Encanto

Fandom
Name:	Encanto
Abbreviation(s):
Creator:
Date(s):	November 2021
Medium:	Animated film
Country of Origin:	USA
External Links:	Official webpage Wikipedia page IMDB page
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

Encanto is a 2021 Disney animated film about a young Colombian girl called Mirabel who realises she is the key to saving the magic that surrounds her extraodinary family.

It has been positively received by fans, who have latched on to the varied cast with different personalities and magical abilities. The fandom is active with a variety of fanworks created including fic, fanart, meta, headcanons, icons, gifsets and more. By mid-January 2022, the film already had more than 2.8k works on AO3 and 1.1k on Wattpad. As of December 2024, those numbers have grown to exactly 14.3k, respectively.

Canon

Spoiler Warning: This article or section may contain spoilers. If this bothers you, proceed with caution.

Characters

• Alma "Abuela" Madrigal: The elderly matriarch of the Madrigal family, Alma Madrigal inspires mixed views from fans due to her harsh and/or exacting treatment of some of her children and grandchildren, particularly Bruno and Mirabel. However, many sympathise with her due to the trauma that she suffered as a young woman.
• Pedro Madrigal: Alma's husband and father to her children, Pedro was killed at the hands of soldiers as the two fled their hometown, which was the moment at which Alma received the "miracle" that created the Encanto and powers the family's gifts.
• Bruno Madrigal: A mysterious figure throughout much of the film, Bruno Madrigal has the gift of prophecy. He disappeared ten years before the film takes place, and is later revealed to have been living in the walls of the family house. He is a fan favourite character and cinnamon roll who is highly anxious and has canonical OCD. His traumatic childhood and past make him a very popular subject of angst, whump and hurt/comfort as well as post-canon fluff and fix-its. He is one of Alma and Pedro's triplets.
• Julieta Madrigal: Caring and kind, Julieta Madrigal's gift of healing with food makes her a natural caretaker and she is often depicted as the most emotionally mature of the triplets, acting as an anchor for her distressed brother and volatile sister.
• Pepa Madrigal: Pepa is passionate and emotional, with her moods influencing the weather around her. Many fans characterise her relationship with Bruno as having detiorated during their adulthood, leading up to (or perhaps because of) Bruno's comment about the rain causing her to create a hurricane during her wedding. However, other fans believe she does not resent him for this as much as she appears to, but has a lot of buried hurt around his disappearance.
• Félix Madrigal: Pepa's easy-going, light-hearted husband, who helps to counterbalance her frequent mood changes. Not much is known about his background or how he came to fall in love with and marry Pepa.
• Agustín Madrigal: Husband to Julieta, Agustín is described by his daughter as "accident-prone but ... means well". He is allergic to bees and frequently suffers severe reactions to bee stings, which are healed by his wife (until her powers vanish). Not much is known about his background or how he came to fall in love with and marry Pepa.
• Isabela Madrigal: Isabela is described as "the perfect golden child" at the beginning of the film but is revealed to feel trapped by her 'perfect' role and in a relationship with a man she does not want to marry. Many fans headcanon her as lesbian or otherwise queer. Her gift involves growing flowers, which later expands to plants of all kinds; the more imperfect, the better. The eldest child of Agustín and Julieta, Isabela is the same age as her cousin Dolores.
• Dolores Madrigal: Dolores' gift is super hearing, meaning that she can hear anything going on in the house and for several miles around. She is the only character (prior to Mirabel) who knows that Bruno is living in the walls, spawning many fan headcanons about their relationship and whether she kept the secret or tried to tell people. She is revealed to have been pining for Mariano Guzmán, who is in a relationship with Isabela, but she later confesses her feelings to him after their break-up. The eldest child of Félix and Pepa.
• Luisa Madrigal: The second-eldest child of Agustín and Julieta, Luisa's gift is super strength. She describes herself as "the strong one" but reveals that she is under a great deal of pressure as a result. Many fans enjoy the fact that she is portrayed (and built) as physically strong while still having a feminine presentation, and her combination of physical strength and emotional softness. She is often depicted in fanart comically lifting up her sisters and/or cousins.
• Mirabel Madrigal: The protagonist of the film, Mirabel Madrigal is the only Madrigal child/grandchild with no gift, for reasons she does not understand. This has led to her having a very distant relationship with her grandmother, despite their initial closeness. Many fan theories abound as to whether she has a "hidden" gift or later receives one. During the film, she discovers Bruno living in the walls, making their relationship a frequent subject of fanworks, particularly due to their ability to relate to each other as 'outsiders'. Some AUs or headcanons make her Bruno's biological child; canonically she is the youngest child of Agustín and Julieta.
• Camilo Madrigal: Camilo is a shapeshifter, upbeat and charismatic, and often the comic relief in the film. He is a fan favourite character and the subject of numerous X Reader fics. Many fans headcanon him as genderqueer, genderfluid or nonbinary. The second-youngest child of Félix and Pepa; he is the same age as his cousin Mirabel.
• Antonio Madrigal: The youngest Madrigal grandchild, Antonio is just five at the time of the film and receives his gift at the beginning of the film. He can talk to animals, which inspires many humorous fan headcanons, particularly in relation to the rats that Bruno has befriended.
• Casita: The Madrigals' magical house, Casita is able to respond to verbal commands and questions, and is shown to have a personality of sorts during the film, causing it to be treated akin to a character by fans.
• Mariano Guzmán: Isabela's betrothed in an arranged marriage, and later Dolores's boyfriend by choice. Typically viewed as a himbo.

Soundtrack

Meme by werewolfinsheepsclothing

The musical numbers for Encanto were written by Lin Manuel Miranda and have been extremely well-received, with a popularity that transcends fandom circles. The song 'We Don't Talk About Bruno' has been by far and away the most popular, managing to surpass Frozen's 'Let It Go' in popularity and eventually reaching #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming only the second Disney hit to do so after 'A Whole New World' from Aladdin. Other charting songs include 'Surface Pressure', sung by Luisa Madrigal (#9), 'What Else Can I Do?', sung by Isabela (#27), 'Dos Oruguitas' (#36), 'Waiting On a Miracle' (#48) and 'All of You' (#82). In the UK, 'WDTAB' became the first-original Disney song to reach #1, with 'Surface Pressure' reaching #4, and 'The Family Madrigal' reaching #11.

Pepa really made a top hit out of spite, huh by fragcc

Fans have joked about the most popular songs from the film being a "diss track" (WDTAB) and a "mental breakdown" (SP), creating fanworks and memes that imagine how Bruno would react to the song dissing him becoming a #1 hit. A Google suggestion that suggested "We Don't Talk About Bruno" to anyone Googling "Bruno Madrigal" added to the hilarity.

• when the disstrack your family made about you is more popular than you are by badlydrawnmadrigals
• ENCANTO’S “WE DON’T TALK ABOUT BRUNO” OFFICIALLY BEAT FROZEN’S “LET IT GO” ON THE BILLBOARD HOT 100 CHART AAAAAAAAAAAAAA BYE GIRL BYE by clownmoontoon
• TikTok by besperson recreating Camilo's infamous segment of the song with some clever editing

Fandom

Whitewashing

The Encanto fandom has had some consistant pushback against identity culture headcanons, particularly around reinterpreting common Latino gestures and mannerisms as symptoms of mental illness.

In mid-January 2022, a number of East Asian artists were called out by a group of Western fans for allegedly drawing the "Encanto" characters' skin too pale. Latin American fans, whose comments on the drawings had been mostly positive, did not take well that this came from non Latin people. When Japanese artist Kurobe613 deleted their drawing due to criticism, fans in Latin America were angry and accused North Americans of "speaking on their behalf." This is how the tag #shutupgringo2022 went viral.

This generated a huge amount of meta and memes, some calm and informative, others more incensed and with varying degrees of aggressiveness and sarcasm.

Emojis

Fanart symbolically representing Bruno and Mirabel.

In Encanto, each character has fairly distinctive symbolism. The symbolism is canonical, and derived most heavily from the symbols used on their clothing. Each family member is linked to an emoji, which can be used to represent them, or stand in for their name.

• Alma 🕯️

Alma's kids

• Julieta ⚕️/🥟/🫓/🥙/🍪
• Pepa ⛅
• Bruno ⏳

The in-laws

• Agustín: 🐝
• Félix: ☂️/☔️
• Mariano 🥑

Julieta's kids

• Isabela 🌸/🌵
• Luisa 💪
• Mirabel 🦋

Pepa's kids

• Dolores 🔊/👂
• Camilo 🦎
• Antonio 🐆

[@LolPumpkinsyes]
The Madrigalcest community’s most toxic quality is that everyone uses a different emoji for Juliet@

Terminology

• PB&J: The triplets: Pepa, Bruno, and Julieta

Shipping

A Gru meme about shipping incest, by Donnou4

Due to the family-focused nature of the canon, Encanto's canon shipping options are limited to a few established ships (mostly married het couples). There are few non-canon ship options that aren't incest, which has led to a large number of Reader-Insert and Original Character ships, with a smattering of crossover ships involving other fandoms. One of the most common crossover ships is Isabela Madrigal with Elsa from Frozen, due to their nature-based magical powers and songs about breaking out of their family's expectations.

• Félix Madrigal/Pepa Madrigal (Pélix)
• Agustín Madrigal/Julieta Madrigal
• Mariano Guzmán/Dolores Madrigal (Doloriano)

Madrigalcest

Madrigalcest, the name given to incest ships among the Madrigal family, is relatively popular and also the subject of controversy within the fandom.

First, there is the standard incest controversy, often of the anti-shipping persuasion.

There is also a second vein of controversy: In Colombia, cousin marriage is not considered incest. This was even more the case in the 50s, when the movie is set.

A third vein is that Bruno canonically writes a telenovela storyline about an amnesiac aunt who falls in love with her nephew.

• Bruno Madrigal/Mirabel Madrigal (brumira, ⏳🦋)
• Bruno Madrigal/Camilo Madrigal (brumilo, ⏳🦎)
• Camilo Madrigal/Mirabel Madrigal (camimira, 🦎🦋)
• Isabela Madrigal/Mirabel Madrigal (isamira, 🦋🌸)
• Camilo Madrigal/Isabela Madrigal (isamilo, 🦎🌸)
• Isabela Madrigal/Luisa Madrigal (luisabela, 💪🌸)

There is no ship wars to speak of between Madrigalcest ships. The various factions get along very friendly.

Fanworks

Fan Fiction

• The Picture by YokaiBuster675 (2022) - fanfic centering on some of the Madigrals' childhoods after their house's subsequent collapse, triggered when Mirabel picks up a framed photo of the original triplets.

Fanvids

• Two Birds, a Pepa and Bruno-centric animatic

Meta

• it’s very clear who it yt and who is poc when it comes to hcs and thats what makes some hcs frustrating, ^{Archived version}
• Abuela Madrigal quick breakdown by Nicque Marina
• idk man but i really do not understand how anyone can look at abuela’s character in encanto and have a definite straight forward answer that she is either good or bad because??? thats?? not??? what was going on???, ^{Archived version}
• “Encanto” and the myth of the Magical Latin America, ^{Archived version}

Fancomics

• Pepa being an emotional Tía with baby Mirabel, ^{Archived version}
• cactus beatdowns are definitely the answer to ppl making her sister do unnecessary labor, ^{Archived version}
• Look at it, it's got anxiety, ^{Archived version} by Mary_MS_Jay
• Give it to your sister and never wonder / If the same pressure would’ve pulled you under / Who am I if I don’t have what it takes?, ^{Archived version} by quietbirdee

Art Gallery

• 

  what do you see ? by @skphxyfq

• 

  Arepa making time by @UDIM_er

• 

  They deserve the world🌨⌛️💙 by yourpeculiarfriend

• 

  ¡Baila, baila, baila! by Kinschi

• 

  grandkid roundup 💪🏽🎵 by ryuuna

Memes

• 

• Plate of Corn

Fan Songs

• Let It Out by Laureli Amadeus (February 2022): A song from Dolores' perspective after the Madrigals lose their gifts and, and as a result, she can no longer hear everything. Pepa and Félix comfort their daughter.