3. COCO ANALYSIS 3
Apply Family Systems Theory to Coco
Introduction.
The movie Coco, a Pixar children’s movie, is a film that will make one laugh and cry at
the same time. It is rich in culture, has a touching theme of heritage and remembrance, and is the
perfect example for family systems. It shows examples of interpersonal relationships in families,
family conflict, secrets, and family themes, all while breaking down societal norms that death
has to be a time of sorrow. It can be a celebration of life!
Significant Dates.
An important date in the Rivera family is the day that Miguel’s great-great grandfather
“abandoned” his family. He was married to Imelda and they had a daughter together, Coco. This
day forever changed the Rivera family because Imelda told her children and all the generations
to come that her husband left the family to play music. This tragedy caused Imelda to ban music
in her family and it became a generational rule that no music whatsoever is allowed and this later
affected Miguel and his musical dreams.
The movie Coco is based around Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, which is
another very significant date. Día de los Muertos is a Mexican holiday that involves family and
friends gathering around to celebrate and remember friends and family members who have
passed away. This holiday is not viewed as sad, but a celebration of life that their loved ones
awake for and celebrate alongside with them. This holiday is particularly special to the Rivera
family, because as Miguel puts it, “nothing is more important than family”. This adds importance
to the Rivera family genogram because this holiday is how they keep their deceased loved one’s
memory alive and without Miguel going on his adventure, he would have continued to believe
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(and spread to his children and grandchildren) that Ernesto de la Cruz was his great-great
grandfather.
Family Beliefs and Values.
The Rivera family values are stronger than most. They hold the opinions of their older
family members high and go to great lengths to not disrespect their family’s elders. This family
value is a reason the Rivera family treasures the ofrenda so much, it allows for their family
history to be shared while remembering generations of ancestors. Normally people would not be
able to pick out their great aunts or cousins that they have never met before out of a crowd but
the Rivera family’s strong belief in Day of the Dead and their close family values have kept even
distant family member’s memory alive. This allows for relationships to be made with family
members that typically would not be very strong. This helps develop Miguel throughout the film
as he went from not caring if no one remembered him, to teaching his little sister about the
holiday and of its importance.
Secrets.
For all of Miguel’s life, and that of his father’s and grandmother’s, it was a secret as to
who their great-great grandfather was, why he never returned, and what he was like. The only
details about Miguel’s great-great grandfather were that he abandoned his family and was a
musician. The family never even knew what he looked like because the photo on the ofrenda of
Imelda was folded to exclude her husband to keep him out of their family history and out of their
Día de los Muertos celebrations. Because of this, boundaries had been closed on the topic.
Family members were not allowed to listen to music, sing, or play instruments. The family was
not even allowed to speak his name. This communication pattern is protective, meaning there are
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high expectations and feel there is no need to provide explanation, the children are just expected
to respect the “no music” rule.
The family rule of music being forbidden caused communication patterns of conflict
when music was being played or talked about. Which caused another secret, Miguel’s passion for
music. This closed boundary made Miguel afraid to speak about his dreams in fear of causing
conflict within his family. So, he reverted to hiding his music fascination along with his guitar
and clips of his idol, Ernesto de Cruz, in a secret room.
Losses.
Miguel’s great-great grandmother, Imelda, experienced great loss when her husband left
her and her small child, Coco, to go on the road to be a musician. This changed the genogram
pattern as it left a big question mark for Miguel’s great-great grandfather’s identity. This
devastated Imelda and she grew a hatred for all things music. She passed this hatred down to her
children and grandchildren and forbid music to be anywhere near her family. This later became a
huge loss for Miguel, who felt his purpose in life was to make music. Coco experienced loss in a
different way, as she had memory loss and had lost the memory of her and her father singing
songs together. The pending loss of her last memories of him, meant great loss for Hector, who
would’ve disappeared from both worlds completely.
Themes.
A big theme of the Rivera family is their history of being shoemakers. This is something
they take pride in and something that excites them when they think that Miguel is growing old
enough to start making shoes, only to be surprised when they learn of his dream of being a
musician. Another theme in the Rivera family is their intolerance for music. This theme causes
the Rivera family to behave in ways such as staying away from the music plaza, not allowing
6. COCO ANALYSIS 6
people to play music around their house, and forbidding their children and future children to
have anything to do with music. This adds to the family’s belief structure that family history is of
utmost importance and since great-great grandmother said it, that means they have to always
follow that rule. Listening to and respecting family elders are vital to the Rivera family.
Part B
Emotional Climate.
The emotional climate in the Rivera family home is, for the most part, warm, loving, and
content. It is a big family that lives in close quarters that share a bond over their long history and
love of being proud shoemakers. They are always together, have always lived with each other,
eat next to each other, and are content with the lifestyle that their great-great grandmother,
Imelda, has set for them. The individual relationships are close, especially that of Miguel and his
great grandmother, Coco. They manage their emotional climate by the way they greet each other
lovingly and speak nicely to each other. However, when it comes to music, every family member
immediately gets uncomfortable and urges the one speaking of music to stop. This is where
Miguel’s contentment and happiness differs from his family. It is not supportive or
developmentally appropriate to Miguel’s age because he is still young and developing his self-
esteem and his purpose in the world and his family is not fully supporting his dreams. These
restrictions make Miguel resentful and cause him to want to go behind the family’s backs to
perform at the town’s talent show in secret.
Boundaries.
The boundaries in the Rivera family are closed. They are enmeshed, because there is little
independence in free thinking of their own opinions within the family and they are constantly
together. Each individual’s thinking is based off of other members of the family’s opinions. They
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maintain these boundaries by reinforcing the rules of no music, even though Miguel does not
agree with this opinion. At first, the Rivera family was in a long state of morphostasis due to the
fact that nothing had changed for several generations. But by the end of the film, the Rivera
family showed signs of being morphogenesis. This is because after learning that it was Hector
that is Miguel’s great-great grandfather and that he tried to return home to them, the family in the
living world morphed into a music-loving family. This opened the boundaries within the family,
and they played music together, everyone played different instruments, and everyone encouraged
Miguel’s dream.
Maintenance.
The Rivera family uses the family business that has been passed down as a resource for
income. They use this resource efficiently by teaching the ways of the business to new members
of the family once they are married in or once the ones born into the family reach a certain age.
Each family member has a job within the shoe business regardless of age. The children have the
responsibility of shining the shoes and as they grow older, they are taught how to repair the
shoes. The family appears to be over organized as everyone has a job they are expected to do,
and everyone must follow the strict no music rule.
Identity.
The identity of this family is their bond over the multigenerational family shoemaking
business and the family being tight knit. The story of how Miguel’s great-great grandfather
abandoned his family for music is passed down to each generation to reinforce the identity that
nothing should be more important than family and things that get put before family should be
banned. This story is what shaped the Rivera family into the family that has nothing to do with
music.
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Part C
Family Life Cycle.
Miguel is in the stage of his life that he is finding out who he wants to be and what he
wants to do. He is pushing for more independence and freedom and seems to feel frustrated by
his family restrictions. His parents are in the ‘couple with children’ phase of the family life cycle
as they are working on being more flexible with their growing children’s boundaries and
independence. They think they are doing a good job of this by realizing his maturity and
awarding him with moving up in the family shoemaking business, unaware that Miguel’s real
desire is to perform music. This issue is pertinent to Miguel, because he cannot understand why
his family has to ban music because of an ancestor. This is less relevant to Miguel’s parents
because they are so used to this way and are set in those rules- if great-great grandmother said it
then we will obey it.
Ethnic Influences.
Miguel’s ethnic identity is Latino. This is referring to Miguel’s culture, nationality, and
ancestry. Miguel has a close relationship with his family members. There are multi generations
living in one home and they all work together, talk, and have fun together. They cook large
Hispanic meals and eat a big dinner at night together. They hold their elders on a pedestal and
respect them greatly, all things that are reflections of Miguel’s ethnic identity. This is likely very
similar to how Miguel’s parents and grandparents grew up as well; all together helping each
other out.
Celebration & Rituals.
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Holidays are very important to the Rivera family, one of the most important being Día de
los Muertos, or Day of the Dead. During this celebration the family in the living world sets up a
shrine-like shelf called the ofrenda. On the ofrenda, they place photos of their deceased loved
ones to celebrate their life and their family history. The family will spend many hours cooking
their ancestors’ favorite foods, lighting candles, and enjoy various celebrations. In the movie, the
families spread pedals to “lead the way” from the Land of the Dead to the Land of the Living.
This holiday is important to the Rivera family as it is all about spending time together and
celebrating the lives of their deceased loved ones.
Rules and Values.
There were several rules in Miguel’s family. Everyone has to do their part in the family
business, the children must respect their elders, and the last rule is that there must be absolutely
no music. Miguel incorporated some of these rules into his family situation by shining shoes and
obeying his parents and grandparents, but he finds it very difficult to comply with the no music
rule. The ban of music in the Rivera family is a strong overt rule. They make it very clear to
family members and even people walking down the street get yelled at for singing and playing
music. It is an overt rule that the family stay away from the city square as there is too often
music being played there. Miguel secretly discards this as he decides to shine shoes there and
finds out about the upcoming talent show.
Stories.
One of the stories that were told in the movie, Coco, were about mama Imelda. They told
the story about how she was left by her musician husband and it broke her heart. But instead of
letting this heartbreak get her down, she got up and learned how to make shoes. She taught this
trade to her children and they taught it to their children. The business flourished and sustained
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the family for years to come. The underlying message in this story to Miguel was that he should
respect his ancestors because they have provided for him and set forth a life for him to follow.
The influence of this story was not always viewed as positively to Miguel, however, as this story
is what began the ban of music in his family.
Philosophy of Life.
The Rivera family made meaning of life by making family the most important aspect in
life. They choose to be close and loving with their family while they are living and continue to
love and appreciate family after death as well. Their ancestors and family history are a big part of
their life, not just during Día de los Muertos. After Miguel spends some time with Hector, his
newly found out family member, he realizes how important remembering family really is. So,
once returning, he runs to his family and fully engages with them and teaches his little sister the
importance of the holiday the next year after the death of Coco.
Conclusion.
The Rivera family deeply depends on each other. Their business, their heritage, their
holidays, their family expectations, and their identity were all set by their ancestors before them.
But in family systems, especially in large ones such as the Rivera family, there will be conflict
and differing opinions. In the end, Miguel was willing to do anything for his family member,
Hector, to be remembered. Even if it meant he had to take the agreement to never play music
again. But minds can be changed, and Miguel managed to return to the land of the living just in
time to celebrate with his family, to place Hector on the ofrenda, and to change his family to an
instrument playing, singing, and music-loving family.
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Reference:
Allen, K. R., & Henderson, A. C. (2017). Family theories: foundations and applications.
Chichester, West Sussex, UK: Wiley Blackwell.
García, B. G., Gonzalez, A., Bratt, B., Anderson, D. K., Unkrich, L., Molina, A., Aldrich, M.,
Buena Vista Home Entertainment (Firm). (2018). Coco.
