Disney’s Encanto isn’t just about representation – it’s an act of defiance

If the questions I kept answering over and over again during my first dates in Los Angeles were any indication, Americans tend to view Colombia as a violent, drug-ridden failed state, half slum and half jungle that also happens to be the source of . is their coffee and Sofía Vergara. But who can blame them? You learned Colombia mostly from movies and television, and there isn’t much room for nuance in the 1984s exoticism Romanticize the stonewho have favourited Netflix’s antitrust Narcos Series or Gloria’s humorous otherness in the ABC sitcom Modern family.

When Disney announced it charm, a new animated film set in my home country Colombia, was admittedly exciting and affirming.

This excitement had its reservations. Disney has a complicated history of depicting non-European cultures. Even beyond the clear cases of “This film was shot in a different time”, such as depicting the Native American people in the 1953s Peter Pan or the mitigated racism from 1995 Pocahontas, Disney creators are still grappling with stereotyped depictions of people of color that are understandably subject to endless scrutiny in today’s more racially conscious environment.

Disney’s first black protagonist, The princess and the frog‘s Tiana, was introduced in 2009. Although she has become a popular character herself, her film caught on immediately his dealings with race. A few years later Moana was generally well received but suffered from his own Criticism from the Pacific Islander communities. Still, it marked a clear turning point in the studio’s handling of its non-white characters and attitudes. Moana found its heart in the mix of cultures it represented. Its allusions to Polynesian culture are not just a backdrop, they are key components of its history and themes.

Input charmthat doesn’t just take place in a pastiche of similar cultures, like Disney’s Latine-inspired show Elena of Avalor. charm The screenwriters Jared Bush, Byron Howard and Charise Castro Smith wanted to set their story explicitly in the very real country of Colombia. Her company’s recent track record in representation was certainly a good sign, but Hollywood’s history of portraying Colombia was cause for doubt. Those worries all found a place amid the collective Colombian excitement, there charmThe movie’s opening night was getting closer, but at least for me they disappeared for a few minutes in the movie’s prologue. As soon as we learn that the central family, the madrigals, like millions of real ColombiansHaving been driven from their homeland by this abstract, omnipresent force that we simply call The Violence, it seemed obvious that Bush, Howard and Smith came from not only a place of communication but also a place of love.

charm tells the story of Mirabel Madrigal, who was born into a magical family in which everyone but her has a special gift. One of her sisters is super powerful, another can produce flowers from nothing, her mother can cure any disease with her food, and so on. But Mirabel was never given a special gift, and her lack of strength regularly creates tension between her and her Abuela.

These gifts are not innate. They are given to the family by a magic candle that the madrigals call “our miracle”, a force that saved Abuela and her three children when she was little, when they had to flee their hometown. When The Violence caught up with her and killed her Abuelo, the candle gave the surviving madrigals a home: a magical house that became a source of refuge, comfort and special gifts for future generations.

The film follows Mirabel when she sees the house, hers Casita, begins to crack at the foundations, which her Abuela vehemently denies in order to maintain order. It is up to Mirabel, the least special madrigal, to find out what threatens her miracles and protect the home that her family has protected over the years.

Make this quest to save her beloved home charm not just a story to adjust in Colombia, however about Colombia too. There is nothing more Colombian than wanting to find a home in a naturally broken country.

Colombia’s problems are so intrinsic that it almost seems necessary to be aware of them from birth in order to even feel like a Colombian. The genocidal conquest by Europe and the subsequent decades-long independence process set the stage for a very chaotic 200-year history. Nine civil wars between liberals and conservatives in the 19th century led to an insoluble national schism in which the only overlap between the two sides was the exploitation and dismissal of a mostly racist rural lower class. Class tensions grew steadily until the global rise of communism spawned left-wing guerrilla warfare and, in response, spawned fascist militias across the country. In this armed conflict, both sides eventually gave up the ideology in favor of the bloodstained profits of the drug trade.

This is a very brief and even generous summary of our national history, but it is still more detailed than the picture the First World has of us. It makes sense, however, that most of the media coverage of us focused solely on when this violent environment became ubiquitous. After all, violence taints almost every Colombian family. This focus on the tensions in the country is also taking place in the Colombian media, such as the “Narco novels“That mess up our networks. We believe this is all we get: an echo chamber of drugs, massacres, kidnappings, indifferent politicians and a population that has no memory but still carries their luggage.

The Colombian Cultural Trust – a collection of advisors from a variety of fields who were brought in to ensure the authenticity of the film – may have spoken to the scriptwriters about this issue. Disney’s film about our land could not openly incorporate our violent past and present. But at some point they decided not to ignore it either. Disney’s Colombian film focuses on finding a place free from this innate ailment: a place where its people can safely call home.

How nice that we can enjoy the fun, the color, the joy from charm when so much media about ourselves focuses on these vicious circles of violence in which we are trapped. What a wonder after all this time we still have such beautiful things to portray for Disney, from unique musical styles to delicious dishes to food and a rich tradition of storytelling. As the madrigals discovered, it is a miracle that we can still share these gifts at all.

“Representation is important” has become a cliché, especially since representation is only superficial major cultural problems facing the Hollywood media. However, that cannot be denied is Power to elevate your own world to iconic fairy tales and animated blockbusters.

The cultural foundation helped charm Leave cartoons and stereotypes behind to create something that sounds true to its subjects. This approach was first used with the Oceanic Story Trust in the production of Moana, is proving to be a step in the right direction for Disney when it comes to telling stories outside the European bubble.

Is this the product of a multi-billion dollar corporation slowly realizing what good business it is to address increasingly diverse markets? Of course, but that doesn’t prevent the smaller players within this system from approaching a personal project with love. They wanted to create something that would resonate with people all over the world – but also especially with Colombians, as we know we don’t always feel that way. And if the first reactions here in Colombia are any signs of it, the film is resonate. Not because of cynical company decisions, but because the artists behind the film took care of them.

But this is about much more than just representation. The happiness that is represented in charm isn’t just escapism, it’s defiance. It’s about challenging the notion that we Colombians must be forever unhappy.

After arguing throughout the film about how to save the house and who is to blame for the impending destruction, the madrigals ultimately have to accept that their miracle wasn’t the magical house or their magical gifts. Indeed, the miracle is that after all these years the family has somehow figured out how to thrive in the face of tragedy. The magic gave them theirs Casita, sure, but she were the ones who created love, beauty and community in it. A broken story got them there, but it’s a wonder they’re still there. And that’s worth a lot at the end of the day.

While he takes the film deeply rooted in Colombian culture, be it through Lin-Manuel Miranda’s well-researched music spanning all possible regional genres, or the unique cast of characters meant to encompass a strange and unequal country, charm celebrates the diversity of Colombia, the happiness that can be found in its art, nature, heritage and, above all, its people.

Perhaps the most revealing detail is the conscious decision not to give The Violence a face. If the brief history lesson above is any indication, that force that ousted the madrigals could have been anything from militias to warlords. Sure, Disney likely avoided details because they would be too vivid or complicated for young viewers (or, more cynically, because they could be taken as a political statement). But I choose to look at it differently.

In charm, unlike all other American depictions of Colombia, there is no place for The Violence or its perpetrators. The focus is on the survivors. It is about the miracle of prosperity when one seems almost cosmically inclined to suffer ad infinitum. Because that is Colombia: a country of people who do their best to be successful despite their own will.

We are a land of Mirabels all struggling to figure out how to remedy these evils that seem like our birthright. Like Mirabel’s predicting Uncle Bruno, we are overwhelmed by an undeniably bleak future. Like Abuela, we sometimes struggle to pretend these threats don’t exist because we can’t bear the thought of facing them again. Like the madrigals, we all try to cope with all of this on our own – and realize it, perhaps through projects like charm, we may not have to.

charm is in theaters and is now streamed on Disney Plus.