Oscars 2022: Pixar's Encanto bursts the bubble of self-objectification in the age of social media unlike any Disney tale

_Encanto_, Disney’s Pixar movie, speaks to the objectification we do to ourselves. Self-objectification is any kind of identification that reduces our humanity to a trait or value. It is the kool aid we do not think too much about drinking.

Social media has turned us into the picture while our Dorian-Gray selves live online. As easy as it is to feel low after looking at others’ pictures, thinking it the complete picture, it is easier still to get trapped in thinking of ourselves as the images we choose to represent us. We’re all walking around as our own personal brands. We measure our self worth based on how we look, how much we earn or our political views, and we encourage others also to boil us down to a refracted reality.

“People are suffering and dying under the torture of the fantasy self they’re failing to become,” writes Will Storr, author of Selfie: How We Became So Self-Obsessed and What It’s Doing to Us. He writes that there are several forces that are conditioning our unhappiness. Naturally, we see ourselves as the main character; historically, as tribal people we were motivated to cooperate as well as compete; and culturally, we have developed an aspirational narcissism. So women have body dysmorphia, men muscle, and the university student, a CV dysmorphia.

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In the movie, the Madrigal family participates in this sort of self myth-making because of their gifts. There are instances of self-oriented perfectionism, socially prescribed perfectionism, and even other-oriented perfectionism in the Madrigals. We are introduced to the Madrigals with lyrics that go, “The beauty and the brawn can do no wrong.” Each of their gifts are even sewn into their costumes. Luisa has a dumbbell, Isabella flowers, Abuella has a candle on her hem, and even Bruno gets an hourglass.

We see how the members of the family are crushed under the weight of their gifts. Right off the bat, we see Luisa sing about surface pressure, and how she feels there is no room for her to make any mistakes. On screen, we can see her lift and juggle houses, mountains, and dangle from cliffs without batting an eye. In the song, ‘What Else Can I Do,’ we see how Isabella’s golden child image is a barrier to her self actualisation, and keeps her from attaining her full potential. The gifts may not all be traditionally useful to the larger community such as conjuring flowers or Camilo’s gift of shapeshifting, but if it is not perceived as constructive, the burden of a miracle can be especially punishing. Bruno runs away because the community thinks that his gloomy prognostications are portentous or as Mirabel tells Abuela, “Bruno left because you only saw the worst in him.”    

Then there is Mirabel. The unchosen one in a world of chosen ones. She is told to be self-effacing, not to be in the way, and the whole family is complicit in making her feel like an outcast, and at worst, the family treats Mirabel and the village folk like they are incapable of doing basic tasks. Mirabel resists the Pygmalion urge to become a supervillain. With extreme empathy and generosity of the heart, Mirabel seeks out ways to help. By saving the miracle, she proves that you do not need magical powers to save the day.

Mirabel is also the reason that Encanto is such a hit. She is unlike other Disney protagonists who were either princesses or could talk to animals and zip zap frozen fractals on the ground. Mirabel succeeds in spite of and because of her imperfections. She is not ashamed of her mediocrity; rather she is driven to move mountains to feel like she deserves a place in this family. When she is blamed for the casita falling to pieces, despite being the only one actively trying to save it, she finally confronts Abuella and her own feelings of worthlessness. She is not the problem. Instead of the mental work of self-acceptance, which sometimes unfairly puts the onus of change on a victim, Storr has a kinder suggestion. He posits that we change the environment that makes us feel inferior like our goals, the people around us and finding projects that are meaningful to us and that we have efficacy over.

The pursuit of perfection is usually framed as a tragic tale such as in Black Swan and Whiplash. The story escalation leads to all sorts of violence and death but that of the ego.

Perfect is the enemy of the good is an important lesson to impart to children, especially in an increasingly competitive world, in the formative years when one’s ego is developing.

However, insofar as Mirabel is the heroine, the message of the film works. She sets an example to her family that they are more than just their gifts. But when we consider how the plot hinges on the Madrigals regaining their supernatural abilities, the movie misses the point. Still, a range of people feel represented by what they see from those on the autism spectrum to little girls with glasses and curly hair – a testament to the human complexity the movie showcases.

Encanto is also being used by therapists to explain enmeshed family dynamics and the types of responses we can have to trauma. One of the more negative consequences of self objectification is a fragmented consciousness, and in families with such intergenerational trauma, members might cling to their roles as jokester or the nurturer, or the strong one, to keep afloat, carrying the same coping strategies to other situations as well.  

Oscars 2022 will take place on 28 March.

Eisha Nair is an independent writer-illustrator based in Mumbai. She has written on history, art, culture, education, and film for various publications. When not pursuing call to cultural critique, she is busy drawing comics.

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