Part 1

Part 1

Part 2 - this one!

Part 3

Part ?

Extra symbolism and things I saw

["No matter how hard I try."]

The background music "The Cracks Emerge" starts to play again here. This music was played at the beginning after Mirabel's song "Waiting On a Miracle". This is when she begins to get very, very emotional and upset. Alma loosed baffled at first but composes herself. You can slightly see it - Alma lifts her head slightly. She's defensive almost. I feel like she's trying to hold on to whatever authority she has left. Julieta is now standing behind her husband. The scene also gets noticeably darker here. Mirabel is getting angrier by the second. Isabela and Luisa both look scared, upset, embarrassed, and all about to cry. Because they understand I'm sure. They all try their hardest to please Alma. Luisa had a whole song about the pressure she's under. Isabela had her's about not being perfect (which, I just thought, is kind of like the princesses' song in Mulan 2).

["No matter how hard any of us tries."]

Here the camera is behind Alma. She towers over Mirabel. Mirabel finally brings in the fact that everyone is under pressure from Alma and that as they try to please Alma, being the strongest or having to marry early and be perfect, no matter what, the bar will raise just as they're about to grab it. No matter what they do, they will never be enough. Before she says this, the candle in the background flickers like a strong wind almost blew it out.

["Luisa will never be strong enough."]

Mirabel's mom is smiling here but it disappears when Mirabel starts talking about Luisa. I think she was trying to give her a smile of encouragement/support. She's proud that Mirabel is standing up to Alma. Again, this just goes back to Luisa's song about being under pressure and having to protect the family, never getting rest. When Isabela turns to her, she opens her mouth and then closes it. She wanted to say something to Luisa but thought better of it.

["Isabela won't be perfect enough."]

We move to Isabela. She looks over at Mirabel with an open mouth. She seems surprised her sister is standing up to her after how horrible she's been to her.

["Bruno left our family because you only saw the worst in him."]

She isn't leaving anyone out. She stands up for Bruno. She's also physically putting her food down. Here, the cracks start getting worse. Soon, you can see them go from small to big in the background. Now, we see a shift of power almost. Mirabel starts towards Alma ever so slightly. She isn't being pushed backward by her anymore.

[Bruno didn't care about this family"

"Bruno loves this family."]

Bruno has been a taboo topic. We literally had a whole number about how we don't talk about him. This is probably the first time Abuela has really talked about him since he left. We know before this is that Bruno left to protect Mirabel. The girl was 5 and he cared/loved her enough to leave, destroy the vision, and hide in the wall for 10 years. Alma is about equal parts mad and upset here. She legitimately thinks he left because he didn't care. Mirabel gets defensive because she knows the truth and Alma's way of thinking about him is part of the reason he left in the first place. The camera is also literally shaking here.

["He loves this family. I love this family. We all love this family."]

Mirabel is angry. Upset. Desperate for Alma to understand that they (her and Bruno) don't have it out for the family. Here we see the cracks get worse. We have cracks starting to form between Alma and the others. The lighting of the scene changes more. It gets darker. The cracks start towards Mirabel. We also see Pepa and Felix show up. Camilo and Dolores are by the front door. Now we also see Alma backing up slightly.

Also, as a side note, can I just say how many times the number three comes up? The family? all in threes. The twins. Mirabel, Luisa, and Isabela. Antonio, Camilo, Dolores. The cracks. There are 3 major ones on the floor.

['"You're the one breaking our home."

"Don't you ever-!"]

Alma wanted to keep the family together. Protected. She never thought about how she may have been the one hurting it because that was never her intention. Alma pushes towards Mirabel but she holds her ground.

["The Miracle is dying. Because of you."]

Aaaaaand there it is. Mirable pushes back and she's defiant and unmoving towards Alma. I love this angle especially because it looks like Alma and Mirabel are finally at a level. Not one or the other has power over the other. And Mirabel finally says it. Alma is the one breaking the family apart. Because she wanted the family to be perfect, strong, etc. so badly, she doesn't know the stress she's putting on them. She believed the miracle/perfection is more important than family because it gave them protection. Abuela either realizes this or can't believe that Mirabel has just said that to her. Mirabel recoils a little bit because she's also shocked by what she just said. They're both raw emotionally and upset and angry. However, the house starts to just absolutely shatters after this because of how brittle all of the relationships are right now and that sentence was the final cut between Alma and Mirabel's relationship. In the next GIF, the cracks in the floor separate Mirabel and Alma. All of the problems are finally brought to light and so it just breaks the family because Mirabel isn't allowing their problems to just be ignored anymore and won't stand for any more of what is currently going on.

Part 1

Part 3