Kentucky Fried Politics: A Colonel Sanders Timeline

[MNM041]

But then Sondheim, being the genius that he was, will then have to update it with a number about Iacocca getting gunned down too (even just an acknowledgment).

I was going to say, I hard a time believing Lynnwood Drake wouldn't become the equivalent to Lee Harvey Oswald in the musical.

 

[Arrowfan237]

I was going to say, I hard a time believing Lynnwood Drake wouldn't become the equivalent to Lee Harvey Oswald in the musical.

He would, but Sondheim would either have to write the musical later than 1990 (like he did IOTL) or just rewrite it and present an updated version.

 

[MNM041]

Also, I suppose I should ask, what became of Fred Hampton ITL?

 

[GrandMaster]

Would there be an equivalent to Encanto in this timeline?

 

[gap80]

Also, I suppose I should ask, what became of Fred Hampton ITL?

Good Question. I could see Hampton joining "the X-Men," a group of activists supportive of Malcolm X, in 1964 when he's 16. With J. Edgar Hoover dying in early October 1969 and President Sanders making the FBI "clean up its act" even before then, his OTL death in December 1969 would be butterflied away. Given that he supported the North during the Vietnam War, I wonder how he responded to TTL's Vietnam War ending with a Southern victory earlier in 1969. As someone who considered sexism "counter-revolutionary," he'd likely support the Ark Waves of 1970 and 1986. If still alive today, he'd be 73, likely still active, and possibly be seen as a great "elder stateman."

Would there be an equivalent to Encanto in this timeline?

Okay, so I finally got around to watching Encanto, so here are my thoughts on it: Overall, it was pretty good. The songs were catchy, the animation was solid, and the message was good, too. The only problems I had with the movie was the sometimes-uneven pacing and the unnecessarily complex story concerning an excessive number of characters. It takes the movie almost half an hour to get to the “Under the Surface” song, and I felt that the message of the house only being as strong as the family got lost in a muddled story because the film juggles 3 magical elements – the candle, the house, and the gifts. And the explanation for why Mirabel has no gift could have been handled better. Furthermore, when I first heard about this movie a while back, I personally was expecting them to incorporate elements from Colombian folklore: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colombian_folklore (the ghostly vampire-like women, the demonic chicken, the evil mule that creates storms, etc., all sound like interesting things that could have been referenced in a movie about magic that is set in Colombia). However, I do appreciate the original story. With that in mind, though, I think the idea of the house being as strong as the family was the film’s strongest element, so I feel like that should have been the real focus, instead of the magic coming from a candle that they were carrying while they were fleeing for their lives. With all that, I’d give it an A-minus.



So, for this TL’s version of Encanto (I guess it would still have that same name ITTL?), the story’s different:



Abuela Alma tells the story of how 50 years ago, the poor Madrigal family – Alma, Hector, and their three infant children – lived in an isolated town that was one day suddenly besieged by soldiers during “a time of great bloodshed” (because the Colombian Civil War ended in the 2000s ITTL). The family members quickly found themselves trapped in their small, dilapidating farmhouse as it becomes surrounded by soldiers threatening to break in if they do not come out. The parents prayed for a miracle to survive. After the soldiers fired into the house, killing Hector off-screen, their prayer was answered in the form of the tiny house transforming into a large fortress that repels the soldiers, frightening them away from the Madrigal farm and from the town. The locals praised the Madrigals for their magic house, which, as it turns out, stays dry during the rainy season, cool during the hot and dry season, and can contain an orchard/vineyard/sunroom/greenhouse so the family and the town have produce all year round, so they never go hungry.

In the present, Alma explains that just being in the house or living in it for a long time, being a blood relative, or marrying into the family automatically leads to you developing whatever skills or talents you already have to superhuman levels/proportions. Luisa, Alma’s oldest granddaughter, developed an interest in bodybuilding when she was little, so when she voluntarily became a strong person, she developed superhuman strength. Alma’s grandson, Felix, loved to tinker with gadgets and so has developed many Rube-Goldberg-type inventions. Alma’s grandnephew likes animals and so is beginning to develop the ability to communicate with them. However, Alma’s youngest granddaughter, Mirabel, has not yet developed any skills. This lack of something that makes her “special” not everyone else in her family emphasizes the underlying notion that over the years, the family has lost sight of what gives the house its magic (their love for each other), resulting in the parents – not just the abuela – focusing more on what’s good for the house and for the town than for the individual family members.

Mirabel, ITTL, is loosely based on the Colombian story of Pastorcita, which basically is Colombia’s version of Little Bo Peep. Mirabel has no real place in the family as her sister is strong, her brother is great at building things, her other sister has a “green thumb” (maybe literally here?) and keeps the town well-fed and covered in beautiful flora, but Mirabel has never found that one thing she likes to do, so she’s an average jack of all trades and a superhuman master of none. Thus, she does any little task needed around the house.

One day, Mirabel is put in charge of bringing the sheep to graze in a nearby field (this would allow the story to have more than just one location, the house/village), but as she’s a bit of a scatterbrain during her song sequence, and she loses some of the sheep, who stray and enter the dark nearby jungles that everyone in town avoids, including the Madrigals. Mirabel follows the sheep, and in doing, accidently disturbs and awakens several mythical spirits and creatures based on Colombian folklore. Mirabel uses her average skills shown earlier in the film to evade them, get back the missing sheep, and flee back home, but the creatures follow her. Seeing the house is falling under attack, there’s an impressive fight scene with the house becoming bigger and developing more defenses (it digs itself a moat, fortifies the doors and windows, etc.) but because the family members are not well organized inside, the house shows signs of weakening just as the creatures are retreating. Noticing the weakening of the house, and by extension their superhuman abilities, the family members start bickering after the battle ends. Blaming each other for not doing enough to protect the house during the song sequence, though, only worsens the structural integrity of the house, causing it to shrink in size until it has returned to being a small farmhouse.

Without the giant house to protect them, the family is in disarray. Mirabel, believing she is to blame for everything, is despondent. However, realizing what has happened, Alma comforts Mirabel and convinces her that she has always put her family first, which is something Alma lost sight of at some point. The reconciliation (a bit longer here) sees the family members make amends with each other (in song form), apologizing for not supporting each other like a family should. As two of the sisters hug it out, the farmhouse gets slightly bigger. When the other siblings bury the hatchet, the house grows again.

The house regaining its magic is helpful as the Felix then notices the spirits and creatures from before have spotted the farmhouse and have decided to attack again. Now understanding the need to work together not to protect the house but each other, Mirabel jumps into action and coordinates and leads efforts to repel the creatures; the family is soon joined by the townspeople as well, who previously had fled as the house was shrinking. The strong sister’s punch now gives a much stronger blow than before; the geeky brother’s contraptions now work perfectly, etc. The creatures are repelled for good, and the house returns to being a lavish estate (and now with a much warmer interior design/style, symbolizing the more harmonious composition of the family).

In the end, Mirabel concludes that bringing people together is her gift, as her actions in helping her family and the townspeople repel the creatures mirrored the grandmother’s own action taken to defend her family all those years ago when the miracle first happened. Thus, Mirabel is like Abuela Alma, serving as an intermediary between the magical house, the family, and their friends in town, and so it is hinted that Mirabel will become the family matriarch someday, and has found her place in the family and in the town.



Thoughts, anyone?

 

[Trevor807]

Okay, so I finally got around to watching Encanto, so here are my thoughts on it: Overall, it was pretty good. The songs were catchy, the animation was solid, and the message was good, too. The only problems I had with the movie was the sometimes-uneven pacing and the unnecessarily complex story concerning an excessive number of characters. It takes the movie almost half an hour to get to the “Under the Surface” song, and I felt that the message of the house only being as strong as the family got lost in a muddled story because the film juggles 3 magical elements – the candle, the house, and the gifts. And the explanation for why Mirabel has no gift could have been handled better. Furthermore, when I first heard about this movie a while back, I personally was expecting them to incorporate elements from Colombian folklore: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colombian_folklore (the ghostly vampire-like women, the demonic chicken, the evil mule that creates storms, etc., all sound like interesting things that could have been referenced in a movie about magic that is set in Colombia). However, I do appreciate the original story. With that in mind, though, I think the idea of the house being as strong as the family was the film’s strongest element, so I feel like that should have been the real focus, instead of the magic coming from a candle that they were carrying while they were fleeing for their lives. With all that, I’d give it an A-minus.



So, for this TL’s version of Encanto (I guess it would still have that same name ITTL?), the story’s different:



Abuela Alma tells the story of how 50 years ago, the poor Madrigal family – Alma, Hector, and their three infant children – lived in an isolated town that was one day suddenly besieged by soldiers during “a time of great bloodshed” (because the Colombian Civil War ended in the 2000s ITTL). The family members quickly found themselves trapped in their small, dilapidating farmhouse as it becomes surrounded by soldiers threatening to break in if they do not come out. The parents prayed for a miracle to survive. After the soldiers fired into the house, killing Hector off-screen, their prayer was answered in the form of the tiny house transforming into a large fortress that repels the soldiers, frightening them away from the Madrigal farm and from the town. The locals praised the Madrigals for their magic house, which, as it turns out, stays dry during the rainy season, cool during the hot and dry season, and can contain an orchard/vineyard/sunroom/greenhouse so the family and the town have produce all year round, so they never go hungry.

In the present, Alma explains that just being in the house or living in it for a long time, being a blood relative, or marrying into the family automatically leads to you developing whatever skills or talents you already have to superhuman levels/proportions. Luisa, Alma’s oldest granddaughter, developed an interest in bodybuilding when she was little, so when she voluntarily became a strong person, she developed superhuman strength. Alma’s grandson, Felix, loved to tinker with gadgets and so has developed many Rube-Goldberg-type inventions. Alma’s grandnephew likes animals and so is beginning to develop the ability to communicate with them. However, Alma’s youngest granddaughter, Mirabel, has not yet developed any skills. This lack of something that makes her “special” not everyone else in her family emphasizes the underlying notion that over the years, the family has lost sight of what gives the house its magic (their love for each other), resulting in the parents – not just the abuela – focusing more on what’s good for the house and for the town than for the individual family members.

Mirabel, ITTL, is loosely based on the Colombian story of Pastorcita, which basically is Colombia’s version of Little Bo Peep. Mirabel has no real place in the family as her sister is strong, her brother is great at building things, her other sister has a “green thumb” (maybe literally here?) and keeps the town well-fed and covered in beautiful flora, but Mirabel has never found that one thing she likes to do, so she’s an average jack of all trades and a superhuman master of none. Thus, she does any little task needed around the house.

One day, Mirabel is put in charge of bringing the sheep to graze in a nearby field (this would allow the story to have more than just one location, the house/village), but as she’s a bit of a scatterbrain during her song sequence, and she loses some of the sheep, who stray and enter the dark nearby jungles that everyone in town avoids, including the Madrigals. Mirabel follows the sheep, and in doing, accidently disturbs and awakens several mythical spirits and creatures based on Colombian folklore. Mirabel uses her average skills shown earlier in the film to evade them, get back the missing sheep, and flee back home, but the creatures follow her. Seeing the house is falling under attack, there’s an impressive fight scene with the house becoming bigger and developing more defenses (it digs itself a moat, fortifies the doors and windows, etc.) but because the family members are not well organized inside, the house shows signs of weakening just as the creatures are retreating. Noticing the weakening of the house, and by extension their superhuman abilities, the family members start bickering after the battle ends. Blaming each other for not doing enough to protect the house during the song sequence, though, only worsens the structural integrity of the house, causing it to shrink in size until it has returned to being a small farmhouse.

Without the giant house to protect them, the family is in disarray. Mirabel, believing she is to blame for everything, is despondent. However, realizing what has happened, Alma comforts Mirabel and convinces her that she has always put her family first, which is something Alma lost sight of at some point. The reconciliation (a bit longer here) sees the family members make amends with each other (in song form), apologizing for not supporting each other like a family should. As two of the sisters hug it out, the farmhouse gets slightly bigger. When the other siblings bury the hatchet, the house grows again.

The house regaining its magic is helpful as the Felix then notices the spirits and creatures from before have spotted the farmhouse and have decided to attack again. Now understanding the need to work together not to protect the house but each other, Mirabel jumps into action and coordinates and leads efforts to repel the creatures; the family is soon joined by the townspeople as well, who previously had fled as the house was shrinking. The strong sister’s punch now gives a much stronger blow than before; the geeky brother’s contraptions now work perfectly, etc. The creatures are repelled for good, and the house returns to being a lavish estate (and now with a much warmer interior design/style, symbolizing the more harmonious composition of the family).

In the end, Mirabel concludes that bringing people together is her gift, as her actions in helping her family and the townspeople repel the creatures mirrored the grandmother’s own action taken to defend her family all those years ago when the miracle first happened. Thus, Mirabel is like Abuela Alma, serving as an intermediary between the magical house, the family, and their friends in town, and so it is hinted that Mirabel will become the family matriarch someday, and has found her place in the family and in the town.



Thoughts, anyone?

Well done.

 

[Kennedy Forever]

Okay, so I finally got around to watching Encanto, so here are my thoughts on it: Overall, it was pretty good. The songs were catchy, the animation was solid, and the message was good, too. The only problems I had with the movie was the sometimes-uneven pacing and the unnecessarily complex story concerning an excessive number of characters. It takes the movie almost half an hour to get to the “Under the Surface” song, and I felt that the message of the house only being as strong as the family got lost in a muddled story because the film juggles 3 magical elements – the candle, the house, and the gifts. And the explanation for why Mirabel has no gift could have been handled better. Furthermore, when I first heard about this movie a while back, I personally was expecting them to incorporate elements from Colombian folklore: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colombian_folklore (the ghostly vampire-like women, the demonic chicken, the evil mule that creates storms, etc., all sound like interesting things that could have been referenced in a movie about magic that is set in Colombia). However, I do appreciate the original story. With that in mind, though, I think the idea of the house being as strong as the family was the film’s strongest element, so I feel like that should have been the real focus, instead of the magic coming from a candle that they were carrying while they were fleeing for their lives. With all that, I’d give it an A-minus.



So, for this TL’s version of Encanto (I guess it would still have that same name ITTL?), the story’s different:



Abuela Alma tells the story of how 50 years ago, the poor Madrigal family – Alma, Hector, and their three infant children – lived in an isolated town that was one day suddenly besieged by soldiers during “a time of great bloodshed” (because the Colombian Civil War ended in the 2000s ITTL). The family members quickly found themselves trapped in their small, dilapidating farmhouse as it becomes surrounded by soldiers threatening to break in if they do not come out. The parents prayed for a miracle to survive. After the soldiers fired into the house, killing Hector off-screen, their prayer was answered in the form of the tiny house transforming into a large fortress that repels the soldiers, frightening them away from the Madrigal farm and from the town. The locals praised the Madrigals for their magic house, which, as it turns out, stays dry during the rainy season, cool during the hot and dry season, and can contain an orchard/vineyard/sunroom/greenhouse so the family and the town have produce all year round, so they never go hungry.

In the present, Alma explains that just being in the house or living in it for a long time, being a blood relative, or marrying into the family automatically leads to you developing whatever skills or talents you already have to superhuman levels/proportions. Luisa, Alma’s oldest granddaughter, developed an interest in bodybuilding when she was little, so when she voluntarily became a strong person, she developed superhuman strength. Alma’s grandson, Felix, loved to tinker with gadgets and so has developed many Rube-Goldberg-type inventions. Alma’s grandnephew likes animals and so is beginning to develop the ability to communicate with them. However, Alma’s youngest granddaughter, Mirabel, has not yet developed any skills. This lack of something that makes her “special” not everyone else in her family emphasizes the underlying notion that over the years, the family has lost sight of what gives the house its magic (their love for each other), resulting in the parents – not just the abuela – focusing more on what’s good for the house and for the town than for the individual family members.

Mirabel, ITTL, is loosely based on the Colombian story of Pastorcita, which basically is Colombia’s version of Little Bo Peep. Mirabel has no real place in the family as her sister is strong, her brother is great at building things, her other sister has a “green thumb” (maybe literally here?) and keeps the town well-fed and covered in beautiful flora, but Mirabel has never found that one thing she likes to do, so she’s an average jack of all trades and a superhuman master of none. Thus, she does any little task needed around the house.

One day, Mirabel is put in charge of bringing the sheep to graze in a nearby field (this would allow the story to have more than just one location, the house/village), but as she’s a bit of a scatterbrain during her song sequence, and she loses some of the sheep, who stray and enter the dark nearby jungles that everyone in town avoids, including the Madrigals. Mirabel follows the sheep, and in doing, accidently disturbs and awakens several mythical spirits and creatures based on Colombian folklore. Mirabel uses her average skills shown earlier in the film to evade them, get back the missing sheep, and flee back home, but the creatures follow her. Seeing the house is falling under attack, there’s an impressive fight scene with the house becoming bigger and developing more defenses (it digs itself a moat, fortifies the doors and windows, etc.) but because the family members are not well organized inside, the house shows signs of weakening just as the creatures are retreating. Noticing the weakening of the house, and by extension their superhuman abilities, the family members start bickering after the battle ends. Blaming each other for not doing enough to protect the house during the song sequence, though, only worsens the structural integrity of the house, causing it to shrink in size until it has returned to being a small farmhouse.

Without the giant house to protect them, the family is in disarray. Mirabel, believing she is to blame for everything, is despondent. However, realizing what has happened, Alma comforts Mirabel and convinces her that she has always put her family first, which is something Alma lost sight of at some point. The reconciliation (a bit longer here) sees the family members make amends with each other (in song form), apologizing for not supporting each other like a family should. As two of the sisters hug it out, the farmhouse gets slightly bigger. When the other siblings bury the hatchet, the house grows again.

The house regaining its magic is helpful as the Felix then notices the spirits and creatures from before have spotted the farmhouse and have decided to attack again. Now understanding the need to work together not to protect the house but each other, Mirabel jumps into action and coordinates and leads efforts to repel the creatures; the family is soon joined by the townspeople as well, who previously had fled as the house was shrinking. The strong sister’s punch now gives a much stronger blow than before; the geeky brother’s contraptions now work perfectly, etc. The creatures are repelled for good, and the house returns to being a lavish estate (and now with a much warmer interior design/style, symbolizing the more harmonious composition of the family).

In the end, Mirabel concludes that bringing people together is her gift, as her actions in helping her family and the townspeople repel the creatures mirrored the grandmother’s own action taken to defend her family all those years ago when the miracle first happened. Thus, Mirabel is like Abuela Alma, serving as an intermediary between the magical house, the family, and their friends in town, and so it is hinted that Mirabel will become the family matriarch someday, and has found her place in the family and in the town.



Thoughts, anyone?

Brilliant. Nice to hear your opinion about the film. Although I'm a bit sad that this version of Encanto won't include the incredibly catchy song "We Don't Talk about Bruno"

 

[Kennedy Forever]

Maybe there can be a wacky Uncle Bruno character who gives terrible advice (only for a lot of it to turn out to be very helpful in the third act) and starts off as a comic relief character but proves to be a firm supporter of Mirabel during the second and third act. And there can be a similar song about him called "Don't Ask Bruno Anything" or "We Don't Listen to Bruno"!

By the way, did you see the Australian KFC commercial I posted in the KFC-TL photos thread?: https://www.alternatehistory.com/fo...ky-fried-politics.506103/page-4#post-22888465

Haha could be although for me personally the charm about the song is how mysterious Bruno appears.
No first time I've seen it!

 

[LuckyLuciano]

Okay, so I finally got around to watching Encanto, so here are my thoughts on it: Overall, it was pretty good. The songs were catchy, the animation was solid, and the message was good, too. The only problems I had with the movie was the sometimes-uneven pacing and the unnecessarily complex story concerning an excessive number of characters. It takes the movie almost half an hour to get to the “Under the Surface” song, and I felt that the message of the house only being as strong as the family got lost in a muddled story because the film juggles 3 magical elements – the candle, the house, and the gifts. And the explanation for why Mirabel has no gift could have been handled better. Furthermore, when I first heard about this movie a while back, I personally was expecting them to incorporate elements from Colombian folklore: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colombian_folklore (the ghostly vampire-like women, the demonic chicken, the evil mule that creates storms, etc., all sound like interesting things that could have been referenced in a movie about magic that is set in Colombia). However, I do appreciate the original story. With that in mind, though, I think the idea of the house being as strong as the family was the film’s strongest element, so I feel like that should have been the real focus, instead of the magic coming from a candle that they were carrying while they were fleeing for their lives. With all that, I’d give it an A-minus.



So, for this TL’s version of Encanto (I guess it would still have that same name ITTL?), the story’s different:



Abuela Alma tells the story of how 50 years ago, the poor Madrigal family – Alma, Hector, and their three infant children – lived in an isolated town that was one day suddenly besieged by soldiers during “a time of great bloodshed” (because the Colombian Civil War ended in the 2000s ITTL). The family members quickly found themselves trapped in their small, dilapidating farmhouse as it becomes surrounded by soldiers threatening to break in if they do not come out. The parents prayed for a miracle to survive. After the soldiers fired into the house, killing Hector off-screen, their prayer was answered in the form of the tiny house transforming into a large fortress that repels the soldiers, frightening them away from the Madrigal farm and from the town. The locals praised the Madrigals for their magic house, which, as it turns out, stays dry during the rainy season, cool during the hot and dry season, and can contain an orchard/vineyard/sunroom/greenhouse so the family and the town have produce all year round, so they never go hungry.

In the present, Alma explains that just being in the house or living in it for a long time, being a blood relative, or marrying into the family automatically leads to you developing whatever skills or talents you already have to superhuman levels/proportions. Luisa, Alma’s oldest granddaughter, developed an interest in bodybuilding when she was little, so when she voluntarily became a strong person, she developed superhuman strength. Alma’s grandson, Felix, loved to tinker with gadgets and so has developed many Rube-Goldberg-type inventions. Alma’s grandnephew likes animals and so is beginning to develop the ability to communicate with them. However, Alma’s youngest granddaughter, Mirabel, has not yet developed any skills. This lack of something that makes her “special” not everyone else in her family emphasizes the underlying notion that over the years, the family has lost sight of what gives the house its magic (their love for each other), resulting in the parents – not just the abuela – focusing more on what’s good for the house and for the town than for the individual family members.

Mirabel, ITTL, is loosely based on the Colombian story of Pastorcita, which basically is Colombia’s version of Little Bo Peep. Mirabel has no real place in the family as her sister is strong, her brother is great at building things, her other sister has a “green thumb” (maybe literally here?) and keeps the town well-fed and covered in beautiful flora, but Mirabel has never found that one thing she likes to do, so she’s an average jack of all trades and a superhuman master of none. Thus, she does any little task needed around the house.

One day, Mirabel is put in charge of bringing the sheep to graze in a nearby field (this would allow the story to have more than just one location, the house/village), but as she’s a bit of a scatterbrain during her song sequence, and she loses some of the sheep, who stray and enter the dark nearby jungles that everyone in town avoids, including the Madrigals. Mirabel follows the sheep, and in doing, accidently disturbs and awakens several mythical spirits and creatures based on Colombian folklore. Mirabel uses her average skills shown earlier in the film to evade them, get back the missing sheep, and flee back home, but the creatures follow her. Seeing the house is falling under attack, there’s an impressive fight scene with the house becoming bigger and developing more defenses (it digs itself a moat, fortifies the doors and windows, etc.) but because the family members are not well organized inside, the house shows signs of weakening just as the creatures are retreating. Noticing the weakening of the house, and by extension their superhuman abilities, the family members start bickering after the battle ends. Blaming each other for not doing enough to protect the house during the song sequence, though, only worsens the structural integrity of the house, causing it to shrink in size until it has returned to being a small farmhouse.

Without the giant house to protect them, the family is in disarray. Mirabel, believing she is to blame for everything, is despondent. However, realizing what has happened, Alma comforts Mirabel and convinces her that she has always put her family first, which is something Alma lost sight of at some point. The reconciliation (a bit longer here) sees the family members make amends with each other (in song form), apologizing for not supporting each other like a family should. As two of the sisters hug it out, the farmhouse gets slightly bigger. When the other siblings bury the hatchet, the house grows again.

The house regaining its magic is helpful as the Felix then notices the spirits and creatures from before have spotted the farmhouse and have decided to attack again. Now understanding the need to work together not to protect the house but each other, Mirabel jumps into action and coordinates and leads efforts to repel the creatures; the family is soon joined by the townspeople as well, who previously had fled as the house was shrinking. The strong sister’s punch now gives a much stronger blow than before; the geeky brother’s contraptions now work perfectly, etc. The creatures are repelled for good, and the house returns to being a lavish estate (and now with a much warmer interior design/style, symbolizing the more harmonious composition of the family).

In the end, Mirabel concludes that bringing people together is her gift, as her actions in helping her family and the townspeople repel the creatures mirrored the grandmother’s own action taken to defend her family all those years ago when the miracle first happened. Thus, Mirabel is like Abuela Alma, serving as an intermediary between the magical house, the family, and their friends in town, and so it is hinted that Mirabel will become the family matriarch someday, and has found her place in the family and in the town.



Thoughts, anyone?

you wrote a better movie in the span of what, a day?

 

[TickTock The Witch's Dead]

Okay, so I finally got around to watching Encanto, so here are my thoughts on it: Overall, it was pretty good. The songs were catchy, the animation was solid, and the message was good, too. The only problems I had with the movie was the sometimes-uneven pacing and the unnecessarily complex story concerning an excessive number of characters. It takes the movie almost half an hour to get to the “Under the Surface” song, and I felt that the message of the house only being as strong as the family got lost in a muddled story because the film juggles 3 magical elements – the candle, the house, and the gifts. And the explanation for why Mirabel has no gift could have been handled better. Furthermore, when I first heard about this movie a while back, I personally was expecting them to incorporate elements from Colombian folklore: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colombian_folklore (the ghostly vampire-like women, the demonic chicken, the evil mule that creates storms, etc., all sound like interesting things that could have been referenced in a movie about magic that is set in Colombia). However, I do appreciate the original story. With that in mind, though, I think the idea of the house being as strong as the family was the film’s strongest element, so I feel like that should have been the real focus, instead of the magic coming from a candle that they were carrying while they were fleeing for their lives. With all that, I’d give it an A-minus.



So, for this TL’s version of Encanto (I guess it would still have that same name ITTL?), the story’s different:



Abuela Alma tells the story of how 50 years ago, the poor Madrigal family – Alma, Hector, and their three infant children – lived in an isolated town that was one day suddenly besieged by soldiers during “a time of great bloodshed” (because the Colombian Civil War ended in the 2000s ITTL). The family members quickly found themselves trapped in their small, dilapidating farmhouse as it becomes surrounded by soldiers threatening to break in if they do not come out. The parents prayed for a miracle to survive. After the soldiers fired into the house, killing Hector off-screen, their prayer was answered in the form of the tiny house transforming into a large fortress that repels the soldiers, frightening them away from the Madrigal farm and from the town. The locals praised the Madrigals for their magic house, which, as it turns out, stays dry during the rainy season, cool during the hot and dry season, and can contain an orchard/vineyard/sunroom/greenhouse so the family and the town have produce all year round, so they never go hungry.

In the present, Alma explains that just being in the house or living in it for a long time, being a blood relative, or marrying into the family automatically leads to you developing whatever skills or talents you already have to superhuman levels/proportions. Luisa, Alma’s oldest granddaughter, developed an interest in bodybuilding when she was little, so when she voluntarily became a strong person, she developed superhuman strength. Alma’s grandson, Felix, loved to tinker with gadgets and so has developed many Rube-Goldberg-type inventions. Alma’s grandnephew likes animals and so is beginning to develop the ability to communicate with them. However, Alma’s youngest granddaughter, Mirabel, has not yet developed any skills. This lack of something that makes her “special” not everyone else in her family emphasizes the underlying notion that over the years, the family has lost sight of what gives the house its magic (their love for each other), resulting in the parents – not just the abuela – focusing more on what’s good for the house and for the town than for the individual family members.

Mirabel, ITTL, is loosely based on the Colombian story of Pastorcita, which basically is Colombia’s version of Little Bo Peep. Mirabel has no real place in the family as her sister is strong, her brother is great at building things, her other sister has a “green thumb” (maybe literally here?) and keeps the town well-fed and covered in beautiful flora, but Mirabel has never found that one thing she likes to do, so she’s an average jack of all trades and a superhuman master of none. Thus, she does any little task needed around the house.

One day, Mirabel is put in charge of bringing the sheep to graze in a nearby field (this would allow the story to have more than just one location, the house/village), but as she’s a bit of a scatterbrain during her song sequence, and she loses some of the sheep, who stray and enter the dark nearby jungles that everyone in town avoids, including the Madrigals. Mirabel follows the sheep, and in doing, accidently disturbs and awakens several mythical spirits and creatures based on Colombian folklore. Mirabel uses her average skills shown earlier in the film to evade them, get back the missing sheep, and flee back home, but the creatures follow her. Seeing the house is falling under attack, there’s an impressive fight scene with the house becoming bigger and developing more defenses (it digs itself a moat, fortifies the doors and windows, etc.) but because the family members are not well organized inside, the house shows signs of weakening just as the creatures are retreating. Noticing the weakening of the house, and by extension their superhuman abilities, the family members start bickering after the battle ends. Blaming each other for not doing enough to protect the house during the song sequence, though, only worsens the structural integrity of the house, causing it to shrink in size until it has returned to being a small farmhouse.

Without the giant house to protect them, the family is in disarray. Mirabel, believing she is to blame for everything, is despondent. However, realizing what has happened, Alma comforts Mirabel and convinces her that she has always put her family first, which is something Alma lost sight of at some point. The reconciliation (a bit longer here) sees the family members make amends with each other (in song form), apologizing for not supporting each other like a family should. As two of the sisters hug it out, the farmhouse gets slightly bigger. When the other siblings bury the hatchet, the house grows again.

The house regaining its magic is helpful as the Felix then notices the spirits and creatures from before have spotted the farmhouse and have decided to attack again. Now understanding the need to work together not to protect the house but each other, Mirabel jumps into action and coordinates and leads efforts to repel the creatures; the family is soon joined by the townspeople as well, who previously had fled as the house was shrinking. The strong sister’s punch now gives a much stronger blow than before; the geeky brother’s contraptions now work perfectly, etc. The creatures are repelled for good, and the house returns to being a lavish estate (and now with a much warmer interior design/style, symbolizing the more harmonious composition of the family).

In the end, Mirabel concludes that bringing people together is her gift, as her actions in helping her family and the townspeople repel the creatures mirrored the grandmother’s own action taken to defend her family all those years ago when the miracle first happened. Thus, Mirabel is like Abuela Alma, serving as an intermediary between the magical house, the family, and their friends in town, and so it is hinted that Mirabel will become the family matriarch someday, and has found her place in the family and in the town.



Thoughts, anyone?

What about [REDACTED], Pepa, Camilo, Dolores, Agustin, and Julieta? Also who is Mirabel’s brother?

 

[WanderingProfessor]

Hey gap80, what was the fate of these celebrities and other important figures of OTL in the Sandersverse
* Scarlett Johansson
* Channing Tatum
* Kirsten Dunst
* Mickey Rourke
* Hailee Steinfeld (worth mentioning because the 1996-born Julia Cumming was namedropped in one chapter)
* Kentaro Miura
* Ron DeSantis
* Volodymyr Zelenskky
* Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
* Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson
* Toshiro Mifune
* Ken Watanabe

 

[gap80]

Brilliant. Nice to hear your opinion about the film. Although I'm a bit sad that this version of Encanto won't include the incredibly catchy song "We Don't Talk about Bruno"

Maybe there can be a wacky Uncle Bruno character who gives terrible advice (only for a lot of it to turn out to be very helpful in the third act) and starts off as a comic relief character but proves to be a firm supporter of Mirabel during the second and third act. And there can be a similar song about him called "Don't Ask Bruno Anything" or "We Don't Listen to Bruno"!

By the way, did you see the Australian KFC commercial I posted in the KFC-TL photos thread?: https://www.alternatehistory.com/fo...ky-fried-politics.506103/page-4#post-22888465

you wrote a better movie in the span of what, a day?

I guess so! Lol! Thanks for the compliment!

What about [REDACTED], Pepa, Camilo, Dolores, Agustin, and Julieta? Also who is Mirabel’s brother?

Not sure, tbh. Sorry...

Hey gap80, what was the fate of these celebrities and other important figures of OTL in the Sandersverse
* Scarlett Johansson
* Channing Tatum
* Kirsten Dunst
* Mickey Rourke
* Hailee Steinfeld (worth mentioning because the 1996-born Julia Cumming was namedropped in one chapter)
* Kentaro Miura
* Ron DeSantis
* Volodymyr Zelenskky
* Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
* Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson
* Toshiro Mifune
* Ken Watanabe

1 Scarlett Johansson – if her Danish architect father still meets and marries her New York producer mother, I can see her still becoming an actress

2-4 Channing Tatum, Kirsten Dunst, and Ken Watanabe – still become movie stars like IOTL, most likely

5 Mickey Rourke – I’m not sure, as I’m not really that familiar with his work; maybe he stays a professional boxer until switching over to acting in his 40s during the 1990s; this way, he avoids the self-destructive period he apparently experienced in the 1980s: “In 1991, Rourke decided that he "had to go back to boxing" because he felt that he "was self-destructing ... [and] had no respect for [himself as] an actor” (quote source: his Wikipedia article)

6 Hailee Steinfeld – was born like in OTL, and her acting and singing career are similar, I guess…

7 Kentaro Miura – I’m not sure, since I don’t watch manga (do you think he would still be alive ITTL?)

8 Ronald Dion DeSantis – Karen Rogers and Ronald Daniel DeSantis still have him and his younger sister, who could still be alive ITTL; here, Ron served in the Navy from 2004 to 2010 and in the US House of Representatives from 2013 to 2019. He considered attempting to primary incumbent US Senator Allen West (R-FL) in 2016 but ultimately declined; in 2018, instead of attempting to primary incumbent US Senator Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), who was considered vulnerable, he ran for Governor of Florida in 2018 but lost in Republican primary to future Governor Jennifer Sandra Johnson; he currently owns or manages some professional baseball team down in Florida, and is considering running for the US Senate again in 2024.

9 Volodymyr Zelensky – He was 6 when the USSR collapsed and after studying economic in college started a successful career in acting, forming his own production studio and appearing in a variety of films and TV shows (mostly comedies and political satires), some of which receive international attention; his role in an internationally-released 2020 horror movie caught the attention of Hollywood, but he’s yet to appear in any US-based productions outside of 2 independent drama films; politically active, he considered running for President in 2018 but ultimately declined to due to agreeing with the policies of then-candidate Yulia Tymoshenko (Ukrainian Left); he may run in 2024, though, as President Tymoshenko is expected to not run for another term.

10 Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez – A progressive activist who, after campaigning for several political candidates in 2016, won election to the NY state senate in 2018 at the age of 29; she may run for NY Governor “later on down the road.”

11 Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson – already mentioned: https://www.alternatehistory.com/fo...sanders-timeline.451582/page-66#post-22137516 (Number 11) “I also mentioned Dwayne Johnson likely still being born and Chris Pratt entering wrestling right out of High School, but as I don’t follow wrestling, I don’t how else the line-up of things could be altered”; so basically he still becomes a wrestler-turned-actor

12 Toshiro Mifune – given that his acting career began in 1947, before the POD starts to really affect things starting in the early 1960s, I’m going to say his career ITTL is very similar to how it was IOTL.

 

[WanderingProfessor]

1 Scarlett Johansson – if her Danish architect father still meets and marries her New York producer mother, I can see her still becoming an actress

2-4 Channing Tatum, Kirsten Dunst, and Ken Watanabe – still become movie stars like IOTL, most likely

5 Mickey Rourke – I’m not sure, as I’m not really that familiar with his work; maybe he stays a professional boxer until switching over to acting in his 40s during the 1990s; this way, he avoids the self-destructive period he apparently experienced in the 1980s: “In 1991, Rourke decided that he "had to go back to boxing" because he felt that he "was self-destructing ... [and] had no respect for [himself as] an actor” (quote source: his Wikipedia article)

6 Hailee Steinfeld – was born like in OTL, and her acting and singing career are similar, I guess…

7 Kentaro Miura – I’m not sure, since I don’t watch manga (do you think he would still be alive ITTL?)

8 Ronald Dion DeSantis – Karen Rogers and Ronald Daniel DeSantis still have him and his younger sister, who could still be alive ITTL; here, Ron served in the Navy from 2004 to 2010 and in the US House of Representatives from 2013 to 2019. He considered attempting to primary incumbent US Senator Allen West (R-FL) in 2016 but ultimately declined; in 2018, instead of attempting to primary incumbent US Senator Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), who was considered vulnerable, he ran for Governor of Florida in 2018 but lost in Republican primary to future Governor Jennifer Sandra Johnson; he currently owns or manages some professional baseball team down in Florida, and is considering running for the US Senate again in 2024.

9 Volodymyr Zelensky – He was 6 when the USSR collapsed and after studying economic in college started a successful career in acting, forming his own production studio and appearing in a variety of films and TV shows (mostly comedies and political satires), some of which receive international attention; his role in an internationally-released 2020 horror movie caught the attention of Hollywood, but he’s yet to appear in any US-based productions outside of 2 independent drama films; politically active, he considered running for President in 2018 but ultimately declined to due to agreeing with the policies of then-candidate Yulia Tymoshenko (Ukrainian Left); he may run in 2024, though, as President Tymoshenko is expected to not run for another term.

10 Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez – A progressive activist who, after campaigning for several political candidates in 2016, won election to the NY state senate in 2018 at the age of 29; she may run for NY Governor “later on down the road.”

11 Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson – already mentioned: https://www.alternatehistory.com/fo...sanders-timeline.451582/page-66#post-22137516 (Number 11) “I also mentioned Dwayne Johnson likely still being born and Chris Pratt entering wrestling right out of High School, but as I don’t follow wrestling, I don’t how else the line-up of things could be altered”; so basically he still becomes a wrestler-turned-actor

12 Toshiro Mifune – given that his acting career began in 1947, before the POD starts to really affect things starting in the early 1960s, I’m going to say his career ITTL is very similar to how it was IOTL.

Since most of the people born in the 1980s (including the ones you mentioned in other posts) exist in the Sandersverse, Johansson likely becomes a prominent actress who appears in big budget and indie movies like in OTL with one of her most well known roles being Barbara Gordon/Batgirl in the DCCU movies fron the 2000s much like Natalie Portman's Iris West. Of course, this isn't the first time Johansson plays a redhaired superhero. She also still becomes a frequent collaborator with Chris Evans since you did detail what he would be doing in KFP.

For Tatum, maybe his family moves to Georgia instead of Mississippi and he has a career as an NFL player due to having a different life and college since he actually likes football. On DeSantis, I was thinking he goes into baseball instead of politics considering that he did play Little League Baseball in his youth but I'm okay with your response. Rourke only got into acting in 1972 at age 20 because a friend asked him to do an audition after another person dropped out but because the butterfly effect is in full effect after the early 1960s perhaps this event never happens and he becomes a boxer.

Miura might actually live and not succumb to poor health given the many changes this timeline has brought.

 

[Himpdahak@aol.com]

Might be of interest to some

Screenwriter Cheryl Guerriero Adapts Colonel Sanders ‘Finger Lickin’ Good Story’ For Film Project With Producer Eric Paquette

Palmer screenwriter Cheryl Guerriero has adapted the life story of Colonel Sanders into a new feature film project.

deadline.com

 

[gap80]

Might be of interest to some

Screenwriter Cheryl Guerriero Adapts Colonel Sanders ‘Finger Lickin’ Good Story’ For Film Project With Producer Eric Paquette

Palmer screenwriter Cheryl Guerriero has adapted the life story of Colonel Sanders into a new feature film project.

deadline.com

Awesome!

 

[MNM041]

Random question that came to my head: so, let's assume the movie So I Married An Axe Murderer is still made here, would the joke about Colonel Sanders still be in there?

 

[MNM041]

I haven't seen that movie, so I'm not sure. What is the joke?

Basically, it starts with the main character's father (who's really into conspiracy), implying that Sanders was part of a secret society until he died, then segueing into a personal dislike for the Colonel.

 

[gap80]

Random question that came to my head: so, let's assume the movie So I Married An Axe Murderer is still made here, would the joke about Colonel Sanders still be in there?

I haven't seen that movie, so I'm not sure. What is the joke?

Basically, it starts with the main character's father (who's really into conspiracy), implying that Sanders was part of a secret society until he died, then segueing into a personal dislike for the Colonel.

That's fun! I can definitely see that bit existing in this TL!

 

[MNM041]

That's fun! I can definitely see that bit existing in this TL!

By the same token, if this music video still gets made, what presidents do you think would be featured in it:

 

[MNM041]

Good song! I guess, if it and the music video are not butterflied away, instead of Trump, Obama, Clinton, and ....George H. W. Bush?... It's Kelsey Grammer left behind, Paul Wellstone getting away with First Lady Sheila, Jesse Jackson jet skiing away, and Larry Dinger (or maybe Carol Bellamy) driving away.

It was actually W I think.