>>128170906The main message was never about not needing a gift to be special, though there were elements of that. Mirabel was set to be the one who inherited the house and take on the role that Abuela currently has. The house responds to Abuela and even changes color depending on her mood. Mirabel is seen interacting with and speaking to the house the most out of everyone else.
The main messages were that you're not JUST your gift, you're people first with your own needs that need to be validated. The unhealthy generational pressure placed on families and actually communicating with the people you care about. The family had a lot of assumptions they held about each other, the most obvious being one the assumptions Isabela and Mirabel held about each other and they envy they had for the other's gift/ life.
In a healthy environment, you can utilize your gifts. In an unhealthy one, your gifts will either take precedence over the actual person, or squandered. They were living in a broken home, which eventually became literal. Once they learned to work things out and appreciate themselves for who they are outside of their gifts, they were able to use their gifts again.
Almost like that plot point in Spider-Man 2 where he loses his powers due to stress and only gets them back later once he works things through and balances his life out.
