The Day of the Dead traditions throughout Coco

Rating: 10/10 (23 April 2018)

The Latino movie, Coco, focuses on a boy's journey to find the missing face on his families ofrendas but also includes the Latino annual tradition of remembering their loved ones who have passed. Coco explains the Latino culture easily for young kids to understand the Day of the Dead. This movie represents the culture and traditions of The Day of the Dead correctly, however, some parts of this holiday is missing.
The biggest tradition is the ofrendas. In the movie, it is portrayed as it would in the regular world. The ofrendas are something mostly to all Latino families puts up in their house. Some families keep it up year round to always have the remembrance of their ancestors. Others make it a tradition and family bonding time to make their ofrendas more meaningful. In an editorial about The Day of the Dead the ofrendas are a big part of the tradition. "People who celebrate the holiday prepare ofrendas, or altars, in honor of their departed family members" (Anonymous, 2007). Deceased family is very important to those of the Latino culture. The ofrendas is made with the things the ancestors liked. Majorly, the favorite foods of the ancestors are laid out on the ofrendas.
Alike the ofrendas, cemeteries where the deceased ancestors lie are the gathering places of dead to living on this annual holiday. This is a place for the dead to see their family again. In Coco, this is really well explained by illustrating through the dead as ghosts and looking out over their sons and daughters with their own kids. It was not only realistic, but you could clearly understand what was happening. From a Day of the Dead editorial the author states "cemeteries are a comfortable space to allow the spirits to gather and enjoy themselves on Earth once again," (Anonymous, 2007). Cemeteries are "reconnecting stations" of the living and the dead. Although the living cannot physically see the dead, they know they are there and Coco expresses this in a positive way. The movie shows how only the dead can see the living and how no one is ever sad, but always happy in the presence of each other. This tradition is shown very clearly and I agree that it would be the strongest connection the movie has to real life.
An important element of of The Day of the Dead is lacking in Coco. In the movie, it only shows one day of the holiday when in reality it lasts three days. Each day is for a different age group. An article written by Diane Stoneback titled The Morning Call explains that "The Day of the Dead actually last three days it begins October 31 when the spirits of the angelitos (little children who have died) start returning. They are gone by November 1 (all souls day) when the adult spirits begin coming back. The oldest spirits leave by November 2 (all Saints Day)" (Stoneback, D1). This fact about this holiday is something that shouldn't be skipped over. Each family member should remembered on their own day, but was not portrayed during the movie. With this tradition of The Day of the Dead it would have been more realistic and maybe even a little more fun for young children to see that culture idea.
Overall Coco represents The Day of the Dead in a realistic and true representation to the non-fictional world. Although it is lacking a key component to the Latino holiday this movie still positively shows the culture. I would recommend this movie to anyone who wants to learn more about Latino culture without watching super historical movies.