Academy Award with merely 6.5? Does Encanto touch audiences in China at all?
“We don’t talk about Bruno no no no, we don’t talk about Bruno…” I guess you’re probably singing this out as you read through it. This record-breaking ear-worm song We Don’t Talk About Bruno comes from Disney’s newly released animated movie Encanto, which has soared in popularity ever since its premiere. With the exquisite portrayal of Colombian culture, catchy soundtrack, and heartwarming story, it has made its way to the winner of the 94th annual Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature and a whole list of other awards, making itself a true “miracle”.
Encanto’s showcase of authentic Colombian culture, music, and nature provides realistic Latinx representation which adds to its success, grossing over $251 million at the box office worldwide and specifically over $11 million in Colombia (Box Office Mojo by IMDb Pro). However, it didn’t receive the same reputation in China: within this country of 1.4 billion population, 28 times the population in Colombia, Encanto merely grossed $12 million in China, slightly over Colombia’s $11 million. Comments of Encanto from Chinese audiences are polarized, with praises for its wonderful music, novel concept, and warm stories, but also ruthless critics like its plot being boring or unadventurous, or simply the music being too redundant. While Encanto’s box office performance in China was not as good as it should have been, Mirabel’s journey of reconciling her family successfully resonates with Chinese audiences, as the new value system of balancing self-identifications and family expectations it presents caters to the need for young adults in China with similar struggles.
After being released in China on January 7, 2022, a month after its premiere release in most countries around the world, Encanto did not make as big a wave as the response it received internationally. In addition to its mediocre box office gross, many comments from Chinese audiences are criticizing that some of the plots in Encanto are too superficial or don’t make sense; the lack of an “absolute evil” antagonist in the plot makes the movie boring or plain; and Disney simply stuffed a bunch of songs to perfunctorily rush over the plot development. In contrast to other Disney Animated Features like Zootopia, Coco, or the more recent Soul, which received 9.2, 9.1, and 8.7 respectively on China’s biggest media rating app, Encanto was merely rated a 6.5. However, I believe the rating score can only partially reflect the attitude of some audiences instead of how this movie is from a comprehensive view. By this I’m not saying that the 6.5 rating score or those criticizing opinions are invalid or don’t matter; what I actually mean is that there are complicated reasons for Encanto’s seemingly failure in the Chinese market, such as its late release date, the pandemic, or the comparatively weaker musical context in China; aside from these, Encanto has received praises and resonance from Chinese audiences as well, from the values that it showcased throughout the plot.
Encanto tells the story of an extraordinary family, the Madrigals, who live in a magical town called Encanto, in the hidden mountains of Colombia. The family matriarch, Abuela Alma, was blessed by a miracle embodied by a magical candle when her husband Pedro sacrificed himself and Alma was left hopeless in their flee from armed conflicts. This miracle vanquished the army and created their magical Casita, blessing the family and endowing every Madrigal child a magic gift (power) as they turn 5. Alma’s triplets children, Pepa, Julieta, and Bruno, are each capable of affecting the weather by mood, healing others by food, and foreseeing the future (though Bruno left as his prophecy always troubles the family). Julieta has 3 daughters: Isabela, the eldest daughter, whose gift is the power to conjure beautiful flowers and plants; Luisa, the “rock” of the family with the power of super-strength; and our protagonist, 15-year-old Mirabel, is the only Madrigal children who didn’t receive a gift. Hence, she has always been neglected, striving to find some sense of presence and hoping to contribute to the family, among all her talented sisters and cousins. When Mirabel finds their casita cracking and the family’s magic fading, she sets out to solve the mystery behind the problem, discovering the contradictions embedded in the Madrigal family for a long time — — the contradictions that lead to the cracks and eventually the collapse in their casita. Through her effort, Mirabel eventually helps the family to reach reconciliation, which not only brings back the magic but also strengthens the Madrigal family.
Encanto’s translatability for Chinese audiences was predetermined for the reasons behind its sympathetic portrayal of the family expectations imposed on their children to be someone “great”. As the leader of the Madrigals, Abuela Alma is dedicated to things that (in her point of view) make the best of the family; she hoists expectations on all her children and grandchildren to use their gifts to contribute to the thriving of their family and community.
Just as shown at the very beginning of the movie, when Alma explains to 5-year old Mirabel about the miracle candle before her gift ceremony, that “this candle will give you your gift, strengthen our community, strengthen our home, make your family proud”(Bush and Howard, 2021). As someone who experienced the trauma of war and immigration, Alma cherishes this hard-won peace, becoming a strong, firm mother and leader of the town; yet it also renders her sternness and a strong sense of crisis, as she was so afraid to lose everything she fought to get. This is, in fact, a true portrayal of Colombian history: Alma and Pedro’s flee from armed conflict could be a reference to Colombia’s Thousand Days War in the 1900s, a product of civil unrest causing numerous conflict-induced displacement. By extension, statistics from CODHES show that around 2.7 million Colombians have become internally displaced since 1985, making Colombia the country with the world’s third-largest internally displaced population according to The World Refugee Survey 2002 lists. Likewise, China has similar historical contexts: in the 20th century, China was still in a period of poverty and backwardness. Over 800 million Chinese in the 60s were in poverty, with chaos like civil wars, great famines, or the cultural revolution. It is through generations of dedication and hard work that China is now a much more developed country with significant progress in citizens’ life. However, similar to Abuela Alma, older Chinese who were brought up in penury and had experienced the hardest times had already buried this sense of crisis deep in their value system, that even if they have much better lives now, they always held a sense of crisis. For instance, the elders save their money and leave it to their offspring rather than squander it themselves; because they want to put a dead end to the everlasting poverty they had experienced, which they believe takes generations of hard work. They still think of their times of poverty and insecure despite the current prosperity and stability (a Chinese idiom called “居(live)安(safety)思(think)危(danger)” ). Therefore, the similar historical contexts provided Chinese audiences with a greater understanding of Encanto’s setting.
Under this rather conservative value system, both Colombians and Chinese put excellence and success highly in their culture, consequently demanding their youths to achieve their best and be prepared for the future. In the song “The Family Madrigal”, Alma sings that “work and dedication will keep the miracle burning, and each new generation must keep the miracle burning”. She believes that every generation of Madrigals must do their best for the success and continuation of their family’s prosperity and peace. As a result, she becomes this controlling parent, expecting high on her children and demanding perfection. Under this expectation to be someone “great” and “useful” to the community, nearly every Madrigal child is under great pressure in various ways: Isabela was called “señorita perfecta” or “the perfect golden child” who has to maintain the impression of perfection and beauty at all times, even forced to marry someone she doesn’t like at all for the family’s development (basically a political marriage!); on the other hand, Luisa is always busy building infrastructures or helping villagers, and in the meantime questioning whether she’ll be worthless without her powers, hence she’s often under intense pressure (as revealed in her song “Surface Pressure”); the youngest cousin Antonio is even anxious before his gift ceremony worrying whether he will get his gift and whether it will disappoint the family. The enforced obedience to Alma’s expectations has made the Madrigal kids live under repressions, anxieties, and misunderstandings: they are forced to behave as their family expected them to and hence unable to see who they really are and where their values are aside from the magical powers they have. I’m sure many Chinese kids can see themselves in at least one of these Madrigal children since the emphasis on “hard-work-lead-to-success” is a belief deeply rooted in Chinese societies: many parents demand straight “A’’s on their children’s transcripts; they plan ahead for their children from their interests to future careers; and they expect their children to become doctors, lawyers, or civil servants — — those that lead to a decent or wealthy future that brings the family honor. Under this parenting culture, it is common that Chinese kids often struggle with what they’re living for, how to define their self-worth, and recognize their values, yet few of them stand up against the control that their parents imposed on them. To summarize, the historical trauma has created a sense of crisis, making either Colombians or Chinese highly value their life success and obey family expectations, contributing to Encanto’s natural resonance for Chinese audiences.
By extension, Encanto showcases the transition from the old values presented above to a new value system in recognizing an individual’s value, which serves as enlightenment for many Chinese audiences, especially younger generations. What’s significant about the identification of the self-worth issue discussed above is that, in Encanto’s story, its conflict with Alma’s expectation is what causes the cracks in the Casita. Mirabel always struggles to find her place and value for the family: compared to all her talented families, Mirabel fails to see where her values to the family or community lie, since her families all have powers that she doesn’t and whatever she does is always neglected or seen as causing more trouble. Mirabel confesses in her song “Waiting On A Miracle”, “I can’t move the mountains, I can’t make flowers bloom… I can’t heal what’s broken, can’t control the morning rain or a hurricane”. Apparently, these parallel lyrics revealed how Mirabel denies herself as she compares herself to her family, which makes her think that she’s just worthless. This reflects an important value of the Colombians: since Colombia lies amongst the most collectivistic cultures in the world, Colombians are highly collectivistic people and they must belong to an in-group and align themselves with that group’s opinion”(Hofstede Insights). Just like what Mirabel sings, “like I’m still at that door, longing to shine, like all of you shine”, showing exactly how eager she is to prove her self-worth and value to her family. This collectivist culture of identifying self-worth through comparison directly touched the heartstrings of many Chinese audiences since that’s exactly how Chinese people, in general, secure their sense of self-worth — — by comparing. The phrase “other people’s children”(别人家的孩子) is commonly used by Chinese parents to compare their kids to others that are (in certain aspects) better achieved than their children, as a way to motivate their kids to do better. This culture of comparison implies how Chinese people depend on external recognition to affirm their personal values. The reason for this is that historically, China has always been a collectivist country that emphasizes contribution to society and the interest of the community, valuing the success of the group greater than individual success, which is sometimes at the cost of sacrificing personal independence. The need to “compare” manifests a need for external recognition and the lack of internal sources of confidence in our personal values. Therefore, it renders the general reliance on external recognition to determine self-worth in Chinese societies, which gradually becomes a struggle faced by many young Chinese audiences in this increasingly globalizing world.
Contrary to the collectivist, more conservative culture values as represented by Alma, Mirabel’s journey in reconciling her family showcases a transition from securing identification to her value externally to internally: in the hope of proving herself worthy to the family, Mirabel sets out to discover what is happening to their Casita, which she later found out is to reconcile the conflicts in her family. Instead of escaping or covering up the problem, Mirabel directly faced the problem and bravely voices her opinion to reach reconciliation between family members: Mirabel makes Isabela realize that she has more possibilities and freedom than just growing flowers, and should not be confined to a single definition of “beauty” as their Abuela had expected; Mirabel empathizes with Luisa’s pressure, and she lets Luisa know that it is okay for her to “free some room up for joy or relaxation”(as she dreamed in her song “Surface Pressure”) because families are backing her up. Mirabel bravely confronts her grandmother and makes her realize that her demand for perfection and power has led everyone in the family to live under extreme stress and repression while expressing an understanding of Alma’s traumatic experience and the purpose of her expectations.
This finally reconciles the conflict in the Madrigal family, and they rebuild their Casita to let Mirabel open the door (the gift ceremony when they’re 5 is to open a magical door and receive the gift, yet Mirabel’s door disappears when she tries to open the door at 5) of the new home. In the end, the family sings to Mirabel together, “we see how bright you burn, we see how brave you’ve been; now see yourself in turn, you’re the real gift”, revealing that Mirabel has secured this more complete self with a strong, internal source of power. This reconstruction represents that her new values of a more individualistic approach to self-worth are taking over the old values Alma had, which, when translating to a more realistic perspective, symbolizes how the new western mindset of individualism is impacting the rather conservative or outdated, if I may say, collectivism beliefs that are traditional to countries like Colombia or China. The American or western mindset and society emphasize individualism and an internal source of recognition of one’s value and freedom of choice rather than external factors like achievements that fulfill others’ expectations. This is vital to consider for understanding how Encanto translates well to Chinese audiences since it is the value that solves or guides the problems of younger generations of Chinese audiences who no longer worry about basic living needs like their parents did but confront new challenges on finding and achieving their personal value and to compromise it with their family’s expectations. The trends for globalization are leading to the mindset that has the capacity to be aware, release, and embrace, as demonstrated by what Mirabel utilizes to reunite her family. This caters to the needs of Chinese audiences for balancing their self-identification in a more globalized society today and therefore enlightens them on where the possibility of change lies to align with the trends of globalization. In a word, Encanto’s story resolved a major contradiction concerning struggles with self-identification and strict family expectations that are prevalent in Chinese society for historical and societal reasons, and hence successfully translates the new value system as showcased in Encanto.
In conclusion, it will be a great regret for those who missed the core values shown in Encanto for its relatively low ratings, as it cleverly intertwined complex cultural values in its seemingly simple plot, creating resonance with many Chinese audiences through the similar power structure of their family and society, and inspiring them to see the possibility of recognizing self-value internally. Disney did an amazing job in transporting these cultural values through movies and eventually aided the globalization of values. However, while we’re enjoying the movie, it is also vital for us to consider how exactly are Chinese audiences actually getting to know about the cultures of Colombia. They might see similarities in their experiences of, for instance, a stern, controlling parent, but it is the lack of understanding of Colombian cultural background that some posted critics of Encanto like “portraying Abuela as a plain character” or even “the plot is feudalistic and discriminatory against women for attributing all family problem to the over-controlling female parent”. Certainly, there is still a long way to go for Disney and all content creators, in general, to learn how to depict cultures and how that can lead to more intercultural communications and finally, the globalization of culture.
References
Bush, J. and Howard, B. (Director). (2021). Encanto [Film]. Walt Disney Animation Studios.
IMDbPro. (2022). Encanto(2021) Box Office Statistics. Box Office Mojo by IMDbPro. Retrieved from https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt2953050/?ref_=bo_rl_ti
Ruiz, H.(December 1, 2002). Colombians Flee War Without End. Migration Policy Institute. Retrieved from https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/colombians-flee-war-without-end
Hofstede Insights. WHAT ABOUT COLOMBIA? Hofstede Insights. Retrieved from https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country/colombia/
Umansky-Castro, R. (February 3, 2022). ‘Encanto’ provides Latinx representation through culture, music. The Huntington News. Retrieved from https://huntnewsnu.com/67662/lifestyle/encanto-provides-latinx-representation-through-culture-music/
丹龙龙. (January 7, 2022). 焦虑时代的心灵重构寓言 — — 从“外婆型自我”到“米拉贝型自我”. 豆瓣电影. Retrieved from https://movie.douban.com/review/14133446/
