We’re regressing! Of course, what we’re talking about here is the mega-success of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s soundtrack to the Disney animated musical Encanto, about a Colombian family with a magical house, riven by fault lines of family secrets. Now, a year later, the charts are all about being stuck at home with your family. Last year in January, the runaway pop hit was a song about learning to drive. She is an integral part of the overarching narrative of generational trauma, healing, and finding yourself.A key part of it is also that donkeys are fun. Luisa is part of the reason Encanto’s message is so impactful the issues of a family often fall to older siblings, and they have to keep the peace, even if it’s to their detriment. It’s all about the weight of being someone the family relies on endlessly and the desire to be strong enough to hold it all while also wishing people would help relieve the pressure. This is a struggle a lot of older siblings face, and that’s why her song Surface Pressure is an anthem for people like Luisa. She is asked to carry a lot of the family’s weight, to do it without complaint, and she worries that if she can’t fulfill that request, then she has no purpose in the family or in life. Luisa’s character is one that many older siblings can relate to. Luisa not only loses her Gift as a lesson to the family, but as a lesson to herself both of those lessons strictly relate to her role as an older sibling and her fight with her need to be a perfect, compliant anchor for her family. She is the reason the journey of the movie exists at all had she not been in her position and lost her Gift, it may have taken far longer for the family to notice anything wrong with their Miracle. Without her strength, the cracks in their family dynamic begin to show more prominently. She is one of the people most affected by Abuela’s expectations, the person everyone offloads onto without thinking twice, and this makes her loss more impactful. This is ultimately why Luisa loses her Gift first. Each time you buckle or bend but remain upright, people applaud your courage to persevere and admire your strength. You have to let yourself become flexible, to compromise, or else you will be crushed by the weight. When you’re like Luisa, who has everyone counting on her to keep things balanced, breaking is failure. Luisa mentions this, too: “watch as she buckles and bends but never breaks.” Handling responsibility is hard, and with each new addition, the weight grows greater. Because of this, people feel like they can keep adding to the responsibility. You’re older and stronger, more reliable, and you can handle the pressure without crumbling. When you’re the older sibling, it’s common for people to hand things off to you, especially younger siblings. Each time Luisa says “give it to your sister,” she follows it with reasons that most older siblings have heard: older, stronger, it doesn’t hurt, never wonder if the same pressure would have put you under. The first time you hear it, there’s so many lyrics that stand out. Her solo number Surface Pressure explains the struggle perfectly. Her struggle is one that is written well in Encanto, even if it is often played for laughs. It’s no wonder that Luisa resonates with people in this same position.
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