence explicitly acknowledged. Her happiness is stemming from the fact that she’s finally being both seen and listened to by someone. The same can be said for Mariano, where he is always seen, but no one hears the real him, both parties are happy that they’re both being seen in the way they desire to be.
Also, did we not how Mirabel and Isabela cheered for Dolores, both of them clearly happy for their cousin? Especially Isabela, who again, did not want to marry him.
Then he turns to the first act of the film, during the scene where Abuela, Isabela, and Dolores are on screen, and Abuela asks about the engagement, to which Dolores answers, as well as mentioning that Mariano wants “five babies.” MatPat paints the smug look Dolores makes as resentment towards Isabela and her making up the five babies to scare away Isabela.
We can just turn to Jared Bush’s Twitter here, where it’s heavily implied that Dolores was simply teasing Isabela, with no resentment whatsoever:
Motive #3: Self-Serving and Bruno
MatPat refers to Dolores as self-serving, citing two ‘’petty moments’’ within the film: the very beginning where she is the one to reveal that Mirabel has no gift and during the last song where she pushes Mirabel out of the way for Mariano. Two quick counterpoints:
1. Dolores revealing Mirabel has no gift was to move the plot along. Mirabel wouldn’t have admitted herself, especially during the song where she focuses on everyone but herself. Neither would Abuela, who has shame that Mirabel does not have a gift.
2. Dolores wanted to introduce herself to Mariano, she’s still thankful for Mirabel hyping her up but Dolores wanted to introduce herself to Mariano as the person she is and acknowledge the fact that she’s seeing him for who he is.
That’s small stuff, according to Matpat. Let’s move on to how she supposedly “explicitly sabotages her family,” and urges us to “look at the information that she does and doesn’t choose to withhold in the movie.”
Well, let’s do that!
3A: The Proposal Dinner
Matpat directly places the blame on Dolores for spreading the secret of the vision to the rest of the vision, even though Dolores is aware of the “chaos that it would cause, she actively passes on the information about Mirabel finding the vision the first opportunity that she gets, and instead of staying quiet at the climax of the meal she blurts it out.”
Well, why did she do this? There are two parts to his answer, but let’s dissect the first part.
“Because she’s a gossip who has no self-control?”
This is grossly incorrect. While it’s true that Dolores has been depicted and stereotyped as ‘the gossip’ within the family, it is also true that Dolores can not keep secrets, as stated by Agustin before the dinner. In addition, there was the silent, oppressive, pressure that Mirabel put on Dolores by the intense staring done, which rapidly sped up the rate that Dolores told.
Not to mention, Dolores was also symbolic of the child who knew too much but was forced to keep it all in and the pressure simply became too much for her. This crucial piece of evidence plus what was stated above is crucial to why she couldn’t keep it in and started to spread it.
What’s the second part? Again, Matpat redirects us to “We Don’t Talk About Bruno,” pointing out two variations of Dolores’s lyrics, her first round in the reprise goes:
He told me that the man of my dreams
Would be just out of reach, betrothed to another
It’s like I hear him now.
When she sings it again, this is how it goes:
He told me that the man of my dreams
Would be just out of reach, betrothed to another, another
And I’m fine, and I’m fine, and I’m fine, I’ll be fine;
Matpat interprets this as because Dolores as not being fine with this engagement, it causes her to be more than happy to spread the secret in order to ruin the proposal dinner.
However, this is not true. The line “It’s like I hear him now,” has heavy ambiguity, as it can be a reference to Bruno, the subject of the song, or Mariano, who is literally coming in at this point in time during the song. The ambiguity makes who she’s truly referring to hard to identify. But as for the “and I’m fine, and I’m fine, and I’m fine, I’ll be fine” line, Matpat overlooks the fact that it is sung by BOTH Isabela and Dolores.
Dolores is singing this line because she’s trying to assure herself that she’s “fine” even though Mariano is being married to Isabela, but she isn’t– this mirrors how Mirabel sings “And I’m fine, I am totally fine” about her lack of powers in “Waiting on a Miracle.” Meanwhile, Isabela is reassuring herself, and potentially the entire family that she’s “fine” being perfect and being matched to a “perfect” man. Instead of saying the last “I’m fine”, she says “I’ll be fine”. In her case, this motif of a character trying to tell themself they’ll be fine even when they’re not is a foreshadowing of her upcoming song, “What Else Can I Do?”, where she admits that she is actually not “fine” with being perfect.
Neither Dolores nor Isabela is happy with the arranged marriage, but both will go along with it to please Abuela and keep the family image intact. Neither of them are happy with this, but both are willing to suffer to keep the family together because out of the love they have for the family.
The attempt to malign this love into something twisted, self-serving and villainous is distasteful on MatPat’s part.
3B: The Cracks in Casita and Bruno
“She doesn’t stick up for Mirabel the first time the cracks appear. Again, this is someone who can literally hear an eye twitching and yet, she doesn’t hear any of the cracks that have been forming in the house since Bruno left and since Mirabel’s failed gifting ceremony that is frankly not possible.”
Okay, let’s turn to the art book that states the following:
The cracks in the house are symbolic of the state of the family, if the family has issues then so does the house. The film also states that the cracks have been around for at least 10 years, but these are inward, in the walls of Casita but only become visible within the walls of Casita, where they can be seen by Mirabel after “Waiting For A Miracle,” where Mirabel finally admits that she is not fine. Casita had always been crumbling, slowly, because there were problems in the family that no one would address. Mirabel realizing that her family thinks of her as inferior and being dismissed once again is the inciting incident for Casita to show OUTWARD cracks and crumbles.
After painting Dolores as willfully hiding this information, we are now at the point in the video where we are directed to Bruno, where he asserts that she knew that he was in the walls and never told anyone. Matpat guesses that it was because Bruno was the one who came up with the prophecy that she would suffer from unrequited love, calls it cold, and uses everypoint he made so far to point to her image on the new door to Casita that has her ‘’downcast face,” as a final nail in the coffin.
Several things.
- Dolores doesn’t stand up for Mirabel because even though she wants to support Mirabel and help her, she is also scared of Abuela, just like everyone else. Just like Luisa, Isabela, Pepa, Camilo, and Felix. Are we supposed to call them selfish because of their fear of standing up to Abuela, even if it was to help Mirabel?
- There are plenty of reasons for Dolores to not mention the cracks in Casita: from not wanting to make waves, out of fear of no one believing her, but this is the most likely explanation so far, the cracks were inside the house, in the walls of Casita. Pay attention to how the despite the fact there are holes, cracks and the foundation being ruined, it is not fixed by magic, it is being fixed by Bruno. It is heavily implied that Casita’s range does not extend to the drywall within the house, thus Dolores can not hear the cracks in the wall.
Besides, if she did hear the cracks in the wall, it wouldn’t make sense for her to hear that and not do anything about it, especially when it would have this big of an impact on the family. If she had, there would have been a chance where she would have told Abuela and she would have been believed, because Abuela gives Dolores more respect than Mirabel, because she has a gift. Also as stated before, the cracks are symbolic of the house and the family, of course, the character who ADMITTED to not being fine early on in the movie would SEE and HEAR the cracks, not the character who is still pretending to be fine.
Let me raise you another, even more, likely alternative: During the moments where Casita is cracking within the house and Mirabel sees it, the doors flicker in and out, demonstrating a fault in the powers. The very next day, Luisa admits to feeling weak during that period of time, and it is just as likely, more than likely that Dolores’ powers did not work during that period of time as well.
3. Bruno is a taboo subject in the town and in the family to the point that anytime anyone brings up his name, they are automatically silenced. It is very possible that Dolores had tried to say that Bruno was still here but was silenced by family members or was dismissed in other ways. It is also very possible and more than likely that she didn’t tell anyone that he was still there because she respected his wishes. She doesn’t know why he left, she was only 11/12 at the time of that prophecy that caused Bruno to leave, so its gross to blame a child for that.
Not to mention, she understands the nature of Bruno’s gift and how invasive it can be, just like hers. She shows compassion to Bruno’s plight of how his prophecies turned the town against him, not resentment.
4. The doors. Simply compare her door from the beginning of the film to the new door, and you’ll see that her expressions are mostly the same.
Besides, every time there is a family photo that occurs, she is also was shown posing the pose of having her power. Her door also shows her in the motion of using her power, portraying her as attentive. This final door does not prove that she’s a villain because she’s not smiling, if that is the cause, then Isabela should be cast as a villain as well, but she isn’t.
For a man who values and preaches the idea of paying attention to the narrative and the subtext of the film, Matpat pointedly ignores the narrative elements explicitly shown in this film and created a narrative suited to his taste that went against the themes of the movie. This theory was crafted on the sole basis of villainizing and demonizing Dolores, trying to disprove the premise that “Encanto doesn’t have villains.” It’s a gross and grotesque display to see someone openly and willfully twist Dolores, an Afro-Latina, who has suffered from generational trauma and shown to be caring, compassionate, and full of love for her family that. When white fans aren’t given traditional villains, they turn to villainizing characters of color, especially those who suffer from generational trauma, which makes it all the more difficult to have important, complex stories told while people of color suffer from this lack of nuance and wrongful, unnecessary demonization.
