Recently, Walt Disney Animation Studios has aimed to be more racially inclusive and to expand the cultural diversity of the characters in their films. Disney’s 60th animated feature Encanto, an animated musical set in a small town in a valley in Colombia, is part of the push to diversify the characters and stories in Disney studio productions.
Since Encanto’s release, Body-Mind Education Faculty Diana Suárez-Vargas, who was born in Colombia, has seen it twice, and both times found the film was just as magical. Suárez-Vargas (prefers the name Ms. Diana) feels Disney was successful in diversifying its plotlines. It stood out from other Disney movies because, “Disney always has a princess and a villain, but there was no physical villain. It was intergenerational trauma that they were trying to heal within the family.”
The animation was beautiful and special. The animation of the hair, its texture, and how it moved so effortlessly, especially stood out to Suárez-Vargas. “It was very much thought out,” just like everything else in the movie. Through the animation, a lot of Colombian animals that you wouldn’t see anywhere else were given a personality and a spirit which made them extremely lovable.
Encanto attempts to create rich, authentic characters that genuinely represent their culture.
As a Colombian, Suárez-Vargas celebrated her culture reflected in the movie. “You see Colombians in all of their colors. We are a culture that is very mixed and it’s the first time that an Afro-Latinx boy is represented in a Disney film,” Suárez-Vargas said.
Encanto is directed by Byron Howard and Jared Bush (co-directors of Zootopia) and Charise Castro Smith and produced by Clark Spencer and Yvett Merino. All of the songs are written by Emmy, Grammy, and Tony award winner Lin-Manuel Miranda who wrote the music for Hamilton, the Broadway musical, and Moana, the Disney movie.
Suárez-Vargas appreciated Lin Manuel Miranda as the songwriter for Encanto. This is the first time Disney includes Spanish songs in their movies. She noticed a major difference from Coco, Disney’s other main Latinx film. Coco centers a Spanish-speaking family. However, all of its songs are in English. “How well they studied the music was reflected in the film,” said Suárez-Vargas.
In other Disney films, like Frozen or Moana one main song is associated with the film. The songs in Encanto stood out to Suárez-Vargas because “each one of the sisters finds their voice and has a particular song that talks about their struggle and what they’re trying to overcome.”
In preparing to make Encanto, the creative team took a trip to Colombia’s Cocora Valley to better understand the location and the spirit of place and culture. One of the directors, Jared Bush, said the valley was “the most beautiful place [he’d] ever been to.”
During their trip, the crew met with Colombian architects to learn what traditional materials are used in the country’s buildings. The house in the film, like many small houses in a small Colombian town, is built of guadua bamboo, which is very common in Colombia. Multiple generations live together in the house, as many Colombian families do.
Encanto’s creative team studied Colombian food and worked it into the film. The characters are shown eating arepas con queso, a classic Colombian dish, and Ajiaco, a Colombian soup.
The team spoke to Colombian botanists who introduced them to the biodiversity of the country’s beautiful flora. “The filmmakers depict the big palm trees from the valley of Cocora, which are very symbolic of Colombia,” Suárez-Vargas said.
Artisan groups taught Encanto’s creative team about traditional crafts and their cultural importance, and the team learned a game called Tejo, which was incorporated into the movie.
The team, however, wasn’t just trying to make Encanto factually correct. “There’s a difference between being intellectually correct and being emotionally correct,” said Bush in an interview in the Los Angeles Times.
Encanto is imaginary, but all of its aspects are very symbolic in Colombian culture.
“It was really important to me to see how well they depicted my culture,” Suarez-Vargas said. “From the tiles of the home to the colors to the music, everything was on point.”
“One character, to express their frustration, says damn, but it’s in Spanish. They say “miercoles,” which is something that we use so much in Colombia. I went to the theater with a bunch of Colombians and we were all laughing, saying to each other, this film is so Colombian.”
Suárez-Vargas is not the only person in her family who has seen aspects of herself in Encanto. Her nine-year-old daughter, “now has someone that looks like her,” in a film that she loves. “I remember when Frozen came out, she asked me, why does my hair not look like this? Having a doll from Encanto, one that has the hair that she has was super meaningful,” Suárez-Vargas said.
George Duran ’23, an LWHS junior, is Colombian American (both his parents are immigrants from Colombia). Duran visits Colombia three times a year to see his extended family. He loves the film’s vitality and familiarity.
“In the past, Disney’s films have advanced a lot of racialized stereotypes, and it is exciting to see Encanto, which is centered around a Colombian family, combating those stereotypes,” Duran said.
Duran noted that being able to see himself reflected in the media feels like an “acknowledgment and appreciation of [my] culture.” Duran believes that Encanto “is going to have a heavy impact on Latinx kids growing up trying to find where they belong and a sense of their identity.”
The film follows the Madrigal family, who live in Colombia in the beautiful, lively imaginary town called Encanto. The Madrigal family’s house is enchanted. Moreover, each member of the family, including each of the children, except one, is born with a wonderful gift. The Latinx children of the Madrigal family are young, strong, and independent. Their magical powers range from being able to heal others to see into the future.
Mirabel has two older sisters, Isabela (Diane Guerrero) who can make plants grow, and Luisa (Jessica Darrow) who has incredible strength. Mirabel’s parents are Julieta, voiced by Angie Cepeda, who has the power to heal anyone, and Agustin, played by Wilmer Valderrama. (Agustin married into the family and has no magic powers.)
Mirabel’s aunt and uncle are Pepa, (Carolina Gaitán) who can control the weather, and Bruno (John Leguizamo) who can see the future. But before Bruno could see Encanto’s doomed fate, he mysteriously disappeared, exiled from the family for unknown reasons. Pepa is the most dramatic member of the family; her power brings more rain than sunshine to the town.
Abuela Alma, (Maria Cecilia Botero), who created the Madrigal family’s home, holds the family together.
The different traits of each member of the family balance each other out and create a unique family dynamic. This large family comes with large amounts of mutual support, love, and memories. This closely-knit, multi-generational family continues the theme in Disney movies of the importance of family.
When the town of Encanto faces great danger, Mirabel Madrigal (played by Stephanie Beatriz), the only child of the family with no powers, becomes the family’s only hope.
Encanto opened in theatres on November 24, 2021.
