My Biggest Gripe With Encanto
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- Опубликовано: 16 окт 2024
- After my last Encanto video, people asked me to share some of the issues I had with the movie, so I'm going over my biggest nitpick.
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It's because she didn't get a gift and because of this she believes that her baby sister added more pressure to her. Isabella is the clear favorite of the grandchildren and I think some of that comes from learned behavior of the grandmother
That and the fact that since she didn't have a gift there wasn't as much expectation on her to carry the family
I don't know I feel part of it is Isabella is jealous because Mirabel doesn't have a gift. Isabella probably sees mirable as having an easier life being able to do what ever she wants and mess up her hard work when all she has to do is stay out of the way and have no responsibility.
I think it's because Isabella is jealous of Mirabella because of her freedom and that Mirabella has no gife and has no pressure of being perfect
@@0ueddecillion718 exactly
in rhe book her and Luisa r also jealous that she doesnt have the stress and pressure of havin a gift
I think in a deleted scene, Isabella is with her secret boyfriend and Mirabel is like, “Wait, you have a boyfriend?! Why didn’t you say anything?!” And Isabella replies, “Because you constantly tell on me. That’s why.” I understand why this was taken out, but having something like this definitely would’ve helped us understand Isabella’s side a little more.
It’s not a deleted scene so much as an unused concept, there’s a lot of them
Yes because bad behavior from bad kids is acceptable. I’ve never understood why telling on bad people doing bad things is bad. Rules exist for a reason. Especially the ones parents set for children. You’re bad behavior is no reason to hate someone else.
@@MamaMOB I'm pretty sure they're not justifying her, it just explains why she just like that.
@@MamaMOB people with no ypunger sibilings or other younger kid they live with won't probably understand how annoying and unnecessary snitching of the little child can get
@@MamaMOB
"I’ve never understood why telling on bad people doing bad things is bad"
It isn't. However, sometimes siblings snitch and the person hasn't don't anything wrong. And the parents blow it out of proportion.
A lot of the misunderstanding around Isabela’s character comes from a lack of understanding of the Golden Child/Scapegoat dynamic.The golden child does not realise how bad they’re treating their sibling. They are focused on being perfect and keeping up the expectations set for them. The scapegoat does not realise how much pressure is on the GC and is jealous of how much attention they’re getting. The scapegoat craves positive attention because they lack it and the GC interprets that as them purposely trying to mess things up, thus making things harder for the golden child.
Isabela has learned a lot of behaviour from her Abuela, and therefore is unable to see the treatment of Mirabel as wrong because she has grown up in an abusive and controlling households that teaches that gifts decide a persons worth. Why would Isabela see the treatment of Mirabel as wrong if her whole life she’s been conditioned to believe Mirabels is worth less because she doesn’t have a gift?
We are more sympathetic towards Mirabel,and in general more sympathetic towards scapegoats, because we are watching the movie from her POV. However, I feel on rewatch it is much more obvious that Isabela is suffering. She is willing to give up her entire future to have 5 babies with a man she doesn’t love all for her family. She is clearly jealous of Mirabel that she doesn’t have any pressures or expectations. Isabela resents her situation, and that shows in the form of subconsciously “hating” Mirabel.
Mirabel and Isabela both misunderstand each other’s situations, and while I think their conversation could’ve been a little bit more developed and longer, I don’t really have a problem with how their sibling rivalry was shown as I thought it was very realistic.
Perfect explanation!
This needs more likes. You’ve explained everything in such great detail
Well said. I guess that went over a lot of people’s heads
Finally someone said it 👏
200% Agree!
Showing a bit more of Abuela's pressure on Isabella could also have helped, particularly if it were clear that Mirabel wasn't noticing said pressure and resented the attention. The breakfast scene works well for that, but emphasizing it a bit more could've made Isabella's perspective more comprehensible later.
Yeah closest we get is seeing Isabela revert when Abuela comes back to the casita after the song
there was a scene. She accidentally grew one flower out of color and abuela quickly picked it off
@@HibiscusStitch That was the breakfast scene. Her expression during it was also telling.
Aside from the scene where Abuela picks off the flower that isn't pink from her head there's the scene where we see that she's been practicing how to be perfect in her room. The statues for her to practice poses in her song.
There's a scene that shows it perfectly, it's just subtle until the big twist later. When Dolores says Mariano wants 5 babies, Isabella gets really nervous and blooms flowers. She's also clearly bothered by Camilo's jokes which, on the surface (lol) seem like harmless banter between cousins.
We aren't just seeing their daily lives. This is two back to back family events where there's a lot of pressure that is subconsciously being blamed on Mirabel. Isabella is under a lot of pressure to present perfectly while Mirabel is suddenly acting, to everyone else, attention hungry. I don't think Isabella is being mean to Mirabel for a reason, but because Mirabel is an easy scapegoat for the pressure everyone's under.
Often, the Golden Child doesn't realize how mean and unfair they're being to the scapegoat.
That's why the following song where Mirabel and Isabella come to an understanding and Isabella realizes that she can BE HERSELF instead of being what Abuela Alma wants.
Also, Abuela's treatment of Mirabel obviously rubbed off on the rest of the family, causing Isabella to push Mirabel away, among other issues.
It's NOT just, because it's Abuela's mistreatment of her family that's causing the family to break apart.
Everybody focuses on the disagreements, but the resultant song and makeup between the two is what's more important.
Well said!
The thing about the make up song in my opinion is it focuses on Isabella’s side of the story. On her learning to be herself and mirabel learning what she’s been going through. This isn’t bad per se, but it leaves something important out
Namely, Isabella never acknowledges at all that she was cruel to mirabel. She just goes from yelling at her to “oh look, cactus!”
They end happy with each other, but I don’t recall if there was ever even a line that sounded remotely like an apology from Isabella’s point of view.
And we never got that later cus if the Abuella fight
@@urieldaluz250 they had at least a year to hash out all of that before the end of the movie.
It's also pretty easy for siblings to bond over bad parenting, once they realize that's affecting how they deal with each other.
@@urieldaluz250 Isabella sings in that song "I owe this all to you" before hugging Mirabel. I'd say that is pretty close to an apology. The whole point of the song is that Mirabel is showing Isabella how to relax and be herself and Isabella apreciating her for it.
@@iidz8142 I wouldnt agree. its thanking her, but not acknowledging wrongdoing.
certainly better than where they were prior, but not in any way admitting she may have hurt mirabel in the past
Encanto's flaw was that it had a lot of characters it had to fit in a certain time frame.
They should give Encanto a Disney+ series to flesh out the characters more
@@IcyDiamond Please no.
@@IcyDiamond I heard on one of the Encanto reviews that during a twitter twitch thing the idea was being discussed and the creators were open to it. Now whether that means anything or not actually is the real question. I only hope if they do they have the same writers work on it.
@@NakedOwl501 how come?
@@Robinurheart4dayss Because good Disney movies rarely translate well into series. Shows like Emperor's New Groove come to mind. I feel like it would just cheapen everything.
Well, Isabella is being forced to marry some doofus to maintain her role as the 'perfect golden child', while Mirabel is just living her life with doting and supportive parents. I'd say Isabella is just as envious of Mirabel as Mirabel is of Isabella.
Jip mirabel doesn't have the pressure of being perfect, and as someone who has to play the golden child role a lot I understand the resentment for the siblings who just don't have that pressure
Don't get me wrong Isabella was really mean to her sister, but I get the frustration she feels. I agree with Shady that another scene that shows what pressure the Golden child holds would have done wonders! Still love the movie, but a scene like that would have improved it
That’s still unfair to say because Isabella can say no to the proposal (which she eventually does by the end).
I get that Abuela will probably use Isabella as a scapegoat next BUT let’s not forget that being said scapegoat is how Mirabel lives her life everyday.
The fact that Isabella just doesn’t empathize on Mirabel’s part for that matter tells you how much of a golden child bitch she is.
Isabella had a choice while Mirabel never did.
@@emargaux Being the favorite of an abuser is just being the person who never talks back or says no. She feared what would happen to her if she said no. She was afraid of her grandma.
@@emargaux That sounds awfully biased lol. "Just choose to fail everyone's expectations!" Realistically, if you were born into such a role, you wouldn't want to let the people around you down either. Just bc its a "choice" doesn't make it easier. Someone whos had pressure on them their entire life won't understand how it feels like to envy that pressure and attention, but it goes the other way too. The one who wants attention also won't get how suffocating the pressure that comes along with it is. Technically, Isabella never had the choice of whether she wanted people to immediately expect great things from her the moment she was born. And honestly failing someone's expectations of you when you were held in a high regard is not the same as just having had no expectations on you, ever. Neither is easy, and I thought thats one of the points of the show. Ever heard of the phenomenon on how lots of "gifted kids" always end up burnt out later on?
@@GGAsuka It’s not the same because the golden child has never *had* to experience that kind of failure that the scapegoat lives through *everyday.*
Everyone has a pressure that’s given to them, even the scapegoat. For this case Mirabel had the pressure of wanting to belong to this family and having the ability to show them what she can do. This is akin to Isabella having said pressure to keep her reputation.
Mirabel, however, is not validated for the things she does, while Isabella is. If the pressure is so problematic, then Isabella, again, could have said no. Would it destroy her? Absolutely. Would it put her in the shoes of Mirabel? Yes. And that’s the point of contention here. Why do you think Bruno sympathizes with Mirabel more than Isabella? Because he understands what it’s like to be scapegoated.
It’s just not okay for Isabella to lack any empathy for Mirabel. It’s not her fault she’s a golden child but it’s the fact that she bullies her little sister that’s the issue. Hell, Luisa also has a lot of pressure on her and loves Mirabel as her sister very much.
If the Madrigals have ever gotten a family therapist, then that therapist is gonna need a therapist.
that is how therapists work yes
Sometimes sisters are just mean to each other. Isabella feels the pressure to be perfect and even when it's for things that she is only doing for the family Isabella still resents Mirabel for adding to the pressure and "messing things up".
I actually really liked Mirabel and Isabella's relationship because it mirrors my own sister's and my relationship, and the meanness seemed like Isabella's repressed emotions boiling out, whether it's morally justified or not.
I do agree with your amendment and suggested scene being a better portrayal of both sisters being somewhat in the right, though!
I was on the edge of my seat, waiting for Maribel to call Isa a bitch when she was confronting her, totally forgetting it’s a children movie lol.
Now I want a PG-13 cut of the movie that has her say that
@@IcyDiamond That would honesty fill the tiny whole in my heart for that haha
They both did call each other out though, before realizing that they're actually more similar than they think.
So...you want them to stay toxic and bad..? Makes no sense, "Make it worse, call your sister names, that'll make everything better!" No wonder people have so many family issues.
@@fredericksaxton9782 that's one thing I find frustrating about many of the fans of the movie.
They hate Isabella for duplicating abuela alma's abuse of mirabel, but they completely ignore the fact that the entire song between Isabel and Mirabel is showing how they're coming to understand that they're not actually the ones causing problems in each other's lives and Isabel doesn't have to copy her grandmother.
I was also a golden child growing up, and I have friends who are scapegoats, and all of us have seen, know, or are people who have had experiences similar to Mirabel and Isabel.
When people who are being abused by the same person realize that they're both victims, oftentimes understanding and making up between them is almost instant.
A lot of their interactions to me felt like just sisters bickering but with an extra layer of strain , So i was so confused when people were labeling isabela as a bully who was antagonizing her younger sister when they both participated in the way they were received to each other while having an realistic sibling dynamic .
Also there is a book for Encanto called “A tale of the three sisters “ and it’s from the perspectives of the madrigal sisters(Isabela, Luisa and Mirabel ) and it has much more details on why isabela and even luisa acted the way that they did. The whole book is a big reason on why I came to the conclusion that isabela isn’t a bully and that the basis of there relationship is just sisters who don’t see eye to eye.
I KNOW RIGHT?! It shows that a lot of people dont have siblings. Let's not even forget the fact that they are 7 years apart, just like me and my sister
Same here! It is extremely clear that most people are a only child
I disagree. I have three siblings. Isabella is still a bitch.
I'm the oldest among four siblings, Isabela isn't being a bully- she's just being a jerk.
@@monicacreator3168 aren’t they only 6 years apart tho?
I think this is why people want a TV series for Encanto, to show more of the Madrigals individually and get their time to shine post almost losing their gifts.
i mean this is the case for all movies tbh
Honestly I love Encanto...but I don't think any of the characters were given proper time to see just how everyone's been struggling aside from some quick songs where it feels like they sped-run character arcs needed for off-screen reasons we're supposed to assume are there.
-Luisa's struggling about her many responsibilities was crammed into one song
-We get background hints that Pepa has to repress her emotions to maintain perfect weather with Felix trying to help as best as he can to keep her calm
-Isabella...we just kinda got info-dumped in a song that she never wanted to be status-quo perfect. I don't like this one especially because aside from the song, we're shown Isabella benefitting from the Golden Child Syndrome. She gets showered in love and praise for doing basic things. I know there was Abuela discussing her upcoming marriage and Isabella looking tense in scenes but to me it could easily just be jitters about such a big event in someone's life.
-Bruno was BOOTED FROM HIS FAMILY and listened to them shit-talk him and his powers. He had to steal food to survive, and while he was worrying about the family literally falling apart his own sisters refused to speak his name. But then he just goes "Oh it's ok no big deal" like...wtf?
-This one isn't a song but I feel like the non-magical family members deserved a bigger role. Maybe Mirabel, Agustin and Felix could have been shown doing their best around the house to contribute without gifts. They could also have been shown that they too had to deal with Abuela thinking them useless. It just felt weird how Mirabel was the only non-gifted family member getting dunked on. This one's a nitpick, tbh.
I might be thinking too much into this, I do love the movie and the music :)
Totally agree..I feel they could've fleshed out the characters more..it felt missing & rushed..
This is one of the only movies in recent memory I think should have been longer. I straight up thought there would be a reveal that Mirabel had the “gift” of getting people to spill their deepest secrets because that’s just every scene of the movie lol
Should Encanto have been a mini-series then?
@@DrawciaGleam02 You know, I tried thinking about that but I couldn't think of what format would work. Maybe a miniseries?
I think they were not treated as poorly for not having powers because they were not born into the family, thus no one expected them to have powers, and they did not get the failed ceremony that freaked everyone out. Also Abuela was extra harsh because she saw Bruno's vision of Mirabel destroying the house and the miracle which was the only thing keeping her from breaking down after her trauma. But I do agree with you, the movie could (should?) have been longer, there are so many characters and things that would have benefited from it
Honestly my issue is that Isabelle could have easily seen how lowkey bad Mirabel was treated, while Mirabel had no reason to suspect Isabelle was under pressure because there was no indication (seeing as though Isabelle seemingly always had a handle on things)
I thought that too
the thing is, no, she couldn't. Abuela had a LOT of control over the family. while, yes, they didnt have to treat her so poorly I don't blame Isabela as much because she was a child. all of the grandchildren have had it DRILLED into them that their worth is attached to their gifts. so when it came out that Mirabel didn't have one, it made it very hard for them to form emotional bonds with her. the only reason she has a good relationship with antonio is because he's a child and a child wouldn't understand this. he sees her as who she is, and the rest of the grandchildren see her as what she's not. it's just a matter of perspective and how much the abuse has messed that up, honestly.
@@PurpleWolfer Me too.
*Isabela
You make a good point. If they just add more scenes to explain why Isabella treats Mirabel poorly, she wouldn't look like she hates her for nothing.
Oh geez idk maybe just MAYBE
bcuz younger siblings are EXTREMELY ANNOYING
@@monabohamad2242 mira was literally just minding her own business and doing her best with what she had JESUS FUCKING CHRIST. i'd be blessed to have a sibling like mira. isa doesn't deserve her
Related gripe, but while mirabel is forced to agknowledge Isabella’s issues and realize she was wrong, I don’t think we ever see Isabella realize she was kind of a bitch to mirabel. She stops hating her after “what else can I do” but never really acknowledges that she was in the wrong in how she treated her before
YES this is what I've been saying!
Mirabel is honestly such a great person because I think a lot of people in her shoes wouldn't have set their own feelings aside to Sing Along with Isabela. When her song is about herself??
EXACTLY! They kind of just reconcile without Isabella accepting any responsibility (despite the fact she’s MUCH OLDER)
@@belikereepicheep Right! They just kind of move on as if the hug really removed all of Mirabel's hurt.
Exactly!! The recollection felt so one sided. Mirabel had to be the one to "open her eyes" and see the other's struggles but isa never did that.
Honestly, that's my issue with the whole movie. The wronged parties kind of just forgive/make up with the people who wronged them with very little return.
Mirabel's moment with Abuela was probably the best done.
But her reconciliation with Isabella was super one-sided and there was no focus on how cruel and mean Isabella had been. And Bruno rejoining the family had the same issue. Abuela and Julieta gets a pass bc they never outright slandered him, but Pepa and Felix for example? Awful. They were the leading voices in "We don't talk about Bruno," explicitly saying that living with Bruno was "a nightmare." But when he returns, it's "we're just glad you're here," and "that's what I'm always saying, bro." Like, TF Felix, you don't get to "bro" him after being such a jackass.
I keep seeing ppl talk about how Pepa and Felix are goals, and I guess they sort of deserve each other bc they're a couple of two-faced jerks.
But yeah, I got off track but the point is, I agree that Encanto kind of forced a lot of the reconciliations without any real accountability from the people who were in the wrong.
I never even thought about it. Probably because movies usually do this type of thing so i just came to accept it. I love your videos you make me think about things I’ve never thought about before.
What bothered me the most is that she never apologized to mirabel,Isabela treated mirabel like a burden her whole life,I understand that she was under alma's pressure but that's not an excuse to be like to her and the "apologize for ruining my life" scene was the worst. Especially considering she's a 22 year old adult and mira is a child. She never acknowledged her actions unlike alma
Exactly! I watched the movie with my sister and we both thought Isa was at least 18, a teenager who feels pressured to be perfect, but nope, she's a full grown adult who treats her teenage sister like trash until her big number and suddenly they're besties. I WANT to sympathise with her, but she had been nothing but smug and insufferable to Mirabel who for the most part stayed away from Isa and just ruined an engagement Isa didn't even want.
Ah yes, Ask Isabella to apologize to Mirabel about ruining the proposal that not only her family was expecting to go PERFECTLY, but also the community. Let's also not acknowledge how Mirabel would trash talk behind Isabella's back without any consideration on why Isabella would act such a way, not to mention the fact that Isabella is the FIRST grandchild of Alma so she has to face the constant admiration and doting that she experienced in her life even BEFORE she got her gift.
@@jessoliveiro8975 Who would've thought that an annoying little sister that seems to always be in the way, ruining things that you want to be perfect and the mere fact that she can't accept not having a gift so she doesn't have to deal with the massive pressure of being perfect for your family and your entire community.
Take example from Helga and Olga from Hey Arnold, they have a similar dynamic like Mirabel and Isa. Helga envies Olga because she gets all the love and attention from their parents while she often gets ignored and sidelined in spite of how good she (and Mirabel), are at other things but never get any sort of recognition. Helga (and us) assume that because Olga's been treated infinitely better, her life is perfect and stress free, until she opens up that she envies Helga for not bearing any pressure on her shoulders, while knowing that both hadn't been treated fairly.
I think that was what was missing - Mirabel eventually understood Isa had to suffer being Alma's golden grandchild, but Isa never once realised that Mirabel had been treated like an unwelcomed outsider by their own grandmother, and she herself had made it worse by constantly looking down on Mirabel.
Plus Mirabel is much younger than Isa, to her Isa's life must be going great because she's been treated like a queen and loved while constantly making snide comments in her direction and gets all huffy and annoyed when Mirabel accidentally bumps into her (hence the quick prima donna comment and her literally telling Bruno that Isa HATES her. Hate is a very strong word, and what made Mirabel think her own sister hated her? Just look at the way Isa treats her just for breathing in her direction).
I don't really expect an apology from Isa, siblings grow to have a better relationship through actions instead of words, but their relationship being fixed with a quick song and a hug was almost laughable.
@@conejitorosada2326 i never said mira didn't have a part in their broken relationship,she always saw isabela as a perfect golden kid and never bothered to get to know her,what I'm saying is that i get that isabela is under so much pressure BUT she's literally taking her anger on her 15 year old sister,just because she's struggling isn't an excuse to mistreat others.also she's a grown adult she should've known better.like luisa who never let her stress be an excuse to be a bad sister. Mirabel stayed away from her most of the movie if anyone was trash talking it was isabela
Still can't stand Isabella. Unlike Abuela, she didn't try to apologize for her bullying. Her behavior towards Mirabel was intolerable. Yes I realize siblings fight but Isabella is 21 years old and Mirabel is 15. Inexcusable. Also what did Mirabel apologize for? Existing? She didn't do anything wrong.
Mirabel didn't apologizes tho?they both did not and their bad relationship its both 's fault- also calling it bullying is am skecth,in an "bully and victm" dymanic the victim fell theated and intimidated by the bully, mirabel is not intimidated by isabela, she hits her back on most occasions
@@gabrieladapazlima7947Yeah but not all bully and victim dynamics work that way.
Fr! They didn’t really spend time showing Isabela’s struggles, they just made her needlessly mean. We don’t see Abuela asking Isabela to do anything most of the time, Isabela just inserts herself just to hit Mirabel with her hair and tell her to shut up.
THIS, and whenever she gets all huffy and annoyed when Mirabel just BUMPS into her, like girl, I know Alma expects perfection and all, but it's literally just a bump, she'd probably glare at Mirabel just for breathing in her direction.
You're right about her seeming needlessly mean just for the sake of first appearing to be the typical big sister bully with hidden depths that gets pulled out of the writers' hat, but it kinda falls flat. Like yeah she could be frustrated with needing to stay perfect while Mirabel doesn't have to deal with pressure, and she's taking her fustrations out on Mirabel (how Luisa and their parents not once catch on while staying under the same roof, we don't know), I want to understand that, but like you said, we barely SEE her struggles other than her just standing pretty with a forced smile, making flowers to decorate, and being promised to someone who looks like her grandfather and she's not into him, and that's it. Luisa's struggles were crammed into one song and we never see her again, but at least we see her working herself to the bone and being exhausted with being strong all the time.
@@jessoliveiro8975 heel whe Anotonio asked Mirabel to walk him during the ceremony Isabela had a dishsted face just brecause she saw mirabel
@@rhythmicmusicswap4173 1, You clearly didn't get enough sleep when writing this comment, And 2, That's very true. Just the mere *sight* of Mirabel disgusts her, Isabela fucking sucks.
Love the movie, but wish there was more more scenes of the family hidden struggles such as show more of Isabel's perfection facade.
This was pretty much my gripe with the movie as well. I love the movie, but I didn't feel entirely satisfied with their reconciliation because of how mean Isabella was to Mirabel for, like you pointed out, slightly poorly portrayed reasons and all she gave her was a hug at the end of the song and playfully say, "You're a bad influence." as they lay on the pile of flowers. No apology. No, "I misjudged you too". She went from, "You mess everything up" and "apologize to me" to "I owe this discovery of what else I can do to you." Which, while it was nice and very sweet, it didn't make it seem like she was coming to an understanding of Mirabel's issues she deals with as the black sheep like how Mirabel finally understood Isabella and the pressure she deals with as the golden child. I feel like it would have been better if after the song Isabella realized she owed an apology to Mirabel just as much as Mirabel did to her and apologized, or at least started to but was interrupted by Alma storming in.
Exactly 💯
Thiss
Also we the audience don't see how Mirabel messed up Isabella's life. All she did was accidentally get in her hair's way and bumped into each other. And it wasn't Mirabel's fault that the house cracked during the proposal. Nor was it Mirabel's fault that Dolores spilled the beans about Bruno's vision regarding Mirabel. There was no reason to tell her sister, "I hate you!" when she never loved Mariano, so what's she complaining about?
Fairly accurate to me and my sisters relationship. Anger comes and goes very fast when their is something to divert us.
Well for me, the point with Maribel is that she was the empathetic person of the family, she didn't only understand Isabel's situation but the entire family's, she even understood the suffering her grandma lived despite all the abused she committed with everyone and this trait was crucial in her to be the member of the family able to make big changes. Casita was destroyed with her presence, but she rebuilt it, she made the change they needed
Mirabel is literally trying to help, like that's easy to see anyone w 2 brain cells can clearly see she's not intentionally trying to mess anything up including Isabella. Meanwhile, Isabella intentionally hurts/insults her while Mirabel just uses words to defend herself. They literally make Isabella act like a villain then act like one song number about her POWERS made us like her.
THANK YOUUUUUUUUU.
Mirabel literaly insults isa as well in the first song
I'm pretty sure Isa knows that though, lol. The first thing she tells Mirabel is that she wouldn't mess things up so much if she just stopped "trying so hard." Obviously she knows Mirabel wants to help, but Isa views her as too big of a screw up to justify her efforts.
@@DLxxx That doesn't justify Isabela's treatment of her, though? lol.
@@superemoboi2050 Obviously, lol. I never said it "justified" her. I'm saying that Isabella isn't being mean because she's clueless to Mirabel's efforts. She _knows,_ she just doesn't care (which the OP misunderstood).
I agree, I love Encanto, but if it had an extra 20 minutes, it could have fleshed out the other characters so much more. It begins on the day Antonio gets his gift, so obviously, everyone's stressed. By giving us one extra day, we could see a "normal" day. Have her try to talk to Luisa a few times and Luisa keeps running off. We see her as this hard worker for more time so when Surface Pressure comes in, it's a bigger hit instead of one scene with Luisa and then she's having a breakdown for the rest of the movie. It could also show Mirabel trying to help and either having Abuela or Isabela having to deal with the results. Abuela could also scold her by saying she could end up like Bruno. [bit harsh but could add to the taboo surrounding him]
For Isabela, I feel she should have been a silent character, or, like you said, have her tell Mirabel what flowers to use, but Mirabel ignores her. I kind of wish Abuela spoke on behalf of Isabela. If that line about Mirabel constantly getting in the way was Abuela telling Mirabel, it would be something Abuela was saying, but conveying it on behalf of Isabela. Say Isabela's upset the wrong flowers were used, so Abuela calmly says to Mirabel "if you weren't always trying too hard, you wouldn't be in the way. Look at poor Isabela, her perfect arrangement is ruined and now she has to fix it." Take the breakfast scene. Isabela says nothing, but Abuela speaks for her, and her reactions to the news is clearly shock. Or after her big song number, when Abuela appears, how quickly Isabela gets rid of the flowers and moves away from Mirabel. Limiting the lines and giving the mean ones to Abuela [leave the line about the life of her dreams from We Don't Talk About Bruno because it plays up the perfection angle, but cut the "don't speak" line] means we don't actually get to know Isabela until we go to her room. It would also show the pressure Abuela puts on the family, talking on behalf of the perfect sibling as well as scolding Mirabel for not conforming.
A near-silent Isabela would have made her song have so much more impact. That would have been the most she had ever expressed her feelings, and the sudden shock of her sister speaking for herself could have had a greater effect on Mirabel.
I'd be far more willing to forgive Isabella had they not shown those moments of her just outright looking down on Mirabel for just being there. The scene where Mirabel steps out with Antonio to walk him to his door, the look she gave was so mean, while everyone else either looked confused or worried. I agree fully with you that it showed Isabella too harshly, from my point of view I believe that because Mirabel didn't get a gift, she tried extra hard to be helpful and contribute to the family. And being only a little kid at the time it was probably cemented with her that 1. She's not special because she didn't get a gift and 2. She had to find a new way of helping the family giftless. Which I could see resulting in various incidences and mistakes on Mirabel's part because she was so desperate for her Abuela to see her and love her again, and a lot of these incidents could have impacted not only Isabella but other members of the family.
Maybe a little montage of past moments of various members of the family after these incidents telling Mirabel in various ways to just step back and let the family handle it. Maybe she thought she could carry a bunch of heavy things upstairs rather than wait for Luisa only to have her trip and ruin everything, or she thought she could decorate something for Abuela's birthday but in the process she accidentally set fire to it and the special arrangement Isabella made. Some context like that would have made the characters a little more rounded, rather than fully give Isabella a pass for being the golden child and therefore had no choice in how she treated Mirabel.
This would have been the perfect solution!
Isabela is Mirabel's sister...Like,do you guys have siblings? Siblings bicker all the time.
@@cbfranco3307 That doesn't make a certain level of it okay? Also 'bickering' implies give and take. What has Mirabel intentionally said or done that equates to Isabela demanding she apologize for ruining her life?
@@cbfranco3307 Some of that WASN'T bickering. It was Isabela being mean when Mirabel was just breathing.
@@cbfranco3307 so its normal and accpetable looking disgusted just because her sister mirabel walked a scared antonio to the door, and only becaus ehe asked it?
Actually, I think "We Don't Talk About Bruno" kinda sums it up for Isabela. She was the only one who got a good vision from Bruno and was destined to have a life she dreamed of having. However, what people wouldn't think about would be how much stress the vision put on Isabela. As far as she knew, everything had to be perfect and she had to walk a fine line for ten long years (possibly more) in order to get what she was promised. It didn't tell her how or what needed to be done in order to achieve the perfect life she longed for. The "all you've done for me is mess things up" line kind of puts things in perspective. If she wasn't perfect, if she couldn't fulfill what made the family happy, that life was forfeited in her eyes and Mirabel could have been the one to take all of that away from her. It probably scared her as badly as Dolores telling her that Mariano wanted five kids. Yeah, the moment I saw that scene, I called it.
There is more in the books that came out that go into detail about how Isabela felt but this is just for the movie version. She was very jealous that Mirabel didn't have a gift and wasn't held to high standards like she was, and over the idea that she believed her father favored Mirabel over her and Luisa. It's also why I want an Encanto series.
Upon a rewatch, I started to have a different interpretation of her vision from Bruno. The lyrics go that she would have the life of her dreams, and that her power would grow. However, she seems to have always been under the pressure to be perfect, and could have presented that front to Bruno when he gave her the vision. He saw a life of perfection and blooming flowers, and told her. On the outside, she was happy because that was what she was supposed to feel according to Abuela. On the inside, she lost hope that she could relax the perfection and just be herself.
Sure, she sings it as though it's a good thing, but she's still projecting the "I'm perfect" persona, and the persona would of course want it to be known that she got the perfect prophecy. In reality, this is still a bad prophecy from Bruno because it wasn't what she actually wanted. This is my hill, I'd like to die on it please.
you know sometimes prophecies just show how dumb people can be
Someone legit asked me who Isabela was being a bully to, and I was like “Umm MIRABEL! Everything she says to her before what else can I do is some sort of backhand”
What else can I do always rubbed me the wrong way. I do understand it’s Isabela’s song but like, she basically ignores Mirabel in the song until she starts saying “I always thought you were perfect”. It should’ve been both of them admitting their wrongs but imo, it feels like it fell on Mirabel to suck it up and start coddling her. They both should’ve been saying sorry.
Isabella is one of my issues with this movie, purely based on what is said and done and shown in the movie she is just mean to Mirabel for no reason and then we're expected to feel bad for her later which makes me mad. They have a whole song and dance and by the end Mirabel is like "Oh I understand, being perfect is hard" and us as the audience are expected to forgive her for all of her behavior throughout the movie, but I not on board with that, why does that justify her being shitty to you?? It's never explained that she's mean because Mirabel screws things up or because she's jealous of how Mirabel doesn't have such high expectations placed on her, it's not dealt with and I have an issue with that. I feel like this could be solved by just having her state like "You don't understand the pressure I'm under because no one ever expects anything from you! Do you know how easy your life is!?" so Mirabel can understand why she's so mean to her specifically. But even then we don't get any growth in Isabella understanding Mirabel better. Like the whole song is Mirabel being like "I never really thought about it from your perceptive" while Isabella's going "Oh my god look what I can do" the song isn't about understanding each other, it's about Mirabel understanding Isabella and Isabella understanding she doesn't need to be perfect, there's nothing that indicates the Isabella feels bad for the way she's treated Mirabel all these years, and that's a problem if you're asking me to feel empathy for a character who can't feel empathy herself. She doesn't ever even apologize for the years abuse, so no, Miss Being-perfect's-hard-so-I'm-mean, screw you! To clarify, I don't hate her as a character, I hate that I'm expected to feel bad for her later, if she was just a mean perfectionist I'd be fine, I just don't like being told "she's mean for a reason, feel bad for her."
My other issue is why did they vilify Bruno so much? Like yes we got an awesome song out of it but it just off that they basically shun him and make him out to be a monster when he left of his own accord and is actually the nicest guy.
I assumed Isabella hated Mirabelle because, since she had no gift, Isabella felt like SHE had the easy life, free of the responsability that came with it.
she also saw that Mirabel was liked and people talked to her, its just no one expected anything of mirabel. In Isabella's eyes mirabel got to have an easy lazy life. Where Mirabel saw Isabella of having an important life where she mattered.
Speaking of gripes, Dolores gets a free pass from the fanbase despite knowing about Bruno and disregarding Mirabel's lack of powers.
Dolores is adorable. She could murder someone and I would give her a free pass.
I absolutely agree
@@ShadyDoorags my point exactly. XD
@@ShadyDoorags :/
But she said that she knows he's there. Perhaps everyone was too "We don't talk about Bruno" to hear her out.
Idk why most ppl are missing the point of this video, I feel like no one minds the whole sister dynamic or golden child trope, we criticize it because it's done POORLY, it was fast, out of nowhere and we have little context to their history together and personally I think the movie failed to make her likable because of how fast her change of personality was and also why are so many people justifying this behavior? like I get that she had alot if pressure and stuff but don't excuse it as if it's ok or justifiable
YES Thank you!
All of the "well ACTUALLY" comments are getting annoying.
THIS. Like we all get the dynamic. But that doesn't excuse Isa, AN ADULT, from constantly glaring and looking down on Mirabel just for EXISTING. Why on earth should we suddenly embrace Isa's undeveloped and rushed 'change for the better' arc when she had been nothing but insufferable and petty to her teenage sister? Like I treated my sister the same way as A CHILD, same reason as Isa's - jealousy and my sister having a seemingly more slack upbringing (and funny that people were "theorising" that that was the reason Isa treated Mira, like no way Sherlock, that reason was more OBVIOUS than her pressure to be perfect), but then one day I woke up, realised that I had been nothing but insufferable and spiteful and hated the person I became (I was miserable, but I made my sister feel twice as bad) and I SHOULD KNOW AND BE BETTER, and after literal YEARS of us getting to properly know each other, we're on better terms.
The problem is that a lot of people want a VERY quick solution and reconciliation scene, so they'll just accept Isa's immediate change of attitude when we barely get much screen time of her being truly fleshed out until the spat between her and Mirabel. Like I didn't even KNOW she was an essential character until Bruno's vision because she just blends into the background and she's so unlikable with the little screentime that she had in the first half that there was no reason for me to care about her.
Hmm so basically yall are just mysoginistic garbage
@@jessoliveiro8975 I fully agree and I hope to see more people with this opinion.
I think this could’ve been done a lot better if we’d gotten to see Julieta and Augustin interact with their kids because sometimes I forget that Isa and Luisa are even their’s. This could’ve been solved if we were given a little scene where Julieta talks to Isabela about her behavior or both of them (Isa and Mira), even.
I still do understand that such a thing might’ve been tough with the large character roster in proportion to the length of movie the creators were allotted. Overall, I believe Encanto was done creatively well, but it isn’t perfect by any means. It could’ve been better and thats okay
I just wish Isabella had apologized, then I’d be fine with her character!
The hug was the I'm sorry, you don't have to say it flat out to be sorry you know.
@@Roxy6369. of course but both of them genuinely apologizing to each other would've been a strong scene imo, since isa made mirabel apologize earlier
@@Roxy6369. No no saying “I’m sorry “ Matters a hug is not enough
@@softnpure right what’s so wrong with vocally expressing your sorry ?
@@chickenmax9953 Its more realistic, For example Me with my little sister we’ve always fought. And we don’t often say im sorry to each other. We will show the sorryness through our actions rather than vocalize. It looks fucked up from an outside perspective, But its a bit of an explanation. Not everyone apologizes vocally. Of course with other siblings yeah but I see me and my little sister in mirabels and Isabella’s interactions
Havent even watched this vid yet but Isabela GOT ON MY LAST NERVE. She just fed the "I'm perfect without flaw" attitude with her behavior. While I think she's sympathetic in that Abuela was the one who probably started this crappy mindset but she IS an adult and should take some responsibility for her behavior of treating Mirabel badly and rudely. It's just uncomfortable to watch I think especially knowing Mirabel never even got a gift and Isbela never seems to even TRY to sympathize with this.
The Golden Child often doesn't realize how badly they treat the Scapegoat until later in life, if they ever do.
Also, ABUELA blamed Mirabel for anything and everything, so most of the family was pulled along in her wake, or stayed out of the way.
What else can I do? Hits like a truck for me, because I was the Golden Child in my family, so there hit a point where I wanted to be ME, not what my mother wanted me to be, just like Isabella with Abuela.
@@hariman7727 I see your point. Admittedly I am the middle child/DEFINITELY not the golden child so I'd be lying of I didnt say that my experience as being the "Mirabel" of the family so to speak doesnt have any influence on my opinion so take what I say with a grain of salt.
Its just for me, Isabela seemed really dislikable for those characteristics and I hated seeing how she seemed to be pitted against her younger sister to a hurtful degree.
I guess my biggest thing is that I think that while Isabela was impressioned to behave like she did, it still doesnt make it okay and I think to a certain degree, she should be held responsible for how badly she treated Mirabel. At the end of the day I think she, like everyone else, is responsible for her actions and these actions seemed to be glossed over a little. But that's just my point of view and opinion. Take it as you will.
@@brookefreeman5807 Isabella's mistreatment of Mirabelle is definitely a bad thing.
That's why I was glad to see them make up at the end of the song, once they understood that they were both being pressured by Abuela Alma in different ways.
I don't think the movie approves of Isabella's treatment of Mirabel either, because they both adjust their view of each other and how they treat each other once they start to properly communicate.
I was The Golden child in my family, so I have the other end of the abuse experience. I have maintained contact with most of my siblings, and two of my best friends were scapegoats in their own family.
I sincerely hope that you've been able to reconnect with your siblings, or disconnect from them if reconciliation is impossible.
I agree. Though I will say that at the same time 22 may not be adult enough to be able to rid yourself of that toxic mindset and be better. Especially if the person or people who conditioned you into it are still alive and living with you continuing that treatment everyday. Remember even if you’re legally an adult up until you’re like 25 you still have a teenager brain.
@@hariman7727 I think some of y'all are misunderstanding, no one has a problem with the fact that she is a golden child and she has struggles and stuff most of us who dislike isa's character hate how her arc was done, how fast and unexpected it was, and how hateable her character was before and the movie made little effort to add scenes or dialogue to justify or add backstory to this, and again just how overall poorly it was done
When I saw how Isabella treated Mirabel I thought about the ‘sisters who hate each other’ trope and how it’s lazy writing to me because I have a sibling who is the perfect one out of the two of us and we’ve never fought and I’ve never resented them, so it made no sense to me for Isabella to be cruel for seemingly no reason, especially if she’s supposed to be perfect. It made much more sense for Isabella to be kind and have a sweet mask to create the ‘perfect persona’, and be gentle and loving to Mirabel. The line “I’ve been stuck being perfect my whole entire life!” would hit harder because Isabella, being groomed to be perfect, would have been raised to have a high tolerance for bullshit and finally snapping with this buildup would’ve been better than general distain for some scrapped reason
I liked their reconciliation and I could get where she was coming from…but it was harder to take Isabella seriously or feel bad for her when Luisa is right there.
Luisa is canonly just 19 and was essentially treated as a servant, a beast of burden for the whole village and it’s basically a given that a good part of her life so far has been like this. In many ways, the success and livelihood of the whole family and the entire community rests on Luisa’s shoulders and she’s in many ways still a kid herself.
Not to mention, Luisa never was unkind or resentful to Mirabel and the one time she raises her voice, insisting nothing is wrong, she apologises immediately afterwards. When she starts losing her gift, while almost everyone looks to Mirabel as the cause, Luisa falls apart and internalises this as a failure on her part, calling herself a loser.
As many have said in this comment thread, a lot of development for characters, as nice as it was, was rushed and would have been better in the form of a series rather than a movie and unfortunately Isabella suffers from this. She just doesn’t shine through as much as her sisters, one of whom is the main character and the other who has such a strong literal and metaphorical presence despite also only getting relegated one scene plus song dedicated to her trauma.
It’s not hard to see that Isabella is a compelling, enjoyable character and could be even more so…but she’s mishandled. Shoved on the verge of the closing act and rushed through sudden character development where if this was a tv show, she would have been better served with a running arc dedicated to her exploration of character and recovery.
Yup. The only reason people get that much more attached to Isabella is because she's more traditionally beautiful. It's full on halo effect. She was well on her way to being the next Abuela in terms of toxicity and yet we're supposed to fall over ourselves sympathizing with her tremendous "plight".
Honestly, if she had just listed the the past events when Mirabel made things hard for her/the family after she says mirabel always ruins everything or if she said I am sorry after her song, it would have been fine. That alone would have fixed a lot of the problem people have with her.
luisa supremacy
For your "maybe, instead" scenario...
I don't think Mirabel would be the type of person to follow an instruction incorrectly just because she thinks she knows better. She's not the "self centered" one, after all. Instead, because she isn't as worried about things being perfect, maybe when she goes to get the decorations her sister asked for, she discovers that the decorations aren't the right ones. (Whoever made them, made them in the wrong color, or perhaps they ran out, etc.) Instead of freaking out over it, because it's not that big a deal, she chooses a substitute. This later backfires when Abuela points out in a slightly disappointed tone, to Isabella, that the colors of the decorations don't quite match with Isabella's flowers. Essentially blaming Isabella for not creating the correct type of flowers to match with the decorations. She would then glare at Mirabel from across the room and turn away in a huff, leaving Mirabel to be like, "Sorry, I guess, but are you serious?"
This would seamlessly show Isabella's need to be perfect because of Abuela's expectations, Mirabel's annoyance at Isabella's ridiculous need to be perfect all the time, and the fact that they have a major problem with communication. If Mirabel had just told Isabella about the messed up decorations, Isabella could have adapted and fixed things on her end. If Isabella had stressed that she didn't want to disappoint Abuela and needed to color coordinate the decorations with the flowers from the beginning, Mirabel wouldn't have been so carefree in just choosing replacement decorations. Because of their divide, they don't communicate, and because they don't communicate the divide grows wider.
Thank you! I agree completely, and I don’t think they gave her character enough time to be fully fleshed out. Too many (great) characters squished into one movie.
As someone with a golden child older sister this is exactly how she was. I understand alot of your gripes tbh and I reaaallly think they should've shown more scenes with isabela being a sister but she is very very accurate
Glad someone said this. Isabella is my least favorite character in the movie. She doesn’t feel fleshed out enough, her and Mirabel’s story line feels rushed, and she feels too mean with no reason. It makes her feel more like a villain. Obviously there is a reason why she’s mean, but we aren’t shown why in any meaningful way because they rushed it.
They also made her very obviously mean to Mirabel in front of everyone. I feel like (from personal experience) their parents would have stepped in and tried to calm her down and Isabella would have stormed off angry. But she would have “saved face” in front of everyone else. She would have made more side glances and rude whispers to Mirabel instead of hitting her with things (her hair and flowers) and yelling at her when people are around.
I grew up with a Mira/Isa dynamic where I was a Mirabel and my older sister was an Isabela. Since she was older, my dad constantly got on her case for small things, while I was given slack for being so much younger. My sister constantly complained about this, and while looking back I agree that my dad shouldn't have been so hard on her and easy on me, this eventually grew to her just resenting and acting cruel to me. This then led to me resenting her for the stupid things shes said and done to me. Now that we're both older, the portrayal of these two really reflects my sister and I do this day, so the whole "were hugging it out" scene didn't do it for me. Isa's eventual change of heart was just so...unrealistic.
Because of my history, i never really likes Isa as a character, despite her being one of the fan favorite Madrigals. It wasnt until I talked with a good friend of mine and heard her view of Isabela that I was able to find a good middle ground with how she was MEANT to be portrayed. But even after seeing the movie 10+ times I simply can't unsee Isa as this annoying prima Donna.
The changes u made to that beginning scene created a totally different character, one that personally i can relate to and i believe would really help redeem Isabela. Wish that's the road Dusney took instead. I'm glad I'm not the only one who doesn't like Isabela, which is unfortunate because she had so much potential
Being the golden child and the scapegoat growing up. I do agree they could show a little more. But it still felt real enough for me to understand both views. I mean the hold time isabela was venting gave me full golden child vibe and mirabel at the end like "bring it in" gave me "yes your right. Im sorry. now please dont tell mom."
i feel like they were going for the "you dont have a gift so you dont have the pressure that I do/ you can do whatevere you want but I cant" They set up all the tid bits for it but then just kinda forgot about the pay off.
Fully agree. I really love the movie but I definitely feel like Isabella was portrayed WAY too mean without us seeing proper justification on her side, and then they're just okay at the end and it doesn't feel well-resolved. Your solution would have helped.
I've some friends who came from an abusive household where there was a Golden Child VS Scapegoat dynamic. The Golden Child in this dynamic expressed feeling really seen by the depiction of Isabella, both the good and the ugly. When you're forced to be perfect, to balance on a pedestal CONSTANTLY, you look for outlets that won't get you punished. Unfortunately, dunking on the designated Scapegoat is an acceptable act in the eyes of the people creating this toxic situation, so contributing to the abuse ends up being one of their few consequence-free outlets. It's just one gear in a big nasty machine that runs a toxic family, and one of the incredibly humanizing elements of the film for people who come from similar situations. It doesn't justify or excuse what she did or how she acted, but it contextualizes it in a way that pays off during her song with Mirabel. The consequence of this is however, if it fails to stick the landing with a viewer it can really sour their experience with the character.
Seems like classic side effect of script revision. Isabelle acts like she has motivations from an older draft but none of those things are found in the final movie.
My biggest gripe with Encanto is that it tries to get away with telling rather than showing in almost everything by putting it in song form. It is one thing to have a song that telegraphs a character's struggles and/or intentions when the movie uses it as confirmation for the audience it's another if the songs are literally used to explain how things are.
My problem was that the sister with super hearing had to know that the uncle was in the house, especially with all the times he ate his dinner right next to them, has a character quirk where she always tells secrets at the dinner table, but never said anything about him to the family. Or that she never backed up Mirabel when she said the house was cracking which she would have been able to hear.
Oh, and also that the mother never healed the fiancés broken nose.
I did want more background on why Isabella was so against Mirabel! I was surprised how many people just excused Isabella's meanness to Mirabel bc it did initially seem like it was just bc she didn't have a gift. I completely understand her perspective but why is Mirabel the only one who ever really acknowledges the pressure that Isabella was under but Isabella doesn't do the same for her? I feel like that's a writing error that does skew us unfairly to side with Mirabel. Maybe if they had another moment of vulnerability in the movie for Isabella, perhaps another moment where the mask of perfection falls like right after the dinner and instead of angry, we get a hint of sadness. A lot of Golden Children, behind all that anger/resentment often feel a deep sadness or fear. It would've been nice to see that too.
This movie has really grown on me, but I still have nitpicks as well. And I get frustrated that people brush them off. When I asked why Julieta is never shown talking to either of her other children (especially Luisa), people said "oh, well they're both busy, so Julieta is probably waiting for them to talk to her". Which is terrible parenting.
In this case, Isabela being so mean is heavy handed, and just doesn't sit right.
It isn’t outright said or really shown, but here’s another theory: Isabela is jealous of Mirabel’s lack of gift. Abuela puts immense pressure on everyone with gifts. Isabela to be perfect, Luisa to be a free worker for the town, Pepa to unhealthily suppress her emotions, etc. But none of this pressure is on Mirabel, because she doesn’t have a gift. She doesn’t need to be perfect or strong, she can do whatever she wants, at least in Isabela’s eyes. So: Mirabel believes Isabela’s life is perfect and that she gets everything that she wants, when really she’s under extreme pressure to be perfect for the family. Isabela believes Mirabel has no responsibilities, and that having no gift means she can do what she wants without consequence, when really she’s pushed to the side and basically emotionally neglected. Both views are incorrect and biased because of their strained relationship.
Again, this is pretty much a head-cannon, but I really think it fits, and explains Isa’s behaviour a little bit better.
I think you hit the nail on the head actually! I think this is definitely the relationship they had, and most people missed it!
I always just chalked it up to sibling being sibling. me and my sister fight like that all the time and even then I still love here and have come to here defense before. When Mirabel goes "ISABELA!" I felt that on a personal level. they're bond is just so relatable to me
Thank you! I kept feeling like there were some missing pieces to the story but couldn’t quite pinpoint them. Isabella needed more scenes showing us how pressured and unhappy she felt in her role. It was a little too subtle imo. But overall, a fun movie I really enjoyed!
It was WAY too subtle, like yeah we see her forcing to smile during the breakfast and proposal scene, but that's it. She doesn't feel like a well-rounded character, she's just the golden child with very little SHOW of how everyone expects her to be flawless, like if she let her guard down for a second and disagreed with Alma on something before immediately changing her tune because she feared both Alma's wrath and being seen as less than perfect, maybe there would had been more to her than just "perfect and smug".
While I do agree that their relationship could have been more fleshed out, I also think that Isabella being mad at Mirabel for incidents that are partly (or completely) Isabella's fault isn't necessarily a mistake, it's actually kind of part of the point. Isabella HAS to be perfect and when something happens she has to rationalize it as being someone else's fault. It's not her imperfection, it's her sister ruining her graceful hairflip. She's basically projecting everything onto Mirabel because she's still trying to deny her imperfections to herself.
At least that's how I read it ^^'
Yeah, they’re relationship could’ve definitely been more effectively set up with a simple moment or two further stressing their dynamic. Given the ensemble cast and colorful array of different characters, it’s fortunate we got what we did. Imagine, though, if this movie was willing to be just a few minutes longer, expanding just a little more on everything it wanted to portray. Still, what a beautiful film overall.
Personally, on rewatch, I always interpreted Isabella’s attitude towards Mirabel as subconscious envy for not having to deal with the pressure of being perfect given her lack of gift, but even that’s poorly set up if that was the intention. Either way, good video mang.
If the movie had more time, fleshed her out more, I think it could work. Isa is kind of like a poorly executed Amity Blight. With Amity, you could tell honestly from the beginning, or at least very quickly, that she isn't genuinely an awful kid. She acts that way because she's been pressured to do so. While this is the case with Isabela, we don't see it enough to fully sympathize with and understand her. Honestly the main issue was time. This might be the reason kids aren't liking Isabela as much as Disney thought they would (aka the Isabela dolls aren't selling like they expected), I saw someone suggest it might be because kids view her as a bully up until "What Else Can I Do?" which is a good chunk of the movie. Some people on twitter have even pointed out that Isabela is in her twenties while Mirabel is 15 which makes it seem even more mean-spirited.
I think the dynamic you missed is the golden child/perfect one feels immense pressure, often suffering as much as the scapegoat of the family just in a different way. Isabella was forced to be perfect, to feel forced into this view of perfection, watching as her youngest sister has zero pressure and can make failure after failure without anyone blinking because she is the one who is supposed to make mistakes. She is projecting her pains of being unable to fail or struggle and attacking Mirabel for her ability to just be never expected to do anything but sit back and stay out of the way.
Alsoooo Alma clearly saw Isabella as the closest grandchild to her and was setting her up to be the matriarch of the family after her when in reality it was Mirabel who was the one to be the next leader of the family. The attempted molding her into Alma made her own identity so hazy that even Bruno mistook her as the one Mirabel needed to embrace to save the magic. Isabella has NEVER been able to be herself while she watched her baby sister, something that already causes problems between eldest and youngest (and often a bit worse with girls), get to ONLY be herself.
If Mirabel had left after that scene, the vision would have been true that the house fell down with Mirabel alone.
Bruno's prophecies are open ended, to an extent. (Or maybe self fulfilling.)
A very good take
Great break down
@@hariman7727 I disagree. The cracks between Isabella and Mirabel were FROM Alma. It required them to work with Alma to actually save the Encanto. The characters in the movie, even Alma, recognized that she was the cause of the cracking due to the pressure she was placing on everyone. Poor Isabella wasn't able to be her own person, she was just the one expected to take up the matriarch role.
Also WHEN would Mirabel been able to take off after her embrace with Isabella? They both fall to the ground in Isabella's pile of flowers and directly after, not even done getting their giggles out, Alma is there demanding to know what is going on and screaming at Mirabel. There was no chance for Mirabel to get away and 'save' the Encanto by embracing Isabella and leaving. Alma was the cause. Alma needed to be the one embraced. And poor Isabella was caught up trying to be Alma so hard it even impacted Bruno's ability to see the future.
@@MacabreMole oh, I didn't mean that Mirabel could run away after the hug with Isabella and save the house.
I meant that, in real life, most scapegoats end up leaving after such a confrontation as Mirabel had with abuela Alma, and the family just breaks apart at that point.
They made her so unlikeable without any real explanation for her behavior and then she didn't even apologize to Mirabel. I know her song was supposed to be them fixing things between each other, but her mean girl behaviour another beginning makes her pretty irredeemable in my eyes.
This movie tried to fit far too many characters into it, making them feel cheap and one dimensional.
My biggest gripe with the movie is how easily everything was resolved. The conflict with Isabella, Abuela, Bruno, even the stupid miracle at the end. Heck, Isabella never even apologized to Mirabel, and we all know Abuela never would've changed her mind that easily, I mean, look at what she did to Bruno for YEARS. While we're at it, NO ONE apologizes to Bruno even ONCE for talking bad about him, driving him away, and even refusing to speak his name! This family is horrible!
To me it felt like the movie was setting up Mirabel (and Bruno) to be a sympathetic villain, which I WISH Disney had the guts to do. Imagine after the house falls apart, Mirabel takes what's left of the candle to the river where it was created, where she discovers she can place it in the water and replenish it. But then, realizing the gifts are what tore her family apart, she destroys it.
But alas, it is a Disney movie, and they did well with the whole theme and message, and the ending song made me cry, I admit. It's a good movie, but it should've been a series to allow time, or taken out some characters so it could breathe.
One more thing about Isabella though. Her arc ends with her realizing she can be herself and growing a bunch of random plants. My question is, why wasn't she already doing this? Flowers are great and all, but they're really useless. With the whole extent of her powers, she could've provided infinite food for everyone in the village. Between her and Pepa, no one would've had to work a day in their life! So it doesn't make sense why Abuela gets so mad when Isa grows other things, or why she wasn't already doing so in the first place. Personally, I think Isabella's Golden Child arc would've been better if she provided the entire community with food, so upsetting her could lead to starvation. Thus, why everyone caters to her all the time, and why Abuela doesn't want Mirabel around her because they hate each other. But no--flowers are pretty, duh.
Also Pepa's gift doesn't make sense to me. She seems to have NO control over it, while other members of the family have lots of control, except in rare moments, like when Camilo gets struck by lightning (I think that's what it was,) or when Isa reacts to Mariano's five kids. Pepa's powers seems like a cheap gimmick for laughs, or to sort of showcase Abuela's controlling nature.
Also, Dolores should've heard the cracks and backed Mirabel up when she said something. She also should've heard Abuela talking about the miracle dying, seeing as she heard Luisa's eye twitching "all night." Also, we know she knows Bruno is in the walls. She's portrayed as a raging gossip, and yet she never gossips except when it's convenient to villainize Mirabel for the plot.
Also Mariano is a weird character. He gives off creepy vibes. Get that out of my kid's movie.
Also, what the heck is wrong with the house? Why does Bruno's room SUCK, and why does Mirabel have to live in the nursery? IT'S A MAGICAL HOUSE, can't it grow one more room for her? Seems like even the miracle wanted Bruno and Mirabel to be unhappy . . . oh wait, that's called plot convenience, my bad.
Okay, that's all. I didn't mean to write and essay, but I watched the movie yesterday and couldn't stop thinking about it. I do love the movie, just to be clear.
I highly suspect Encanto expects a tv show and so would prefer a lot of characters with potential to a few characters with debth. Not saying no one is deep just that similar to Raya extra things where not cut so if there’s a sequel series they don’t have to pull characters and areas out of nowhere
Glad to see someone else thinks Isabella was unnecessarily mean to Mirabel. When I tell my friends that I don’t like her they say “wow you missed the message of the movie, she has so much pressure on her to be perfect” BUT THAT DOESNT EXCUSE HER ACTIONS!!! Luisa has the same pressures on her (and even has her own song about it literally called “Surface Pressure”) but loves Mirabel and treats her how she should be treated and like she’s part of the family. Isabel however, comes off as a spoiled brat because she has had everything handed to her on a silver platter by Abula. Like geez Isa, cut the poor girl just a bit of slack, I know she’s clearly jealous but she has practically mentally abused by Abula just for not having a stupid gift. (And the gifts have kinda been nuisances for the family anyway)
Yeah, watching this movie, I can definitely see why people like Luisa more because she's the nicer, more mature older sister and never takes her frustrations out on Mirabel.
i held off watching this vid for a bit because i LOVED encanto and dont want to see it differently. But i also adored watching shady's takes, so i caved lmao. this is actually really well said take which isnt just needless criticism with no backing, but a thought out one :))
To add on to the convo, though, I think another way in which the isabela and mirabels relationship couldve been portrayed was if isabela admitted to being jealous of how abuela didnt have much expectations for mirabel (since she didnt have a gift) and wasnt forced towards the mold and pressure that she and louisa has from their grandma. Isabela resenting mirabel for not "needing" to be perfect and instead to be free to be herself would also explain the way she lashes out at her sister.
This movie in a nutshell:
1) Be mean
2) Tell sad backstory
3) Get forgiven almost immediately
Basically, also the people being like "actually you didn't understand it's the golden child/scapegoat dynamic" or "no, sisters BICKER ALL THE TIME!"
Like no, Isa's 'redemption' was rushed af, and so was Alma's, she had zero likeable qualities before her big number, and suddenly we're suppose to feel sad and understand them because their pov gets told through some pretty song.
bro has 0 media litteracy
@@jessoliveiro8975 You know that their arc didn't nor end up right?they still have things to work up after the movie,their ending was just their start to start to heal
My dream scenario for these 2 (where DUE justice is given to Mirabel & both sides are heard)
Mirabel: “So if I apologise, your life will be perfect again? You’ll actually be happy?”
Isabela: “Mmm hmm.” (With smugness)
Mirabel: “You’ll see me as your sister…rather than a waste of space? Stop blaming me for everything that goes wrong in your perfect pretty life?”
Isabela’s eyes widen in shock: “That’s not.”
Mirabel: “Because perfect people NEVER have to take responsibility for their own issues DO they?!”
Isabela remains silent.
Mirabel: “There is one perfect thing about you - being the spitting image of Abuela.”
Isabela gasps & takes a step back.
Mirabel continues, tears streaming down her face: “I won’t call anyone who rejects their own family, my SISTER!”
Mirabel storms off. A purple Hyacinth sprouts up beside her. She turns back to her sister.
Isabela: “You were never…..a waste of space.” (Takes a deep breath) “And you’re not the one who needs to apologise.”
Mirabel looks up at her, surprised.
Isabela: “I really was turning into her, wasn’t I? Now that’s scary…and something I’m…really sorry for.” (With a slight chuckle, she continues) “Funnily enough, I never wanted that perfect life with Mariano.”
Mirabel’s jaw hits the floor: “What?!”
Isabela shrugs: “I thought it had to be done for the family.”
The 🌵 appears.
(In case anyone’s wondering, a purple Hyacinth represents remorse)
This conversation would had been a good first draft and better to show them communicating instead of her whole big number taking up time and rushing their reconciliation! It shows Isa actually acting her age and being called out instead of her constantly shutting Mirabel up, and also has Mirabel momentarily forgetting she only needs to suck up to Isa to get that hug and fix Casita because she's so burned out from pretending she's fine with putting up being "unwanted" by people who were suppose to LOVE her. It shows TWO sides that suffered under Alma's treatment, and I honestly wished the film focused on characters talking to EACH OTHER instead of slapping songs in-between to make it a musical, and didn't push Mirabel's own personal suffering away because the people who hurt her had sad backstories.
Damn Shady you look good for being over 900 years old.
One of the dynamics that I've seen within my own Hispanic family is control and hierarchy. Isabella is the oldest so she has seniority, but she is also the head.
She is being molded for a powerful position in her family but can't handle the pressure. She controls it by being a bitch to Mirabel. She can't talk back to abuela but she can micromanage Mirabel. She can keep Mirabel down to make herself feel better.
Even at the duet she was only focused on herself. I don't like Isabella, and this dynamic may just be my family but birth order matters.
Camilo was the first male so he'll be set, and the other son was the youngest so he will always be babied. The oldest runs the family, handles the messes, and everyone else works around it. I find alot of it to be pretty toxic, but my father is the youngest and is babied (he also broke the 30 or 50 year family "curse" of the men only being able to sire daughters...) again a lot of it I don't like but when a female messes up the brothers (even though my dad was younger than his sister) are blamed....yeah kinda messed up but the movie was so good at calling this out.
I wished they tackled colorism though. I had an aunt who only wanted her kids to be with light skinned Hispanics or white people to keep the bloodline pure (we don't talk to them anymore)
your aunt sounds awful. how do you keep a bloodline pure with wanting your children to breed with either whites *OR* Hispanics? shouldn't it just be ONE race or am I readin' this wrong?
either way, hopefully the lady sees how stupid that is in the future.
I feel like the men in general get toxically set up to do no wrong. When my dad was born all the family was incredibly intent on giving him all the attention because he was 'the long awaited son' as if the girls hadn't been important. The fact that a lot of them were women made it worse because they basically trained him to think he was better/could no wrong. My grandmother still sees the men as superior to the point my male cousins don't do anything in the house and that's seen as a good thing whereas I'm expected to clean cause I'm the girl.
@@alondraperez-ramirez8363 I've seen situations like that. My step-granddad's children's mom is that way. Or at least from what they tell me. The mother treats the 3 boys as if they are angels and can't be touched while the one girl is treated like an underpaid nanny. ...and they complain about her 'acting grown'.
@@alondraperez-ramirez8363 Agreed!
I hate how the whole movie is Isabella and Mirabel arguing, and then the hug suggests Mirabel now has to look up to the older sister that continuously treated her like crap.
Disney seem to have fallen for this trope as of late. The protag has to endure someone close to them constantly shitting on them...But they never apologise and need the protag to fix their problems before they stop being shitty to them...Often the abuse just becomes playful and never really goes away.
Basic victim blaming.
My brother and I have this golden child/scapegoat dynamic. I was the scapegoat during childhood and the roles flipped after I entered college. And tbh, I kinda understand Isabela.
Even when he does nothing, it irks me because he's not pulling his weight. There's more pressure on me to perform academically and financially. And his jealousy and perception of me, although understandable since I've been the scapegoat before, feels like it's minimizing my hardships, as if he's got it worst. Then there's also the frustration of feeling like I need to be empathetic towards him when I'm not doing it willingly. So I just resort to not interacting with him at all because I feel like screaming at him every time I see him.
But my experience might not be the most apt example to apply to Isabela's situation, because I don't try to impress my mom, I'm just doing my best to get out of this family.
I do wish there was more time for the characters' struggles and relationships to be explored. All of this is why I laughed at Disney's shocked pikachu face when Isabella's dolls haven't been selling very well, compared to Luisa. I won't deny that Luisa is different and new in an interesting way that excites kids, and that it's a factor in toy popularity... But you have one sister who is cruel and rude for almost the entire movie and doesn't really give an apology for it, except for a sort of reconciliation song that doesn't have time to sink in before the climax. Then you have another sister who is nothing but kind and protective, always looking out for Mirabel and being strong yet vulnerable. Hm, I wonder which would be more popular with kids...
Adults can better contextualize the family conflicts in this movie, but Disney really thought that a pretty character who is mean to the main character for a majority of the movie would sell more toys with the children who loved that movie. Hilarious.
Isabella likely would've been a overly marketed perfect flawless disney princess if she was the main character
The funny thing is that as a preschool teacher whose kids are obsessed with Encanto, all the kids LOVE Isabela and don't see her as mean at all
You know what I wish? I wish it turned out that Isabela's hair isn't naturally straight. Because:
1. Mirabel constantly comments/looks jealously at Isabela's (seemingly) effortlessly perfection, ESPECIALLY her hair
2. Every single member of the family has wild, curly hair*
3. Abuela herself had straight hair and projects herself on Isabela
4. Abuela casually alters Isabela's appearance to "fix" it (the "wrong" flower in her hair)
So what if, during her rant before the song, Isabela revealed she spends hours EVERY morning straightening her hair into the long, sleek, silky tresses Abuela wants? And how she resents Mirabel for letting her hair run wild (she's the only other girl with untied hair) and no one even caring? This would put things in perspective for Mirabel, making her realize how much effort Isabela makes to maintain the illusion. And then during the song, Isabela's hair could get wilder and wilder until it's similar to her Tia Pepa's! She'd truly become herself. Then it would make TOTAL sense for Abuela to shout that Isabela is "out of control"!
*Except Isabela's dad, but considering the hair is part of her perfect image, I don't think it makes sense here for it to be inherited.
My biggest gripe is that it’s a Disney movie and I’ve grown to resent Disney in recent years
From what I see, the jealousy could have gone both ways. I feel like it’s pretty likely that Isabela could have been jealous of Mirabel’s freedom, how Mirabel doesn’t have the same pressure and expectation put on her that she herself has
Personally I believe the movie would have benefited from being longer. I think a lot of ideas had to be cut for time.
I so wish I saw this video a month ago because it exactly articulates my frustration with their relationship.
I've always been an Isa, and I'm pretty sure that even if Isa wasn't mean to Mirabel, Mirabel would still resent her. Like with Helga and Olga Pataki in Hey Arnold. Olga doesn't have a mean bone in her body, but Helga still hates her SIMPLY because she's the favorite.
Yeah, she was..unnecessarily mean. After all the alienation her younger sister had to endure for not having a gift. The moment she swung that hair in her face I was like, you cruel for no reason. I still don't think " the stress of a perfect life" was enough to be that cruel. Show some compassion women!
The ultimate message is that just like in Coco, the grandmother is the problem. Fuckin' grandmothers.
You're pfp had me rolling for a min. 😂
She has a different type of pressure on her shoulder, she always has to be perfect. While Maribel has no pressure at all, since she doesn't have a gift. Plus in the book, she thinks (and probably is right) that Mirabel is their parents favorite.
Also, sometimes sisters are mean to each others, irrationally. I should know, I'm the oldest.
I thought it was because since Mirabel had no talent she had no responsibility, at least according to Isabella. She wants a freedom from her perfect expectatios. so when she sees Mirabel with nothing to uphold but tries to help anyway she gets jealous. Vice versa for mirabel except it looks like isabella does nothing.
explanations for behavior are not excuses.
I feel like a scene in the beginning of the movie where Mirabel is trying to help with the setting up of the party, maybe she gets tangled up in a hanging flower and, out of frustration, drops what she was holding and rips the flowers from the wall. An act that Isabella and maybe a few bystanders see only the back end of. This could sort of excuse and fuel Isabella’s attitude towards her while also keeping the audience on Mirabel’s side because they saw the full scene and understand the motivation behind her outburst. Idk aha
I definitely think it could have been shown off better, but i also dont see it as that big of a flaw without it. Nothing isabella did was any meaner than anything my older sister did to me (me and my siblings never hated each other).
Bumping each other and being rude about it, telling each other to shup up, petty fighting, being told to get out of her room, and being told i did something dumb/messed something up.
All of that seems like sibling stuff. The difference is that in a sense we are Mirabelle. We arent an outsider looking at both characters equally, we learn that isabella has more to her the same way that Mirabel does, so we share the feeling of "why is she so mean to the one we know is good"
Luisa has the other end of that. she and Mirabel have a much nicer relationship, but thats all implied too. We can tell luisa cares and looks out for her (from the song and her saying "be careful sis" at the start of the movie), but the only moment of tenderness we see is after the song. Same as Isabella. From what we get in the movie, she seems so busy you could try to argue they barely acknowledge care about other, but we know thats not true. what we see paints a picture, and the character song fills all the gaps.
I obviously feel this way because of my own family dynamic, from a writing standpoint it would definitely help sell the point. i just dont think the movie loses points for me without it.
Isabela’s moment with demanding for an apology is straight up Twitter @ people who did an oopsie in a nutshell and why I struggle with apologizing to people
I really like that change for the hair slap scene.
I love this movie to death, but there's ALOT of things that get on my nerves, this being one of them and the other being Abuela as a whole. Not only do I have really, REALLY bad memories (basically my entire childhood, or lack thereof) from dealing with an Abuela (not a grandmother, but the character), but she got off WAY too easily in the end, and the end as a whole felt rushed and nonsensical. The film was perfectly paced until the house broke
yeah, that hair slap and "apologize for ruining my life" scenes were pretty gross to watch. I don't even know why she got so mad at Mirabel for the 'ruined proposal'. As Mira said, Isabel could've still married him if she wanted to. there was literally nothing stopping them. and to think she's adult acting like that towards her kid-sister. I don't hate Isabel, but my God, those scenes didn't make it easy.
don't get me wrong, i love this movie. But THIS along with every other family member, their traits, their dynamics, and reasons for their behavior/actions would have been done so well and better in a series. They gave us so many interesting characters you cant completely illustrate in an hour and a half.
I agree so much with this, it was something that bothered me a bit as well. It's a good point to mention the extra scene, but we have to judge the movie with what it shows not what was cut. I felt Isabella could've felt annoyed from her sister too because of Mirabels jealousy, it's draining when someone thinks your perfect while also holding that against you, which Mirabel doesn't do to her other siblings. This would add to the brewing tension.
I never really had a problem with Isabela’s meanness. I dunno why, I just don’t find it annoying and their reconciliation was pretty well done
You're the annoying sibling
Yep. It's the Golden Child and the Scapegoat realizing that they're not so different, because they're both being mistreated as what Abuela SEES them as, not who they are.
@@puffafish1822 I have a sister who I find absolutely irritating, so maybe I just found Isabela not so bad in comparison lol. I don’t disagree that she was a bad sister, she just didn’t annoy me.
@@jeffreyquinde6707 ah I see
High tolerance level
Fair
I tend to refer to her as "bitchy flower Elsa". Despite her cattiness I enjoyed her character.
I agree 100% with this, I found it so hard to empathize with Isabella because she came across as a bully to Mirabel, who was already ostracized
I just realised that the whole Golden Child/Scapegoat dynamic is the same as Helga and Olga from Hey Arnold (keep in mind I was too young to really understand what was going on until I got much older) - Olga's Miss Perfect, had her parents support and attention, Helga is literally Mirabel, good at everything but because they don't have that ONE trait that'll make them seen as an equal (Mirabel = no magic, I guess Helga just wasn't expected or something), but the difference is you get to SEE why Helga resented being around Olga, you get to see how she's constantly sidelined the second Olga shows up, all her insecurities rise up.
And even though Olga knew that Helga was never held to the same standards as she was, so less pressure on Helga. She never BLAMED Helga for not having her parents' eyes and attention on her, she envied Helga for her freedom, sure, at worst she shared embarrassing childhood stories of Helga, but overall she knew the way both of them were treated wasn't fair or right, like how is it a sibling's fault for the rotten treatment they receive? I don't think they ASKED to be neglected and treated like an unwanted outsider by the grownups around them.
I know, same dynamic aside, I don't expect them to have the same sort of character based on their position, but Isa just riles me up. Both she and Olga are adults, but unlike Olga, she treats Mirabel the same sort of snarky way I treated my sister when we were CHILDREN, and here's a full grown adult who can't seem to tell that Mirabel didn't ASK to not have magic and be sidelined and ignored to do as whatever she pleased, but it was how Alma started this whole "Mirabel's an embarrassment to our family image" treatment and hence why she gets pressured to be perfect 24/7 while Mirabel literally gets ignored and forgotten. I do understand that Hey Arnold had therapists and communication and a lot more time to expand on its characters, and life in Encanto seemed more sheltered and under a 2 hour duration, but we finally see more of Isa for the last 20 minutes of the movie while she had been nothing but uncalled for smug and patronising to Mirabel, and then suddenly a song fixes their relationship. If Mirabel constantly "made messes" that Isa had to "clean up" - SHOW IT, and I don't mean just that failed proposal scene that Isa herself DIDNT want, if that means less songs and more scenes of characters interacting with each other, I'd rather take that.
I can't stop looking at your persona's eyes, my brain can't decide if they look like sunglasses or cartoonish eyes with huge pupils, it's both curious and funny at the same time
My biggest gripe with the film is how quickly they resolved Bruno's plotline. I know the grandma hugging him is supposed to symbolize the family apologizing, but honestly I don't think it was nearly enough. He was BANNED, SHUNNED from the family he loves for YEARS!! AND he lived in the walls and had to hear all the horrible things people said about him. You can't tell me he wouldn't need time to heal from that. I don't buy the fact that he holds absolutely NO resentment. I've seen that kind of thing happen in my own family and it's traumatic, and definitely doesn't get healed by a hug, although it could be a start. I know they were just trying to wrap up the movie at that point, but I would've preferred the movie to show that there's still some healing that needed to be done there. I hope in the sequel they explore this a bit more. It just felt unfair that they represented everyone else so well, but Bruno's ending just left me unsatisfied since he arguably went through the most f*d up experience out of them all.
Finally, someone who gets it!!
As a person who had to deal with people with an “Isabelle attitude” 😤 I felt little disappointed with her and Abuela didn’t got what they deserve but I can see why there not exactly a typical Disney Villain…
What they deserve? Do you ever realize that they are humans who are dealing with a lot of pain/stress and the movie points that just because their problems aren't the same than Mirabele dosen't make them less important or harmfull, right?
Isabela's behavior towards Mirabel actually makes a *lot* of sense, even without history included, as long as you take into consideration the toxic environment she was raised in that shaped this behavior.
We see within the movie, through visual design and in Abuela's flashbacks, that Isabela holds a strong resemblance to Abuela Alma when she was a young woman. Equally, Mariano (the man Isabela is supposed to marry) looks *a lot* like Abuelo Pedro. Isabela has been raised as "the perfect golden child" specifically under Abuela Alma's influence, which we know not only because of her being the family Matriarch, but also because within the opening title "The Family Madrigal" we *see* her take a special interest in Isabela and how her granddaughter is presented when she's introduced in the song.
We see this again at the breakfast table the next morning when Isabela sprouts flowers on her head and Alma makes note to pick out the *single* flower that *doesn't match* the rest. Not only are we being told very subtlety that Abuela Alma is, to some degree, manipulating how Isabela is viewed by others, she's also got a very homogenous view and doesn't make room for things that don't fit into her ideal. This is explained even more when we understand that Isabela has the capacity to grow things *other* than the perfect pink roses Abuela Alma always expects from her but she's been boxed in by those expectations--trying to grow anything new results in it being plucked.
Now take into consideration how Isabela grew up. Mirabel failed to get a gift at the age of 5 and *since then* she has effectively been the family's grey sheep (not quite the black sheep yet, as the implication is Bruno is the black sheep and Mirabel is "falling down a similar path"). So since Isabela was maybe 8 or 9 years old she's been taught that her younger sister is in the way and that her talents are not useful to the family or the community as a whole. (Which is already incorrect as Mirabel isn't "in the way" she's just never given anything to *do* because the family already operates and treats her as though she's useless and she strives to help in some fashion.)
When you take into consideration that Isabela is *Abuela Alma's* golden child, who is being *raised* as Abuela Alma's perfect self-image, Isabela would have been praised any time she parroted Alma's views. When she was much younger she would have been mimicking the behavior of the adults around her without understanding the implications, simply because she's treated as the "golden child" as long as she does what Abuela Alma wants. Having been raised in this manner for her entire life and then having the family vilification of Mirabel compounding on top of that over the course of ten years.... I think it makes perfect sense that Isabela treats Mirabel the way she does.
Mirabel herself and the way she's treated in the family even serves as an *example* of what Isabela likely assumed she would face were she ever to go against Alma's wishes. She's been raised in an environment that has treated Mirabel like the family scapegoat for 10 years (and up until that point *Bruno* had been the main scapegoat so we know this behavior is deeply rooted in this family). Abuela Alma being the one to seemingly treat Mirabel the worst, it would make sense for Isabela to then reflect that. This manifesting as anger towards her sister rather than the disappointed dismissal we see from Alma likely comes from her age and a lack of true understanding as to why Mirabel is treated the way she is. Or it could come from mutual jealousy, in Isabela thinking that *Mirabel* has it easy because she's not under so much pressure to be perfect all the time, obviously ignorant to the ostracization Mirabel faces on the regular.
Incidentally, much like how Isabela would be ignorant of Mirabel's feelings and treatments, resulting in it being easier for Isabela to project anger onto her, the same goes for us as the audience, because without taking that extra viewing and seeing all those little behavior quirks, we would *also* be ignorant of Isabela's perspective, making it easier for *us* to be angry with *her.*
I still hate this character almost as much as the grandmother......also will someone acknowledge the the grandfather's death made the miracle. His sacrifice is the greatest act of love
I think you can infer that Isabela learned to scapegoat Mirabel from abuela, and that Isabela is also jealous of Mirabel having a freer life. But yeah, we needed just a tad more set up. I wish the movie could have gotten a full two hours.
Siblings be like dat tho, not everyone's Siblings but it's not all "hugs and kisses" that they love to show in kids movies.
I agree with you. We definitely needed to see more of how Isabella and Mirabel interacted in ways that made it look like both were in the wrong (Isabella being mean to Mirabel for messing something up) since at least then most people would agree that Isabella's emotions are justified even if the actions aren't. The other option is to show more of the pressure Isabella faced and her actually disliking the idea of marrying Mariano but agreeing to it to make Abuela happy (there is the breakfast scene, but that could also just be the idea of having 5 babies rather than having said babies with Mariano). Perhaps even having a misinterpretation of a scene between Abuela and Isabella would help. For example, it would seem to the audience/Mirabel that Abuela is praising Isabella but there are also some insults as well, both toward Isabella and Mirabel. Maybe something about Isabella doing a great job fixing one of Mirabel's mistakes, but it wasn't a mistake and it just makes both sisters more angry (Isabella for getting more work and Mirabel for hearing that Isabella's work was great, but not hers).
I do see how some of Isabella's behavior could seem like an older sister being frustrated with their younger sibling, but we don't see what is causing Isabella to become frustrated. Perhaps if Isabella and Mariano were getting married rather than getting engaged, then we could see more of the causes of the frustration. It would provide an easy way to create situations where people can see both sides rather than pretty much only having evidence for one side of the argument. It still wouldn't justify any of the behavior, it would just help it to be understandable - Isabella has a time restraint before she is forced to spend the rest of her life with a man she doesn't want to marry and Mirabel keeps getting in the way with stories about cracks in the wall and making more messes for Isabella to fix (upsetting Pepa, slowing down Luisa, distracting Abuela and Julieta, etc.); meanwhile, Mirabel could care less that Isabella's wedding won't be perfect and is more concerned about the house falling about and that preparing for the wedding is getting in her way.
i agree that the movie tries to imply that mirabel has messed things up in the past but i feel like that was with the whole family. i probably should rewatch the movie but it seemed like everyone had issues with mirabel not just because she didnt have a gift. The movie looked incredible but the whole family just felt so passive aggressive and meanspirited. The grandma was ready to kick her out and make her the bad guy like bruno