Coco: Day of the Dead Film by Pixar

I wonder if they could have made an appearance by deceased Tejano Mexican-American singer, Selena. They would have had to probably speak to her family to say if it was appropriate to show her.

What's interesting is that if you look closely at the Land of the Dead, the lowest level seems to be composed of Maya- and Aztec-style architecture, implying that it really has existed as long as people have lived on the Mexican landmass.

So I wonder how the Riveras persuaded Frida to help them take down Ernesto? She didn't seem to have any misgivings working with him on the concert.

I would assume it was simply Miguel's helping her earlier. She DID incorperate his ideas into the show so it was just returning the favor.

By the way, according to Word of God, a combination of Ernesto's movies still being in circulation and his newfound in-universe Overshadowed by Controversy status will keep him "alive" for a long, long time, denying him even the release of Final Death. Sweet.

edited 19th Feb '18 5:43:48 PM by HamburgerTime

Makes sense. Even if everyone knows he murdered his way to stardom, people will still always listen to his music. Because music is still music, at the end of the day: there are artists out there who have done just as bad who are still on the radio. People accept that those artists did bad things, but still appreciate the music for what it is. Especially given that Ernesto seems to have been a very pivotal artist in his time. Dude's probably in history classes.

He's pretty screwed. Ironically, in the Disney/Pixar movie all about death, the villain's punishment is to live.

I wonder if they'll let him out from under that bell eventually... nah.

edited 19th Feb '18 5:59:36 PM by KnownUnknown

We really should give Ernesto De La Cruz a Just for Fun page that treats him as if he was a real world celebrity. It would also include his impact on the entertainment world and the scandal of revelations about him killing his songwriter and childhood friend, Hector, as well.

@Hamburger Time: I like to think that no one ever removes that bell.

I'd definitely like to see the internet conversations on Ernesto, this being the Age of Weinstein and all.

Ernesto's case is interesting, in that he's no longer around to account for what he's done. He's been dead for years - decades, really. Half a century. People would have a more distinct separation between his work and his deeds, if only because nobody would think of him as current any more. People are more likely to start remembering Hector than to start forgetting Ernesto.

It's kind of like how, say, nowadays we are well aware of how incredibly racist Creator/HP Lovecraft was, but while people fully accept it nowadays, generally it's treated more as a historical note in the real life story of the Cthulhu Mythos, since he's not really around for us to care much about his personal actions any more.

Or how the fact that Thomas Edison was more of a thieving Corrupt Corporate Executive whose reputation as genius inventor is largely undeserved is getting more and more attention, but the result is ultimately more apathy than scorn combined with vindication for the people he screwed over.

edited 20th Feb '18 8:58:57 PM by KnownUnknown

Interesting. So you can still survive by being remembered through evil, as long as it's connected personally to you by name. So I guess the tale of Hector leaving the family didn't count because they didn't personally know who he was.

Which in turn implies that generations from Elena onward weren't even told Hector's name. Which... wow, Imelda, that's harsh and pretty creepy too.

Hell hath no fury like a Woman scorned.

edited 21st Feb '18 2:35:33 PM by AegisP

But that doesn't stop us from feeling sorry for Hector about being backstabbed by the person he thought was his best friend and was loyal to him to the very end only to find out later that said friend has taken everything from him and then made a name himself causing him to be bitter with this revelation. And him trying and failing to get to his ancestors in the movie at the very beginning mind, has really got to sting for him considering what they mean to him as a whole.

edited 21st Feb '18 3:25:53 PM by TheStarscream759

I headcanon that Miguel will make it his life's mission to record all of Hector's songs, so the Ernesto versions aren't the only ones available.

Yeah, that would be good. Or that other famous singers cover Hector's songs.

Well yeah and it's the least people can do for him at this point. And I do think Miguel would want to spread the word about Hector anyway.

I read a fanfic of A Christmas Carol where somebody tried to permanently stop the dead visiting the living on Christmas Eve, and all I could think was 'that reminds me of Coco but on a more massive scale. I wonder what it would take to cancel something like that.'

Saving Christmas doesn't always have to apply to Christmas XD

edited 7th Mar '18 6:08:08 PM by lalalei2001

Well, yes. That's one reason why Miguel was able to get it in his head that Ernesto was his great-grandfather in the first place. Imelda worked very hard in life to Un-person Hector — she was that hurt and that desperate to protect her family from the danger she believed music was.

Here's a fun fan character I found: Armando Cantor, an actual descendant of de la Cruz who absolutely hates him, and bonds with Miguel over that.

I just love his character. I could see Ernesto having descendants through many illegitimate children he fathered.

!!!

I've been wanting to watch Coco for months - theater was too expensive (plus I would have had to make a parent drive me, which would be mean since they're not interested in this type of movie) and I could never find it at the library - but now it's on Netflix! I'm so happy I don't know what to do with myself.

One thing I like about Coco is how they treat dementia, because in other works it's usually played for laughs but here is actually played more seriously straight that it really hits home for a lot of people who have to deal with their older relatives going senile.

Agreed. I've been seeing a lot of good personal writing on relating to seeing an elder relative retreat from memory loss.

Honestly this movie was better than I expected it to be. I'd been avoiding it out of spite as a Book of Life fan but I heard that it was on Netflix and decided to give it a shot. While I still think Book of Life is the superior movie, I liked this well enough. It's not the best Disney movie but it's still good in its own right.

edited 8th Jun '18 6:32:43 PM by Chariot