Coco Pixar
Coco: the Pixar film that defies Donald Trump’s anti-Mexican rhetoric
This latest animation finally ends cinema’s run of lazy south-of-the-border stereotypes
In the movies, Mexico is a place where bad things happen. From the car bomb in Touch of Evil to the drug gangs with their scary dogs in No Country for Old Men, it’s where outlaws go to lie low and bozos go to party with impunity. It’s the place of Donald Trump’s “bad hombres” nightmares.
Even in animated form, Mexican characters have not come off well. El Macho, the villain of Despicable Me 2, for example, was a compilation of stereotypes: chubby, hairy chest, medallion, exaggeratedly romantic, wears wrestler’s mask, er, owns a Mexican restaurant. The Mexican plane in Planes was pretty much the same (he also wore a wrestler’s mask). Then there were the taco truck owners in Turbo; the romantic “Latino” Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story 3. Basically, things haven’t moved on much from Speedy Gonzales.
So it’s a relief to report that Hollywood has finally redeemed itself. Coco, the new Pixar animation, genuinely gives Mexico a good name. Like the best of Pixar’s movies, it reaches emotional depths few live-action films do, especially as the story takes our guitar-playing boy hero into the afterlife on el dia de los muertos, the Day of the Dead, where he meets his skeleton ancestors. Coco is not only steeped in Mexican culture and tradition, it gets it right, from the dance steps to the twine around the tamales. Latin critics have lauded it and it’s now Mexico’s highest grossing movie ever.
There are only a few problems with Coco. One involves The Book of Life, another colourful, animated fantasy steeped in Mexican culture, taking a trip to the land of the dead, with a guitar-playing hero and skeleton ancestors. That was released in 2014, and made by predominantly Mexican talent, including director Jorge Gutiérrez and actor Salma Hayek. The stories are different enough, and the development periods long enough, to dispel suspicions of direct plagiarism, but it’s a little unfortunate that the Disney behemoth should have eclipsed the homegrown effort. Disney-Pixar’s attempt to trademark the term “Dia de los Muertos” for its exclusive use on merchandise didn’t exactly allay concerns over cultural appropriation. But in response to widespread criticism, Disney dropped the bid and instead hired Mexican cultural consultants to work on Coco. That might not be enough to settle the appropriation accusations but nor is this a zero-sum game: you can enjoy Coco and The Book Of Life.
Coco couldn’t have come at a better time in terms of Trump’s anti-Mexican rhetoric. But even without that, the “build the wall”/“they’re not sending us their best” brigade would do well to remember some of the people Mexico has sent to Hollywood in the past decade. Such as Guillermo Del Toro, who co-produced The Book of Life, and whose The Shape of Water is a critical hit (it’s an empathetic story of outsiders in mainstream America; funny that). Three of the past five best director Oscars have gone to Mexicans, too: Alfonso Cuarón for Gravity, and Alejandro González Iñárritu for The Revenant and Birdman. Emmanuel Lubezki, who worked on all three, has now picked up best cinematographer three times in a row. You could say Mexico has helped make Hollywood great again.
Coco is in cinemas from 19 January
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