Pixar's Love Letter to Mexico: The Cultural Appreciation of Coco

Following the end of World War II, Hollywood, and American cinema by extension was defined by a distinct enduring style: fictional narratives whose purpose was to tell a story (Langford 73). Storytelling draws contemporary audiences to animated movies, and those produced by studios like Pixar and Disney have become an integrated part of American culture. In a time where cinematic studios are rolling out blockbuster after blockbuster, animation studios are producing one-of-a-kind content for audiences that have basically “seen it all.” But, while Disney or Marvel Studios remaster old hits into new bestsellers, Pixar Studios has distinguished itself from its competitors by taking a different approach with their latest animated feature Coco (2017), tackling the complexities of cultural representation in the contemporary film industry.

Contemporary Hollywood filmmakers are criticized and awarded for a lack of proper representation in their movies. Features like Wes Anderson’s Isle of Dogs (2018) or Disney’s Aladdin (1992) have risen to top charts amid claims of cultural appropriation. These awarded misrepresentations become normative to audiences who receive the majority of their information about other cultures from visual media that depict minorities as victims or perpetrators of violence and illegal activities (Earp et al). Coco is not the first film to tackle the complexity of cultural representation in the film industry, but its significance alludes itself by explaining how proper cultural representation among Hollywood storytellers “expands the kind of stories that can be told and the ways in which they can be told, ultimately leading to a richer art form” (Wilkinson).

Coco, co-directed by long-time Pixar editor Lee Unkrich, is centered around the Mexican holiday Dia de Los Muertos. Dia de Los Muertos is celebrated on November 1st to honor the dead with celebration, food, and music while recognizing death as a natural part of life (Brandes). In the United States, The Day of the Dead is celebrated with more commercialization and less tradition. Coco reaffirms the cultural importance of the holiday by telling the story of a young Mexican boy named Miguel, voiced by arising actor Anthony Gonzalez, who wishes to become a musician against his family’s wishes. His great-great-grandmother Imelda, voiced by Alanna Ubach, was married to a man who left their family to pursue a career in music. The betrayal made Imelda erase music from the family’s history. Attempting to convince his family of his passion for music generations later, Miguel finds himself lost in the Land of the Dead with the only way home being the blessing of his long lost great-great-grandfather.

Coco takes an innovative stance on culture and the role it plays outside of American standards. By listening and responding to audience concerns, Unkrich and his team created a Mexican story for Mexicans instead of for Americans, distinguishing the movie from others who tell stories of different cultures predominately for American audiences. Coco’s novelty shines in its production process, which was applied backward; producers cast, directed and produced first in Spanish before translating into English (Green). Coco’s premiere was the same, the movie debuting first in Mexico and then the United States months later (Green). Coco breaks the mold and delivers a novel storyline that is first and foremost for the culture that it depicts.

Coco’s significance, however, is only recognized in the face of films who have produced the opposite: appropriations of the cultures being depicted. The film industry and animation studios by extension have a history of appropriating cultures for the sake of commercial and artistic value. These films fall into the trap of producing content based in foreign cultures without considering the cultural significance of what they are trying to depict. Isle of Dogs is one example. While audiences applauded Anderson for his creative plot style and beautiful setting, film critics including the LA Times’ Justin Chang found the film toeing the line between appreciation and appropriation. According to Chang, native Japanese dialogue was heavily simplified with no subtitles for context. This combined with an English narration throughout the entire film, along with the main characters (the dogs) speaking only American English made the native Japanese citizens look and feel like foreigners in their own country (Chang). Disney’s Aladdin made similar mistakes with offensive song lyrics that were changed amid protests and a main Arabic character that looked more European than what was accurate (Galer). Both animations were also voiced mainly by American actors.

Using Chang’s critique as a baseline, Coco avoids the pitfalls of appropriation by avoiding the awkwardness of language barriers by utilizing bilingualism to make the film more relatable. “The original idea was to have the characters speak only in English with American audiences understanding that they were really speaking in Spanish,” said Octavio Solis, a Mexican-American playwright who served as a consultant during production. “But for us, language is binary, and we code-switch from English to [Mexican] Spanish seamlessly” (Ugwu). Coco accurately portrays the cast, each character resembling native Mexicans in appearance and accent. Unlike Isle of Dogs and Aladdin, the animation is also primarily voiced by Latinos who are prominent Mexican- American figures.

Amid abundant praise, critics still find issue with some of Coco’s finer nuances. The consequential actions of the Pixar team during early production first comes to mind. Early May of 2013, Walt Disney studios filed an application to patent the phrase “Dia de Los Muertos” and/or “Day of the Dead” across multiple platforms (Rodriguez). While Coco is directed and produced by Pixar Studios, it is a subsidiary to Walt Disney Studios; a “daughter” company that is partially owned by Walt Disney Studios (Dorian). Thus, almost 50 percent of Pixar and any production value made are transferred to Walt Disney. The patent was not unexpected, but it was, by several accounts, offensive and insulting. Many in the Latino community took to social media to protest the marketing move. Lalo Alcaraz, a Mexican-American editorial cartoonist and founder of Pocho.com, was the face of the protest, creating the editorial “Muerto Mouse” and headlining the petition to stop the Disney effort (Rodriquez). By Friday of the same week, the petition that cried “cultural appropriation and exploitation” gained more than 21,000 signatures; the week after, Disney withdrew its trademark application (Rodriquez).

Many critics also draw attention to Mexican stereotypes that still appeared despite Pixar’s efforts. For Teen Vogue Deputy Editor Ella Cerón, cliches such as a dead spirit trying to “immigrate illegally to the human world” and a “frustrating lack of diversity in the character’s skin tones” makes the overall effect of the movie fall flat (Cerón). Rafer Guzman, a film critic for Newsday, found Coco appropriative and falling short of fully immersing itself in Mexican heritage (Guzman). “Coco makes sure to cross every item off of its Mexican checklist, but that’s not the same as immersing us in culture. What’s more, the filmmakers are afraid to have too much fun here, lest they offend” (Guzman). Mexican native Michael Mariaud also found Coco to be lacking in its representation of Dìa de Los Muertos, by it capturing the sentimental aspect of the holiday but failing to account for the sarcasm also included (Green). “It’s about remembering the dead and making fun of death because death is something inevitable, so we laugh about it so it doesn’t weigh us down” (Green).

Considering these critiques, I find Coco’s unique in its research efforts to be culturally conscious. Unkrich knew the importance of making Coco as culturally representative as possible. “The Latino community is a very vocal, strongly opinionated community [and] with me not being Latino myself, I knew that this project was going to come under heavy scrutiny” (Ugwu). When production was in the early stages, Unkrich and his team spent months traveling and immersing themselves in Mexican culture. The team opted to reside in homestays where they could interact with locals gain a better understanding of the cultural dynamics they were attempting to capture (Thompson). Affluent members were also hired during production as “cultural consultants,” a final insurance in Pixar’s efforts to stay culturally conscious and respective. Alcaraz was one of them.

Pixar’s devotion to making Coco culturally true resulted in nuances that cater to Latino audiences. Nuances appear in films to make plots and characters more relatable to audiences. Films without affluent nuances usually flop in the box office for not being relatable. Coco shows its unconventionality in its small subtleties that honor Mexican traditions and primarily engage Latino audiences. One beautifully insightful nuance featured is the song “Juanita” that Héctor sings to his friend Chiccharrón as he meets his “final death.” “Juanita” is a song based off of traditional ranchera music, a “particular type of rural-based canción that became popular during the early twentieth century” (Ramirez-Dhoore 179). As Héctor performs, audiences are reminded of the Golden Age of Mexican cinema and it’s famous musicians. When listening to “Juanita,” Latin idol Pedro Infante Cruz comes to mind, the Pixar melody eerily similar to his “Cien Años,” abet more somber. This pays homage to the Latino community where Infante Cruz is a household name and inspiration for modern Latin music.

The song “La Llorona” is another nod towards Latin American folklore. La Llorona is said to be the ghost of a woman who drowned her children and filled with regret, cries for them at rivers and back waterways, causing misfortune to any who cross her path (Rodríguez, 183-187). Sung entirely in Spanish, the song’s significance is seen through Mama Imelda. While upbeat, the song signifies Imelda’s sorrow over the loss for her daughter Coco faced when she banished her husband and regret of Miguel's situation that was a result of her music prohibition. While her shunned husband’s actions hurt her, it was her actions that ultimately hurt her family generations later. I find this song to be more than background music to the square-off between Imelda and De la Cruz and more about Imelda’s realization of how her actions hurt her family. Thus, I view this melody as Imelda’s unique way of apologizing and forgiving past actions.

Coco is a catalyst in the American film industry. Films who’ve strived towards being culturally appreciative flop with audiences around the globe for falling back on stereotypes and cliches. These attempts result in films showing cultures predominately through an Americanized lens; the culture is portrayed in the way Americans perceive is to be, not accurately. ABC Primetime Live’s True Colors and Chris Eyre’s Smoke Signals are some productions that undertook the responsibility of producing culturally accurate content. But, while their efforts were valid, their reach and lasting effect were short. In contrast, Pixar Studios and Walt Disney Studios by extension are massive conglomerates that reach millions of viewers with each film. Thus, Coco is an example of what can happen when powerful production teams invest time and effort towards making something accurate and inclusive. Coco set the cultural representative bar high, drawing the line between appreciation and appropriation, and illustrating what counts as culturally true and what is not acceptable. Pixar’s reach is already coming into play with new production teams adapting to meet new standards.

Coco comes away with an inclusive and representative animation that is life-changing for audiences and the American film industry. Coco distinguishes itself, telling a story about Mexico for Mexicans. Coco makes use of cultural exchange, where culture is exchanged for meaningful, representative art (Galchen and Holmes), and comes away with a film that isn’t the usual “watered-down” translation that isn’t amenable to Latino audiences. What results is a precedent for upcoming films and classic that is inclusive for all audiences.

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