Encanto Director Explains Candle Flicker During Mirabel’s Gift Ceremony

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Encanto director Jared Bush explains why Abuela's candle flickers during Mirabel's gift ceremony. The latest film from Walt Disney Animation Studios first hit theaters in November of last year, but only really took off with audiences following its December 24 Disney+ release. Encanto has grown to become the studio's biggest hit with audiences since 2013's Frozen, with its Lin-Manuel Miranda-penned soundtrack setting music chart performance records for the studio.

While embraced for elements such as its cultural fidelity or challenging themes, audiences have also loved engaging with Encanto fan theories, pouring over scenes to find previously unnoticed details in the animation. Many of these center on Mirabel's gift ceremony, an event that mysteriously left the protagonist without a magical power and served as the catalyst for the Madrigal family miracle's endangerment years later. Some theories, such as Mirabel accidentally sabotaging her gift by wiping off the magic from Abuela's candle, have been debunked by the filmmakers, but viewers continue to look for new angles that might explain what happened.

Related: Encanto: Mirabel Did Get A Gift At Her Ceremony — Theory Explained

Now, in a scene breakdown video by Vanity Fair, Bush explains a key detail that might help Encanto fans flesh out their theories. When young Mirabel's door unexpectedly fades, Abuela notices the flame of her candle flicker, and the director reveals it was important to the filmmakers that this happen after the ceremony had already gone awry. He says that the Enacnto team always believed the candle's magic was connected to Abuela's unconditional love, and that the flame wavers as a result of her reaction to Mirabel's being denied a gift, rather than