Coco: summary, analysis and meaning of the film

Coconut is an animated film from Disney studios, released in 2017. Inspired by one of the traditional Mexican celebration known as Día de Muertos, the film has quickly become a cultural landmark. What has made this possible?

Summary of the movie

The boy Miguel Rivera dreams of becoming a famous singer like his idol Ernesto de la Cruz, who achieved fame thanks to his song "Remember me." But Miguel has an impediment. For the Riveras, music has been banned since his great-great-grandfather abandoned his great-great-grandmother Mamá Imelda and his daughter Coco, still alive, to achieve fame as a professional musician.

Because it is the Day of the Dead, Miguel's family has prepared the festive altar. According to tradition, it is adorned with photos of ancestors and offerings, since its existence in the afterlife depends on keeping the memory present.

A stray dog ​​that always accompanies Miguel, named Dante, knocks down the portrait on the altar with the photo of Mama Imelda and Coco, who appear accompanied by their great-great-grandfather musician, whose face has been ripped off.

When he picks up the portrait from the floor, Miguel notices that the photo is folded and, when unfolding it, discovers that his great-great-grandfather carried the same guitar as Ernesto de la Cruz, so he concludes that he is the great-great-grandson of the famous singer.

Emboldened, the boy challenges his family and decides to perform in a singing contest on the Day of the Dead, but his grandmother Elena destroys his guitar. Then, Miguel flees and steals the guitar exhibited in the Ernesto de la Cruz mausoleum to perform in the contest. But, when he touches his strings, a mysterious spell transports him to the world of the dead with his faithful friend Dante.

Miguel in the world of the dead

Attention! Before continuing reading, we warn you that this section contains spoilers.

For Miguel, the only way to return to the world of the living is to have the blessing of one of his ancestors, on pain of dying at dawn. Miguel finds them and hopes to receive her, but Mamá Imelda demands that he give up music as a condition.

Convinced that his great-great-grandfather will understand, Miguel flees to ask for Ernesto de la Cruz's blessing. Dante guides him to Héctor, a deceased who has never been honored at the altar of offerings, which exposes him to disappear permanently.

Since Héctor knows De la Cruz and believes that he is Miguel's only ancestor, he proposes to help him in exchange for him putting his photo on the altar when he returns. Together they set out on the road accompanied by Dante, whom all the dead mistake for an alebrije, a magical animal that acts as a spiritual guide.

Meanwhile, Mama Imelda and the clan search for Miguel with the help of the family's alebrije. When Héctor discovers that Miguel has more relatives, he takes him for a liar. Outraged, Miguel returns the photo of him and manages to find only Ernesto de la Cruz.

Finally, Miguel finds the singer, and when he is about to bless him, Héctor appears to beg him to fulfill his promise. De la Cruz recognizes Héctor, the true composer of all his songs.

An argument between the two reveals that the singer had murdered him in order to steal his songs, after Héctor resigned to return to his family.

Concerned about his reputation, De la Cruz steals Héctor's photo and tries to eliminate both of them, throwing them into a cenote (underground lake) from which they cannot get out.

Defeated, Héctor and Miguel talk. The musician tells him about his daughter, Coco, for whom he composed the song "Remember me." Thus, Miguel finally understands that his true great-great-grandfather is Héctor.

Dante finds them and brings the help of Mamá Imelda's alebrije. Happy, Miguel becomes aware that Dante is a true alebrije.

Héctor and Imelda meet again and she, although she is there, she does not forgive him, she decides to save him. To do this, they must recover the photo, although they cannot, Ernesto de la Cruz is unmasked in public.

After this, Mama Imelda gives Miguel her blessing unconditionally. The only problem is that Héctor begins to disappear, because Coco, already senile, is losing his memory.

Upon returning to the world of the living, Miguel sings "Remember Me" to Coco to help her regain her memory. Not only does she remember her father, but she regains awareness of her family environment, especially her daughter, Elena, Miguel's grandmother, whom she could no longer recognize.

Coco confesses that she kept the letters from her father with the lyrics of all her songs, as well as the missing piece of the family photo. Now, for the first time, Héctor would be at the family altar and would become a posthumous idol in the city of Santa Cecilia. And Miguel, finally, could be the musician he dreamed of thanks to the redemption of his great-great-grandfather.

Film analysis

The movie Coconut by Disney-Pixar describes an initiatory journey, a story in which the hero begins a journey that will lead him to a transformation after passing a series of tests. Not in vain, Miguel is a pre-adolescent boy, who is almost ready to assume more responsibilities in his life.

Pixar studios turn to the Mexican tradition of the Day of the Dead, whose community, affective and More ingrained cultural conflicts conflict with the individual longings of Miguel, the hero of the story.

Coconut it is not a simple movie. In reality, there are so many thematic axes that it addresses that one could get lost in a sea of ​​musings. What happens with this film is that it confronts two values: family and vocation. Which should prevail?

The family is represented in Coconut as a network of affection and support between the people who make it up, who help each other. This particular family practices the Mexican tradition of the Day of the Dead, in which awareness of the value of memory and ancestors, with whom they continue to interact through rituals such as the altar of offerings and the visit to the graveyard.

For this reason, the family here is not only a nucleus of affection. It is the symbol of a historical consciousness, the symbol that we belong to something that transcends us and that we owe ourselves, in part, to those who led the way. Miguel's vocation is not simply a personal concern: it is also the inheritance of his ancestors that has manifested itself in him.

Although Miguel is perceived as different from his family, he is not. Miguel is, to a large extent, what his family has inherited from him, unconsciously or involuntarily; what Miguel differs from his family is in the ability to listen to his vocation and act accordingly.

The word vocation he alludes to a voice that he calls, that seduces, that envelops. But in the society of the media, the musical vocation is represented as a showcase exhibition, in which the artists can be seen, but not touched, with all that this it implies.

But is it a vocation that drives Ernesto de la Cruz to achieve success? No, he is driven by ambition. Thus, this path of "success" implied for the character to be corrupted and to sacrifice the network of affections, which he raises from bottom line: is it worth sacrificing so much to be worshiped in life, so that later no one will be interested in remember you? Isn't our memory the only thing we leave on this earth?

Despite the fact that Miguel is the one who makes the possible changes and helps redeem the clan of his ancestors, the redemption of the Rivera who still live will come only through Coco.

Mama Coco collects as a character all the edges that the film addresses: she is the oldest of the family and, in that sense, she represents the entire family heritage. But Coco is losing her memory, and she is the only link that links the Rivera family with her ancestors.

By recovering her memory, Coco represents forgiveness, hope and family understanding, buried in years of resentment and intolerance. Coco makes a leap of faith by forgiving his dad and keeping his memory alive. Such was the confidence that Coco had in the love of her father, that she always waited for him, loved him and preserved her legacy.

Thus, Coco's faith and blessing unconditional of the ancestors, allows the Rivera, including Miguel, to recover the true sense of the tradition of the Day of the Dead and the true value of the family. In turn, Miguel can be who he really is, without internal divisions: the Rivera family musician.

The value of history in an immediate society

For some critics, Coco turned out to be a beautiful film, but somewhat melodramatic and stereotyped. For others, it is simply moving to the bone and respectful of Mexican tradition.

In a time like the present, where the immediate discourse seems to win all the spaces, it is curious that Disney-Pixar has proposed such a transcendent theme, focused on the valuation of ancestral memory and, therefore, belonging to something collective, family. But although curious, it is not strange. In fact it seems necessary.

Contrary to what it may seem, Coconut It is a film that connects with the deepest aspects of the human being, common to all cultures.

If the culture of the current image brings out anything, it is, indeed, the fear of oblivion, which is another way to die. Today's world is full of particular altars for one's own memory, for the display of "oneself", since nothing else is the culture of the selfie. And that, although it seems banal, is not without meaning. On the contrary, it clearly expresses that people are afraid of being forgotten.

But it is not only about the fear of forgetting, but also about the importance of the affective connection and the link with memory. history, that generation after generation we carry on us through family stories and memories that we collect.

At the time when extreme individualism is proclaimed, when there seems to be no social cohesion and in which people seek individual projection more than ever, personal identity seems lost.

In the movie Coconut, a fundamental conviction is exposed in all the nuances of him: the understanding that human life is built from the bonds that we honor; that what he makes a truly human and eternal person is the fabric of relationships that build them in his historical life and those that he leaves in his departure to bear witness to what also helped build.

Fun facts about the movie Coconut

1) The most emblematic characters of Mexican culture appear in the film: Frida Kahlo, el Santo, Pedro Infante, Jorge Negrete, Mario Moreno Cantinflas, María Félix, Agustín Lara, Dolores del Río, Diego Rivera and Emiliano Zapata, among others.

2) Ernesto de la Cruz is a synthesis of Pedro Infante and Jorge Negrete, and his movie clips are inspired by the aesthetics of Mexican gold cinema.

3) The marigold flower is the only vegetation that, according to tradition, grows in the land of the dead. For this reason, the flower bridge that connects both worlds once a year is made of this plant.

4) The reason why Disney-Pixar studios decided to design a dog xoloitzcuintle to accompany Miguel is because in the pre-Hispanic culture of the Mexica it was believed that these dogs helped souls cross the river to reach an underworld called Mictlán.

5) In the landscape of the world of the dead there are at least seven million painted lights.

6) In one of the scenes, as is customary at Pixar, characters from other films are made. Thus, characters of Monster Inc., Finding Nemo Y Toy story.

7) Originally, the name of the movie was intended to be Day of the Dead, but Disney received a lawsuit because the Mexican tradition name cannot become a trademark. After this, they decided to call her Coconut.

8) Pixar studios allowed themselves to be infected by the spirit of tradition and put together their own altar for the Day of the Dead.

9) The town where Miguel lives is Santa Cecilia, who is the patron saint of music.

Song "Remember me", by Coconut

Now, enjoy the interpretation of the theme Remember me, performed live by Gael García Bernal, Natalia Lafourcade and Miguel during the 2018 Oscars.