Mirabel is Abuela's successor. She is the new Keeper of the Candle for a new era. Abuela's work is long done. She did what was needed for HER TIME, in order for the family and community to survive. But her time is now over. A new time was coming when the isolated Encanta was going to open up when the mountains cracked open allowing new people in and allowing those within that "chrysalis" to fly free as butterflies. (By the way Sebastian Yatra's, “Dos Oruguitas" (two little caterpillars) is one of the most beautiful songs ever! Tears!) CHANGE IS INEVITABLE! It needs to be welcomed and well-directed not fought against and suppressed.
"What exactly are you trying to conserve and why?" should always be the question when the thing being conserved is clearly not working for everyone's health, happiness, and human rights.
Having the Madrigals as these revered heroes to worship was not working for everyone's health, happiness, and human rights.
Each person in that community needed to start pulling their own weight and embodying those gifts too. This is exactly what Mirabel does. She in her own way makes flowers bloom, moves mountains, heals people, adjusts moods, listens intently, identifies with everyone and she also has foresight. She has all the gifts expressed in HER UNIQUE WAY. She is there to teach people to be the miracle instead of worshiping other humans as the miracle (and thus burdening them with unrealistic expectations that prevent them from being human.)
Mirabel was actually SOLVING the problem of the magic dying by breathing new life into the family; helping them dismantle all the imprisoning constructs they built around themselves and showing how the magic can be embodied by MORE PEOPLE in DIFFERENT WAYS. Abuela cannot solve the problem because in these immortal words “We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them." - Albert Einstein”
Abuela simply lacks the capacity to solve the problem because she is still that devastated, desperate, traumatized widow, trying hard to "earn the magic" (her words) that her Pedro's sacrifice created. She does not understand grace. Even worse, she initially does not see that Mirabel is fixing the cracks and the candle is glowing brighter than ever when she interrupts Isabel and Mirabel's sisterly reconciliation. All she sees is the mess and imperfection Isabel made. All she sees is TRADITION being threatened.
It is only when she understands that her TRADITIONS arose in response to her trauma, and fear of letting a community down that she grasps why it is no longer a strong enough foundation for the future. She has to understand this to understand that her era is over and it is time for Mirabel's era. She has to concede at the end that Mirabel was the solution all along sent to her. Mirabel was the successor. Mirabel takes center stage in rebuilding the family and becomes the new matriarch and keeper of the candle.
"What exactly are you trying to conserve and why?" should always be the question when the thing being conserved is clearly not working for everyone's health, happiness, and human rights.
Having the Madrigals as these revered heroes to worship was not working for everyone's health, happiness, and human rights.
Each person in that community needed to start pulling their own weight and embodying those gifts too. This is exactly what Mirabel does. She in her own way makes flowers bloom, moves mountains, heals people, adjusts moods, listens intently, identifies with everyone and she also has foresight. She has all the gifts expressed in HER UNIQUE WAY. She is there to teach people to be the miracle instead of worshiping other humans as the miracle (and thus burdening them with unrealistic expectations that prevent them from being human.)
Mirabel was actually SOLVING the problem of the magic dying by breathing new life into the family; helping them dismantle all the imprisoning constructs they built around themselves and showing how the magic can be embodied by MORE PEOPLE in DIFFERENT WAYS. Abuela cannot solve the problem because in these immortal words “We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them." - Albert Einstein”
Abuela simply lacks the capacity to solve the problem because she is still that devastated, desperate, traumatized widow, trying hard to "earn the magic" (her words) that her Pedro's sacrifice created. She does not understand grace. Even worse, she initially does not see that Mirabel is fixing the cracks and the candle is glowing brighter than ever when she interrupts Isabel and Mirabel's sisterly reconciliation. All she sees is the mess and imperfection Isabel made. All she sees is TRADITION being threatened.
It is only when she understands that her TRADITIONS arose in response to her trauma, and fear of letting a community down that she grasps why it is no longer a strong enough foundation for the future. She has to understand this to understand that her era is over and it is time for Mirabel's era. She has to concede at the end that Mirabel was the solution all along sent to her. Mirabel was the successor. Mirabel takes center stage in rebuilding the family and becomes the new matriarch and keeper of the candle.
Leaders of the future?
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