Geeky Nerd

This post will talk about some linguistic issues that I have encountered in the Disney animated film “Encanto”(2021). Today I will talk about only one song, “Surface Pressure”, which is generally a good song but one little detail in it may give a wrong impression to the audience especially children, so I wanted to draw attention to some Encanto lyrics issues that i have found.

To begin with, the film talks about a family with magical powers living in a hidden Columbian village in the mountains. Ever since Alma came to the valley and was gifted “a miracle” every child in the family was born with magical powers. Everyone except for the protagonist, Mirabel. The film follows her journey as she tries to connect with the members of her family after learning that “the miracle” is dying.

The song “Surface pressure” is sung by Luisa, older sister of Mirabel. It’s a wonderful song that describes Luisa’s inner turmoil and anxiety over the high expectations that were placed on her due to her special abilities. The majority of the song is doing a great job at expressing the anguish of Luisa but the last verse has a major flaw that I cannot get over.

I would like to draw your attention to the lyrics now:

“Line up the dominoes, a light wind blows
You try to stop it tumbling, but on and on, it goes

But wait, if I could shake the crushing weight of expectations
Would that free some room up for joy or relaxation, or simple pleasure?
Instead, we measure this growing pressure…”

I know that I’m being very nit-picky here but why stay in the family if that’s a problem? Why not speak up or find someone to help you? It almost feels like she is running away from responsibility. I wish it were just my over-thinking but with the modern tendencies of “snowflake generation” writing I am not sure.

What I wish to say is that I lack a verse that would say that she loves her family and cares for them, which is the reason why she doesn’t go away. Without such verse it just feels incomplete. Like she simply wishes to avoid her responsibilities and disregard the consequences.

In any case, this post is meant as an introduction to my blog and an idea I wished to share for a long time since it bugged me. I have found some more issues with Encanto lyrics which are more based in semantics, but I won’t bother you much with it.

Thank you all for taking your time to read this. I hope it wasn’t a complete waste of your time.