This was an analysis of the Disney movie Coco, Throughout the paper, I discussed the family theory that was demonstrated in the film. This essay was created in Issues in Family Systems (HDFS 3920) in Spring 2021.

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Coco: Analysis Paper
Anna Galucki
University of Georgia

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COCO: ANALYSIS PAPER
Coco Analysis Paper
Introduction
In Disney’s Coco, a movie about a close Latina family that has a 12-year-old boy named
Miguel that has a passion for music, but because of past experiences with music the family will
not allow him to pursue his passions. Miguel runs away from his family, because they refused to
accept who he was, a musician. Through an adventure of entering the land of the dead, Miguel
learns more about his family history and his family learns more about Miguel’s secret passion for
music (García, 2018). In this movie, the family is in a close relationship with each other, from
this there are key factors that contribute to Miguel keeping is passion a secret.
Analysis of the four first-order tasks
Emotional climate
The Rivera family has an enmeshed system (Allen & Henderson, 2017, p.112). With an
enmeshed family, everyone in the family system knows everyone’s business. This family system
creates an environment where there is a controlled environment in Miguel’s case, the control is
in the hands of his great great grandma (Mamá Imelda), because she set the precedent for the
family. Mamá Imelda created a controlled environment where people had to follow the rules that
she laid out, and this control carried over to Elena Rivera (Miguel’s grandmother). Miguel has a
dream of singing and preforming, but he is not able to fulfill his dream, because there is an overt
rule, or an openly stated rule (Anderson & Sabatelli, 2011, p.11), that the Rivera family does not
have anything to do with music. The emotional environment of the Rivera household was
controlling, because of the need for family and nothing else. At the age of 12, Miguel is learning
from society the norms and is shaping him to be who they are going to be. The typical family

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will instill rules both overt (spoken) and covert (unspoken) rules at during the age of adolescents.
While this is something that is typical, in Miguel’s case, his family is forcing the family business
on him rather than letting Miguel figure out his own identity, where a new identity of
“shoemaker” is being forced onto him. Elena Rivera saw that music can separate family’s, by her
husband choosing music over family. Elena is doing all that she can to hold the family together,
but in hold that family so close, there are people in the family who are not being heard because
they are different from the rest of the family In Latina culture, the older generation holds more
power over the younger (Martinez & Hernandez, 2012). Towards the end of the movie, Miguel’s
family learned more about his desire to be a musician, and to a way of understanding. The Rivera
family could be characterized as an authoritative family (Thompson & Richards, 2003) by the
end of the movie, because Miguel’s family has control over him in a legitimate way whereas in
the beginning of the movie when the power was illegitimately distributed. Throughout the
movie, the family was becoming more open to change, and you saw the effects that acceptance
had on Miguel.
Boundaries
The Rivera family has an inflexible boundary (Allen & Henderson, 2017, p.110); the family
has a close bond with each other, but any outside members are denied. For example, Dante the
street dog, was not allowed to be in the family at the beginning of the movie. As the movie went
on the family’ s boundaries expended out to people and pets outside the identity that was built. As
an enmeshed family there was no room for individuality, however as the movie went on, the family
became slightly more disengaged or independent (Allen & Henderson, 2017, p.112). Though the
family never moved to be fully disengaged; there was still control over Miguel while leaving room
for individuality. The Rivera family created a morphogenesis environment (Anderson & Sabatelli,

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2011, p.15), were there is room to change. The boundaries changed after the main character Miguel
sang to Mama Coco, which then allowed her to remember her father. This was to moment where
the family living on Earth changed their ways and opened to change the rule of ‘no music’. After
this event, there was a musical scene where the audience sees an enmeshed family with room for
individuality which was then expressed in the different musical instruments in the family members.
The boundaries that were taught to be structured, grew to have plasticity in the end. The Rivera
family changed their boundaries from a rigid boundary to a healthy boundary, where there is more
room for openness.
Maintenance
The Rivera family owns a family shoemaking business, so each day the daily tasks of keeping
the family business are what structure the system’s lives. The driving force in the Rivera family
on Earth is Elena Rivera and in the land of the dead the driving force of the family is Mamá Imelda,
the maintenance is enforced by these two women. When there is something wrong one of the two
women are who are there to solve the problem. For example, when Miguel was discovered in the
land of the dead, the family’s first reaction was to go to Mamá Imelda for help (García, 2018). The
tasks of the household are distributed. The family uses each other to complete each task physical
task, everyone has their own purpose in maintaining the family on a surface level. Miguel was the
shoe polisher, but then was moved into making shoes which was a “more responsible” job, the
switch was the idea of Elena. The females of the household were given different tasks than the
males. The women of the household were setting the table and cleaning, while the men were the
ones who were crafting. This further showed the families maintenance with tradition, in traditional
latin culture, the men and women have jobs that they are to uphold in the household and Elena
reenforces those traditions (Galanti, 2003). The children of the house were also doing what they

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were told to do, they would go to school, work, and eat as they were told. Each person in the
system had a place and a specific job that helped maintain the family, each job however was given
by Elena. The Rivera family is over-organized (Anderson & Sabatelli, 2011, p.9-10), meaning that
they follow a schedule and anything off from the schedule needs to be fixed. However, over-
organization does not leave any room for any dysfunction or differentiation which is where Miguel
was, He did not fit into what the family wanted for him.
Identity
The family placed their identity in their work; Each member of the family is expected to be a
part of the family shoe business. The identity that is placed in the hands of Miguel is the identity
of a family member above all as well as a shoemaker, though he thought of himself as a musician.
The family also has an identity of not listening or playing music. When an individual like Miguel
goes outside of this identity of disliking music, the family does everything in their power to reject
those feelings because they are not what the communal identity of the family. In the beginning of
the movie, a narration of what happened to break the love of music; there was a family system that
enjoyed music, and then the music became a priority over the family, which led to the dysfunction
of the family system. From the start of this family system, there was joy and fulfillment from
family and music, but then one individual chose music over the family that then created an identity
of rejecting the thing that separated the family, music. The family held to other traditions such as
the ofrenda which is an important tradition (Dunn & O'Brien, 2009). This is celebrated every year
on the day of the dead. In the families’ ofrenda, the people who were most honored were the
people who followed the family identity. While the system created a close bond with each member,
the Rivera family system does not leave room for individualization within each person’s identity
(Holahan & Greer, 2017). The Rivera family identity was changed after Miguel’s great great

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grandfather (Hector) left his family behind, this was a turning point for the family system, where
the wife of that relationship set the identity and the family traditions that were to be followed. The
family was again changed once Miguel left his family behind to better understand his family
history while also realizing his identity away from the family system.
Case study
Family life cycle
A Family life cycle consists of a marriage that bears children, who then as a family unit
go through stages of development together, and the cycle continuing with children marring off
and creating their own family cycle and the original parents dying off (Allen & Henderson, 2017,
p.84). With this family cycle theory comes expectations such as a normative lifespan and
children marrying. Within the context of Coco, Mama Coco was the lasting member of the
beginning family system, with her memory fading due to old age, Mama Coco’s daughter Elena
has the pressure of continuing the family life cycle. With the extra pressure of aiding her mother
in her old age and upholding family traditions, Elena forgot where the family started from, love.
There was always love between Hector and Mamá Imelda. The family cycle became difficult to
uphold while also grieving Mama Coco’s fading memory, Miguel steps in and reminds Elena of
where the Rivera came from and to continue the family cycle of Love.
Social influences
In the movie, the family is from a small town that is surrounded by music and traditions. The
Rivera family is surrounded by music and celebrating celebrities like Ernesto de la Cruz this
societal reliance on celebrities intersects in the Rivera family by influencing Miguel to want to
sing like the other people around where he lives. The parent’s involvement is something that is
held in a high regard (Ressler, 2020). The society created a world for Miguel to live out his

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dreams, but his family would not allow for the dream to happen. The dreams of Hector changed
the family, so not to repeat this, Miguel cannot follow his dreams. While holding onto those
societal trends, traditions like food, religion, and honoring family that has passed were an
important part of the Rivera family. On the day of the dead, the family creates an ofrenda and
creates a special night. This day is special to the family so much so that nothing else can be
planned on that night. In the Rivera system, there is a high regard for family, (Rodríguez‐
González, 2019). By holding family so high up, the Rivera family has created rigid boundaries
that do not allow anything from outside to enter their world.
Celebrations and rituals
As stated before, the Rivera family celebrates life both living and not, to celebrate, the
family uses food. Food is something that brings the family together, in most of the scenes with
the family on Earth, food has been in the middle of the table. In Latina culture food is a center
for most events. (Herrera, 2020). Family dinners create a bond over food, which reenforces the
enmeshed environment. Food is the unifying component to show love and nurturing of one
another. In all the big life events, there is food. These cultural traditions of celebrations have
fallen into the family’s rituals for everyday life as well as for special life events.
Philosophy of life
The family saw togetherness and having a family as the meaning of life. In the Rivera
house, there was life from all ages, from old to still in the womb. The idea of having life and
living it well with the family was something important to them. The family all lived together in
proximity, and everyone was looking out for everyone. The family’s identity contributed to their
philosophy of life or a family theme (Anderson & Sabatelli, 2011, p.12), where “family stays
together.” The rule of life for the Rivera family was to forgive and love family no matter what.

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The family lived and worked together which makes contributes to their family lifestyle.
Throughout the film, Miguel rejects the family philosophy of sticking with family, so that he can
follow his dreams. The rejection created a divide, where Miguel wanted one thing, but the family
just wanted to talk to him. By the end of the movie, Miguel and his family got what each were
looking for, Miguel got to live out his dream of playing music, and the family got to talk and
understand where he was coming from. The family stuck together, even when Miguel rejected
his family, the family never left him they were always behind him.
Conclusion:
The Rivera family system was a system of organization and common identity. The
system created an environment where there was no room for individualization, it took a 12-year-
old boy to change the way of life to expand the family system’s ideals. Throughout this film, the
family system changes to a more open and understanding family to creates room for
individualization. This family system undergoes change and hardships that are solved throughout
the film. When Miguel shows Mama Coco music again, there is a connection that she made to
her father. This connection created a greater understanding that opened the system to change
their ways and allow for Miguel’s passions to be shown rather than hidden.

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References
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