Coco is your average kid’s movie, full of death, murder, loss, grief, aging, dementia, deadbeat dads, and the afterlife. You know, PIXAR.
This film industry conglomerate and its yearly multi-million dollar blockbusters feature loveable iconic characters and lessons that are fit for any age demographic. Nearly all of them carry large followings as a result, especially in the franchises of Toy Story, Cars, and The Incredibles. These films were a large part of my childhood, and I will always hold them dear to my heart, but ironically, none of them immediately impacted me like the PIXAR film I watched just last year, Coco.
This film touches on some heavy subjects, simultaneously showing off its gorgeously breathtaking animation and making you cry. I’m not typically the biggest crier in movies, it usually takes a little to get it out of me, but man those last 10 minutes were rough. Coco is a tearjerker, both happy and sad, but the most fascinating asset of this film is not its beautiful cinematography, storytelling, or music, but a far heavier subject, death.
Coco takes place during Día de los Muertos, or the Day of the Dead, an important holiday in Mexican culture (PIXAR also does a very good job properly representing the day, they clearly did their research). It follows Miguel (shown above), a kid whose dream is to become a musician, but music is banned in his family after his great-great-grandfather supposedly left his great-great-grandmother for his music career. In Miguel’s pursuit of his dreams, he ends up in the Land of the Dead, where people were believed to go to the afterlife. Here, he learns the sad truth of the Land of the Dead presented by Coco, the second kind of death. Miguel is obviously familiar with biological death; your heart stops beating, your fingers begin to rot, and you let out your final breath of air, but he also sees the second death: the symbolic death of being forgotten. Once everyone who remembers you is dead, you disappear from the Land of the Dead, essentially dying a second time. In Coco, instead of life and death being determined by your heartbeat, it is determined by people’s memories. The Land of the Dead is not an eternal place of happiness after death, which is frightening. Your life after death can be stripped from you, simply if you weren’t a good enough person to be willingly remembered by your family.
Coco’s distinction between life and death also highlights the living’s perception of the deceased. Today, we typically view death as purely a biological phenomenon. But in many cultures, displayed through Día de los Muertos, death is more symbolic, and there is still a type of interaction between the living and the dead. In Coco, this interaction is explored literally, as Miguel is trapped in the Land of the Dead he needs help from his deceased ancestors to get back, and they also need help from him by putting their pictures on the ofrenda (where offerings are placed in a home altar on Día de los Muertos) and bringing offerings like food to ensure they aren’t forgotten to avoid the “second death.” Modern, western societies have nothing similar to this interaction, the dead are seen as points of learning and history, and it isn’t really viewed as a relationship because we don’t expect anything from the dead, nor do we offer anything to them in the afterlife. This cultural imbalance is fascinating, as, in Coco and Mexican culture, life and death aren’t seen as opposites. The two are closely related, but they have a greater relationship than simply one thing that happens after the other. It makes you wonder, is death only when your heart no longer beats, or is it when you are no longer remembered?
Aside from my philosophical and abnormal questioning of life and death in a kid’s movie, Coco is still a masterpiece in every way. You may not love it for the reasons I do, but I do guarantee it will make you cry, so be prepared.
Image Sources (in order of appearance):
I have watched Coco at least 4 times and continue to be amazed each time by it’s well thought-out storyline and awesome music; one of my favorite song’s from Coco is “Un Poco Loco.” I really like how colorful you made this post with the picture and bold red words, it embodies the vibrant nature of the movie! Also, I appreciate your philosophical commentary on different cultural beliefs/interpretations on life and death.
I watched Coco a few years ago and I thought it was really sad but really well made! I enjoyed your analysis of the movie, and I thought the pictures you chose did a really good job of exemplifying how well-crafted the animation was. Compared to other Pixar movies and the movie ‘The Book of Life’ which came out a few years earlier with the same plot, I didn’t like Coco as much, but I still thought it was a really cute Pixar movie!