Heartbreaking Fan Theory Will Change How You See Encanto Forever

Encanto is a movie that will quickly immerse you in the lovely world of the Madrigal family, with their sentient house, Casita, and the town full of people who adore the family for what they do for the community. Well, how about one fan theory ruining this utopia for you?

According to Redditor cavedan12, it's not all sunshine and rainbows in the town where the Madrigals live. If you think about it, you might agree with the fan that the family is only seen and appreciated by the townspeople for their powers. In fact, the Madrigals are not really treated as people, but rather as functions.

"The townfolk deliberately walk on eggshells around Pepa because they want good weather. They've made Julieta a cook because her food can heal people. They treat Mirabel like she doesn't even exist because she's of no use to them," the Redditor noted.

Perhaps the best illustration for the theory is Bruno's storyline. Arguably the worst treated character in the movie, he is boycotted and kicked out of the community for barely observing things around him. Let's face it, his "prophecies" were more like logical conclusions of things that could happen. However, the people of the town - as well as Bruno's own family - chose to banish him for this.

But not everyone is ready to pin the blame on the town residents.

"Abuela probably sets the family up to be in positions where their powers are most able to benefit the community, rather than the community doing it spontaneously. Everyone eventually relies on them performing in that role," Redditor techno156 suggested.

Basically, instead of a friendly community and a loving family, we get the town that uses the Madrigals, and the family itself quickly sinks into toxicity and dysfunction. Now that the Madrigals appeared to have sorted the toxicity issue, will the townsfolk finally see them as humans? Well, sounds like something that can be explored in a potential sequel.