Describing My Experience

When I watched Coco for the first time, I grew curious, intrigued, and emotionally connected to the representation of the culture expressed in the film. Coco was the first movie for me that I watched that took me into a brand-new part of Hispanic culture and holiday. I was able to rapidly understand on a deeper, and emotional level which made a huge impact on me. I cried in moments that may have made it difficult for me to understand as a child, but as an adult, I am grateful I was able to watch the film and repeatedly learn something new, only extending room for the full effect I was meant to experience.

Classifying My Experience

I experienced a great deal of empathy. Empathy is defined as “the feeling of understanding another person’s actions. You may not condone the actions or identify with the person, but you accept that their actions weren’t wrong.” Specifically, when Miguel’s great-grandmother dies. It symbolized for me the impact of a close death that was “the glue of the family.”

I also experienced relearning. Relearning is defined as “Learning something you have learned in the past and partially forgotten.” What I witnessed in the film was Hispanic culture and the holiday Dias de los Muertos, families celebrated. I knew of the holiday, and I of course recognize how important and impactful any culture is on families. But I relearned the importance of family, culture, and love within a family-oriented dynamic. What I saw is everyone treasured this day. Families made it special to have their deceased loved ones feel welcome when they crossed over to the land of the living. Families displayed ofrenda’s with candles, flowers, pictures of deceased loved ones, and some food to welcome the celebrated spirits.

Lastly, what I experienced was togetherness, defined as “A feeling of being united in understanding with others.” I experienced this the most throughout the movie which I will be focusing on.

Describing the Features Prompting my Experience

A specific scene in Coco that prompted my experience of togetherness was towards the end of the movie when Miguel sang a lullaby called Remember Me written by Hector (Miguel’s great-great- grandfather), to his great-grandmother, Mama Coco, who is slowly dying. She regains her memory of her father by hearing Miguel sing the song Hector once sang for her, allowing him to continue living. I felt that sense of togetherness for a number of reasons. One, because Miguel’s grandmother was able to finally see Miguels’ passion for music, despite her hatred for it. For some context, it was revealed in the movie that she hated music due to her grandfather being a famous musician who left the family to pursue his dreams. Along the years, Mama Coco wondered why her Papa never came back, which made Miguel’s grandmother sad. However, this was not all true; instead, Hector left to go on tour to support his family but was murdered by Ernesto de la Cruz. Ernesto was jealous of Hector’s talent, so he murdered him to steal the songs Hector created, now making Ernesto a famous musician.

I also felt togetherness when Mama Coco reunited with Hector, her father, embracing each other in their arms. Once Hector is finally able to pass to the land of the living, he is able to be reunited with his family from both worlds. While watching the movie, I found myself being emotionally drawn to the film as if I were included in the story, characterizing immersion. Immersion is defined as “Absorbing or engrossing involvement in a story. You might feel as though you’ve been swallowed by the story.” To see culture expressed in a Disney film, it made me feel close to their culture and understand this togetherness.

Here is a movie scene of Miguel now in the land of the living with his Hector’s guitar, running to his house to sing the song Remember Me to Mama Coco, in hopes of her remembering her father.

Here is a movie scene of Hector, Mama Imelda, and Mama Coco reuniting at the land of the dead, crossing over the bridge to visit the land of the living on Dia De Los Muertos.

Determining the Narrative Technology That Created the Feature

The narrative technology that explains my experience of togetherness is Reality shifter. This is defined as “Presenting an alternate reality in the form of an absurd or unrealistic plot, character, or story world.” This reality shift shows the transitioning throughout the movie of Miguel crossing the land of the dead and the land of the living. In these two different worlds, there is a sense of togetherness experienced within families. Throughout the movie, I felt the togetherness through the reality shifts shown when Miguel enters the land of the dead and the land of the living where he’s reunited with his family members. In the land of the dead, Miguel and Hector perform Un Poco Loco together on stage. During this moment, Miguel is anxious to perform although Hector encourages him and cheers him on. Once Miguel starts singing the song, it captures the crowd and Hector’s attention. The dog that continuously is shown in the movie, symbolizing a spiritual guide, pulls Hector on stage where he and Miguel both sing Un Poco Loco together. Watching them sing and dance on stage while the crowd cheers them on, made me feel this togetherness between Hector and Miguel.

Here is a link to that specific movie scene: Anthony Gonzalez, Gael García Bernal – Un Poco Loco (From “Coco”)

In the reality shift, a concept that is shown called the “Final Death,” occurs when a family member is completely forgotten from their families; they die permanently and can no longer join the land of the dead. This is a metaphor represented throughout the movie, prompting Miguel to help Hector preserve his remembrance in his family, avoiding the Final Death. Although this unrealistic plot and concept of this world won’t ever exist, it brings a sense of togetherness from both worlds in the Land of the Dead and the Land of the Living that Miguel gets to experience.

A specific scene that explains the “Final Death” happens when Hector and Miguel visit an old man who is in the process of being forgotten and is fading. The narrative technology reality world can be represented here as Hector sings and plays the guitar one last time for the old man because he realizes his family is forgetting about him.