Is there any science to Disney?

Encanto is a film in which each member of a Colombian family is gifted with magical powers when they become of age. I hear you, science in a Disney film? Impossible! Or is it? Here’s musicologist Alisun Pawley from the University of York…

Alisun - I think it's all in how the musical is crafted. Encanto does it so beautifully that as an audience member, I'm willing to go into that imaginative world because you are drawn into those characters so well. You know, there's that sort of well known version of Les Misérables where it's sung throughout the whole thing. Having all the dialogue and on the screen for me, it doesn't work as well. I can't go quite that far. On the stage I think it works a lot better, but on the screen, there's just a little bit too much of my logical brain interfering.

Julia - One of the most noticeable things about the music in Encanto, I guess this applies to most animated films, is the fact that they appear to be singing off the cuff, but at the same time, they're all harmonizing. That would be impossible in real life, right?

Alisun - Okay. So harmony in group singing can vary in the form it takes, and also it can vary between cultures. In some societies it's quite normal to sing in group harmony. In this country if you sort of burst into a song in a supermarket I'm not sure people would start joining in with harmonies, but it might not be out of place in somewhere like South Africa, for example.

Julia - Okay. How does that apply to Encanto?

Alisun - In 'We Don't Talk About Bruno' the characters are all singing their own melodies that you could imagine maybe they improvised. They're all singing them layered on top of each other. It is actually somewhat realistic that they could do that. The chord sequence underneath is sort of the same for each of the characters' melodies, so it means that they can layer them all on top of each other and it works beautifully. It's something Lin Manuel Miranda does in a lot of his music, this sort of layering approach and it's very powerful and exciting when it happens.

Julia - Right. You said the big hit there 'We Don't Talk About Bruno', it's mine and Harry's favorite ear worm at the minute, is fairly believable. Is that partly due to where the film is set?

Alisun - Yes. So, Columbia has very rich musical traditions. It's known as ‘the land of a thousand rhythms’. One of the most popular is called Vallenato; it's a tradition of vocal improvisation. They have sort of battles between two singers. The tradition of improvising vocally is quite strong within that culture, and I think the opening number, 'The Family Madrigal' sung by Mirabel, that opening scene is very believable within Columbian culture I would say.

Julia - Go on then on a scale of 1 to 10, how likely is it that Encanto is scientifically accurate? How likely is it that if people in Colombia burst into song, they would recreate something similar to the music we see in this movie?

Alisun - Ooh, that's hard. I'll be generous. Give it a 6.

Julia - That's very generous. You get me up on a table any day of the week, but I'm sure most people are going to stand and stare at a flash mob rather than joining in. Maybe Columbia is just made up of oddities like me. Why 6 out of 10?

Alisun - The opening number, like I was saying, if you had a very talented improviser, that's quite believable. 'We Don't Talk About Bruno' is sort of in between because everyone's improvising their bits to that hook that everyone can sing. You can quite plausibly learn. There's a moment in that song where you have to suspend your disbelief when they sing. “Your fate is sealed when your prophecy is read.” It’s very unlikely that a group of townspeople will have rehearsed that line and come together and sung it in that moment.