The title refers to Miguel's great-grandmother Mamá Coco, whose father is key to the anti-music mystery. This tale unfolds in an unspecified Mexican town on the eve of El Día de los Muertos (the Day of the Dead) as the entire community is preparing to honor their departed loved ones.
Ultimately, the film ended up being named after Miguel's great-grandmother (voiced by Ana Ofelia Murguia), who holds the secret to his family's anti-musical past: Mama Coco. This story first appeared in a December stand-alone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine.
COCO. A STORY OF TRADITIONS AND LEGACY. Disney Pixar's Coco follows the journey of young Miguel to find his great-great grandfather in the Land of the Dead. Coco provides us with a strong reminder that despite death, family history can transcend the years and continue to shape our families for generations to come.
Socorro Rivera, better known as Mamá Coco, is the titular character of the 2017 Disney/Pixar animated feature film Coco. She's a warm-hearted, supportive, and kind woman who is Miguel's great-grandmother.
Disney put notable effort into making the film as authentic as possible. Co-Director and Co-Writer, Adrian Molina, said the following in a LA Times Interview, “It was very important to the team that it be a true representation of a Mexican family.
Why is it any different with COCO? Coco is an inherently Mexican film. It deserves a Spanish-specific listing for its spanish-specific version. The Spanish version features different visuals whenever there is text written on something within the movie, like a sign.
The film received acclaim for its animation, voice acting, music, visuals, emotional story, and respect for Mexican culture. It grossed over $814 million worldwide, becoming the 16th highest-grossing animated film ever at the time of its release.
Coco is a gender-neutral name of French origin with Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian roots. This name is a reference to the chocolate bean, translating to “cocoa.” Along with the sweet confection, Coco can also be a French term meaning "darling," always reminding your little one of how much you mean to them.
Do you feel like the movie Coco is an accurate portrayal of Mexican culture? It is partially accurate. Día de Muertos is celebrated more or less that way in the central regions of México, but not in all the country. Most of the iconography in the picture was well researched by the Pixar team, but not all.
Was the character of Mamá Coco inspired by Maria Salud Ramirez? Pixar has always denied that Coco's loveable abuela was based on anyone in real life and said that it was a product of its creators' imagination. However the Ramirez family have claimed that a Pixar team met with Maria Salud and photographed her.
The creators of Coco have released two versions of their film and soundtrack, one in English and one in Spanish. There is significance in the incorporation of Spanish music and not exclusively English songs “inspired by Spanish songs.” It brings a firm acknowledgement to the culture the film is honoring.
Therefore, the movie takes place closer to 2017 when Lee Unkrich said it did. In Coco animation, why were the people from the land of the dead supposed to return from the land of the living before the sunrise? On Dio de Los Muertos, it is said that for one evening the doorway to the world of the living opens.
Sometimes, they speak English (the voice-over actors switch the language so it makes sense) and sometimes, they speak Spanish with an accent, so people get their native language is English (as in the Latin American Spanish voiced-over version of that movie with Adam Sandlers, Spanglish).
“Both U.S. Latinos and those back in our home countries, were incredibly moved by the relationship between Miguel and his great-grandmother Coco,” said Aguilar. “I don't know a single Mexican who did not cry profusely during the final sequence when Miguel sings 'Remember Me' for her.”
Coco is a good representation of a Mexican subculture, one you can find at small southern towns such as ones from Michoacan. There are different ways to celebrate Día de Muertos, and the one represented in Coco is just one of the more colorful and beautiful ones. But not every town or city celebrates like that.
Since the story of Coco is based around the Mexican holiday Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead), you're probably wondering Why isn't Coco in Spanish on Disney Plus? Actually, there's a separate Spanish version of Coco on Disney Plus!
Coco does something else entirely, a movie set in rural Mexico, rooted in popular Mexican culture in which not one single mention of crime or migration (other than the journey to the afterlife). Cocos authenticity is immediately recognized by the way the characters speak.
“The original idea was to have the characters speak only in English with the understanding that they were really speaking in Spanish,” said Octavio Solis, a Mexican-American playwright who was a consultant on the film. “But for us, language is binary, and we code-switch from English to Spanish seamlessly.”
In addition to the violent scenes mentioned above, Coco has some scenes that could scare or disturb children in this age group. For example: Mama Imelda can't 'cross over', because she needs to forgive someone. An old forgotten skeleton is fading.
Luisa appears pregnant with her second-born during most of the film. While in the Rivera workshop making shoes, Abuelita returns home to inform her and Enrique that she caught Miguel at the Mariachi Plaza. At sunset, she helps her nephews set up marigold petals for Día de Los Muertos.
Santa Cecilia was also inspired by small town in Mexico specifically in Santa Fe de La Laguna, Michoacan which was built in 1533 and known for their thriving Purepecha culture and people who were also a large inspiration for Coco.
