Coco analysis paper
- 1. 1 “Coco” Analysis Mary Lovegrove University of Georgia HDFS 3920 Jennifer George Ph.D April 9th, 2021
- 2. 2 The film “Coco” was released in 2017 by Disney and is set in a rural city in Mexico. Soon after the film's release date, the film was seen as an instant classic with numerous positive reviews. The film was one of the first to show the traditions and ideals of the region. This film does an excellent job at being entertaining while still showing many aspects of human development that we discuss in class. The film shows examples of emotional climate, boundaries, family systems, and many other aspects of the class. “Coco” does this in a way that makes it still a family-friendly movie with these aspects being underlying behind the movie's true theme. The film does a good job at showing these aspects but not making it a boring film with many aspects that still make it a Disney movie. The movie takes serious events and situations and turns it into a film the whole family can watch and understand. Overall the film “ Coco” does a good job at exploring aspects of human development while remaining a light-hearted family film. The movie "Coco" is a film about the Ramirez family as they prepare for the upcoming day of the dead celebration. Miguel is the main character and is shown to struggle with the life his family has established and wants to break away from his family traditions and beliefs. Miguel has a passion for music and his family strongly disapproves of all music due to events from their past. Miguel also does not see the importance of family tradition and rituals and is seen as rebellious in his family's eyes. The film follows Miguel as he is transported to the spirit world and finds his family who has passed away. Miguel goes on a quest to get back to the human world before midnight and meets many characters along the way. As the movie, progresses Miguel struggles between what his family wants and what his heart desires. Miguel learns the truth behind his family's past and returns to the real world and is overjoyed to be
- 3. 3 reunited with his family. The movie ends with Miguel playing music and his great- grandma Coco smiling for the first time in many years. The family then adapts and allows music back into their lives and adjusts to the new family dynamic. The movie ends a year later by celebrating the day of the dead with music and laughter. The film shows how a family adapts to new challenges while retaining their strong relationships with each other. The family systems theory is something we have discussed heavily in class and have analyzed in great detail. The movie “Coco” shows many aspects of the family systems theory in the film. The family system perspective contains four first-order tasks. These include emotional climate, boundaries, maintenance, and identity; these tasks are crucial for one's development over time. The film” Coco” shows all these tasks in many different ways and is a good way to show these tasks to the general public. The film shows how these tasks have a great impact on Miguel and his development in the movie. The overall emotional climate of the Rivera family is a positive, nurturing environment but has some flaws that are restricting his development. The movie shows scenes of the family being very supportive and caring together to help build a positive emotional climate. However, the idea that music is banned, and this is something Miguel wants to explore is very negative. The negative ideas surrounding music in his family can be very restricting for his emotional development and can affect him as he ages. This negative environment can leave very last effects on Miguel as he grows up and can negatively impact his development. Since Miguel loves music but it is banned, he has negative feelings and emotions about his family with this aspect. At the end of
- 4. 4 the movie when the family shifts and allows music again this is good for Miguel and the whole family. It can be seen that music is bringing them even closer and creating a positive environment for all. In Miguel’s household, he has his immediate family as well as his extended family all working and living together. The whole family works together on their shoe business that has been passed down along generations. The majority of the family has very close open relationships with each other. Miguel however is going through a time where he feels cut off or separated from the family. This is due to his desire for music and to become a musician which goes against his family traditions. This causes a strain in his relationships with other family members. Music has created a major strain on the relationship between him and his grandmother. The grandmother sees him as defying the family when he desires music and is upset by his actions. While they still care and love for each other the strain is still present. By the end of the movie, however, family history is revealed that shows music is not all bad and the grandmother allows music in the family once again. In the end, they flash forward to a year later and you can see the whole family together celebrating with music. This scene shows that the family, including Miguel, all have very close relationships again. The family at first practice very morphostasis strategies; this meaning very static and against change. This is evident in how the family reacts to Miguel wanting to be a musician and not work in the family shoe business. By the end of the movie, the family can be seen shifting towards more morphogenesis strategies as a result of what Miguel discovered while in the spirit world about their family history. The boundaries of the family loosen as the movie progresses and this can be seen at the end. They begin to let the music in and adjust the strict rules
- 5. 5 they had in place and become more open. You can see this has been a positive thing for the family since they all seem very happy at the end of the movie. The daily tasks of the family include making and selling shoes as well as caring for mama coco. The family does this by all living together in one home/ compound type set up with their shop and living area being on the same property. This makes it easy to get to work and care for mama coco when needed. It is shown that Miguel mainly just shines shoes or spends time with mama coco most of the day. His relatives do most of the shoemaking since he is too young to learn to make shoes. It is evident that Abuelita is the one who runs and operates the household and business. She is mama coco’s daughter and has been in the family business for a long time. She is the one that enforces the no music rule as well as makes sure the shop is running smoothly. She is responsible for the family functioning properly within the household and the business. The family leans more towards over-organized in the sense that Abuelita controls most everything. She does this out of love, but some of her actions can be seen as very harsh or strict. Her smashing Miguel's guitar because she does not approve of it can be seen as harsh and leaning more towards an over-organized family. Overall, the family all knows their tasks in the household and the business, so they have good use of maintenance tasks. Miguel’s family has an identity of shoemakers who are proud of their family line of work and the family business. The movie goes into detail on how the family business was started and grown through the generations. This shows the family has a strong identity as shoemakers and sees the traditions as the thing that keeps the family together. The movie goes into details about how each family member has been in the
- 6. 6 shoe business and how it is a Rivera thing. The legacy theme that is in the movie is that Miguel will also become a shoemaker is talked about in the movie. A legacy in terms of identity is when certain jobs or attributes are passed between generations in a family. This is true in Coco since all the members of the family have worked in the shoe business and it is expected that Miguel will do the same. His grandma and parents come to him and hand him his apron to symbolize him continuing the family tradition. The main thing that shaped the family identity of no music is the events of Hector leaving. While at the end it is revealed he was trying to come back and was killed the family did not know this and thought he abandoned them. This led to music being banned within the family. This identity changes at the end once the truth is revealed because it is shown that they celebrate with music again. Overall the family systems perspective is a theory that is shown heavily throughout the film “Coco”. The film “Coco” is an excellent example of the family systems perspective while showing the four firsts orders tasks of emotional climate, boundaries, maintenance, and identity. The movie shows and explains the emotional climate of Miguel and his family and hows how it changes over time. The movie also shows the importance of boundaries in a family system. The movie also shows how maintenance of a family is important but can also have flaws that affect development. Lastly, the film shows identity and the importance to create your own identity as you develop. “Coco” is an excellent modern-day example of the family systems perspective while keeping a light-hearted, family-friendly tone. Through this past semester, we have learned many things about the family and have analyzed them in great detail. Our class has focused on the issues of the family
- 7. 7 life system and the aspects of development in the family that is connected to it. The film “Coco” shows many of these themes and is a good visual to help with the learning of the topics. Some topics covered in the film are the family life cycle, social influences, celebrations and rituals, as well as philosophy of life. In class, we have learned about the meanings of these ideas and with the film, we have been able to see them in action and analyze them. The film does a good job at showing these in a way people can better understand while remaining a family film. The family life cycles follow very traditional family values. Miguel's parents were raised in very traditional Mexican households, so this is how they are also choosing how to raise their children. While Miguel does listen and follow not of their rules his free spirit and sense of adventure sometimes rebel against his parents. It is evident that Miguel is reaching a point in his life where is starting to want things different from his parents and is starting to become independent. Research states” … a family life cycle scheme using the concepts of stages and tasks to define the changing relationships, status, and membership in families at transition points over the life course” (Peixoto-Freitas, Rodríguez-González, Crabtree, & Martins, 2020) The family life cycle is what all families go through as they age and transitions between stages. The Rivera family is experiencing this in a normal way and is adjusting to Miguel’s new sense of independence. At the beginning of the movie, they do not approve of his desire to be different from that family but by the end, they have adjusted and now embrace his passions. A major social influence in the film is the impact of musicians on Miguel. In the movie it is seen that Miguel almost worships Ernesto De la Cruz, this is a common thing
- 8. 8 for adolescents. Research states “Many teens are influenced by the presence of the idol. Ironically, instead of self-discovery, they are actually trapped in the identity of others.” (Thakkar; Lortie 2020) The film makes it apparent that Miguel focuses more on a celebrity than his family, especially around the day of the dead. This is shown by him not focusing on the family ofrenda but instead his own for Ernesto de la Cruz. This is a common idea that adolescents will focus and turn most of their attention to celebrities they want to be like. It is very evident at the start of the movie that Miguel does not see the purpose behind the day of the dead or give it much thought. The grandma at the beginning emphasizes the importance of the holiday to Miguel but he does not listen. The movie makes it evident that the family is very proud of their culture and makes it a point to celebrate the day of the dead. The day of the dead is a traditional holiday in the Mexican culture that focuses on remembering relatives who have passed. Traditions include displaying pictures of loved ones along with all their favorite foods and objects. Research states “During the last weeks of October families who will arrange an offering at home, start gathering objects to decorate and materials they need to construct an altar for their passed away loved ones, sometimes on the floor, sometimes on a table or in levels in which the items will be displayed.” (Arrendondo & Casillas 2019) It is believed that the spirit of the relatives will come and take objects back to the spirit world with them. The movie does a good job at showing the traditions of this holiday as well as explaining everything. The movie makes it very clear that the family sees the holiday as very important which Miguel does not understand at first. Miguel does not see the importance of remembering relatives he has never met and feels disconnected from his
- 9. 9 family. Throughout the movie, Miguel sees the importance of the holiday and sees how important family in general is. Coco does a good job at showing the day of the dead in a way many people would understand. One article states: “the exuberance of its aesthetic wealth, the depth of its folklore and religious roots, and the weight of its references both to family ties and the ultimate human fate can easily serve as inspiration for films of different genres, eras, creative aspirations and target groups.” (Dimitriadis, G. 2020). The film took this idea to create a movie for all people of all ages to understand. The movie used Miguel who does not appreciate the holiday and uses his journey to show the importance to the general public. The Rivera family sees their traditions and family as the most important thing in their lives. Their philosophy in life is their family and the family business. The book states “all families are unique and that this uniqueness is reflected in patterns of interaction found within them” (Anderson & Sabtelli, Chapter 1). This line from the book is a basic, scientific definition of family that holds true to the Rivera family. Their family is composed of four generations living and working together under the same roof. This is a unique family dynamic and something that the movie focuses on as important to the Rivera family. Throughout the film, Miguel is the one that does not understand why everyone thinks family is so important. Family is the most important thing to Rivera’s so Miguel not understanding that idea causes major conflict. As the movie progresses you see Miguel realize the importance of family and shifts his ideas. By the end, you can see Miguel has fully embraced his family and sees the importance of their relationships.
- 10. 10 Overall, the film shows many aspects of our class that relate to the family systems theory while also addressing the problems associated with it. The film addresses and analyzes topics such as the family life cycle, social influence, celebration and rituals, and philosophy of life. The family life cycle is a common theory that is shown in the film as the family adapts and interacts with each other in their daily lives. Social influence is something that is very evident in Miguel’s life and the film and is a topic they analyze and criticize multiple times in the movie. The film is centered around the ideas of celebrations and rituals and explores the importance of them. Lastly, the film has an overarching theme of family as their philosophy of life. In conclusion, this film explores many aspects of human development and addresses family issues while remaining a family-friendly film. The film addresses aspects of emotional climate, boundaries, identity, and family tasks. The film looks at these first ordered tasks and shows them in a format that people can better understand while showing their impacts on the family. The film also addresses and analyzes traditions, family life cycle, and social influences. The film analyzes these topics that we also discussed in class and shows the complexity of the topic and how they impact development. The film explores these theories while using a cartoon approach to keep the movie light-hearted. The movie “Coco” is an excellent modern-day film that shows many topics discussed in human development and uses animation to analyze and show them to the audience. This film is destined to become a classic due to the relatability of the underlying topic that many people overlook but realize they relate to. “Coco” is an excellent way to merge society and the general public with human development and many topics in the field of study.
- 11. 11 References Allen, K. R., & Henderson, A. C. (2017). Family theories: Foundations and applications. Chichester, West Sussex, UK: Wiley Blackwell. Anderson, S. A., & Sabtelli, R. M. (n.d.). Chapter 1. In Family Interactions: A Multigenerational Developmental Perspective (5th ed., pp. 4-19). Arredondo, A., & Casillas, C. (2019). Rituals Around Life and Death in Mexico; The Day of the Dead. Death Across Cultures (pp. 225-242). Springer. Dimitriadis, G. (2020). Immersion Through Culture: Representations of the “Day of the Dead” in Film. García, B. G., Gonzalez, A., Bratt, B., Anderson, D. K., Unkrich, L., Molina, A., Aldrich, M. (Directors). (2017). Coco (Film). Buena Vista Home Entertainment . Peixoto-Freitas, J., Rodríguez-González, M., Crabtree, S. A., & Martins, M. V. (2020). Differentiation of Self, Couple Adjustment and Family Life Cycle: A Cross-Sectional Study. The American Journal of Family Therapy, 48(4), 299-316.
- 12. 12 Thakkar, M.Effects of Idols in Youths Thakkar, M. and Lortie, KL.