Eh? Why doesn't Mirabel get a gift?

[SunshineAndFizz]

Granted, I've watched Encanto piecemeal over many many viewings with my toddler, so maybe I've missed a key part of the story.

But...why doesn't Mirabel get a gift?

Why is the granny so bitchy to her?

I think her gift was fixing the whole family? And basically taking her grandmothers place (eventually) as the matriarch.
I did think her not getting her own amazing room was harsh, but I guess the whole new house is really hers.

The family got their gifts in the first place because their grandfather sacrificed his life for his family and the other people they were fleeing with. The grandmother says in the film something about not being the woman she thought she was going to be and she was shown to be quite joyful with her husband when they first met and had the triplets. I think it was the loss of her home and her husband and the responsibility of her family and the villagers that made her fearful of anything different that might upset the lives they had (like Mirabel not getting a gift) and hence quite a difficult character.

I have clearly spent way too much time watching Encanto...

I think her gift was about bringing everyone together and fixing the family.

Everyone was so wrapped up in the gifts and magic that the house and family had to fall apart to remind everyone that people were just as worthy without their gifts.

it did cross my mind though that IRL we’d all be demanding DNA tests and suggesting mirabel wasn’t a true madrigal.

(Sigh I spend too much time with Disney films on 🙄

Because she's the next candle holder. She will hold the miracle and pass gifts ontop the next generation

Because she is the next Matriach. Also, the doorknob they give her at the end seems to signal to me that she did then get a gift.

There is a scene which before she touches the door she wipes her hands on herself which I have seen many posts (though these were on tiktok) saying that this is magic going into her instead.

@Tinktravels my DD10 said Mirabel wipes away the magic.

i think she didn't get a gift because she take over from Abuela in keeping the family together.

we don't talk about Bruno, no, no.

I think her gift was fixing the whole family? And basically taking her grandmothers place (eventually) as the matriarch.

This!

We listen to Encanto daily. Surface Pressure is just there going through my head all the live-long day.

It’s like a drip drip drip that’ll never stop?

Abuela is bitchy from the pressure of keeping the family going on her own and she thought Mirabel not having a gift was threatening the family and candle dying out. Mirabel is the next matriarch in the family and will take over Abuela’s role as Abuela has no gift either. Also spent way too much time thinking about this!

@TheGirlWhoLived

Christ alive is there a more turgid song than We Don't Talk About Bruno? Even the assembled masses of the Strictly dancers and the Dave Arch Massive couldn't bring it to life.

For excellent songs (which I know wasn't the point of your thread, OP, sorry) you need Teen Titans.

From the perspective of a writer, the 'plot' of Encanto is one of the weakest in Disney/Pixar history 🙄

Yeah, plotwise it's a mashup of the most boring parts of Moana and Brave

Yes agree with the others she didn’t get a gift for the same reason Abuela doesn’t have one. Or rather, she doesn’t get such a visible gift.

And Abuela is scared that the magic is dying and has forgotten that she still has a wonderful family even without the magic.

Not Teen Titans... they live in your head more than Bruno 🙈🙈

The Grandma doesn't have a gift she gave the family the miracle that gives them their gifts, which she looses part way through the film. Now Mirabel gave the family a new miracle(the family being repaired along with the house) which restored their gifts, so she is the new matriarch.