Ah, I got the impression she did know Bruno was there! Ah, fascinating. That makes sense! But yeah, the lack of the movie addressing the plotpoint of how hearing girl handled knowing Bruno was in the walls the whole time is part of why I just assumed she heard noises but didn't know who they belonged to (thought it was a ghost or squatter or something but not Bruno). But yeah, it seems like they did intend that plotpoint, just didn't have time to address it fully.
Specifically, he was afraid how they would treat her if they found out what he saw. In the end, his motivation feels like a mix of love, but also fear and dread of them at the same time? Yeah, I think you are right about that. He was also afraid of the family treating Mirabel badly if they thought she was going to bring about the end of the family powers, the same way they did him and his "curse." There is fear of bad treatment of an innocent person there too.
or were present to some degree *before* all of that. If the latter, it's a pretty good analogy for the neurodivergent communities you described. Yeah, I agree, and I definitely interpreted it this second way, that Bruno was mentally different/strange even before he holed up in the walls. Bruno seems to me to have an unusual/awkward style of communication and I do think that fed into the dynamic of the family villainizing him, because he was just different and wasn't able to express his intentions very well and the family didn't make the effort to meet him where he was at.
And yeah, I generally agree with your point that it's good that there is more awareness of toxic family dynamics but also that seems to involve people in less extreme circumstances co-opting some of the language and muddying public understanding of these dynamics. It kind of reminds me a friend who has celiac and her frustrations with people who merely have voluntary "gluten-free" diets both creating a market for gluten-free alternative foods (which is good) but also muddying the waters because they aren't actually sensitive to gluten, therefore creating a misleading impression that people who are on "gluten-free diets" can actually handle eating small amounts of gluten, but are merely trying to cut down (which is bad for people like her that have bad reactions to even a tiny amount of gluten). It's kind of similar with bad families -- while it's good that people are aware of toxic family dynamics, the concept creep that seems to be happening with the terms is not helpful for understanding the most severe family relationships.
I'm glad you enjoyed Encanto so much and had so many thoughts on it!
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Ah, fascinating. That makes sense! But yeah, the lack of the movie addressing the plotpoint of how hearing girl handled knowing Bruno was in the walls the whole time is part of why I just assumed she heard noises but didn't know who they belonged to (thought it was a ghost or squatter or something but not Bruno). But yeah, it seems like they did intend that plotpoint, just didn't have time to address it fully.
Specifically, he was afraid how they would treat her if they found out what he saw. In the end, his motivation feels like a mix of love, but also fear and dread of them at the same time?
Yeah, I think you are right about that. He was also afraid of the family treating Mirabel badly if they thought she was going to bring about the end of the family powers, the same way they did him and his "curse." There is fear of bad treatment of an innocent person there too.
or were present to some degree *before* all of that. If the latter, it's a pretty good analogy for the neurodivergent communities you described.
Yeah, I agree, and I definitely interpreted it this second way, that Bruno was mentally different/strange even before he holed up in the walls. Bruno seems to me to have an unusual/awkward style of communication and I do think that fed into the dynamic of the family villainizing him, because he was just different and wasn't able to express his intentions very well and the family didn't make the effort to meet him where he was at.
And yeah, I generally agree with your point that it's good that there is more awareness of toxic family dynamics but also that seems to involve people in less extreme circumstances co-opting some of the language and muddying public understanding of these dynamics. It kind of reminds me a friend who has celiac and her frustrations with people who merely have voluntary "gluten-free" diets both creating a market for gluten-free alternative foods (which is good) but also muddying the waters because they aren't actually sensitive to gluten, therefore creating a misleading impression that people who are on "gluten-free diets" can actually handle eating small amounts of gluten, but are merely trying to cut down (which is bad for people like her that have bad reactions to even a tiny amount of gluten). It's kind of similar with bad families -- while it's good that people are aware of toxic family dynamics, the concept creep that seems to be happening with the terms is not helpful for understanding the most severe family relationships.
I'm glad you enjoyed Encanto so much and had so many thoughts on it!