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#28: Ariel, Stef, and past host Josué team up for a second time to do a deeper dive into Disney’s Encanto. In this episode, themes of dysfunctional family roles, inner child archetypes, and how to inspire students and clients to discover their own inner talents.
Episode 26 is part one of this two-part Encanto deep dive, where we discuss our reaction to, and highlight themes from the movie.
Read the blog post for this episode for additional references and resources.
Resources for this episode:
- Kulture Karaoke
- One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
- The Art of Disney’s Encanto by Juan Pablo Reyes Lancaster Jones
- How To Do The Work by Dr. Nicole LePera
Become a member of Geek Therapy on Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/geektherapy
Transcription
Stefanie Bautista 0:11
Hello, everyone, welcome to the Happiest Pod on Earth. I’m Stef.
Ariel Landrum 0:16
I’m Ariel.
Josué Cardona 0:17
And I’m Josué.
Stefanie Bautista 0:18
And I’m an educator who uses passions and fandoms to help my students grow and learn about themselves and the world around them.
Ariel Landrum 0:24
And I’m a therapist who uses a client’s passions and fandoms to help them grow and heal from trauma.
Josué Cardona 0:29
And I’m a former educator and former therapist who teaches other educators and therapists to use their passions and fandoms in their work.
Ariel Landrum 0:35
And Happiest Pod is a place where we dissect Disney mediums with a critical lens.
Stefanie Bautista 0:40
Why do we do that? Because just like we are more than just fans, we expect more from the mediums we consume.
Josué Cardona 0:46
So team, what is the experience are we discussing today?
Ariel Landrum 0:49
This is the We DO talk About Bruno Reprise. We’re bringing Encanto back.
Josué Cardona 0:54
A sequal?
Stefanie Bautista 0:55
Oh, dang!
Josué Cardona 0:55
Para te dos?
Stefanie Bautista 0:56
Before we even knew we were gonna get one.
Josué Cardona 0:59
What?
Stefanie Bautista 1:01
Lucky, lucky you all. You got your sequal before the sequal.
Josué Cardona 1:07
Encan-dos!
Ariel Landrum 1:07
Encan-dos!
Stefanie Bautista 1:08
I like it! I like it!
Josué Cardona 1:14
Don’t use. Cut it out.
Ariel Landrum 1:15
No I’m keeping it.
Stefanie Bautista 1:18
Too late. I don’t know about you all but it has been everywhere it has not left is in and around. I hear it every day at school. We don’t talk about Bru-No, no, no, every single day Monday through Friday. The kids love it. And I mean, I think it’s the gift that keeps on giving. Like we mentioned before.
Ariel Landrum 1:39
I was walking my dog with my roommate the other day and some kids were playing musical chairs with the we don’t talk about Bruno song. And literally I heard I would say six tiny little voices go “Isabela, your boyfriend is here!” All sounds even the music stopped and it was like, “A chair!”
Josué Cardona 2:02
I don’t think we talked about last time. I’m like that song was charting, right? Like it was it was on the chart on the Billboard charts like it was on the radio.
Stefanie Bautista 2:10
I have a fast fact about that.
Ariel Landrum 2:12
Yeah.
Stefanie Bautista 2:12
So currently, we don’t talk about Bruno has 100 million streams. And that’s Apple, Spotify. SoundCloud. What have you? Disney Radio! So 100 million. I’m pretty sure. That’s probably changed by right now as I’m talking, but…
Josué Cardona 2:32
I appreciate the shout out to Disney Radio. Yeah, it keeps on giving. I had a huge epiphany about it today. I had therapy earlier today, and I brought up the stuff and then I was listening to the soundtrack in preparation for this conversation. And I Oh, it was like, You gotta be kidding, there’s still stuff in like, I didn’t see or I didn’t realize before.
Ariel Landrum 2:56
Like what? Share!
Josué Cardona 2:57
You know, what we talked about all the different abilities and, and, you know, I’m, I’m sticking to my version, that each of them are used to to uphold this illusion, right? That Abuela that I what I wants to protect everybody by any means. So every every ability to make that more possible. And one that I really didn’t think about was Julieta’s power. Like, and I kind of like I feel like we just like talked over it. But then it’s in the first song in the Family Madrigal, where Maribel just says real quick, like, “Oh, like she makes everything better with food.” I was like oh, that’s it, you avoid talking about stuff, right? You just you just you just cook something up, you just make a meal, you just sit down. And we don’t talk about it at the Eat this and you’re and you know, forget about it. What? And then so this morning, when I was meeting with my therapist, I was talking about basically I developed a eating disorder that I was diagnosed with. And I attribute it I’ve always attributed it to the fact that when I was a kid and my parents were getting divorced, I was six years old and my mom my grandmother just would feed me just constantly just to make me feel better. And like I gained so much weight and like I still have stretch marks from when I was that that small. And and it’s been something that I’ve struggled with always and but it’s that it’s, Oh, I’ll make it better. Don’t worry, I’ll cook you something. Let me make you something right we don’t need to talk about it. I’m not gonna tell you the truth. We’re not gonna fix it. We’re not gonna address it. But eat this.” I was like, “Damnit. It was right there!” Like I didn’t think about how obvious that version of who you know what, who yet does roll there is but it’s still it’s it’s another version of we don’t talk about anything.
Stefanie Bautista 4:51
We tamp it down.
Josué Cardona 4:52
And the version in the in the movie is is so is so harmful because it literally fixes things.
Ariel Landrum 5:00
Yes. Yeah. Yes.
Josué Cardona 5:01
Right. But superficial and physical things, you know?
Stefanie Bautista 5:04
It causesyou to not confront it. Yeah. Yeah. I mean.
Josué Cardona 5:08
“How did you get hurt? Don’t worry about it, eat this. It’s fixed.”
Ariel Landrum 5:10
The best way to shut up piehole is to put a pie in.
Stefanie Bautista 5:15
I feel like that’s a running joke in Filipino culture where, if you, if you argue or you get in trouble with any of your elders, they don’t apologize to you, they just their way of apologizing is, have you eaten yet? And that’s all you’re gonna get. Because they’re choosing to keep you alive by feeding you. That’s all the sorry, you’re gonna get for whatever conflict there is, especially if it’s, you know, the fault it lies on the adults, they’ll they won’t admit that. They’ll just say, “Have you eaten yet?” Pop in and you don’t have to say yes. But most likely you will end up eventually going out because you’ll get hungry. So you don’t talk about it. You don’t resolve the conflict, you just eat the food in silence and go about your day.
Ariel Landrum 6:00
Well, it’s interesting because when it came time for the big confrontation with Mirabel and Abuela Alma essentially the person who attempts to protect Mirabel is her dad not her mom. He’s the one who essentially steps up and starts looking for her he and and even when they found the prophecy, he’s the one who’s trying to make sure that she’s okay. He’s out looking for her and making an looking out for her where as Julieta is out, this essentially looking out for the family, even when it was when she cut herself. It was because Alma gave her that look of like, “You better to handle this. You better take care of this. You take her away from the party in the group. And you you essentially settle her down.
Stefanie Bautista 6:52
Hmm.
Josué Cardona 6:53
Yeah, this movie.
Ariel Landrum 7:01
So in doing this reprise, I think first something that we didn’t talk too much about, we focused on last time really like one specific song. And I think that I’d found some information about some of the other songs that was really interesting. Sort of like Easter eggs, or like, I don’t know, cameos, shout outs. I don’t. So the first one is that in the Family Madrigal, when Abuela, almost sings her verse, it’s in the same melody as Dos Oruguitas.
Josué Cardona 7:33
It’s true. Hmmhmm.
Stefanie Bautista 7:34
Yup. Yeah.
Ariel Landrum 7:36
So a little bit of foreshadowing there.
Josué Cardona 7:39
No only foreshadowing, because I just listened to the sound track like four times and for recording. While looking at the lyrics as they were playing through. And she, she very clearly outlined in that, in that in the the melody of Dos Oruguitas in that first song, but how we have to work hard to maintain this miracle. Right it’s like, “Things things are rough. We can’t We can’t do that again. Oh, yeah. Thanks.” That’s right. In the in the opening scene, you, you told this was going on.
Stefanie Bautista 8:13
Yup.
Ariel Landrum 8:14
And what her belief system was in regards to the families role. And then in the Waiting on a Miracle, you hear, Mirabel say “I would move the mountains. Make new trees and flowers grow. I would heal what’s broken show this family something new.” And, you know, we saw the river that nobody had ever seen before. Where Abuelo Pedro had passed away. We she definitely moved the mountain she broke it apart. And by you know, having a connection stronger with her sister Isabela, she actually grew trees which until that point, we didn’t really see Isabela grow anything but flowers. And even when you go into her room, it’s all like the topiary essentially flowers.
Stefanie Bautista 9:02
I can even see her talking about I would move mountains how she moved her strongest sister. How she was able to break through that because she was such a, like a steady rock for the entire family. And how she moved her when no one else could she couldn’t even do it herself, Luisa. So she might have foreshadowed that as well.
Josué Cardona 9:23
Yeah, metaphorically. Yeah, I think I think that even if you take it literally as if, because we talked about last time, how everybody’s using their powers in an unhealthy way. So she’s like, “If, if I if I could, I would move the mountains that are blocking everything. If I had the ability to make plants grow, I’d make new trees and new stuff like that,” right? It’s like, literally, “I can see what everybody’s powers are. And I would use them differently. If I if I could heal with food or whatever. I would heal what’s broken.” Right? Like “We don’t we don’t talk about what’s broken. We don’t actually address anything that’s broken. I would actually heal what is broken. If I if I could and show this family, maybe something new.” But like, I think it’s a completely different perspective. Like we said last time, it’s like you can see the things happening. But the way that people are talking about is is, is the warped version is like, no, we don’t actually, there’s, it’s not the truth.
Ariel Landrum 10:24
Yeah, yeah. All right, I get in with again, in the Family Madrigal, she says, “This is my family, a perfect constellation. So many stars, and everybody gets to shine.” But at the end, when we’re at All of You, she says, “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 gifts.” So we definitely see this idea of perfection in the first song and like everybody being allowed to be individuals. And in reality, we don’t get to see them be individuals. They are only their gifts, and it’s only the way that Al, Abuela Alma interprets them.
Stefanie Bautista 11:13
Yeah.
Josué Cardona 11:14
Yeah.
Stefanie Bautista 11:14
Yeah.
Ariel Landrum 11:15
nother little interesting thing about that specific part when she says burn, she sings it at the exact same melody and tone as in Hamilton in the song Burn.
Stefanie Bautista 11:26
A Lin Manuel Miranda thing. There’s lots of those I hear.
Ariel Landrum 11:29
Yes. A little little call out a little shout out. And then also in Hamilton in the song Yorktown Hamilton says, “Seize the moment and stay in it.” And in All of You Dolores sings, “I’m seizing the moment. So would you wake up and notice me?”
Stefanie Bautista 11:46
Oh, I see what you did there.
Ariel Landrum 11:51
Another also interesting song thing which Stef you got it right you were right my fam Lin Manuel said the Family Madrigal was inspired by Belle from Beauty and the Beast. You..
Josué Cardona 12:01
You did it.
Ariel Landrum 12:02
You clocked that my friend.
Josué Cardona 12:04
It was all you.
Stefanie Bautista 12:04
Thank you. Thank you.
Ariel Landrum 12:06
This is your time.
Stefanie Bautista 12:07
This is my. You’re welcome.
Ariel Landrum 12:12
Another sort of songs. Shout out Luisa’s song Surface Pressure she says “Was Hercules ever like ‘Yo, I don’t want to fight Cerberus,'” as a shout out to obviously Hercules.
Josué Cardona 12:24
I don’t remember who said it. But I remember seeing a video or something it said “Like you know, ‘Was Hercules ever like yo, I don’t want to fight Cerberus,’ is the most Lin Manuel Miranda thing.” If you didn’t know he wrote the music to the movie at that point you’re like, “Oh, this must be Lin Manuel Miranda!”
Ariel Landrum 12:41
“I know who wrote this!”
Stefanie Bautista 12:43
“I know who wrote this! Who would even think of that?”
Josué Cardona 12:47
And that specific song Lin Manuel wrote as an apology and Love Letter for his older sister who he saw had to bear the burdens of the family.
Stefanie Bautista 12:57
Hmmm.
Josué Cardona 12:57
Yeah.
Speaking of apologies, when Bruno sings his apology to Pepa at the end, he says “Let it snow, let it go.” And the opening notes of Let It Go from Frozen or actually heard in the background.
Stefanie Bautista 13:09
Do you notice he also throws like white confetti? Making it act like as if it’s snowing? And he does even like Elsa’s pose. It’s really funny.
Josué Cardona 13:19
Okay, how many times have you watched the movies since the last episode?
Stefanie Bautista 13:23
You know, that’s, that’s a good question for everybody has it? Have you all watched it again? I actually haven’t. But I’ve seen so many clips online, that I feel like I’ve watched it in, like 30 second increments.
Josué Cardona 13:36
I just I just listen to the soundtrack again, about multiple times. I only listen to Dos Oruguitas before on repeat forever. But now I was like, “Oh, I could watch the whole movie or let me do let me just listen to the soundtrack.” And I mean, it’s kind of like watching the movie.
Stefanie Bautista 13:51
Yeah it is.
Josué Cardona 13:53
The beats are all there.
Ariel Landrum 13:54
I watched it two more times. Then of course everything on TikTok has me watched clips. I think that actually counts. But it was two more times. One to just do a refresher before we came in did our reprise and another time because I needed noise in the background for like doing stuff.
Stefanie Bautista 14:13
Funnily enough, it’s made its way into the karaoke cue. Me and my friends are on a trip with our families. And we play this card game called culture karaoke where it gives you like a category and then you have to like sing a song from a girl group from the 90s like, and then you would pick like I’m gonna pick Spice Girls or I’m gonna pick TLC or whatever. And then, unannounced unprompted, my husband puts on The Family Madrigal because they’re using YouTube, and I S you not we all just started singing it and we all like took parts and we I mean, we love the movie so much. I was just like, let’s do all the other songs. Now. Forget this game.
Josué Cardona 14:58
That’s gotta be the hardest song right? The Family Madrigal?
Stefanie Bautista 15:00
It is.
Josué Cardona 15:00
Yeah.
Stefanie Bautista 15:01
Yeah. But I think there’s a couple edits on YouTube where it like follows along with the lyrics and like who’s singing it? So it was like color coded, and they put a picture of the character. So we were definitely winded after that song. But we still sang We Don’t Talk About Bruno afterwards.
Ariel Landrum 15:21
Yeah, I think that’s interesting, because you are talking about like, everybody taking on a part. And obviously in We Don’t Talk About Bruno, everybody gets to sing a part. And the part where they are overlapping in the song at the dinner table, like setting, setting the table together, that actual composition style is actually called a madrigal,.
Stefanie Bautista 15:47
Ohh.
Ariel Landrum 15:48
Which is a poly phonetic module girl has a number of voices that vary between two and eight, usually features, maybe one prominent voice and the musical composition they interweave and overlap. And so it’s interesting that when we do actually have them all singing as a family, like that is how they’re doing it. They’re actually doing the madrigal con, vocal composition.
Stefanie Bautista 16:13
Is that similar to around? Is it like also known as around? Or is there a difference between the two?
Ariel Landrum 16:18
There’s a difference around is almost like on canon where the next person goes, the next person goes, they already had their individual song overlap with each other. And, and is if you put on if you turn it up really loud, or you put on the subtitles, the scene where they’re sort of dancing around in Mirabel’s head and she’s like looking at the… Not the fortune. She’s looking at the…
Stefanie Bautista 16:45
The prophecy?
Ariel Landrum 16:45
Yes, she’s got the fortune.
Stefanie Bautista 16:48
She’s looking at the fortune cookie! Haha!
Ariel Landrum 16:50
She’s like the prophecy. They’re all singing around her. And you can hear Isabela say, “I’m fine, I’m fine. I’m fine.” That’s what she sings. And it’s the same note that and key that she hear her introduction, the song where she says that “he told me that the life of my dreams is going to be mine.” And a lot of people have noted that she has to put on the persona of perfection. But in reality, there’s a good chance that her dreams weren’t dreams. They were nightmares. Because everybody had these like bad prophecies and she’s just presenting it as not a bad one?
Josué Cardona 17:30
I love that song The Bruno’s on because every time they everything, I still think that all his prophecies were positive. And like, in her case, again, her and Dolores case, like they were absolutely true. Like, oh, that song, “The life that you want is gonna be yours. It’s just like, but it’s a prophecy. So like, it’s gonna be in the future.” It did happen eventually. And the person that Dolores wanted, it’s like, oh, he only told you to the point where like, “Oh, yeah, your guy he’s, he’s gonna be with somebody else but like, but he’s your guy like eventually.”
Stefanie Bautista 18:00
Yeah.
Josué Cardona 18:00
It’s incomplete.
Yeah.
Stefanie Bautista 18:03
I mean, even the smaller ones there’s things that were gonna happen eventually like that fish wasn’t gonna live forever. Sorry.
Josué Cardona 18:09
Exactly.
Ariel Landrum 18:10
The director even said like you don’t hear it in the movie but the name of the woman is Spanish in Spanish translate to Ms. Dead Fish. Like that’s her name. Like “I knew your fish was gonna die girl it was written in your name!”
Josué Cardona 18:28
In the creds, does it appear in the credits like, Ms. Dead Fish?
Stefanie Bautista 18:31
Like you have no other identity but your Ms. Dead Fish? Like Mr. Green….
Josué Cardona 18:35
Villager one Villager two Ms. Dead Fish…
Stefanie Bautista 18:38
Fish..
Josué Cardona 18:38
Villager three.
Stefanie Bautista 18:39
Mr. Green Thumb is down there too.
Ariel Landrum 18:44
It says, while her name was never mentioned the film director Jared Bush revealed that the name of the woman whose goldfish dies is Señora Pez Muerto?
Josué Cardona 18:56
Pez Muerto!
Stefanie Bautista 18:56
It is!
Ariel Landrum 18:56
Meaning Ms. Dead Fish.
Josué Cardona 18:56
Yup. Yup.
Stefanie Bautista 19:00
It’s like that’s her occupation kind of like blacksmith.
Josué Cardona 19:03
That’s my new favorite Encanto trivia.
Stefanie Bautista 19:06
I know. It’s pretty good.
Ariel Landrum 19:08
“Who you cosplaying as?” “Ms. Dead Fish!”
Stefanie Bautista 19:10
Just go around with a fish bowl.
Ariel Landrum 19:13
And just tilt your head, “Dead.”
Stefanie Bautista 19:16
That’s actually a good cosplay. If you had like two of your friends are the three like villagers whose prophecies were read and a guy with a gut bald guy, Ms. Dead Fish.
Josué Cardona 19:26
One guy just like taking his hair off, right? Taking a wig off. But it’s it’s gonna happen because Encanto is everywhere and there’s gonna be at least one.
Ariel Landrum 19:39
Hey, if they have that Star Wars run with the guy who’s holding the ice cream maker. Definitely gonna have Ms. Dead Fish.
Stefanie Bautista 19:49
or even your your dad’s cosplay of the guy in Jurassic Park that everybody really like?
Ariel Landrum 19:54
Oh, yeah!
Stefanie Bautista 19:56
Everyone loved that cosplay.
Ariel Landrum 19:58
Yeah, my dad was a Jimmy Buffett. If you watched Jurassic World he has a cameo where he has two margaritas and he’s running away from pterodactyls so I was a pterodactyl and my dad was Jimmy Buffett with the two margaritas and that was…
Stefanie Bautista 20:10
Everyone at Comic Con was loving it. They were like, “Oh it’s Jimmy Buffett!”
Ariel Landrum 20:16
“It’s Jimmy Buffett! It’s the margarita guy! They’re like “Do the pose! Do the pose!”
Stefanie Bautista 20:22
Yup. it’s gonna be like that, for sure.
Ariel Landrum 20:25
Okay, okay, um, other other Easter Eggs. Hidden Mickey’s there too, as there should be. Well, the first one is actually in, What Else Can I Do? Isabella makes a cactus and that cactus is a Mickey shape. And then the second one, you actually would have to freeze frame like each second of the song. But Mirabel in the song waiting on a miracle when she dances around her parents in the foreground, there’s magical glitter that’s in the shape of Mickey’s head.
Stefanie Bautista 20:58
Hmm.
Ariel Landrum 20:58
Going with a theme of butterflies because that was something that we talked about…
Yes.
The new door that gets built at the end, there’s a butterfly for each family member except one and that one is you find it on Mirabel’s chest. So right above like the whole, like an archway butterfly for each family member. The other thing is that there’s a book called 100 Years of Solitude, and it’s written by a Colombian novelist named Gabriel Garcia Marquez. And in the book throughout, there are yellow butterflies that appear. And it’s actually the story of a multi generational family whose patriarch finds a town.
Stefanie Bautista 21:33
Much like Abuela. Hehe.
Josué Cardona 21:36
So Disney’s getting sued.
Ariel Landrum 21:39
I’m just saying like this no way there wasn’t some inspiration.
Josué Cardona 21:44
What was the what’s the movie? The white lion? Isn’t Simba, the white lion or?
Ariel Landrum 21:50
Oh, Kim Kim?
Josué Cardona 21:51
Kimba!
Stefanie Bautista 21:52
Kimba. Yeah, the anime movie?
Josué Cardona 21:54
Yeah. That’s nothing like it…
Stefanie Bautista 21:57
No.
Josué Cardona 21:58
No.
Stefanie Bautista 21:58
They would have to wait a couple, what is it like it was made in the 70s and then it and then Lion King came out in the 90s. So you have to wait until that production houses defunct in order to steal their things and not feel the ramifications.
Ariel Landrum 22:16
Okay, okay. Umm in Bruno’s room and his room by the kitchen. You can see a boot with a plant in the background and that’s actually a shout out to Walle it’s the plant that like they find an Eva takes and stores.
Josué Cardona 22:29
I don’t know how I feel about Disney movies referencing Pixar movies. I don’t like that.
Stefanie Bautista 22:35
Yeah, I was gonna mention that. I’m like, hold up. Hold up. Hold up here.
Josué Cardona 22:39
Yeah. We need boundaries. Okay. Stay in your lane.
Stefanie Bautista 22:46
We have not moved that mountain yet. They have to build another Disney CGI mountain.
Ariel Landrum 22:53
But that isn’t the first time they’ve done that though. Right?
Josué Cardona 22:57
Actually was was was Marida in, in the video game movie?
Stefanie Bautista 23:05
Oh, Wreck It Ralph?
Josué Cardona 23:06
Wreck It Ralph Marida’s in it right?
Ariel Landrum 23:08
Yeah, that’s the one I’m referring to in record while she was in there. And they make a snide rude comment, which does not sound like my Disney princesses, but they were like, “Oh, she was made from the other production company.”
Josué Cardona 23:21
Right? Right. Right. So that’s acceptable. Right? It’s like that’s that. That’s how they should act.
Ariel Landrum 23:28
You shouldn’t be snarky to each other? Frenemies?
Stefanie Bautista 23:33
Make a face.
Josué Cardona 23:34
Yeah. Yeah.
Stefanie Bautista 23:38
“They’re from the other magical town not this one.”
Ariel Landrum 23:44
“They make movies about feelings that feel okay?” Yeah, so yeah, so there’s some some Easter eggs.
Stefanie Bautista 23:54
I mean, would another Easter egg be that the Disney Pixar Disney CGI, that’s a dysfunctional family in itself, because it was like they had this partnership or family. And now they’re like all over the place animators here at I don’t know, but it could be a bigger metaphor for the messiness that is Disney CGI. Former Pixar.
Ariel Landrum 24:16
And this new generation is trying to break that generational curse?
Stefanie Bautista 24:21
I don’t know that’s going too far. But it’s a stretch.
Ariel Landrum 24:25
Stef. What have you been doing within condo in the classroom? Or have you seen teachers doing?
Stefanie Bautista 24:31
I’ve seen I mean, in, aside from playing the songs during you know, free time and like connecting with kids, because you got to kind of be hip to what the kids are listening to nowadays, right? Even though those kids are like five, just turned six. You got to know what’s cool. So I mean, everybody is you know, in and around Encanto whether it’s the clothes like what they’re, what they’re wearing, who they relate to who You know, you would find yourself like, “If you had to choose a power, what would you choose?” That’s such a popular writing prompt. Especially when you know superheroes came, you know, in the forefront of everything. It was always like, “You know, if you were a superhero, what would you be?” A couple educators, they actually twisted that a little bit to fit in Encanto when using that in the classroom. And some teachers have been using it to help kids discover their special talents. There’s this one teaching website where it says, because in the beginning of the movie Mirabele lavishes preys on her family and their unique gifts, such as healing through food, endless physical strength, even though she doesn’t have any, she figures, you know, she’s gonna contribute in big ways, like we saw. So what the teacher could do is you could ask the students to complete a writing activity where they come up with their own list of things that their family members excel, I’m not them, per se. But I, you could say, “You know, my mom’s really good at, you know, making this certain dish, or my mom’s really good at cleaning, you know, the house, or she’s really good at maybe even putting on her makeup. And you know, my dad’s really good at, you know, so and so my cousin’s good at this and this.” And then after that, “You could say, how would you transfer that into magical gifts?” So…
Ariel Landrum 26:18
Oh…
Stefanie Bautista 26:18
Let’s say for instance, if your mom is really good at doing her makeup, what if she just flick of the wrist did a whole piece of makeup? Or, you know, did it for like, even for a dog or, you know, get really silly and crazy with it? You could kind of take it to wherever. Or you could say, you know, “How would that gift? How could they? Would they be able to reflect on what their talent might be? Would you inherit that talent? Or would you take that talent further? Like, if you could change the way something looked? Would you do that? Is it a bad thing? Or a good thing? Who would it benefit? Who would it not benefit? And you know, would you do that for other people.” So there’s many different avenues that you could take a special gift.
Ariel Landrum 27:01
I like that.
Stefanie Bautista 27:02
It doesn’t have to be magical. It could just be you know, something really simple such as, you know, “I can kick a ball really, really far. Well, would you want to play a professional sport? Or would you use those talents to, you know, help other people? How would kicking a ball help someone? Oh, you know, maybe my strength could, you know, move things for people who can’t like the elderly, things like that.” So it’s kind of like taking services, to you know, your community, like a step further by making it magical. But you know, they can also scale it down by making it very accessible to students, which is really cool. But you can make it as magical or not magical as you want. The younger kids are really fun, because they can totally make it magical. And then they run wild with it.
Ariel Landrum 27:51
Yes.
Stefanie Bautista 27:52
So I implore you to ask a child what they would do with you know, Luisa’s gift or Mirabel’s gift or even ask a kid what they think Mirabel’s gift is because you might get some really interesting answers.
Josué Cardona 28:07
Yeah, I like the community framing of it. Because in the movie that’s really like, the family is really serving that town. Right? Like, “Oh, if you had abilities, how would you help your town? or the school? Yeah.
Stefanie Bautista 28:22
Yeah.
Ariel Landrum 28:22
What a clever assignment.
Josué Cardona 28:25
I mean, they’re already talking about it. Yeah. Speaking their language.
Stefanie Bautista 28:31
Yeah. And I think a lot of kids have been, you know, identifying their family members within, you know, “This is my cousin who always listens into whatever I’m saying, and she always repeats it. I don’t want her to, but she does it anyway.” And, you know, “There’s there’s that cousin who I don’t see very often, but I know he’s around. Kind of like their Uncle Bruno. Everybody has that uncle.
Ariel Landrum 28:54
Yeah. Yeah.
Stefanie Bautista 28:56
It always ends up being you know, like Bruno, so they they really see themselves even though they might not see themselves visually, they can find themselves in every character, which is really awesome.
Ariel Landrum 29:09
That’s interesting that you mentioned Dolores, and like a cousin that won’t keep secrets. And there is a fan theory that because Dolores can hear everything she knew the prophecy already and was just waiting to the right time to like stir the pot so that her man wouldn’t get stolen from her because she even says, “No one is worried about the magic but you and the rats in the walls.”
Josué Cardona 29:37
And in one of the songs she says “I can hear him now.” I think it’s it’s an Bruno right?
Ariel Landrum 29:46
“Mumbling and something..”
Josué Cardona 29:48
She’s like, “I can hear him now.”
Stefanie Bautista 29:49
There’s a lot of talk yeah, about what she hears and the things she shouldn’t be hearing.
Ariel Landrum 29:56
She’s got all the chisme.
Josué Cardona 29:58
So I mean, I mean she and she admits, “I I’ve always knew that Bruno was there. I could hear him. Like, I knew I know everything.” This way like, I feel like her, her power is just as sad as as Luisa and Isabela’s because like she has to stay quiet about this stuff, you know that she hears everything and she can’t say anything or do anything about it. Because for I mean, who knows what why she thinks that but that’s a lot of pressure too.
Ariel Landrum 30:27
You can also see in the background. I think her powers is the one that sucks the most. Because when well what everybody’s like clapping, she just uses her two index fingers because everything’s just so flipping loud.
Stefanie Bautista 30:41
Too loud.
Ariel Landrum 30:42
And it’s like we don’t we I don’t see her hat wearing like any earmuffs or earplugs at all. I feel so bad. Like she needs some Bose Bose noise canceling headphones. Number 45.
Stefanie Bautista 30:54
I want a Disney short of young Dolores. Like, where she did it no restraint and just said everything she heard.
Ariel Landrum 31:05
Yeah!
Stefanie Bautista 31:05
Cause there are kids who just repeat everything that they hear even though they shouldn’t…
Ariel Landrum 31:09
Oh that was me!
Stefanie Bautista 31:12
I would love to see just her just spilling the chisme. Spills everything.
Josué Cardona 31:17
It is funny because the dinner scene right, she she can’t hold it in. But then but like you learn “Oh, she said she’s had a lot of restraint.”
Ariel Landrum 31:26
Yeah. She just stirred the pot at the right moment.
Josué Cardona 31:30
Yeah yeah. I mean, this was pretty juicy.
Ariel Landrum 31:33
My girl.
Josué Cardona 31:34
I get it. Yeah.
Stefanie Bautista 31:37
But yeah, I agree. I think her powers you know, very burdensome, then that town is not that large? Now think if it was larger, if it continues to expand, is she is she using things to help her, you know, control block it out? Or? I don’t know.
Josué Cardona 31:55
I just I’ve never thought about how bad it could be. But what if she can actually hear outside of the town? And she can’t go. But she knows that. Like, all these things are happening. And there’s this whole world out there.
Stefanie Bautista 32:10
There’s life beyond the walls. There’s life beyond the walls. Oh, man, we need another episode for that one.
Josué Cardona 32:20
I don’t want to think about that. About Dolores’ plight now. The tragedy of the Dolores.
Ariel Landrum 32:28
We don’t really have a timeframe do we?
Josué Cardona 32:30
No not really? And like when things happen at the beginning? The story takes like 50 years after that.
Ariel Landrum 32:36
Yeah.
Josué Cardona 32:37
And….
Stefanie Bautista 32:40
We know that they make espresso. So we know that those processes are there.
Josué Cardona 32:46
Yeah.
Stefanie Bautista 32:47
But other than that, I mean, there’s no sign of electricity aside. I mean, they’re using carts.
Josué Cardona 32:55
But also like, we have no idea like, because we have no frame of reference for the….
Stefanie Bautista 32:59
Yeah.
Josué Cardona 32:59
initial scene…
Ariel Landrum 33:00
Yeah.
Josué Cardona 33:01
Like, technology could have advanced like, it could have been the 1900s. And now it’s 1950. And they’re still, you know, like…
Stefanie Bautista 33:07
In yeah.
Josué Cardona 33:07
There was a big change. You know, like people driving cars around that mountain. They have no idea what’s going on. They just saw about it split. And it’s like, “Wait, what?”
Stefanie Bautista 33:16
Yeah, what an homage to rural living, especially in countries like that. Because, yes, there could be cars and you know, electric cars going around. But if you live in the boonies, you would not know that. You would not know that at all. And there are places that exist today that are like that. I mean, speaking of Encanto has been so popular. So we know, the Disney route on this. We got to Frozen Two Yes, we are gonna be getting a Moana Two sometime. Do you think they’re going to push for an Enancto Two?
Josué Cardona 33:50
I mean, only because I’m sure it’s made them a lot of money.
Ariel Landrum 33:54
Yeah. Yeah, it wasn’t a flop. So…
Stefanie Bautista 33:57
Yeah…
Ariel Landrum 33:57
They have to monetize it as much as they can.
Stefanie Bautista 34:00
Yeah. I did read some people say because when she rebuilt the house at the end of the movie, you see in its destruction, the mountain splits, right? So it opens up this valley. That never gets repaired. So it’s now open. People can visit the town now. Or the townspeople can go out and venture. So I wonder if this maybe sequel would be them going out or dealing with outsiders coming in? Hmm.
Josué Cardona 34:30
Again like Frozen surprised me when when they had a sequel. Like I couldn’t imagine what the sequel would be. And, and yeah, this I think they have the opportunity to do some cool stuff. That is kind of, there’ll be like hard to expect. Because I mean, we talked about it’s been 50 years. So the world like the outside world is very different. And we don’t know what kind of world they live in. That’s another part to like when we when we see Arendelle and then we kind of expand a little more in the second one, it’s like, “Oh, this world is full of fantasy, and magic.” And like, there’s all these people who’ve been trapped for 50 years, right? I mean, I don’t remember 50 years in Frozen Two right, but like, all these people who were out there, and there’s like all this other types of magic. So it’s possible that in the world of Encanto, they’re not necessarily, maybe they’re not as special. Right? Maybe there’s other families, there’s other miracles, right? There’s other families with powers and abilities nearby, you know, and like, there’s all these things you can explore. Now that they’ve grown, you know, do you introduce some kind of? I don’t know, like, what’s, what’s the we have generational trauma here? What do we do? What what could be next? What’s the challenge? Is it just now adapting? Actually, I think, okay, here’s my theory. Here’s my theory. Abeula dies.
Stefanie Bautista 36:01
Oh, I was just gonna say that.
Josué Cardona 36:03
Yeah.
Stefanie Bautista 36:04
I was just gonna say that.
Josué Cardona 36:05
That’s how it is, right?
Ariel Landrum 36:06
There’s too many Disney mom’s in this movie?
Josué Cardona 36:08
Yeah. Yeah. You deal with the loss of Abuela, and how are you? Like, because she had so much control. And now that she’s let go, how do you? What role does everyone else play? Who who becomes the new matriarch? Who becomes? What are our roles now? How does that power shift? There it is. Lin Manuel call me.
Stefanie Bautista 36:30
I know tight? Call Josué. Call him up.
Josué Cardona 36:33
There’s also the possibility that at the end, when because they don’t they don’t say this. They don’t show either way. But when Mirabel touches the door, the whole town kind of glows. It’s not just Casita, like everything, like, what if everybody else got powers to? You know, like?
Ariel Landrum 36:50
Like that little boy who drank all that coffee?
Josué Cardona 36:53
Yeah, yeah, like he’s a speedster, now.
Stefanie Bautista 36:55
He’s had a power. His little body just absorbing all the caffine.
Josué Cardona 37:01
Yeah, but I think I think that makes sense. I mean, right. And you can see all the same roles, like all the family dynamics, you can start to see them play out in that generational way. Right, but like they didn’t get to grow, they were stifled in the cocoon, right. And now that the cocoon has has broken, how do those, we can show how all of those roles play out?
Stefanie Bautista 37:24
Yeah.
Josué Cardona 37:25
Later on. As as you get older, just like in real life, you had these roles when you were younger, and then they can now then it can explain some of the issues you have as an adult.
Ariel Landrum 37:36
What a beautiful segue Josué to what I wanted to talk about, which was a dysfunctional family roles. So as some of you know, I’m a therapist, I’m specifically what’s called a marriage and family therapist, I was trained to think systemically. So when I treat an individual, I don’t just see them, I see, you know, the, how they have been affected by those around them, and specifically the way their family affects them. And there’s this sort of theory that when a, when there’s family dysfunction, we take on roles in the family. When we see family members struggle to self regulate themselves, we take on these roles and attempt to like create homeostasis, or rebalance the family so that we can get back to, you know, quote, unquote, being functional. And though I don’t really ascribe to dysfunctional and functional, I kind of think of it as these roles are very adaptive, they’re survivor roles. And once you’ve sort of left the family, you’ve created individuation, they’re no longer useful because you’re not in survival mode anymore. In the same way. I always use like with my clients, the example of if you’re swimming in water, you’re going to propel yourself forward with your arms, but you’re on dry land. Now. These are dysfunctional family roles as they’re called in the field. But you can also just think of them as like Survivor roles or roles that we take on to survive. And so I’m going to, I’m going to read them and I want you all to say who you think in the family, they are. The Caretaker/Peacemaker/Mediator, so these are any of the terms you can use. And this is the individual in the family who is constantly alert to addressing any family issue and conflict. They often go ahead of their own personal needs and take on the duties and responsibilities of others in the family. They are seen as the one keeping the family in balance.
So So I think I think there’s a couple that fit this one.
Yeah. Yeah.
Josué Cardona 39:35
Camilo is one because he he literally takes on the duties of other people in the family because he transforms into them and then and then steps in when other people can’t And I think Julieta.
Ariel Landrum 39:49
Okay, okay.
Josué Cardona 39:50
And Mirabel, and yeah, I think those.
Stefanie Bautista 39:55
I definitely thought Julieta first just because she is the most overly motherly type. And she’s preparing food right? So it’s not usually if you’re the person cooking you eat last. And that’s what I always akin that too. So because she’s busy making food for everyone else, she probably doesn’t have time for her own needs. Especially when she has Mirabel a girl who was you know, still lost in finding herself. She’s kind of like, “It’s okay. It’s okay. I’m just gonna give you a big kiss on your face. Everything’s better.”
Ariel Landrum 40:32
Yeah, I definitely agree with you all. I also thought of Luisa in the sense that she does take on a lot of responsibilities and duties. And we literally see her like on a balancing tightrope…
Josué Cardona 40:42
And she’s constantly addressing issues. She’s like fixing things. She’s a fixer. Yeah.
Stefanie Bautista 40:46
Yup.
Ariel Landrum 40:47
I think the part that makes me sort of think more Julieta is the fact that that this individual has to be alert. They’re always essentially on guard. And it seems like even in like the partner she chose, who always gets like stung by bees. She’s just like, ready?
Stefanie Bautista 41:07
Very mother, like you gotta have everything in your purse.
Ariel Landrum 41:10
This one is The Golden Child/Hero/Saint/or Super Kid. This individual’s a family who could do no wrong and is often described as perfect. They have intense pressure to continue to achieve and only no praise through achievement. They appear to be well balanced and unfazed by the family dysfunction. Appear being the strong word.
Josué Cardona 41:29
I mean, in Family Madrigal, Mirabel, actually calls Julieta, I mean, Isabel, and Luisa perfect. Both of them in their own ways. So they both fit that.
Ariel Landrum 41:41
Miss Perfecta Isabela.
Josué Cardona 41:43
Isabela obviously, right? She’s definitely The Golden Child. She’s also called the golden child in that first song, literally…
Stefanie Bautista 41:49
And they sing her name like she’s from the angels.
Josué Cardona 41:53
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. But but she also describes Luisa as perfect and that’s the thing about like her eye twitching right it’s like it’s she’s breaking that that image of perfection yeah.
Ariel Landrum 42:09
Yeah, yeah, I think that that like Super Kid in the title definitely makes me think Luisa.
Josué Cardona 42:13
You can be more than one of these by the way, you can have more than one dysfunctional family role.
Ariel Landrum 42:18
Oh, yeah. You like I said, this is a role you you is either ascribe to you or you take yourself for someone both so you may shift it up depending on what balance needs to be had in the family. So the next one is The Scapegoat/Troublemaker/ or Black Sheep. This individual in the family who speaks the truth about the family’s dysfunction. Attention is only given to them when they cause a problem or a scene and they are usually assigned this role at a young age. They identify with feeling rejected, unloved and isolated. And they are often placed in situations where they’re pinned up against The Golden Child or compared to.
Camilo and Bruno.
I definitely thought Bruno and I definitely thought Mirabel and that the being pinned up against The Golden Child. But what about Camilo?
Josué Cardona 43:05
Speaks the truth about family’s dysfunction, and that is just generally, when he’s doing when he’s playing his role correctly. He’s good, but the moment he starts messing around and imitating people that’s like, “Oh like just stop it.”
Stefanie Bautista 43:20
Yeah.
Josué Cardona 43:21
“Stop messing around!”
Stefanie Bautista 43:21
Yeah.
Josué Cardona 43:21
You know?
Ariel Landrum 43:22
Okay. Okay. Okay.
Stefanie Bautista 43:24
And a lot of that has to do with you know, because he could be everybody else, you, you might get the sense that he could also get lost in who he actually is because he’s busy shape shifting. And I feel like a lot of kids who identify as the class clown usually are hiding something or they’re using humor, to, you know, cover up something that they might not want to talk about or might not want to address themselves within themselves. So they put more attention on other people so that they can that’s like their comic relief.
Ariel Landrum 43:52
So interesting that you say that because the next one is The Clown or The Mascot. This individual lightens the mood in the home, especially when tensions rise or could boil over. They appear to always be ready defuse tension with humor, and when this is successful, it perpetuates their desire to avoid conflict and conflict resolution by using amusing behavior.
Josué Cardona 44:14
Camilo.
Stefanie Bautista 44:15
Camilo.
Ariel Landrum 44:16
Finally, we have The Lost Child. This individual will do their best to blend into the background they often identify with feelings of being ignored, neglected, and fear drawing attention to themselves. They yearn for love and approval but are often withdrawn and isolated.
Josué Cardona 44:32
Bruno, Dolores, and Mirabel.
Ariel Landrum 44:35
Yes, I definitely think Bruno because he literally blends with the background, but I also think Dolores because she only speaks when she’s told to, like identify news. She’s like…
Stefanie Bautista 44:46
Yeah…
Ariel Landrum 44:47
Like a weather girl.
Josué Cardona 44:48
Also, again, her ability like it makes it so like, in many ways she has to she has to be quiet. Like she can’t even say what she knows because she knows too much.
Ariel Landrum 44:58
Yeah, I think it’s good to have some of these roles in mind, in, in therapy or when we’re doing our own work, because we can see them come out when we are trying to relate with others.We’ll and we feel tension or discomfort rise, we will take on these different roles that may not actually fit or match the needs that have to be met.
Stefanie Bautista 45:21
I noticed that we didn’t mention the husbands.
Ariel Landrum 45:23
I think Felix is the The Clown or The Mascot.
Stefanie Bautista 45:27
Yeah, I was thinking that too.
Josué Cardona 45:29
I was thinking he’s a Mediator/Peacemaker.
Stefanie Bautista 45:31
Oh, yeah that also. For sure.
Ariel Landrum 45:36
So he’s told to calm Pepa down.
Stefanie Bautista 45:38
Yeah. Augustine could be kind of the scape.. maybe not the scape… Maybe The Clown because he’s always getting stung by bees?
Josué Cardona 45:48
I don’t know… I couldn’t. I couldn’t think of one for him. I don’t think he has. I don’t think he he’s the only one that’s not dysfunctional.
Ariel Landrum 45:59
And he’s the only one.
Stefanie Bautista 46:01
Yeah. I mean, he could also be seen as The Peacemaker, or The Mediator because he loves his kids so much. And he loves his wife so much that, you know, he’s, he’s just the go to guy.
Josué Cardona 46:12
Ope like when he hides. Yeah, like when he hides the prophesy stone and stuff. It’s like no, no, yes, I think they both. I mean, yeah, they’re both playing partially that role, more more like The Peacemaker/Mediator kind of thing. Because there’s a lot of drama in that family.
Ariel Landrum 46:36
So in the book, how to do the work by Dr. Nicole LaPera, she has the Seven Inner Child Archetypes, I definitely shout out this book. And I would suggest a lot of clients get it, especially if they’re thinking of going into therapy. This is a good stepping stone if you are still not comfortable with the idea of being in the room with an individual, maybe seeing if you align with these archetypes. And so you want to think of these as internal roles. We model assign, assume and play out unconsciously again to survive. And often our responses from unmet emotional needs or broken connections. And so what I’m going to note on these roles is how, how these internal roles have us believe what love is or how we get love. So The Caretaker, this is the part of us that gains a sense of identity and self worth through neglecting our own needs. Will believe that the only way that we can resolve love, or we can receive love is by caring for others and ignoring ourselves.
Josué Cardona 47:40
That’s me. Uh-huh. Keep going.
Stefanie Bautista 47:43
Yeah. I was like “I see myself in this picture.”
Josué Cardona 47:44
Yup yup yup. Keep going.
Stefanie Bautista 47:46
Go on.
Ariel Landrum 47:47
“Shots fired. I feel called out.”
Josué Cardona 47:49
“How dare you!”
Stefanie Bautista 47:51
“How. Dare. You.”
Ariel Landrum 47:52
So in goes to the family Madrigal and not the Geek Therapy Network Family.
Josué Cardona 47:57
Oh sorry.
Stefanie Bautista 47:58
Oh, are we identifying with character? Oh, sorry. It got a little real there so.
Josué Cardona 48:01
Stef we misunderstood the assignment.
Stefanie Bautista 48:01
Yeah. Opps.
Ariel Landrum 48:07
Who do you think of the family’s a Caretaker? I definitely thought Luisa in the being self sacrificial. Or believing that the only way that she can serve the family is if she never serves herself.
Josué Cardona 48:17
Yeah. 100%.
Stefanie Bautista 48:18
Yeah.
Ariel Landrum 48:19
It’s interesting, the very different way this caretaker is presented than it is like the family role.
Josué Cardona 48:25
Hmhmm.
Stefanie Bautista 48:25
Yeah.
Josué Cardona 48:26
Yeah.
Stefanie Bautista 48:26
I mean, Mirabel because she speaks to Casita, she, I feel like she’s the only one who speaks the Casita and, like, interacts with Casita that way. It’s like she’s taking care of the house. And we see that manifest in a more larger way. But you know, she’s the one, putting stuff back, making sure everyone’s good and making sure all the tiles are in the right place.
Josué Cardona 48:45
She’s literally in the nursery, right, she can make that she has to do a deal with a lot of stuff for for, for the sake of the others.
Ariel Landrum 48:55
She don’t get no room. Okay, the next one is the Overachiever, the part of us that feel seen, heard and valued through success and achievement. This is the part that uses external validation as a way to cope with love, self worth and value. And we see love as only received through achievement.
Josué Cardona 49:17
I mean, it sounds like it’s Isabela, but I feel like you saw a lot doesn’t work hard. Like, I don’t think she’s just valued.
Stefanie Bautista 49:25
Because she is…
Josué Cardona 49:27
Because she’s the most beautiful one because she makes beautiful things. But she does that effortlessly.
Stefanie Bautista 49:33
Yeah, I think all of Julieta’s kids, those that the three of them Mirabel, Luisa and Isabela. They’re all Overachievers in some way or another, because one is trying to overcompensate for what she doesn’t have. One just trying to be, you know, the poster child and the other one who’s just trying to be strong for everyone. So, in comparison to the other two cousins, three cousins they’re way more at the forefront of, I need to be this person.
Ariel Landrum 50:04
Okay? Okay. Because if you think of like Dolores and Camilo, they could literally hide in the background and their achievement is not to be as seen as these other three their cousins.
Josué Cardona 50:14
And nobody’s praising what they’re doing.
Stefanie Bautista 50:16
Yeah.
Ariel Landrum 50:17
Yeah.
Josué Cardona 50:17
And I feel Yeah, probably Luisa is the most. Right. Like she she, what is it? Dammit, she says it. I forgot what she says in the song buti t’s like, “My worth is like, I have to have to be useful. Like I have to have to do things. And if I can’t do that, then like, what good am I?”
Ariel Landrum 50:36
The next one is the opposite of The Overachiever it is The Underachiever and this is the part that stays small, unseen, and beneath our true potential due to fear of criticism, shame, or failure. This is a part that we take when we don’t want to play the emotional game. And we believe that invisibility is the only way to get love.
Stefanie Bautista 51:00
This one might be a long shot, but I feel like because Pepa is always just trying to stop herself from crying and having big emotions. She has to feel smaller, she has to act small. Because if she lashes out or something bad happens, everyone’s gonna have consequences for it.
Ariel Landrum 51:22
Yeah. And that is beneath her true potential. Like she literally controls the weather.
Josué Cardona 51:26
She made a hurricane on her wedding day, right? She said.
Stefanie Bautista 51:29
She did.
Josué Cardona 51:29
Yeah. And I forgot all about Pepa. I’m glad you brought her up because we did not mention her in the last exercise.
Stefanie Bautista 51:36
We did not. And she’s the one with the power that can truly destroy or make everyone’s day great.
Josué Cardona 51:45
She’s always subduing right? Her ability. Yeah. I think Dolores in a way also, does that. Like she can’t talk about the fact that, you know, she knows. I think Bruno too.
Ariel Landrum 51:59
Yeah…
Josué Cardona 52:00
In a way, but a much more literal way here, right? Because, because he did speak up and was criticized. And then he literally, you know, got himself invisible. Not necessarily as the only way to get love, but like the only way to avoid….
Ariel Landrum 52:20
Rejection.
Josué Cardona 52:21
Yeah, rejection yeah.
Ariel Landrum 52:23
The Rescuer or The Protector. This is the part of us that attempts to rescue those around us in an attempt to hear from our own vulnerability and attempt to get away from our own vulnerability. So we can view others as helpless, incapable and dependent. And we derive love from them and a feeling of self worth by putting ourselves in a position of power. And this part of us believes that love is received when focusing on others wants and needs and helping them to solve those problems. Even I will highlight if if they don’t think it’s a problem. So we feel the compulsion to resolve it for them. Even though they might not have said that this was the thing that bothers me.
Josué Cardona 53:10
It’s absolutely Abuela.
Stefanie Bautista 53:13
Yep.
Josué Cardona 53:13
Ferociously.
Stefanie Bautista 53:15
Ferociously.
Josué Cardona 53:16
Attempts to rescue those around them. Yup.
Stefanie Bautista 53:18
In that grandmotherly way. “I know you guys didn’t ask for my opinion. But here it is.”
Ariel Landrum 53:25
“Here’s my unsolicited advice. You’re welcome.”
Stefanie Bautista 53:30
“About your life choices.”
Ariel Landrum 53:32
We’re down to the final three. The Life of The Party. This is the part that is always happy, cheerful or comedic, and that always wants to be perceived this way. This is the part that believes that we can make others around us happy. That’s how we’ll receive love.
Josué Cardona 53:48
Camilo.
Stefanie Bautista 53:49
Felix.
Ariel Landrum 53:51
The interesting thing about this one is some people online said that this was Pepa. And the example that they said is sometimes The Life of The Party isn’t always doing good, but because their emotions affect everybody else, they have to be good.
Stefanie Bautista 54:06
Which is why she looks so tormented. Poor girl.
Josué Cardona 54:11
Yeah, I guess in that case, right. If she, by some doing her own powers, she’s, she’s making sure that other people around her are, are better off.
Ariel Landrum 54:24
“And if they’re happy then they love me.”
Stefanie Bautista 54:25
Yeah.
Josué Cardona 54:26
Yeah. Yeah.
Stefanie Bautista 54:27
I can see that. Because if she always just says, “I need to be sunny, so it can always be sunny.”
Josué Cardona 54:33
Yeah, the pressure of I mean, she can literally control the weather. Right? So she can she can if it’s raining, she can she can fix that. That’s uh, yeah…
Ariel Landrum 54:42
We have The Yes Person. This one drops everything and neglects all their needs in the service of others. This was most likely modeled to them when they were a child modeled self sacrifice, and they believe love is given when one is good to others. This is slightly different than The Caretaker ’cause it isn’t that they’re neglecting their own needs. It’s that they see someone else need something, so they’re going to stop what they’re doing to assist, but they don’t go out of their way to ignore their needs. And some people sort of said, online that they thought The Yes Person was Camilo. Because he literally turns into the to you like, “You go girl.”
Stefanie Bautista 55:25
Yeah!
Josué Cardona 55:25
in the opening scene, he’s just like, he walks by the mom taking care of the baby. And he immediately turns into the mom takes the baby and lets her take a nap. Right? Just immediately, “There’s someone needs something. I got you.”
Ariel Landrum 55:40
And I think that in modeled in childhood, I think that that he saw that from his father Felix in taking care of Pepa.
Josué Cardona 55:47
Yeah. Could be. Yeah.
Stefanie Bautista 55:49
Yeah.
Josué Cardona 55:49
Final one is The Hero Worshiper, there’s the part of us that wants to follow a person or a guru. We believe the only way we will receive love is if we reject ourselves and view others as a model to learn how to live.
Stefanie Bautista 56:03
Mirabel? ‘Cause she literally worships and loves everyone. And because she doesn’t have a power herself, she just says, “I’m part of this magical family look at what they all can do.”
Josué Cardona 56:17
We talked about like, in the in the waiting for a miracle. She’s, she’s thinking of how, you know, she could use their abilities instead of what she can do.
Stefanie Bautista 56:27
Hmhmm.
Yeah.
Josué Cardona 56:29
No… The needs to follow a person like that part. Like, I feel, I don’t know that she feels like she needs to. That part feels a little.
Stefanie Bautista 56:38
Maybe it’s manifested in her need to please Abuela in one way or the another. Not really following her but needing to please her because she doesn’t know how to do that without a power.
Josué Cardona 56:52
Yeah, yeah.
Ariel Landrum 56:53
Yeah, yeah, I definitely the way that The Hero Worshiper is essentially described in like parts work of a part of yourself, it’s like you don’t see yourself reflected around you. So you must assume that that part of you is essentially bad. And you need to hone a skill of something else that is reflected of others like, like, again, worshipping, in the sense of, “They have what I’ll never have, or I don’t have, and I need to reject different parts of myself, or how I live my life in order to be loved.” In order to be able to live it up, quote, unquote, appropriately, societally, appropriately, I don’t know.
Josué Cardona 57:33
Yeah, yeah. No.
Stefanie Bautista 57:36
I like that. I like a deep dive guys. Deep dive.
Ariel Landrum 57:41
Yeah. Okay, thank you for indulging in my family systems. Hopefully, that helps some fellow clinicians out there and talking about these characters and how they might represent family roles or parts of ourselves. I think that having something to go off of makes that conversation a little bit safer, and less scary. Because you just don’t want to be like, you know, calling out your client, right there like, “Yo, here’s your dysfunctional role.”
Josué Cardona 58:11
So whenever there’s a movie or a story with families like this, I mean, this is also why I was like, like, Inside Out, right? Oh, it was really helpful. It’s like, “Okay, you have all these examples, like, do you possibly relate to any of them? Maybe? Like, which one? Which one made you feel a certain way?” Or like, where if you have a lot of family members, you’re like, “Oh, like, help me understand how things are at home? Like who acts like, like, like, who?” You know, it’s great, because we have like that, that wide range? And it does cover these two theories really well. Like there’s a lot of videos online about that. People addressing that yeah.
Ariel Landrum 58:51
Yeah. Or to get it in a Geek Therapy mindset. “Who did you resonate with? And ah did you feel an intense repulsion towards any of the behaviors, or the individuals?”
Josué Cardona 59:02
Absolutely.
Ariel Landrum 59:02
Repulsion.
Josué Cardona 59:07
I mean, and the way that that’s, like, effective I find is you’re like, “Oh, do you feel? Do you feel like you’re like, like Camilo? Like, “No, absolutely not!” “Why?’ And then and then that’s when you go into it. And you’re like, “No, because of Ah-buh-buh-buh.” And “Ah there’s the insight.”
Ariel Landrum 59:24
“If I had the power to turn in anything, I ain’t gonna turn in other people. I serve myself.”
Stefanie Bautista 59:29
There’s so many people like talking about that, especially on like the Encanto/Reddit, like, “If I were Luisa, I would have duh duh duh all this stuff.” A lot of opinions on that one. But there was a funny one that I just saw right now. And because we were talking about Encanto 2. And what do you want to mostly if there’s an incanto sequels, somebody said, “A. backstory of the triplets getting their gifts. B. brother sister movie of Camilo doing pranks and Dolores dishing out the gossip. C. Abuela and a silver fox love interest.”
Josué Cardona 1:00:05
Oh my.
Stefanie Bautista 1:00:05
Oh.
“D. A brother-in-law buddy comedy of Felix and Augustine hanging out at the tavern. E. Bruno getting on the dating scene maybe with the woman with the dead fish? What if they got together? Or just two hours of Luisa dancing because she’s living her best life.”
Ariel Landrum 1:00:24
Cosign. Add to Cart.
Stefanie Bautista 1:00:29
I like all of those. Let’s just do a Disney+ thing.
Josué Cardona 1:00:33
We just need a series now.
Ariel Landrum 1:00:35
Some shorts.
Josué Cardona 1:00:36
Shorts. Yeah, just a series of shorts.
Stefanie Bautista 1:00:39
Oh, and if you enjoyed the art of Encanto you can get the art book for free digitally, they’ve made it available to the public. All you have to do is search up ‘Art of Encanto Disney’ and they made it available because it is award season and you may want to promote the art of the movie. And not just our intense emotions and feelings about it. It is visually beautiful.
Ariel Landrum 1:01:01
Well, thank you Josué joining us again for this reprise.
Josué Cardona 1:01:05
Yeah, absolutely.
Stefanie Bautista 1:01:07
Yeah. I love that we were able to unpack even further. This never ending suitcase.
Josué Cardona 1:01:13
I don’t know how much deeper I can go into this movie. I’m afraid of what I’ll find.
Ariel Landrum 1:01:17
This is like Mary Poppins’ bag. There ain’t no bottom.
Josué Cardona 1:01:20
No. Oh no.
Ariel Landrum 1:01:23
Well again, if you want to hear even more Encanto and you want to talk to us about it, please tweet at us or DM us @HappiestPodGT for both Instagram and Twitter. Alright Good night, everybody.
Stefanie Bautista 1:01:38
Good night.
Josué Cardona 1:01:39
Bye!
Media/Characters Mentioned
- Encanto
- Abuela Alma Madrigal
- Mirabel Madrigal
- Luisa Madrigal
- Isabela Madrigal
- Bruno Madrigal
- Pepa Madrigal
- Julieta Madrigal
- Antonio Madrigal
- Camilo Madrigal
- Agutin Madrigal
- Dolores Madrigal
- Felix Madrigal
- Frozen
- Beauty and the Beast
- Wreck In Ralph
- Disney
- Pixar
- Karoke
Topics/Themes Mentioned
- Family
- Family roles
- Family systems
- Dysfunctional family roles
- Coping skills
- Survival traits
- The caretaker
- The peacemaker
- The mediator
- The golden child
- The hero
- The saint
- The superkid
- The scapegoat
- The troublemaker
- The black sheep
- The clown
- The mascot
- The lost child
- the overachiever
- The underachiever
- The rescuer
- The protector
- The life of the party
- The yes-person
- The hero-worshipper
Questions? Comments? Discuss this episode on the GT Forum.
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Website: happy.geektherapy.com
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