2 Comments
User's avatar
Garland T. Dunlap's avatar

What struck me most—something I hadn’t named until now—is that it takes a full thirty minutes before anyone in the family asks how someone else is actually doing.

It’s telling. In a house teeming with magic and duty, the emotional interior lives of its members remain unspoken until the cracks start to show. And maybe that’s the point. The house doesn’t crumble because someone failed at their role; it crumbles because no one paused long enough to ask about the person behind the performance.

That moment reminded me: silence isn’t peace. And strength, unacknowledged, can become a kind of exile.

Expand full comment
Lucia Heddleson, PhD's avatar

My gosh! I just want to say thank you!!!

Your comment genuinely stopped me. I’ve read it several times now, and I’m still sitting with the depth of what you named.

The way you articulated the emotional silence in Encanto—and in so many real families—felt like holding up a mirror to something unspoken and tender. “The person behind the performance…” That line alone is going to stay with me for a long time.

I want to sit with it and respond with something with more substance.

For now… Thank you for seeing and for sharing. :)

Expand full comment