Movies are absolutely amazing. They begin as screenplays that tell a specific story. Then, a production company gets ahold of it and creates the story they want to tell. Then, the director comes in and tells the story his or her way. Finally, we, the audience, consume the movie, and it may mean something totally different to each one of us.
Case in point? Encanto. What a great movie! I couldn’t wait to talk about it with my family as soon as it was over. I so identified with Mirabel, the amazing protagonist who only wants to save Casita, but no one listens to her!
I start going on and on about this amazing storyline, that is obviously an effort to validate those of us in the home restoration business. I am imagining that the writer’s parents must have been carpenters or roofers or painters. And why is everyone looking at me like that? Honey? Kids? What amazing music do you speak of? What was so funny in the movie?
Come on, let’s review the facts here! Mirabel sees the family home, Casita, falling apart, and tries to tell Abuela. Abuela dismisses her… Is it because she doesn’t believe Mirabel? Nope! It’s because Abuela is scared that it might be true! Abuela doesn’t think about what catastrophe may come if she ignores Mirabel; she just wants everyone in the community to keep believing that Casita is in perfect shape and to maintain the illusion that the magic of Casita will endure forever.
But it won’t, will it? Not if we ignore Michael… er, Mirabel. We all love our own little Casitas, and we absolutely want to believe that they will last forever. Let’s be honest, we all have a little Abuela in us too. Bruno represents our visual recognition of what is wrong with our Casita – be it cracks in the stone, wood rotting, or cracks in the stucco. And if someone in the house brings up the dripping gutter? We don’t talk about Bruno!
The reality is that we can’t ignore Bruno just because it is bad news. We can’t disregard Mirabel just because she points out what is wrong and how to fix it. As a matter of fact, we should all seek out our own Mirabel – a restoration expert – to inspect our Casita to ensure there are no issues with the exterior envelope of the home that may lead to much larger problems down the road. Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t!
And finally, thank you to the amazing writers, producers, directors, songwriters, cast, and crew who all collaborated to make this amazing ode to restoration that people of all ages love and learn all about how to take care of their homes!
