When I saw the trailer for the next Disney movie Encanto I was desperate to feel something. I wanted to feel the joy and thrill I felt watching the trailer for The Kings Man or the sentimental hum I felt watching the trailer for Lupin III The First. But no, I felt nothing. I searched my stone heart to find something that remotely looked like emotion but none could be found. The only thing I found was the same hollow emptiness and promise I felt when I looked at Moana and The Princess and the Frog.
Now here’s where I have to give about 5,000 caveats. No, I am not Latinx and I am not here to take away the joy of the Latinx community. If you are Latinx and really liked this trailer and felt seen; I’m genuinely happy for you. What I am here to do is offer another perspective as another person of color that has also been maligned by Disney’s shallow attempts at representation.
It’s like every choice was made for Encanto to engineer some sort of spark; the bright colors, the beautiful designs, the use of noted shill- I mean musician, Lin-Manuel Miranda. The movie looks good but it sparked nothing but cynicism in my heart. By now, you may be asking why. Well, I’m happy to tell you.
To me, this movie is still everything wrong with Disney. They love to put on a festival display of support rather than enacting true and meaningful change. At the end of the day, this movie is not benefiting Latinx families or the Latinx community. It is benefitting the already billionaires of Disney who have not used that money to improve conditions in their parks, who have not used that money to be safe during the pandemic, who have not used that money to actually pay workers fairly or improve conditions for their animators. No, they’ve used that money to become richer. This is another movie to make millions and of course, it will. It’s designed to; it’s engineered to. It will galvanize a group of people who are not usually seen and they will spend money because of the desire to continue to feel seen by someone in the mainstream media.
That’s why it’s been hard for me to find joy for Encanto.
