Why are there no villains in ‘Enchanto’ and ‘Red: Growing up is a Beast’?

Produced under the Disney seal, ‘Charm‘ and ‘Red: Growing up is a Beast’ develop their stories in very different ways, as the first is set in Colombia and details the journey of a giftless girl in an extraordinary family, while the other takes place in Toronto, Canada, during the year 2002, to introduce a girl who turns into a red panda whenever she gets anxious or nervous.

Even so, there are great similarities related to the choice of the script, since the two plots have adolescent female protagonists (Mei Lee and Mirabel) who must discover their place in the world while facing great challenges and problems, those, which, unlike other Mickey Mouse House animations, they are not caused by a villain.

Why are there no villains in ‘Enchanto’ and ‘Red: Growing up is a Beast’?

This happens because, as analyzed by Screenrant, the conflict that will make the trajectory of the characters progress will not be caused by tyrannical, evil or selfish antagonists, but rather, by the attitudes of the matriarchs of the Madrigal and Lee families, Grandmother Alma and Mrs. Ming, whose questionable actions are guided by the same feeling: fear.

As seen in the 2021 film directed by byron howard It is Jared Bush, Mirabel seeks to understand her purpose and prove her worth, as she is the only one in the Madrigal family who does not have a gift. But the process is not easy at all, as her grandmother, Alma, sees her as responsible for destroying the family’s harmony, blaming her for the cracks in the casita and the problems that arise with the gifts of the other Madrigals.

However, the disagreement between the two characters is caused not because Alma is a bad person, but because she fears revisiting old feelings of loss, since years ago, her husband was tragically taken from her life and she was left alone with her triplets, having the blessing of the enchanted candle as her savior, since she was responsible for granting unique gifts to her children and grandchildren, and allowing them all to have a home in the mountains of Colombia, in a village that receives the charm name.

The same attempt to prevent past events from returning is seen in the plot commanded by the director Domee Shiin 2022, as Ming becomes an overprotective and authoritarian mother in an attempt to ensure that her relationship with Mei does not follow the same paths as her relationship with Wu, the girl’s grandmother who turns into a red panda whenever gets nervous or anxious.

The motivation for this is because, when Ming was a teenager, she fought with her mother Wu, after the family matriarch did not support her daughter’s relationship with Mei’s father, Jin Lee, causing her to experience difficult days. Thus, the fear that this behavior dynamic would be repeated, led her to act in this way, even though, like Alma, she did not realize how much it could harm one of the people she loves so much.