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Introduction
Family Systems Theory takes an in-depth approach to examine the family, looking at
aspects like first order tasks and outstanding influences that impact the family indirectly. The
film Coco offers a unique look into a complex, traditionalist Mexican family on the celebration
of the Day of the Dead, or Delos de los Muertos. Upon an examination of the first four order
tasks and through an in depth case study of the Rivera family, this examination reveals the
negative implications that the Rivera family climate has on the youngest child Miguel.
Analysis of First Four Order Tasks
Introduction
First order tasks are understood as the “essential business” of the family, or the objectives
and daily tasks the family is “charged with fulfilling regardless of its particular composition,
socioeconomic status, and cultural, ethnic or racial heritage” (Anderson & Sabatelli, 2011, p.
11). Essentially, the first four order tasks are the non-negotiables any family must execute in
order to function. However, how the tasks are executed plays a large role in whether the family
system is successful or not. It’s also worth noting that the level of adaptability within a family
system plays a key role with the first four order task. Understanding that family systems are not
static but rather malleable and ongoing, learning how to adapt strategies and formations found in
these first order tasks is critical in developing a stronger unit (Anderson & Sabatelli, 2011, p.
12). In this section, we will examine the first four order tasks in relation to the Rivera family, and
see how a lack of adaptability in these tasks led to a hindered development for the main character
of the film, Miguel.
Emotional Climate
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The first task a family must take on is to establish an emotional climate in the family that
promotes emotional and psychological wellbeing of its members (Anderson & Sabatelli, 2011, p.
14). The family must provide for member’s needs of acceptance and closeness, while also
establishing ways to deal with conflict and external stimuli that might harm the family (Anderson
& Sabatelli, 2011, p. 14). The Rivera family’s emotional climate can be described as
unsupportive, in that it demands a strong sense of familial responsibility with low levels of
acceptance and adaptability. Miguel, the main character from the movie, continues to be pushed
toward his family’s expectations of fulfilling the family shoemaking business, while his only
dream in life is to play music. However, music not only remains out of the family expectations,
but is completely forbidden in the Rivera family. This emotional tie reaches far back, to Miguel’s
great great grandmother who was abandoned by her husband for music. To that point, the current
leader of the family, Abuelita, is the eldest member able to keep that family-focused environment
alive (Unkrich, 2017).
Miguel feels isolated not only in his ambitions, but in how he can pursue them. His
family goes to lengths to keep him away from music (even the dead family members ban him
from it at first), so Miguel turns into himself and into hiding in order to find ways to find
happiness. In order to manage the emotional climate, Abuelita smashes his guitar, his parents
plan to have him working in the shop, and his aunts and uncles continue to follow the family-first
lead in condemning him. Clearly, the Rivera adults have not developed sustainable ways to
manage conflict.
All in all, the leaders of the family, and Abuelita in particular, manage the emotional
climate by deemphasizing autonomy and making the family path the only option. Patterns of
authority and control have the ability to inhibit cohesion and cooperation in a family (Anderson
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& Sabatelli, 2011, p. 14). As we see with the Rivera family, Abuelita’s family-focused control
turns the emotional climate hostile for anyone who falls out of line. For the members that came
before Miguel, the submission into this culture was the easier route. But, Miguel’s simple desire
to find happiness in something other than shoemaking creates emotional distress in him, enough
distress to push him to literally travel to the land of the dead in order to find it. At his current
age, Miguel should be discovering aspects that make him unique and fulfill him internally. You
can clearly see he’s yearning to mature, to find out what pushes him and brings him joy. So, for
the elders in his family to condemn this individuality causes harm not only to Miguel’s
confidence, but quite literally his psyche (Anderson & Sabatelli, 2011, p. 14).
Boundaries
Establishing and maintaining boundaries is another key task in family systems theory.
Boundaries not only mark the acceptable limits within a family, but can also work to separate
that family from outside subsystems and larger systems (Anderson & Sabatelli, 2011, p. 14).
Anderson and Sabatelli claim that two types of boundaries exist: external boundaries, which
differentiate the family from other systems and control the information flow from the family and
a larger system, and internal boundaries, which regulate the “flow of information between and
within” a family (Anderson & Sabatelli, 2011, p. 14). Internal boundaries also influence the
degree of autonomy an individual is able to have within the family (Anderson & Sabatelli, 2011,
p. 14).
Looking within the Rivera family, the boundaries are enmeshed and borderline toxic in
some circumstances. Enmeshed families have diffused boundaries, described as family patterns
that “facilitate psychological and emotional fusion among family members, potentially inhibiting
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the individuation process and the development and maintenance of psychosocial maturity”
(Barber & Buehler, 1996, p. 433). As said above, it's clear the overinvolvement in eachothers
lives has hindered Miguel’s development towards individuality and maturity. Enmeshed
boundaries entail a lack of privacy and emotions being understood as one collective, just as the
Rivera family’s emotions are considered as one. When the family succeeds, everyone succeeds.
As such, Miguel is unable to have his own opinions or emotions since the family is too involved
in eachothers day-to-day lives.
That said, it’s clear the Rivera family is not morphogenic. In family systems theory,
morphogenesis is the ability to adapt as a family in response to new information. In
morphogenesis, rules and norms of a family adapt over time to adjust with new needs or family
members in order to maintain balance (Anderson & Sabatelli, 2011, p. 15). Instead, the Rivera
family, and Abuelita specifically, engage in morphostasis, when a family system circumvents
structural change (Speer, 1970, p. 260). As such, systems like the Rivera family that fail to adapt
are called closed or rigid (Anderson & Sabatelli, 2011, p. 16). When the family found out that
Miguel had a guitar, or even when they saw him talking to a mariachi band member, instead of
understanding or listening to his experience, Miguel’s guitar was smashed and Miguel was
shielded away from the music world (Unkrich, 2017).
What’s ironic is that the Rivera family has also established rigid external boundaries
between them and the larger community. In fact, Miguel’s love for music and engagement with
community members in the mariachi square is actually a healthier (and more culturally
appropriate) boundary that the closed off nature his family practices, exampled by Abuelita
scaring mariachi members away from the store (Unkrich, 2017). While Abuelita is the main
person to maintain this boundary, it’s not all her own volition. This stagnant nature has been a
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longstanding influence in the Rivera family, starting with Miguel’s great great great
grandmother. Regardless, their inability to adjust to Miguel’s passion resulted in a family unable
to reach homeostatic state.
In morphostasis, instead of altering expectations, it's up to the individual on the outside to
alter behavior to conform to the family (Speer, 1970, p. 260). To encourage Miguel’s
conformity, his superiors took away his passion, yelled at him, and condemned him for even
considering something other than family. As a result, that inability to adapt, or even understand,
solidified the distance between Miguel and his other family members. For a long portion of the
film, Miguel’s family boundaries transitioned from enmeshed to rigid and closed off. However in
the end, both alive and deceased family members learn to adapt to Miguel’s passion for music,
and the family gradually transitions from morphostatic to morphogenic.
Maintenance
Maintenance tasks in a family system are involved with providing food, clothing, shelter
and all other basic necessities for the family, as well as establishing the means to achieve the
necessary resources (Anderson & Sabatelli, 2011, p. 14). In the Rivera family, the three
maintenance resources - time, energy, and money - are all devoted entirely to the family shoe
making business (Unkrich, 2017). On the day to day, the family is focused on making shoes in a
streamlined process, where each member contributes to the end goal that benefits the collective.
The hierarchy of the family determines who is in charge of maintaining the resources, which in
this case falls to Abuelia, the eldest member. With all the value and resources going into the shoe
business and nothing else, Abuelita is the one to organize the daily functioning of the family, and
she makes sure that any other tasks are trivialized or even forbidden, in the case of music.
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The family maintenance is extremely organized and even rigid, with no room for
deviance from it. Miguel, on the other hand, has different daily tasks. He shines shoes in the
mariachi square, where he meets other musicians and learns more about the Mexican culture as a
whole. Abuelita’s tendency towards over-organization leads to enmeshed boundaries in the
family as well as an inflexibility to adjust. With Abuelita holding all the power, in terms of
resources as well as in day to day decisions, there’s no room for adaptability in the life-cycle.
Identity
Like all families, the Rivera family has to develop a sense of identity for the members of
the family as well as for the group (Anderson & Sabatelli, 2011, p. 12). The identity of the
family often is tied to some theme of importance, and the individual identities are developed to
promote that overall theme. It’s clear to see that the Rivera identity relies on themes of trust and
a family-first approach. It’s them against the world, and they see themselves as a family who will
prevail by continuing the family business. Miguel’s deviance from his family’s expectation, and
their reactions to it, are proof that “abandoning” the family is the ultimate sin when it comes to
the Riveras. When finding interest in anything other than the family business, Miguel was
condemned and his instruments were broken. In this way, Miguel hurt the family by not
upholding his part of the deal. Each member’s primary duty is to advance the family, and in
some ways that leads to a lack of individual identity development. In order to maintain the
family identity, legacies and stories are passed on, like the one that forbids anyone from playing
music.
Some families create “family myths” that identify with the family theme, but in doing so
can be inconsistent with outside systems and cause tension for the family (Anderson & Sabatelli,
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2011, p. 13). Also, families can hold an image of a family member that is inconsistent with how
the individual sees themselves (Anderson & Sabatelli, 2011, p. 13). In Coco, the Rivera family
myth is clearly their hatred of music. The story of Miguel’s great great grandmother being
abandoned by her husband, Hector, so he could travel the world and play music, is passed on
through generations. When he was murdered, or what was perceived to be abandoning the
family, the family myth was born -- music is the enemy, and you never abandon your family. In
this way, the family myth is what creates the family identity of sticking to your roots and
working for the greater good.
Looking at Miguel specifically, it’s clear the family has a perception of him and his
future that’s inconsistent with how he sees himself. They see Miguel as another integral part of
the family business, while he knows himself to be a talented musician. In the end, Miguel’s
divergence from the family identity in some ways is what perpetuates his own development. In
the afterlife, Miguel finds his roots, both familial and inside himself. Through his own
exploration into his identity, Miguel reveals himself to be not only as a musician, but ironically a
family man in the end (just not in the way the family on earth had imagined). As such, Miguel’s
new individual identity actually changes the family identity from then on out, shown in the
closing scene where Miguel’s music is not only appreciated, but now brought into their next Day
of the Dead ritual (Unkrich, 2017).
Conclusion
Upon examining the first four order tasks in relation to the Rivera family, it’s safe to say
that at the start of the film thing’s weren’t looking good. From an unsupportive emotional
climate to unhealthy boundaries within, the Rivera family had a serious issue with adaptability.
As such, I would categorize the Rivera family as morphostatic in the beginning. However,
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Miguel’s deviance from what was expected of him brought him clarity on himself. His
discoverance of the real family history and his own musical path brought him security, and in
turn Miguel successfully changed the family identity and climate to a more beneficial one. At the
end of the movie, it’s not clear how the boundaries or maintenance tasks changed in the Rivera
family. However, it’s plain to see that the Rivera family learned the importance of adaptability
when it comes to the first four order tasks, leading to a healthier family in the end.
Rivera Family Case Study
Introduction
Further aspects of the Family Systems Theory are worth examining when making a case
of the Rivera family. While first order tasks focus much on the day to day within the family,
outstanding factors like cultural and social influences play a large role in family systems
development. Looking in this section at more external or bigger picture concepts, it’s clear to see
how the Rivera family’s performance on the first order tasks impacts larger systems.
Family Life Cycle
The family life cycle is one of the most enduring contributions of family developmental
theory, offering a way to differentiate the “shared experiences of family as they process over
time” (Allen & Henderson, 2017). In other words, the life cycle are the developmental states a
family system goes through over time. The people, and the roles they take on, in the family life
cycle are interactive and malleable to the demands, resources and events the family experiences
over time (Allen & Henderson, 2017). In its original form, family life cycle theory has eight
stages, beginning with establishment and expectant of the marital union, which would be
Miguel’s parents. The childbearing stage is next, and for this purpose would be the birth of
Miguel. After preschool, the family reaches the school-aged family stage, where the Rivera
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family is currently located. In stage four, the parents and the children work to reorganize the
family to fit the expanding world of the children (Allen & Henderson, 2017). The Rivera family,
at least for Miguel’s immediate family, has yet to reach the fifth stage or those beyond.
The family life cycle relies on the concept of changing over time. Obviously families
differ in which stage they’re in and at what time, however having a successful method for
responding to change is critical in moving from one stage to another. But as seen in the film,
Miguel’s parents find it difficult to reorganize their familial expectations in order to better
support Miguel's journey forward. More modernized research looks at how families evolve from
stage to stage in today’s world, under the assumption that the family system functions fine “until
is stressed or forced to change,” at which point can cause the family to “become stuck in rigid
patterns” (Barnhill & Longo, 1978). It seems that Miguel’s parents have adopted the rigid pattern
that was placed on them, and when faced with deviance from Miguel, they responded by trying
to use what they knew to advance the way they had.
Social Influences
Social influences, including culture and surrounding norms, dictate much of the Rivera
family’s character. In this film, the Mexican culture plays a huge role in defining the Rivera
family. Research from Varela et al. examined how Mexican culture perpetuates controlling adult
figures, particularly motherly figures. Results from the study indicate that mother control brings
on more internalized anxiety symptoms among Mexican children, much like what we saw in
Miguel (Varela et al., 2009, p. 175). The highly traditional social influences in Mexico, where
family comes first and you put family happiness before your own, created enmeshed
relationships and unsupportive attitudes among the Rivera family towards Miguel. Ironically,
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Miguel falls more in line with the rest of Mexican social culture in celebrating music and
eventually developing his own identity through it.
The film takes place on Dia de los Muertos, a ritualistic holiday in Mexican culture that is
an extremely important part of culture. Heritage is the center theme not only for Dia de los
Muertos, but also everyday for the Rivera family, shown through their family identity. Further
research looks at the role of Mexican children in social life, with the expectation of fulfilling the
role of the father and taking charge of the family (Diaz-Guerrero, 1967). In this case, the Rivera
family is actually led by Abuelita, but traditionally young men are raised to be masculine and
prepare to lead the family strongly. So, for Miguel to leave his family to pursue music,
particularly on this family centered holiday, was a huge blow to the traditional social
expectations of Miguel.
Celebrations & Rituals
As explained above, the film is centered around the holiday of Dia de los Muertos, or
Day of the Dead. This holiday is entirely focused on the family, in its traditions as well as how
the Rivera family celebrates it. In Mexican culture, this holiday’s purpose is to bring the
ancestors back home by putting up their photos to ensure they had not been forgotten. In the
film, Miguel’s great great grandfather Hector suffers from disappearing because his photo was
not up for so many years, although that was because he “abandoned” the family long ago. In
Mexican tradition, the last person who remembers the deceased on earth is how long the dead
stay alive on the other side of the world. As such, it’s a ritual in the Rivera family to teach the
young members about all of their ancestors, and it’s clear that in his upbringing, remembering
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those that came before him was an integral part of Miguel’s education. And, at the end of the
film, we see him passing down this tradition to his newest infant family member.
Rituals are considered a generational process (Fiese, 1992, p. 151). They fosters a sense
of identity for individual members that’s reflective of the family’s shared belief system (Fiese,
1992, p. 151). Actively remembering and celebrating deceased family members is important not
only on Dia de los Muertos, but in daily life as well. In Mexican culture, each member plays an
integral role in forming the family identity through these rituals, and even after death, the family
returns to celebrate it on this special day. In terms of more daily rituals, making shoes is what
keeps this family close. In a sense, this daily ritual honors the present as well as the past. Beyond
honoring the family identity, shoemaking also provides the family the money they need to eat
and sleep in at home at night. Looking at first order tasks, the ritual of shoemaking perpetuates
the identity and maintenance of the family. In summary, the celebration of Dia de los Muertos is
only a larger scale reflection of the family centered rituals practiced every day in the Rivera
family.
Philosophy of Life
After being abandoned for music, the Rivera family made meaning of the world by
emphasizing family and ritual. Through the daily ritual of shoemaking, and through
remembering those that came before them, the Rivera family’s philosophy is based in
celebrating, supporting, and working for family which in turn created their identity. In some
ways, Miguel can be seen as discarding this philosophy by pursuing the one forbidden topic of
the family. However upon traveling to the land of the dead, Miguel and his other family
members realize that if their identity relies on the concept of a close knit family, they should be
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supporting each other instead of condemning each other for individual differences. In the world
of the dead, Miguel realizes that his family wasn’t left behind for music, and at the conclusion of
the film it’s actually music that brings them together (Unkrich, 2017). So in a sense, Rivera’s
philosophy of life never strays away from family, but adjusts to better understand what family
really means.
Conclusion
The first order tasks in the Rivera family play a key role in determining their family life
cycle, their responses to social and cultural influences, and ultimately how they develop a
philosophy of life for the group. The Rivera family, specifically Miguel’s parents, show to be
struggling to adapt between the stages of Miguel’s individual development. In turn, they resort to
previous rigid patterns that hinder development to the next state. Mexican cultural and social
influences play a large role in defining the Rivera family’s identity while also dictating the
maintenance tasks. Finally, the Rivera family identity is clearly reflected in their philosophy of
life. While the philosophy of family first never really changed, in the end Miguel found a way to
redefine what family-first truly means.
Conclusion
Upon applying the family systems to the Rivera family, it's clear to witness the family’s
transition as well as Miguel’s. Looking at the first order tasks of family systems theory, the
Rivera family’s emotional climate can be understood as unsupportive, in that it demands a strong
sense of familial duty. The Rivera family boundaries are very enmeshed, and the three
maintenance resources are all devoted entirely to the family shoe making business. Lastly,
through an investigation of the Rivera family identity it’s clear to see that the family identity is
tied to the concept of loyalty to your family itself, in the process inhibiting Miguel from
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developing his own. To that point, Miguel’s initial deviance from his family’s expectations
pushed him inward, unable to succeed due to the enmeshed boundaries and over controlling
nature in the family. However, upon his journey to the underworld, Miguel finds truth in himself
and finds a way to connect his dreams to align with those of his family. As such, looking at the
other aspects of family systems theory, the Rivera family learns to adjust their rituals, customs
and expectations to create a more morphogenic family environment that supports Miguel, and as
the research indicates, this new supportive environment for Miguel also makes the Rivera family
healthier as a whole.
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References
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Barber, B., & Buehler, C. (1996). Family Cohesion and Enmeshment: Different Constructs,
Different Effects. Journal of Marriage and Family, 58(2), 433-441. doi:10.2307/353507
Barnhill, L. R., & Longo, D. (1978). Fixation and Regression in the Family Life Cycle. Family
Process, 17(4), 469–478. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1545-5300.1978.00469.x
Diaz-Guerrero, R. D. (1976). Psychology of the Mexican Culture and Personality. Austin, Texas:
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Fiese, B. H. (1992). Dimensions of Family Rituals Across Two Generations: Relation to ..
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Varela, R. E., Niditch, L. A., Hensley-Maloney, L., Moore, K. W., & Creveling, C. C. (2013).
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