I agree with this analysis. Bruno doesn't seem to cover the "genius" part of Genius Burnout. The film suggests that he didn't crumble under the pressure, but was perfectly fine. The townsfolk just didn't like him, because they treated everything he said as a prophecy that would spell doom of one kind or another for them, and thus treated him as a bad omen. If it wasn't for that, he would presumably have lived an ordinary life like the other Madrigals.
Something not helped by his attempt at a joke causing a hurricane to happen at one point in the film.
Bruno also didn't seem particularly burned out. While we're not shown why he seems to have repressed/shut down his gift, we know that he disappeared to protect Mirabel, rather than the result of any burnout.
If anything, it might make more sense for Abuela to favour Julieta instead of Bruno, because she's not as introverted, and her powers aren't as dangerous as Pepa's (who could cause a hurricane if she's sufficiently agitated). By being able to heal injuries with food, she would be able to serve the community more effectively, and isn't feared by the townspeople, unlike Bruno.
Bruno's visions don't actually seem to be particularly traumatic. His visions are random glimpses into the future, and aren't in sequential order. Unless a disaster was to befall the Encanto, it's doubtful he would have seen anything particularly traumatic. We know that at the very least, with the exception of Mirabel's visions, most of his predictions are comparatively benign (your fish will die, you'll go bald/become fat, the love of your life will be engaged to someone else, etc.)
We also know that Bruno's visions tended to be treated as bad omens, so after that, there probably isn't as much pressure for him to look into the future, just in case he saw something awful, that would come to pass as a result of his vision. Abuela might only do that if she thought there was a major threat to the Encanto, but there doesn't seem to be much of a reason for him to do otherwise.
Edited by techno156
Hi, just watched the movie. Does Alma actually have a gift?
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Unclear. Her door would suggest that she does, but she isn't shown to have any supernatural abilities, unlike her children.
Speculation suggests her gift was the miracle that created the Encanto, and through that, the Casita.
Troper Tropes_Searcher has reorganized the Encanto character page, apparently without seeking consensus from the various editors already working on these pages.
How do you feel about the current layout? Do you want it to stay or revert to it's original layout?
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Bruno has the following entry in his section:
I don't feel this is a good trope for Bruno. One problem is that the example claims "Word of God" and "Extraliterary sources" reinforce looking at Bruno as a prodigy/star but there are no actual references included to support this claim.
This interpretation is challenged by a recent comment by Jared Bush where he said that due to the heartbreak and fear that Alma experienced at the riverside after seeing her husband murdered, once she learned of Bruno's powers, she would have found it impossible to resist pressuring him to frequently look into the future for threats and dangers to the Encanto.
Thus it feels more likely that Bruno is indeed "burned out" but not because of having a prodigy/star level of talent but simply because his power was seeing the future and his mother continually pressed a young child to be looking for danger.
It would seem that a young child would be ill-prepared to be looking into the future for the worst it had to offer and that pressure and potential ugliness would be the most likely cause of Bruno, already an introvert, developing a stressed and forlorn personality.
So, in my opinion, Genius Burnout, really doesn't fit Bruno.
EDIT: As of 5/29, no response or activity to this issue. As the Genius Burnout is already commented out with a reference to this discussion, I will remove it completely and point to this discussion item as the edit reason.
Edited by rva98014 Hide / Show Replies