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Laiba Hashmi - 25020370

No Pressure: exploring Luisa Madrigal's (Encanto) unique character representations

Give it to your sister, your sister's stronger

See if she can hang on a little longer

Who am I if I can't carry it all?

- Surface Pressure, Encanto


Encanto (2021) follows the story of the Madrigals, a Colombian family miraculously gifted with magical powers to help sustain their community. The story develops as Mirabel – the only member without any special power – finds out that her family may be losing theirs’. The film received critical acclaim and many accolades, including an Oscar, for its complex and emotional depth in terms of family as well as cultural representation.


Amidst a veritable group of diverse characters, Luisa Madrigal, Mirabel's elder sister, stands out. Gifted with physical strength, Luisa can be seen strutting about town with her muscular build. She has a strong jaw, a sheen of hair prominent on her neck and arms, and a heart of gold. She is remarkable.


Considered the “rock” of not only her family but the town as well, she takes her responsibilities seriously and is quite self-less. She does all the heavy-lifting (literally): carrying donkeys, people, barrels, and even buildings and houses. But that is only the beginning of the weight that she carries: she feels immense emotional pressure to fulfill her chores and tasks, to meet absurd familial expectations that stem from her Abuela’s insistence on perfection as well as her role as an older sister. “I'm pretty sure I'm worthless if I can't be of service”, she sings in the song “Surface Pressure”, relaying to Mirabel all of her fears in a rare moment of weakness.



The representation that Luisa brings forth is unmatched: she is a character never seen before in Disney. Her physical features are a testament against the stereotypical idea of femininity portrayed be, especially as she flexes her muscles in a beautiful, flowy purple dress. Body representation aside, she portrays perfectly what it means to be an elder sibling: to maintain some level of disguise in the face of pressure – from one’s family or society in general – to stay strong in the face of hardship, so that the younger siblings don’t have to.


The movie showcases her development as a character, where she is encouraged to share some of the weight with her family, and is comforted by her sisters when she confesses that she cries sometimes because (of course!) everyone does. She fights internal battles to maintain this disguise because, in reality, she is soft and vulnerable to the core, which makes her character all the more real, complex, and very, very relatable.



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9 Comments


Despite having presented on this, I still feel there are such depths to Luisa's character that I simply could not explore to the fullest. Like how the last gif shows her gentle attitude towards her sisters, I think that speaks wonders for how accepting ones masculine traits and idea of femininity does not make one better than another and Luisa embodies this humbleness perfectly which is what makes her character so likeable. Her quirky traits too make her one of the most unique characters not just in Encanto but all of disney that i've come across. Can't get over the nervous eye twitch lol!

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Haha, yes! The eye-twitch was so in-line with the the dilemma she was representing. Moreover, I really like what you said about masculinity/femininity: I think she defies either and shows how there's no true rigidity in them and that they can be defined as one pleases.

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Zainab Waheed
Jun 16, 2023

I absolutely loved Luisa’s character in the movie, especially since it was so relatable to women in our culture who have to deal with the emotional (and in some cases physical) burdens of the entire family. And in a society where a woman’s role is mostly limited to servitude, the lyric “i’m worthless if i cant be of service” is even more apt and representative of the fears we have.

I also really liked how they show Luisa break down and cry, because that is something hardly afforded to a woman supposedly ‘holding the family together.’ Another thing that I liked was how by the end of the movie, they actually let her rest. After all that heavy-lifting, it’s very…

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Yes! The lyric that you speak of really hits home, especially if you think of women in the South-Asian household, which is why in the way her family comforts her as she puts down some of that weight, it really acts as a salve and gives hope - that your worth is more than just how you help around the house.

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Wadana Asif khan
Jun 12, 2023

love how you brought this to attention. I believe media responsibility has recently gained tremendous for the pivotal role it plays in challenging or reinforcing norms. children especially are most vulnerable to the content they consume, and it plays a vital role in shaping their perspectives and how they interpret the world and people around them. I think the incorporation of different types of body and also even untamed hair (with her curly big hair) is only a recent phenomenon because even though one finds female disney characters of color but not one with a rather strong figure. and also how there is no prince with a shiny Armour to save anyone but she plays the role instead. the deviatio…

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Khadija Jaffar
Jun 12, 2023

This was such a fun read! I love Encanto and I love Luisa, and you did a great job in summing up Luisa’s character. However, I don’t think that the song Surface Pressure was a moment of weakness for Luisa, but rather it is a song filled with symbols that really gives Luisa a real meaning. It symbolically pulls up the ground beneath her feet to show that "under the surface," she has anxieties about supporting her family, and so I think that the song is the only part of Encanto where reality falls away, and you really get a glimpse into Luisa’s mind. All girlie Luisa really wants is the freedom to fly away from her constant fighting and…

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24020337
Jun 12, 2023

loved this movie and Luisa's character development!! reminds us all to take a step back and not let any one thing define us, as well as learning to express emotions and share the burden. Beautiful!

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