The Dangerous but Necessary Guitar

A boy holds onto his dreams of music stardom for a journey into the underworld in 2017's Coco. Among the more beloved Pixar films, Coco succeeds in being more than a Day of the Dead gimmick by offering genuine insight into family psychology at odds with the youthful desire for self-realisation.

I remember in Desmond Morris' Human Animal series a scene of a baby crawling away from his parents and Morris remarked on how from even a very early age the human child has an instinctive desire to run away from safety in an effort to find its own identity. In Coco, Miguel (Anthony Gonzalez) is a boy whose passionate desire to be a musician is at odds with his family's peculiar, systematic hatred of all things musical. It's more than just an aesthetic preoccupation, of course, it's an indicator of skeletons in the family closet, both literal and figurative.

Disney, for a long time, was criticised for repeatedly giving us rebellious teenage protagonists but teens are often rebellious. It's simply human nature. If Miguel gives up music, what can he be but just another caricature in the assembly? One could argue life's bigger and more complex than a choice between two extremes, a fact grasped better by adults than children, which leads to their inability to understand the child's polar thinking. But that's as much naivete on the adult's part as it is the child's rashness, because the dichotomy is real because the conflict is real. So it makes sense that Miguel, being trapped in the Land of the Dead, refuses his great grandmother's blessing because it comes with the condition that he renounce music. He runs deeper into the underworld even though it may cost him his life. And he's quite right to. If he can't live according to his principles, is he truly living?

The other side of the coin is existence for adults, whose need to be remembered is here prompted by true existential peril. Just as Miguel needs to define himself, Hector needs to be remembered--crucially for his creative prowess and ability to delight others. What may seem an adolescent vanity to impatient adults remains a crucial aspect of existence throughout life and afterlife.

I found the movie extremely predictable. I knew exactly what would happen when Miguel met the famous singer and how the plot would transpire with Miguel's new friend, Hector (Gael Garcia Bernal). But it didn't matter. The performances and animation are both good and the Day of the Dead aesthetic is fun and lovely. I loved all the marigold petals.

Coco is available on Disney+.