She was the inspiration behind Disney’s Coco

In honor of the recent passing away of María Salud Ramírez Caballero, the woman who inspired the beloved Mamá Coco character in Disney’s iconic Day of the Dead movie, “Coco”, we are going to talk about the inspiration behind this sweet and loving movie.

Coco was without a doubt a movie that “brought back memories” for everyone who had the chance to watch it. Disney certainly was able to honor and represent everything the Day of the Dead embodies, from the Cempasúchil bridge to the altar’s tradition to present the picture of those who have passed away before us, those we remember with such love.

María Salud Ramírez Caballero, the woman who inspired Mamá Coco, passed away this Sunday October 16 at 109 years old. The beloved Mexican grandmother died in the same town she was born: Santa Fe de la Laguna, in the state of Michoacán. Her death was confirmed by Roberto Monroy, Secretary of Tourism for Michoacán, who described her on social media as a “tireless woman and life model” who inspired the “beloved character” of Mamá Coco. (El País, 2022)

She became better known as Mamá Coco after the release of Coco in 2017. A movie, which explores Mexico’s Day of the Dead traditions, she is the grandmother of young “Miguel,” a kid who is able to cross to the world of the dead to meet his great-grandparents.

Real life Mamá Coco dedicated her life to pottery with her husband and raised three children, who gave her dozens of grandchildren and countless great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren. 

Now the story behind the making of movie dates back to when the Pixar writer and director Lee Unkrich received the green light in 2011 to develop his follow-up to “Toy Story 3,” the best picture nominee that made his career, he had another idea for a new animated film, a film that eventually became “Coco” and had the same potential for amazing visuals and emotional catharsis that distinguished “Toy Story 3” and other hits from Disney’s Pixar.

He was worried since the story of “Coco” centers on Día de los Muertos — the festive holiday celebrated in Mexico to honor those who have passed away before us — and he was a man that grew up on the outsides of Cleveland, was white and had no firm connections to that country or its traditions. He worried that he would be accused of cultural appropriation and see himself condemned to a Hollywood hall of shame for filmmakers.

The choices made by the director and his collaborators suggest one model for culturally conscious filmmaking at the blockbuster level. On “Coco,” Pixar’s 19th film and the first to feature a minority character in the lead role, Mr. Unkrich largely dispensed with the playbook used to create immersive fictional worlds like those in “Finding Nemo” and “Monsters, Inc.” (The NY Times, 2017)

So he decided to rely on several research trips to Mexico looking for personal stories of the Mexicans and the Latino team members, who helped ground his fantasy realm with specific geographic and sociological roots.

“We don’t normally open up the doors to let people in to see our early screenings,” Darla K. Anderson, one of the film’s producers and a longtime Pixar admiral, said of working with external consultants. “But we really wanted their voice and their notes and to make sure we got all the details correct.”

The movie based the Rivera family on real-world families who they met while visiting the Mexican states of Oaxaca and Guanajuato between 2011 and 2013. The consultants, including Mr. Solis a renowned Mexican singer, the cartoonist Lalo Alcaraz, the media strategist Marcela Davison Avilés and a wider network of 30 to 40 volunteer advisers, played referee.

One fun fact is that in early drafts of the film, Miguel’s grandmother kept him in line using a wooden spoon, a characteristic that the advisers said felt discordant, so Mr. Unkrich softened the character and changed her chosen implement — from a spoon to well-worn flip-flops, or “las chanclas”, something Mexicans know and understand very well.

“We found whenever we were made aware of these nuances and addressed them, it helped in terms of representation, but it also just helped in terms of storytelling,” said Adrian Molina, who was promoted from screenwriter to co-director of “Coco” in 2015 and is Mexican-American.

The creators also took architectural and artistic inspiration from Mexico’s views and paintings, to create the visuals that makes the film so engaging. Here are the inspirations behind the artistic view that Coco portrays:

• Santa Fe de la Laguna
  • Santa Cecilia a town where me first meet Miguel and his family was inspired by Michoacán and specifically by Santa Fe de la Laguna. The small town was the perfect model to use to create a colorful world to introduce to the audience Miguel before heading into the Land of the Dead.
• José Guadalupe Posada
  • His lithographs and engravings were one of the many visual references in the Land of the Dead, his drawings driven by political satire, his famous Calavera de la Catrina and many more, became the central artistic inspiration for the Dia de Muertos celebrations and Coco.
• Pedro Infante and Jorge Negrete
  • The character of Ernesto de la Cruz looked very familiar to Mexicans, since it reminded them of some very famous men… and they weren’t wrong! Coco’s villain was inspired by Pedro Infante and Jorge Negrete, two Cine de Oro Mexican actors who were very famous in the 50’s.
• Palacio de Correos de Mexico Station
  • Pixar looked to early twentieth century cast-iron buildings in Mexico City and New York City. They mainly focused on the Palacio de Correos de Mexico opened in 1907, turning into the transport hub in the Land of the Dead in Coco.
• Tenochtitlan
  • Lee Unkrich gave his team an specific concept of what we wanted for the Land of the Dead: a place unlike anything we’ve seen before. The result is a mishmash of styles, a city built vertically with older architectures at the bottom and more modern buildings on the top. One of the earliest inspirations was the city of Tenochtitlan, a city that stood as an island.
• Y tu mamá también
  • Unkrich and his animators were also inspired by the colors in Alfonso Cuarón’s non family friendly film. They were driven by the interesting color combinations throughout, with purples and greens and contrasting fluorescent lights.
• Guanajuato
  • The Land of the Dead the place where Miguel is transported to, finds its inspiration in the streets of Guanajuato. Inspired on the colonial buildings, the balconies and the statues, as well as the city’s skyline.

This film collected and presented in a wonderful way the Day of the Dead, a Mexican tradition that dates back a long time. A spectacular way to remember our loved ones, embrace and exalt the Mexican culture, as well as move the memories in hundreds of Mexicans.

Don’t forget to relive the great musical numbers and moments that this iconic movie gave us on Disney Plus.

Reference:

Betancourt, M. (2017, September 25). How José Guadalupe Posada’s art & ‘Y Tu mamá también’ inspired the look of pixar’s ‘Coco.’ Remezcla. https://remezcla.com/lists/film/how-taking-pixar-team-to-mexico-inspired-visual-look-coco/

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