Films have the power of shedding light onto cultures that are usually misrepresented in media. They have the power to portray important identity-related subjects such as cultural presence and global citizenship. Disney-Pixar’s Coco (2017) is a 3D computer-animated fantasy film, which tells the story of a Mexican boy named Miguel who accidentally transports to the Land of the Dead. The film got lots of praises on account of being authentic, relatable and most importantly, for giving an accurate representation of the Mexican culture. The film stands out from other animated movies in the sense that it gives subtle yet powerful statements about cultural identity and global citizenship. According to Stuart Hall, cultural identity is a shared culture, “a collective one true self”, amongst a group of people who share the same history and ancestry (Hall, 1990). Another term that can be discussed is globalisation and more specifically, global citizenship. Coco is a very culturally-rich movie that focuses only on the Mexican culture. On the other hand, there are visible clues that indicate the effect of globalisation on younger generations. Miguel, as the protagonist, is a very life-like example of the conflict that these generations have between their cultural heritage and being a global citizen. Globalisation is described as a homogenous culture that is created by the entanglement of local beliefs and cultural values that are universalised. (Kaul, 2014) Predominant values in Coco like family, love and music are universal. This makes Miguel’s story relatable worldwide. Although the main focus is on owning up to your cultural heritage, values of globalisation is also encouraged by the film. The movie is also a very successful tool to unite different cultures. Being an educating film that gives people from all cultures a sense of what a true Mexican is like, the film helps avoid the tendency of the West to approach any other culture as “The Others”, therefore encouraging global citizenship. Global citizenship is the embracing and caring of cultural diversity and empathising with different cultural identities. (Reysen & Katzarska-Miller, 2013). The question that will be investigated in this paper is “How does Disney’s Coco (2017) enhance the notions of cultural identity and global citizenship in Latino culture?” To respond to this inquiry, formal elements of cinema such as cinematography, mise-en-scene, narration and sound design will be analysed. Subsequently, hints of homogenisation and hybridisation of cultural identities will be sought to convey how the film encourages global citizenship.
Cultural Identity in Coco
As mentioned before, cultural identity is a term that has come to be quite vague, in the sense that it is not clear where it originates from, how it is created and for whom it applies. Cultural identity is, at the very simplest, belonging to a group that shares the same history, ancestry and -usually- nationality. Nationality, ethnicity, religion, social class and generation are all aspects that create cultural identity. However, cultural identity is not a notion that is produced merely by these notions. Rather, it’s an ongoing production process that is constituted within representation. (Hall, 1990) This means that meaningful movies like Coco, which represents Mexican culture and heritage, add to the production of cultural identity. Needless to say, films help shape the image that people have of a culture. For the last few years, especially, Latin-American culture has been portrayed negatively by quite a lot of American media productions. Coco stands out in that sense because it aims to give a more authentic and positive portrayal of Latino culture as opposed to the negative discourse that we’ve gotten used to.
In films that depict a certain culture, the choice of language and accent of the characters are very important in delivering the representation of a group of people. (Nieuwboer, 2019). Even though it’s limited, Spanish is used in Coco, mostly for words that correlate to family and friends. The most important examples of this in the movie are “Mama”, “Abuela”, “Mijo”, “Mi Familia”, “Chicos”, etc. These words are not explicitly translated in the movie but the visuals aid the audience to link these words to their meanings. Another type of words that are usually in Spanish in Coco are common phrases like “Hola”, “Dios mio”, “Fiesta”, etc. This choice of Spanish language indicates that the film is aimed at both Spanish-speakers and non-Spanish-speakers. This kind of use of code-switching , which can be observed in many occasions in the film like when the grandma 1 starts a speech in Spanish but continues with English or when Miguel sings in Spanish at first and finishes the song in English. This is a representation of bilingualism in the Mexican culture which is a very common trait that they possess as a nation.
The film is narrated by the protagonist, Miguel. The first-person restricted narration makes the film personal but manages to convey the most universal values to the audience like the importance of family, love and music. Throughout the film, several narrative motifs like Ofrendas and skulls, which represent Dia de la Muertos (Day of the Dead) can be observed. These recurring images constitute an important part of Mexican culture. The Day of the Dead is a traditional holiday in several Hispanic cultures where the souls of families’ dead relatives visit the living. This tradition is a very vital part of their cultural identity. Other formal elements that highlight this are the makeup and costumes. During the film, viewers can see face paints resembling skulls and traditional Mexican costumes like long skirts and sombreros. Another aspect of the Mexican cultural identity that can be seen in the film is religion. The nuns that are singing in the movie represent their culture’s devotion to Catholicism.
Therefore, Coco represents the Latino cultural identity relatively accurately. It can be concluded from the film that cultural identity is something that constantly changes and develops over time and is never finalised. Although this is a very culturally-specific film, globalisation is also quite evident in some scenes.
Globalisation and Global Citizenship in Coco
“Globalisation creates a global culture in which the identity is amalgamated that tends to bring a homogenous culture throughout the world…” (Kaul, 2014). This means that there are some values like family, love and music that create a global culture that every person can relate to and feel a part of. In Coco, these thematic values are very predominant for the plot. The idea that these values create global citizenship is reflected mostly through sound design. The film is rich with music and songs. However, the greater hits of the film differ in terms of language. Some songs like “La Llorana” are completely in Spanish while others like “Remember Me” are bilingual. Also, in the song “The World Es Mi Familia”, the lyrics “Music is my language and the world es mi familia” suggests very explicitly that music does not have a culture or a language and it connects the whole world. With sound design, the film conveys the idea that values like music and family create a bridge between cultures all around the world. Concordantly, the bridge in the movie that connects The Land of the Living to The Land of the Dead is a metaphor that symbolises the bridge that music creates between cultures. The protagonist, in this sense, stands out as a global citizen. This idea is supported by the dialogue between Ernesto de la Cruz and Miguel, when De la Cruz says “We can’t have only one family, the world is our family.” An ofrenda (Spanish: "offering") is a home altar with a collection of objects placed on a ritual display during the annual and traditionally Mexican Día de Muertos celebration.
Other formal elements that add to this are the low angle shots of Ernesto de la Cruz and Miguel’s Abuelita (Elena). The use of this camera angle on both these characters indicate the struggle that Miguel has, having to choose either his family, his traditions or his dream of being a musician. This conflict is also reflected through the use of frame-withinframe composition when Miguel is looking at Ernesto de la Cruz’s guitar. This composition suggests that Miguel feels trapped by his family, traditions and culture. However, it is later revealed in the movie that those very same things are the sentiments that keep Miguel grounded in his heritage and his cultural identity. This conflict is also something that everyone can go through, regardless of their culture, their heritage. Being a global citizen means living life on a level of empathy, where the struggles and conflicts are shared by the whole world. So, the conflict of generations that can be observed in the film makes it a movie that is made for a global audience. The identity crisis of Miguel is the cruces of the story and it is definitely a global issue. The movie supports what Kaul suggests in his article: globalisation doesn’t necessarily mean the demolition of traditions or cultural identity, rather it is the entanglement of cultures and the acknowledgment of shared values. (Kaul, 2014). In general, this movie enhances human connectedness and global citizenship, by giving audiences a chance to get accustomed to a certain culture (Cattel, 2019).
Conclusion
In conclusion, Coco (2017) is an outstanding movie that gives authentic and down-toearth information about the Mexican culture. The notion of cultural identity is the single most important theme of the movie, especially reflected through the protagonist; Miguel. The influence that culture has on Miguel’s beliefs, attitude, values and behaviour is shown throughout the film to be determinant factor for the plot. Furthermore, the film enhances Stuart Hall’s claim that cultural identity is a notion that is constantly being produced, shaped and changed by generations. As one would notice, the film focuses specifically on Dia de la Muertos -one of the most important traditions in Latino cultures- because it is a cultural heritage that a very large group of people share. It can be assumed that the Mexican audience of this movie finds a lot of values to relate to as an ethnic group, be it the love for family, the devotion to cultural heritage and ancestry or simply, music. What makes this film one of the greatest and most meaningful Disney movies is its substantiality in cultural identity.
However, the film also has great statements about global citizenship. There are certain values in life that are shared by the whole world. Whether Latino, American, European or any other ethnicity, everyone has somewhat similar values of love, family, friends, music and dreams. These values which are embedded in the Latino culture in the movie are reflected on a global scale. Through these, the film encourages viewers to be global citizens who know about different cultures and respect their traditions. One thing that the film adds to Hall’s argument about the constant production of cultural identity is that in our new era, globalisation gets more and more amalgamated in cultural identity. This film is a perfect example of how globalisation and cultural identity are not opposing notions that would demolish one another, rather how they are two values that go hand-in-hand. Media productions like Coco, give the viewers a chance to recognise their cultures, get acknowledged about different cultures and to realise the values and merits we share as a world to become a global citizen.
REFERENCES
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