The theater is quiet. The upbeat music blaring from through the speakers. People tap and hum along as the song “The Family Madrigal” plays. One person even waved their arms in response to the music playing. On Oct. 10, campus activities hosted an Encanto Sing-Along event in the SURC theater in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month. Students of all heritages were encouraged to show up and sing along as they pleased.
One student was eager to speak about their opinions. “I’ve watched this movie many times, so it’s cool to rewatch it again,” said John Matthew, a first-year transfer majoring in aviation management. “It taught me about family and culture too. It shows you how diverse many cultures are. For Encanto, for this exact culture that it represents, it represents Hispanic culture that is more focused on the family aspect…in my culture we have the same thing too, so it kind of represents me in a way too, which is nice.”
They also shared a bit more on how Encanto deepened their understanding of Hispanic culture. “I think it opens a new perspective for people who don’t really have a lot of Hispanic people around them.” Matthews said. “Here in America, once you turn 18, you kind of get kicked out and start being more independent. In Hispanic culture, and many other cultures too, you stick with your family your whole life,” Mathew said.
When Mirabel started her song, the theater erupted with singing voices, the crowd sang along with her as she sang about longing to be seen by her family and waiting on a miracle. Luis’s song garnered a lot of singing as well. As Luis sings about the constant pressure she feels under the surface in response to her title as the “strong” sister, the audience sings a lot with her as she expresses her pain.
As the music dimmed down and the story continued, students were itching to share more opinions. Phoebe Amavisca, a double major in French Studies with a specialization in translation and interpretation as well as junior transfer, decided to give their opinion on what resonated with them from Encanto.
“I can definitely relate to having an open secret within a Hispanic family. Something happened a long time ago and instead of addressing the issue, we all kind of bury it beneath the surface and not talk about it,” Amavisca said. They also gave some insight into how they saw their culture or family being represented in Encanto. “A lot of people in the house, it’s loud and busy, and even though there’s some problems, they all clearly love each other a lot.”
“We don’t talk about Bruno” is arguably the most popular song from Encanto. With its catchy beat and rich story telling, the audience was the loudest when it played. As the song continued, the room was filled with countless voices warning not to speak of Bruno. Grace Pearsons, the program manager for campus activities, touched on why they hosted this sing-along event.
“We were collaborating with the Multicultural Center and we went over a ton of other movies before we settled on Encanto,” Pearsons said. “We thought that it would be a good way to add some fun into Hispanic Heritage Month.”
Pearsons also shined some light on if any collaboration with Hispanic students was present when planning this event. “Yes, we collaborated with several, actually, my employee and then we also had several from the Multicultural center as well, making the decisions as we were planning this film to make sure that it was well represented.”
