The 2017 Disney movie Coco (cover shown in image 1) does a great job of representing various important aspects seen everywhere. It represents Mexican culture, and it also has representation of genders and stereotypes. This film is based around "Los Días de los Muertos", or "Day of the Dead", a very important Mexican tradition in which people get to honor those who have passed. Throughout this movie, the audience can learn about Mexican culture. The creators of Coco most definitely took the time to research and fully understand this tradition and with that, they were able to break the norms made by society. This movie broke gender roles, and Mexican stereotypes, and promoted diversity. (The main character, Miguel Rivera, and his grandma, Mama Coco, can be seen in image 2 in front of the ofrenda or alter made for their relatives.)
Representing different cultures in media is immensely important. This is because media can affect how people perceive things, and this can easily impact how cultures are perceived as well. Hollywood has often depicted people of color with horrible stereotypes. Stereotypes like that have tormented Hispanic culture, but Coco was a big change in that. Coco accurately represents how meaningful Mexican culture is. The storyline of this film helps very well in understanding the purpose and meaning behind the Day of the Dead. This film showed how media is, finally, becoming more diverse. Coco was perfect for promoting the diversity needed since it can educate individuals.
Although it was meant to represent people of color who are proud of their culture there were some criticisms. The film did not show how Mexican people can be of different complexions, lighter complexions. Coco's characters were of slightly darker complexion. This was something that caught people off guard but it is still very important to appreciate that this movie was a step in the correct direction of diversity.
A very important aspect of this movie was breaking traditional gender roles. Hispanic cultures are usually known for having very male-led families with the women just doing housework. Miguel's great-great-grandmother (Mamá Imelda: shown in image 3) took matters into her own hands when creating her own business as a single mother. This is very uncommon to see. But this movie took the perfect opportunity to empower women, especially women of color. This shows that women can be independent and strong even if their culture says the opposite. Even after Mama Imelda passed away, the Rivera family stayed a very successful matriarchy.
Image 3:
Ultimately, representation is extremely crucial in the media world. Coco was a wonderful example of how cultures can be represented in the right way. This film represents the Mexican culture while breaking gender roles and also keeping it educational and entertaining. The entertainment part, which was done by the addition of music (an example of some of the music used is below), tied the film up really well and gave it that light-hearted aspect in needed. The success of this film shows a step in the right direction in having more diverse and correct representations of people of color in media.
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