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Post-Modern Re-Enchantment in Disney's Animated Film <i>Encanto</i> (2021) in Light of Max Weber’s Critique of Rationality: Promoting Diversity, Tolerance, and Coexistence

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Last updated: 24 Dec 2024

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Abstract

Weber's theory of disenchantment consists of three stages: the pre-modern, the modern, and the post-modern. The three stages are characterized, respectively, by the ideals of enchantment, disenchantment, and re-enchantment. The three stages are traced simultaneously in Disney animated musical feature film, Encanto. The first part of the Madrigals' story mirrors Weber's pre-modern world of enchantment: the stage of magical religiosity. In this stage, Abuela takes the role of the charismatic, Catholic authority that leads the Madrigal family in a compassionate manner. The second part of the Madrigals' story mirrors Weber's scientifically disenchanted modern world with its pragmatic, utilitarian, and functional ends. Abuela's growing rationalism mirrors the transition from pre-modern magical religiosity to the modern disenchanted capitalist world. Mirroring the actions of modern disenchantment (dehumanization, bureaucratization, homogenization, and exhaustion), Abuela dehumanizes Mirabel, maintains a bureaucratic authority over the Madrigals, homogenizes Isabella, refusing her unsymmetrical artifacts, and finally leads Louisa to severe exhaustion due to hard work. The third part of the Madrigals' story mirrors Weber's post-modern re-enchantment narrative. Post-modern forms of the magical are assembled with the awareness of their contingency, exactly like the film, Encanto, itself. The 2021 film, with its supernatural wonders, is itself a sign of the re-enchanted post-modern secular world. Additionally, despite the relativity of moral codes, the community members abide by their overwhelming devotion to each other. Finally, the presence of various valid moral codes promotes diversity, tolerance, and co-existence. Building their Casita all over again, the devoted Madrigals lay the new foundation of post-modern re-enchantment.

DOI

10.21608/cse.2022.146043.1122

Keywords

Disenchantment, Max Weber, Post-modern Re-enchantment, Value rationality, Instrumental Rationality Secular Magic

Authors

First Name

Mai

Last Name

Abbas

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Department of English-Faculty of Arts-Tanta University-Tanta/Egypt

Email

maiabbasouda@gmail.com

City

-

Orcid

-

Volume

2022

Article Issue

2

Related Issue

36309

Issue Date

2022-12-01

Receive Date

2022-06-21

Publish Date

2022-12-01

Page Start

19

Page End

34

Print ISSN

0575-1624

Online ISSN

2682-2504

Link

https://cse.journals.ekb.eg/article_310519.html

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https://cse.journals.ekb.eg/service?article_code=310519

Order

4

Type

Original Article

Type Code

738

Publication Type

Journal

Publication Title

Cairo Studies in English

Publication Link

https://cse.journals.ekb.eg/

MainTitle

Post-Modern Re-Enchantment in Disney's Animated Film <i>Encanto</i> (2021) in Light of Max Weber’s Critique of Rationality: Promoting Diversity, Tolerance, and Coexistence

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Article

Created At

24 Dec 2024