We Need to Talk About Bruno: What Encanto Tells Us About Intergenerational Trauma

The Madrigal family of the Disney animated film Encanto lives in a beautiful hidden village in Colombia, where a miracle imbues members of the family with a magical gift—from super-strength to the ability to heal to shapeshifting—that they use to help their community.

Yet, while each member of the family does their best to live up to the Madrigals’ esteemed reputation, cracks are starting to show—literally—in the house all three generations share.

This article may contain spoilers for the movie Encanto, available on Disney+

The movie and its memorable soundtrack are popular with people of all ages, especially the song “We Don’t Talk About Bruno,” a catchy ditty that also emphasizes the family’s collective antipathy toward family member Bruno (John Leguizamo), whose gift is the power to see into the future.

There’s a lot to love about Encanto, including its gorgeous animation, appealing characters, and engaging story, but that story also gets at something many people will find profoundly relatable: the pain and confusion of intergenerational trauma.

That’s because although Abuela Alma (María Cecilia Botero), the family matriarch, tells a polished tale about the miracle that led the Madrigals to the village where they currently reside, what she doesn’t emphasize is the traumatic reason they ended up there in the first place.

This trauma lurking in the background makes Encanto‘s multigenerational story the perfect lens through which to understand and explore intergenerational trauma, including what it is, how people cope with it, and what can be done to heal.

Intergenerational trauma, which is also referred to as transgenerational trauma or multigenerational trauma, is when the effects of a trauma are passed from one generation to the next. As marriage and family therapist Janay Holland, PhD, MFT puts it “what happens to one person in the [family] system affects the whole system.”

Ling Lam, PhD, Lecturer in Counseling Psychology at Santa Clara University notes that the roots of intergenerational trauma fall into three categories:

• Group level traumas, such as genocide, war, forced displacement, or racial or gender discrimination.
• Interpersonal level traumas, such as intimate partner violence or child abuse or neglect
• Personal level traumas, such as substance abuse or a life-changing accident.

Of course, in addition to intergenerational trauma, people often experience personal traumatic events, so it can be difficult to distinguish one kind of trauma from another. As Lam explains, “There are many rivers that flow into the reservoir of trauma.”

Yet, both Lam and Holland say that tracing a family’s patterns of behavior can help uncover intergenerational trauma. For example, a history of substance abuse in generation after generation may speak to intergenerational trauma.
Lam outlines four ways that people respond to trauma, whether it’s intergenerational or another kind. Many of these trauma responses are reflected in Encanto.

Self-blame

Self-blame is reflected in feelings of shame or unworthiness. Someone feeling self-blame may believe it’s not possible for anyone to love them or that they’re not good enough.

Denial

Denial happens when an individual refuses to acknowledge the traumas of the past, instead claiming that everything is fine and the past is safely in the past.

Attack others

This happens when people direct the feelings brought up by trauma outwards by expressing anger towards others. Sometimes these individuals can become emotionally, verbally, or physically abusive.

Withdrawal

Withdrawal happens when an individual retreats from life because they don’t feel safe. They may no longer be willing to go to social functions or may even feel unsafe going to the grocery store, but either way their desire to avoid being hurt limits their lives.

Holland cautions that, although these responses may be psychologically unhealthy, they should be understood as coping mechanisms that individuals who have experienced trauma employ so they can keep moving forward with their lives.

Excerpted from “We Need to Talk About Bruno: What Encanto Tells Us About Intergenerational Trauma” in VeryWellMind. Read the full article online for more details and to learn what can be done to heal intergenerational trauma.

Source: VeryWellMind | We Need to Talk About Bruno: What Encanto Tells Us About Intergenerational Trauma, https://www.verywellmind.com/we-need-to-talk-about-bruno-5222976 | Ⓒ 2022 Dotdash Media, Inc.

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