THE storyline of the fictional ‘Madrigal’ family continues to sweep the online and offline world.
But we are all obsessed with one character in particular, and it’s the one character we were forbidden to even talk about in the first place; ‘Tío Bruno’, the proverbial ‘black sheep’ of the family!

Just in case you missed last week’s Buzz story on the subject, I’m talking about Disney’s latest animated film, ‘ENCANTO’, which follows a magical Afro-Colombian family who built, and are maintaining their community in the mountains, away from the perils of the rest of the world.

There are many special things about the family, but central to the story is the magical gifts bestowed on the children and grandchildren of the matriarch, only referred to as ‘Abuela’.

As a direct offspring of ‘Abuela’, ‘Bruno’—whom we need to talk more about—is blessed with the gift of clairvoyance, or in more colloquial terms, the ability to see into the future.

The gift bestowed on ‘Bruno’ isn’t, however, wildly appreciated by the family nor the community, especially since it forces them to see some of the less fortunate events that could consume their lives.

Although the popular in-movie song, “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” seems like it’s all about the mischievous, absconded uncle of the ‘Madrigal’ household, it is more about the family’s flawed perceptions than it is about the perversity of ‘Bruno’.

The song opens with ‘Pepa’, Bruno’s younger sister, voiced by Carolina Gaitán, and ‘Felix’, Pepa’s husband, voiced by Mauro Castillo, recounting to Mirabel (the story’s main character) how Bruno supposedly ruined their wedding, simply by predicting the weather.

SPOLIER ALERT: As the film progresses, it is revealed that Bruno was, in fact, alluding to his sister, Pepa’s, stress level at the time about her wedding day and the unreasonably high expectations placed on her, a similar sentiment of the other family members, which resulted in her conjuring a hurricane as her weather-control powers are tied to her emotions.

The story continues with several other characters detailing how Bruno ruined their lives, however, the assumption that Bruno is at-fault for natural and age-associated phenomena was a bit of a stretch.

The story of Bruno’s character told by his family and community is incomplete. Mirabel knew this.
Imagine our surprise when the perceived “seven-foot frame [man] with rats along his back” was actually a shy, soft-spoken fixer, who continued to fix the proverbial cracks in the foundation of the home, while living in the walls—literally.

Can You Relate?
The truth about Bruno is that there’s one in almost every family, but the character trope is more evident in extended families.
The track “We don’t talk about Bruno” has surpassed Disney’s “Let It Go” from the animated movie, Frozen, to become the movie company’s highest-charted song in over 26 years.

Honestly, I can’t seem to get the tune out of my head.
The popularity of Bruno’s story left me wondering; why is it so popular? Is it the blend of music and dance genres? Or is there something else deeply resonating with the stories sung in the lyrics by members of the Madrigal family?

I think many of us connect with Bruno’s character on a deeper level. Disney got it right in telling the perspective of the “other” person, and ultimately removing the common trope it propped-up for decades that in life there are strictly heroes, and strictly villains.

There’s always room for grey areas, best reflected in stories that portray full character development. Similar lines were taken in ‘Maleficent’, a remake of Disney’s foundational, ‘Snow White’, and “Cruella”, a remake of Disney’s ‘Dalmatians’ movies.

The people we sometimes labelled as ‘black sheep’ or ‘outcast’ are not who they are portrayed to be (all of the time) by others.
There are sometimes misunderstandings or the creation of a convenient villain when others don’t want take responsibility for their respective roles in the prevailing displeasing situations, as experienced by Bruno.