Let’s pick up where we left off in our analysis of the Encanto generational trauma. Mirabel continues trying to save the Madrigal family, trying to anticipate everyone else’s needs and to be helpful, to be there for everybody. Though Mirabel is telling the truth about the cracks in the house, Abuela accuses Mirabel of making it all up. She puts Mirabel down in front of the others and turns her into a scapegoat, blaming her for everything that is wrong, even the cracks appearing in the house.
When Abuela blames her for everything that is wrong, Mirabel stands up for herself. She puts the responsibility back on Abuela, telling her that the way Abuela treats the family is the reason the house is cracking apart and the magic is dying. Abuela’s unreasonable expectations are the cause of the problem. Abuela seems only to value her granddaughters for the gifts they possess and the feats they can perform. As Abuela explodes with rage at Mirabel for speaking to her this way, the house finally cracks apart and crumbles, and Mirabel runs away.
Abuela goes after Mirabel, and when she finds her, Abuela finally reveals the trauma in her past that has caused her to behave the way she has been behaving with her family. By imposing impossible standards of perfection, she had been trying to protect the family from the suffering and pain she had experienced during an earlier part of her life when she lost her husband and her home. But Abuela now realizes the harm she is causing to her family. Because of her new awareness, Abuela starts to collapse into blaming herself for everything, for creating all the family’s problems.
The Power Of Allowing The Family’s Trauma To Be Known
Mirabel is able to see her grandmother with more understanding and compassion now, thanks to her revelation of the truth of her past, and Mirabel responds with kindness to Abuela, saying, “We were saved because of you, given a miracle because of you. We are a family because of you. Nothing will ever be broken that we can’t fix together.” With this new understanding of the trauma in the family’s past and of the reasons why they have been acting as they have been, the family dynamic that had been initiated by the oldest member of the family, and kept going by subsequent generations, finally shifts. Authentic connection begins to happen, and Abuela can now appreciate Mirabel just for being herself.
The lyrics of the final song in the movie show how Abuela’s perspective has changed by the story’s end. Each person is to be valued not for their gifts, which is a form of objectification, but for who they are as people—three-dimensional people with weaknesses and imperfections that just go along with the territory of being human. Abuela sings: “The miracle is you, not some gift, just you… All of you.”
Look at this home
We need a new foundation
It may seem hopeless but we’ll get by just fine
Look at this family, a glowing constellation
So full of stars and everybody wants to shine
But the stars don’t shine, they burn
And the constellations shift
I think it’s time you learn
You’re more than just your gift
And I’m sorry I held on too tight
Just so afraid I’d lose you too
The miracle is not some magic that you’ve got
The miracle is you, not some gift, just you
The miracle is you
All of you, all of you
Interrupting The Transmission Of Intergenerational Trauma
The Madrigals are an example of a family in which trauma is passed down from generation to generation. The patterns in the family have their origins in Abuela’s fears from the past, which she is projecting into the future. She can’t tolerate her fear of what would happen if the community knew about the trauma in the family’s past, so she keeps it a secret. Subsequent generations have gone along with this, upholding the image of family perfection and hiding their vulnerability and imperfections, because this is what it takes to feel loved and accepted in the Madrigal family. But this pattern is not healthy or authentic for the family members who participate in it, and thanks to Mirabel’s determination to tell the truth, the pattern in the Madrigal family finally begins to shift.
These patterns can shift in your life too. When we come into more adult, present-moment consciousness, we learn that we don’t have to take fears from the past and project them into the future. The future is more than just our past fears repeating themselves. We have agency and can have some influence over how our lives unfold. Instead of denying the cracks in the foundations on which we stand, we can admit that there are cracks and allow ourselves to look at them with curiosity. Many people worry that they will be judged negatively if they reveal any imperfections, but the opposite is often true.
How To Break The Pattern
When we open up about struggles we are dealing with in our lives, as Abuela does at the end of “Encanto,” we become more relatable and accessible to others. Others may feel more compassionate and open-hearted toward us, and we, in turn, might become more compassionate toward them too. The ability to acknowledge and reveal our true histories and struggles is a strength that can bring people closer. We connect more deeply with others from a place of authenticity instead of from a false presentation of perfection and invulnerability.
Key Takeaways From The Encanto Generational Trauma
If you are curious about these themes, I encourage you to see “Encanto” and to ask yourself which of the characters you identify with. Perhaps use the movie as a starting point for conversations, both in therapy and in your wider lives. In your family of origin, what history could not be talked about openly? Were certain narratives upheld about the family that didn’t feel entirely true? What role did various members of the family play in perpetuating these narratives? How about the older generations? What feelings or experiences were not allowed to be talked about? What “cracks” or imperfections were denied?
Intergenerational trauma is prevalent in our culture. If we aren’t dealing with it ourselves in our families, other people around us are, and there are certainly cracks in the foundation of our society that many people haven’t wanted to talk about or have been in denial about (racism and the climate crisis are just two examples). In therapy, it is possible to process and work through intergenerational trauma and to interrupt the transmission of trauma from one generation to the next. The pattern does not have to continue. We don’t have to hide what happened or pretend to be something we are not. By and exploring and working through the impact of intergenerational trauma in therapy, we can become more conscious, compassionate, and understanding towards others who have suffered from intergenerational trauma in their lives, as well as more compassionate and accepting in our relationship with ourselves.
Return to Part 1, to understand more about the Encanto generational trauma.
