Disney recently released a new movie called Encanto. It tells the story of a magical family, each member of which (except not really) has a “gift” or some kind of magical power. One person controls the weather, one shapeshifts, one has healing magic and so on. On the surface, the family is admired by the whole village and it looks like their life is pretty much perfect. If you look closer, however, many of the characters are actually quite unhappy for various reasons.
My favourite character from the movie is Luisa. She is the main character Mirabel’s big sister and her gift is being physically strong to the extent that she can lift houses and break boulders. In the movie, Luisa sings a song called Surface Pressure. In it, she talks about how she is always expected to carry every family burden, both physically and mentally. She feels like she has to be the strong one in the family who does everything that is asked of her without complaining. However, she worries that some day all the pressure placed on her shoulders will be too much for her to handle. She contemplates her purpose in life; if she can’t be of service to others, does that mean she is worthless?
The song was written by the amazing Lin-Manuel Miranda and in addition to being an absolute bop, it is also extremely relatable to many, me included. I myself am an older sister just like Luisa and I most definitely understand what she is talking about in the song. Pressure and stress are not something only older sisters experience but some of the lyrics such as “Give it to your sister your sister’s older // Give her all the heavy things we can’t shoulder” just hit hard. I feel like many older siblings and especially girls are expected to take on a lot of responsibility and help with family affairs to the point where they sometimes actually take care of them all by themselves.
I have definitely noticed that in my family, I am usually the one who everyone asks for help if they need it, whether it be driving someone somewhere, help with school or emotional support. This is probably because whenever someone asks me to do something, I do it if at all possible. I don’t, in Luisa’s words, “ask how hard the work is”. I do all of this because I genuinely like helping people. Also, I want to do everything myself so that others have it as easy as possible because I want what’s best for them. Especially if the thing that needs doing is something emotionally tasking such as planning a funeral, I take care of everything before anyone else has time so that I’m the only one who has to emotionally struggle.
I most definitely do not blame anyone for the situation. If I offer to do everything, then feeling burnt up is kind of my fault. During Surface pressure, Luisa also shows us that she doesn’t hold any grudges against Mirabel but rather feels very protective of her. That’s what makes the situation quite hard; you want to do everything so that no one else has to but also you don’t, because it’s exhausting.
Luisa also wonders whether she has any worth if she cannot be of service. A balance is hard to find, but she manages in the end with the help of Mirabel who assures her that she is valuable even if she just exists without being useful to anyone. Maybe that is something all us older sisters, as well as anyone who feels the same way as Luisa, could learn from.