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Fictional Women Around the World: Mirabel Madrigal · Stuff Mom Never Told You

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  Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie. And Samantha. And welcome to Stuff
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  Speaker 1: I Never Told You, a production of iHeartRadio. And today,
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  Speaker 1: for another sub-sub-sub-sub-sub-segment of fictional women around the world, we
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  Speaker 1: are talking about Colombian teenager Mirabel Madrigal, voiced by Stephanie Beatriz,
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  Speaker 1: from the 2021 hit animated Disney movie, Encanto. The story
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  Speaker 1: follows the magical family, a family with powers that lives
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  Speaker 1: in a magical house together. The house is called Casita.
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  Speaker 1: Except Mirabelle has no powers and the house is slowly crumbling.
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  Speaker 1: It's up to Mirabelle to save the house and the family.
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  Speaker 1: It's got themes of love, family, intergenerational trauma, immigration, and healing.
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  Speaker 1: I remember I watched this based on my friend Marissa's recommendation,
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  Speaker 1: based on one specific song in there, Surface Pressure, which
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  Speaker 1: we did an episode on later after I listened to
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  Speaker 1: it because I was like, yes, yep, I feel this.
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  Speaker 1: So it came out like kind of as the pandemic was,
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  Speaker 1: like we were slowly coming out of it. And it
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  Speaker 1: was very popular. It did very, very well. So Mirabelle
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  Speaker 1: Madrigal is the youngest daughter of Julieta, and Augustine, with
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  Speaker 1: older sisters Louisa and Isabella. As mentioned, she is the
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  Speaker 1: only member of the family without powers, but as the
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  Speaker 1: miracle begins to fade, the miracle that gives them powers
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  Speaker 1: and made the house and the valley that they all
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  Speaker 1: live in, she takes it upon herself to save the
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  Speaker 1: family's magic, and in doing so, she uncovers a lot
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  Speaker 1: of family trauma and secrets, and helps people cope with
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  Speaker 1: their malfunctioning powers that have long defined them. Getting powers
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  Speaker 1: involves a ceremony that takes place around five years old,
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  Speaker 1: where the child in question touches the door handle of
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  Speaker 1: their new room that the house created. However, when Mirabelle
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  Speaker 1: touched the handle, the door faded away, much to everyone's shock,
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  Speaker 1: especially the matriarch Abuela Alma. Because of this, her younger
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  Speaker 1: cousins live in fear of not getting a gift, and
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  Speaker 1: Mirabelle is sometimes blamed or seen as a warning of
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  Speaker 1: the magic fading. Due to her lack of gift, she
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  Speaker 1: is constantly trying to help out and make her family proud.
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  Speaker 1: She becomes somewhat like the family therapist as the story progresses,
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  Speaker 1: where her empathy really shines through. As the house starts
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  Speaker 1: to deteriorate, at first the family dismisses her concerns, but
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  Speaker 1: soon they become impossible to ignore. Mirabelle decides to track
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  Speaker 1: down their estranged relative, her uncle Bruno, who has the
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  Speaker 1: ability to see visions of the future. The family doesn't
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  Speaker 1: talk about Bruno famously, and Mirabelle doesn't know quite why
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  Speaker 1: he was kicked out. She goes to her sister Louisa
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  Speaker 1: for help, only to learn that despite her super strength,
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  Speaker 1: she struggles with anxiety around expectations and not being strong enough.
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  Speaker 1: After a heart-to-heart, the pair hug, and Mirabelle continues her
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  Speaker 1: search with a tip from Louisa. Mirabelle finds pieces of
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  Speaker 1: Bruno's last known prophecy that seemingly show the house cracked
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  Speaker 1: behind Mirabelle. After a disastrous dinner, Mirabelle's secret is revealed,
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  Speaker 1: the house cracks even further, and everyone loses their abilities.
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  Speaker 1: It turns out Bruno never left and has been living
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  Speaker 1: in the walls of the house the whole time. Bruno
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  Speaker 1: reveals that his gift of prophecy made people believe that
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  Speaker 1: he was a curse causing the events he was predicting,
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  Speaker 1: but that he couldn't leave the family completely, so that's
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  Speaker 1: why he stayed in the walls. He also tells her
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  Speaker 1: that in his vision, Mirabelle either saves the house or
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  Speaker 1: destroys it, and that his worry about Mirabelle and what
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  Speaker 1: would happen to her if this was found out is
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  Speaker 1: that's why he left. Despite his reservations, Bruno caves to
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  Speaker 1: Mirabelle's request to have another vision, one that shows her
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  Speaker 1: hugging her older sister Isabella, with whom she has a
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  Speaker 1: strained relationship, And in this vision, that hug seemingly strengthens
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  Speaker 1: the magic. Reluctantly, and only under Bruno's coaxing, she goes
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  Speaker 1: to Isabella's room to get that hug. At first, it
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  Speaker 1: doesn't go well, but Isabella opens up about the perfection
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  Speaker 1: placed upon her, the expectation placed upon her, and how
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  Speaker 1: she doesn't want to marry the man her family is
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  Speaker 1: setting her up with. With Mirabelle's help, she is able
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  Speaker 1: to use her powers... to make plants and flowers grow,
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  Speaker 1: to create messier, non-perfect creations. She had never been able
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  Speaker 1: to do that before. Something that isn't perfect. They bond
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  Speaker 1: and hug, but when Abuela Alma discovers them, she is
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  Speaker 1: not happy. She asserts that what is happening is all
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  Speaker 1: Mirabel's fault, but Mirabel argues back that Alma's expectations on
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  Speaker 1: everyone is what is killing the house and the magic.
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  Speaker 1: The implication horrifies Alma and the house is destroyed, and
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  Speaker 1: the candle, which is the source of the magic, goes
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  Speaker 1: out in Mirabelle's hands. All the powers are extinguished and distraught.
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  Speaker 1: Mirabelle runs away. Alma finds Mirabelle crying at the place
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  Speaker 1: where Alma's husband Pedro was killed by soldiers while they
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  Speaker 1: were seeking refuge. And this is the spot where the
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  Speaker 1: miracle that gave them the powers and the house and
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  Speaker 1: the valley was born. Alma realizes the truth in Mirabelle's
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  Speaker 1: words about the damage of her expectations and only seeing
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  Speaker 1: abilities and makes up with Mirabelle and Bruno. The townspeople
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  Speaker 1: help the Madrigals rebuild their house, including a door for
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  Speaker 1: Mirabelle to have her own room. And this brings back
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  Speaker 1: their gifts. They celebrate and make sure that Bruno and
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  Speaker 1: Mirabelle are in the family photo because there's been a
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  Speaker 1: through line throughout that they always leave out Mirabelle in
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  Speaker 1: the family photo. So if this was a different episode
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  Speaker 1: in a different podcast, there is so much to say
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  Speaker 1: about the immigration and intergenerational trauma aspect of this, the
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  Speaker 1: war aspect of this. But today we're focusing on Mirabelle, which,
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  Speaker 1: by the way, there was a big theory at the
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  Speaker 1: time that she did actually have an ability, and they
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  Speaker 1: just never understood it. But I feel like reading what
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  Speaker 1: the creators have said, I don't think, like their whole
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  Speaker 1: plot line was they wanted a story where somebody didn't
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  Speaker 1: have it, like everybody else didn't. She didn't. So I
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  Speaker 1: don't think she did. But I remember that being a
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  Speaker 1: big conversation. Now people do think she's going to be
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  Speaker 1: the next, like, matriarch, like the next Abuela Alma. She
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  Speaker 1: will take that role. So when we're talking about traits,
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  Speaker 1: Mirabelle is kind and clumsy. She's empathetic and optimistic. She's
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  Speaker 1: determined and brave. She can communicate with Casita like it's
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  Speaker 1: a person. She's really connected to Casita. People related to her,
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  Speaker 1: people as in the audience, related to her as someone
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  Speaker 1: who isn't special, who feels like they don't measure up.
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  Speaker 1: I read a lot of essays from third generation immigrants
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  Speaker 1: specifically talking about how this, they really identified with this.
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  Speaker 1: Not being appreciated or seen, blamed or dismissed. And I
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  Speaker 1: think that's interesting because she's sort of painted as the
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  Speaker 1: black sheep of the family. But then you learn her
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  Speaker 1: sisters feel the same way. Like, pretty much everybody feels
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  Speaker 1: the same way. The crushing weight of these expectations. Because
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  Speaker 1: of that crushing weight and because she doesn't have a power,
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  Speaker 1: she does have a strong desire or need to be helpful,
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  Speaker 1: to prove herself and make her family proud. And this,
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  Speaker 1: as she is realizing what her siblings with powers are
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  Speaker 1: dealing with, she starts to see her worth outside of powers.
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  Speaker 1: And so do her sisters with her help, which is
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  Speaker 1: kind of the big thing, is that she'd been so
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  Speaker 1: worried about feeling like she wasn't contributing because she didn't
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  Speaker 1: have powers, but her coming into her own and realizing
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  Speaker 1: that she had worth outside of that. Mm-hmm. There's a
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  Speaker 1: lot of relationships with other women in the family that
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  Speaker 1: I find really interesting with her sisters and her mom.
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  Speaker 1: But I would say especially with her grandmother, people are really,
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  Speaker 1: I don't know if divided is the right term, but
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  Speaker 1: people have like strong opinions about the grandmother's actions. I
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  Speaker 1: personally feel like I get where she was coming from
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  Speaker 1: because it was like a really traumatic thing where she
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  Speaker 1: lost her home. And she lost her husband and she
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  Speaker 1: had these three kids. Mm-hmm. And having that fear of
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  Speaker 1: losing that again and the candle going out and losing
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  Speaker 1: the house. But I do also understand when people are like,
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  Speaker 1: you know, she was a child, a literal child that
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  Speaker 1: you were blaming for this whole thing. Right. So I
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  Speaker 1: think their relationship is really interesting. Mm-hmm. And, yeah, representation.
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  Speaker 1: So this was a third-generation immigrant story, but you had
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  Speaker 1: the whole family in there. And, you know, I think
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  Speaker 1: some of people's complaints about the grandmother was that you
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  Speaker 1: sort of get this, like, montage scene that's really sad,
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  Speaker 1: but it doesn't really go into her story too much.
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  Speaker 1: But I feel like, you know, they did showcase where
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  Speaker 1: she was coming from. And we've talked about that in
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  Speaker 1: recent Disney movies. Like, Turning Red was similar, where, like...
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  Speaker 1: The villain has gone from like straight up evil genie
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  Speaker 1: to family drama right right yeah yeah so that that's
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  Speaker 1: interesting uh they did go out of their way the
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  Speaker 1: creators and designers to make sure that her clothing and
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  Speaker 1: appearance uh fit her character but also his traditional andean
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  Speaker 1: style she embroidered her own clothes in the movie. So
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  Speaker 1: you kind of see that. This shocked me. She's the
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  Speaker 1: first female Disney protagonist to wear glasses. Funny. I didn't. What?
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  Speaker 1: I'm thinking about it. Huh. I guess so. And they
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  Speaker 1: purposefully chose that because they wanted it to be like
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  Speaker 1: she had a matter of perspective of how you were
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  Speaker 1: looking at things. But yeah, that blew my mind. That
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  Speaker 1: really blew my mind. But yeah, as I said, she
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  Speaker 1: did resonate with a lot of people. I feel like
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  Speaker 1: she's a relatable character. And a lot of people did
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  Speaker 1: cosplay her at DragonCon the year Encanto came out. That
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  Speaker 1: was a big one. It was a good one. It was.
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  Speaker 1: It was a good one. Mm-hmm. As mentioned, if this
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  Speaker 1: was a different podcast, there's a lot to talk about
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  Speaker 1: what's going on in this movie. But when it comes
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  Speaker 1: to this character, I feel like she was a really
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  Speaker 1: fun character. And to see her growth and her kind
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  Speaker 1: of healing herself and her family and them all coming together.
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  Speaker 1: I liked it. Yes. Well, listeners, if I forgot anything...
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  Speaker 1: if there's another character you would like to suggest, please
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  Speaker 1: let us know. You can email us at hello at stuffmonevertoldyou.com.
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: You can find us on BlueSky at MomStuffPodcast or on
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: Instagram and TikTok at stuffmonevertoldyou. We're also on YouTube. We
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: have some merchandise at Cotton Bureau and we have a
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: book you can get wherever you get your books. Thanks
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: as always to our super producer Rima and our executive
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  Speaker 1: producer Maya. Thank you. And thanks to you for listening.
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: Stuffmonevertoldyou is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio,
• 12:03
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