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turtle-burgler · 4 years

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Hamilton is the Julius Caesar of the modern day. It got a country fired up about history, it’s a brilliant work of art, and sometimes it puts iambic pentameter above historical accuracy. (and THERE’S a MILLion THINGs i HAVEn’t DONE)

Before we dig into this video, just so you know, this isn’t going to be a Cinema-sins style list of “well actually, rap and hip-hop weren’t really a thing until the twentieth century, so it’s extremely unlikely that george washington would have rapped” or “wait, why do these women keep the same fashion silhouette through several decades despite being well-to-do.” There are other youtubers who could do that and better (Karolina Żebrowska, I’m looking at you).

Nope, this is for everyone else out there who left Hamilton thinking, “That was amazing--but how much of it really happened?” Even if you’ve read all eight hundred-some pages of the biography that inspired the musical, there are some parts of Hamilton’s life that you might not know!

Or hey, maybe you do--I’m not a historian. If you’ve got any tidbits or corrections, please drop ‘em in the comments!

Trigger-warning for some human rights violations coming up in the slavery section--don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Hamilton wasn’t proud of his heritage. Sorry Lin! Hamilton might be the most emblematically hip-hoppy rags-to-riches founding father, but he wasn’t open about his past when he was alive. A wealthy background was a requirement for a politician https://www.historytoday.com/archive/months-past/birth-alexander-hamilton

Heck, he was probably even lying about his age when he got to NYC in order to get into college. When he sailed into New York, he claimed to be 15--but may have been a couple years older. https://www.history.com/news/5-things-you-didnt-know-about-alexander-hamilton

Hamilton’s mom wasn’t exactly a--wait, I want to stay monetized--a “lady of the night.” She wasn’t particularly monogamous, and the marriage laws at the time made her unable to divorce her first husband once they separated. This did, as the musical claims, make Alexander “illegitimate.” https://www.americanheritage.com/boyhood-alexander-hamilton#2

You might have left the musical assuming that Hamilton was a single child with no parents. Not true! He grew up with a brother-in-law and had a living but estranged father, both of whom he tried to keep contact with as an adult. https://founders.archives.gov/?q=Correspondent%3A%22Hamilton%2C%20James%20Jr.%20%281753%E2%80%931786%29%22%20Correspondent%3A%22Hamilton%2C%20Alexander%22&s=1111311111&r=2 https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-14-02-0369

Based on the musical, Burr’s life was over the moment he shot Hamilton. He’s the one survived but he paid for it. Little did we know--Burr’s life only got more exciting after Alexander’s death. It’s too much for me to include in this video! A vice president on the run from the law! Corrupt land holdings! Trials! War with Spain? Jefferson out for blood? Taking over Mexico! Scamming widows? Going to court Alex Hamilton Junior? All this and more in the sequel musical: Hamilton Junior: Burr’s Revenge!!! (fake) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Burr

Burr’s own legacy child, Theodosia, was lost at sea--making her “blown away” by a storm just as Phillip was “blown away” by a gun. Oof.

Haven’t heard of Hercules Mulligan before the musical? There’s a good reason--he’s pretty obscure, but the name was too good for Lin to pass up. Via Hamilton: The Revolution: "Listen, Mulligan didn't grow up to be a statesman like Lafayette or Hamilton. But his name is just the best rapper moniker I ever heard in my life. So he gets the most fun punchlines."

The American Revolution wasn’t originally against King George--the colonies thought George would be on their side against the discriminatory practices of Parliament. They were wrong. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/congress-adopts-olive-branch-petition

No, Hamilton probably did not have a tomcat named after him. https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/theater-dance/2016/07/07/group-upset-that-hamilton-alleges-martha-washington-named-tomcat-after-him/XSoUG3OaDUtbxxu1plxbyJ/story.html

Angelica did not marry for practicalities sake--she went against father’s wishes, forcing her to elope. https://www.newnetherlandinstitute.org/history-and-heritage/dutch_americans/angelica-schuyler-church1/

Angelica’s father did have a son… named Phillip. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Jeremiah_Schuyler

The idea of Yorktown ending the war is a historical myth. In the live-musical-only scene of Alexander receiving news of Laurens’ death, it claimed that he died for no reason in a war that had already ended--but that’s not an accurate timeline to use. https://newrepublic.com/article/118561/american-independence-myths-lies-may-comfort-facts-matter

Was Burr actually a better lawyer than Hamilton? It’s hard to tell--SOMEBODY made a dramatic murder accusation in court that was remembered through the ages for its drama, where the lawyer held a candle beneath the suspect’s face and proclaimed ““Behold the murderer, gentlemen.” but accounts differ on whether this lawyer was Burr or Hamilton. http://www.murderbygaslight.com/2010/12/manhattan-well-mystery.html

It’s historically only POSSIBLE that ham COULD have asked burr for help on federalist papers, not a real event and is artistic embellishment

Hamilton talked for 6 hours but his audience not just listless because Passion, listless because endorsed a constitutional monarchy. Probably omitted for being notoriously Un Patriotic “Mr. Hamilton had been charged with holding an opinion in favor of monarchy, and it had been said he proposed a monarchy to the Convention” https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-25-02-0295

Ham’s relationship w washington often antagonistic--they did good work together, and the washington (*farewell address) address portion of the musical was accurate, but their relationship was not as warm as portrayed. In fact, Hamilton broke up with Washington over something apparently petty. When Alexander ran late for a meeting, he found Washington on top of a staircase, frowning at him and scolding him for being disrespectful. Alexander decided on the spot to quit his job. In letters, he insisted that "three years past I have felt no friendship for [him] and have professed none.” The two made up eventually, but the musical skips past this fight in favor of keeping both of the men sympathetic. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/hamilton-and-his-patron-george-washington/

Washington’s ‘not yet’ is justifying such an insidious attitude in american politics toward slavery arghhhh. From Hamilton: The Revolution: "Washington, of course, owned hundreds of slaves, and did not emancipate them until his death at the end of the century."

Speaking of glossing over racism , the sally hemings thing . Sally was 14 and technically a free woman in france but was manipulated into coming back to america. Her children by Jefferson were only freed after Jefferson’s death, and Sally herself was never a free woman. The scandal of Jefferson’s “concubine” made the headlines in 1802.

https://www.monticello.org/sallyhemings/

Side note, if we’re talking about Jefferson, we all know he bred slaves for profit? Right? I had to get 546 pages into “Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power” to find out. “"he calculated he was getting a 4% increase in capital assets per year on the births of black children" and used slave-breeding to get credit to build his mansion.

Are we still talking slavery? Ham was like technically against slavery but still took advantage of it due to his wife’s place of privilege, since the Schuylers were slaveholders. This is in contrast to john adams Xtreme human rights positions https://www.varsitytutors.com/earlyamerica/early-america-review/volume-15/hamilton-and-slavery

The Chernow biography does claim Laurens and Hamilton as strong abolitionists, but their political stances tended to be based on property rights and practical considerations for padding out the army rather than a belief in equality. https://www.varsitytutors.com/earlyamerica/early-america-review/volume-15/hamilton-and-slavery

Hamilton’s had many children that just didn’t make the cut for the musical. During a post-show Ham4Ham special, the musical hosted the stories of the other Hamilton children--in Sound of Music parody form. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yx98h6rqC6w

Say no to this is just plain ol apologetics. Putting ham in a position of unwilling victim to the reynolds’ sexy wiles. Not a lot of evidence for this and it really is up for debate if maria knew about her husband’s plans, but ham’s reactions aren’t so much ‘guilty about infidelity’ as ‘james is such a pain in my butt’ (and for good reason for the latter, like… Yikes) Most of the Reynolds pamphlet is about James Reynolds’ harassment of Hamilton. https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-21-02-0138-0002#ARHN-01-21-02-0138-0002-fn-0035

One last time loses its context as a political jab that encourages American isolationism. https://history.state.gov/milestones/1784-1800/washington-farewell

We Know was not actually a dynamic trio of jeff/madison/burr. Instead, the three characters were James Monroe, Abraham Venable and Frederick Muhlenberg. It’s not hard to see why Lin wanted to change this for the sake of the narrative. https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-13-02-0165

For this reason, Hamilton also challenged Monroe to a duel! Monroe chose Burr as his second, but no shots were actually fired. https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-26-02-0001-0201

Burr also challenged Angelica’s husband to a duel. (above)

The musical skips Phillip’s awkward, polite exchanges with george eacker, as well as the first duel between Eacker and Phillip’s friend. No one was hurt in this first duel--which was the norm. https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-25-02-0258 https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/duel-history-dueling-america/

Is there discourse around whether Hamilton really threw away his shot? Of course. He definitely claimed to have thrown the shot intentionally, but it may easily have been a misfire. http://www.aaronburrassociation.org/Smithsonian.htm According to Van Ness, “As to the pretence that [Hamilton] did not intend to fire and that [Burr] knew it, it is more dishonorable to the deceased than the survivor” https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-26-02-0001-0275

What do you think of the musical? Historical revisionism or teaching tool? Any corrections or quibbles? Please leave them in the comments below!

Smell you later.

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turtle-burgler · 5 years

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You don’t get me, mom! Living in the woods is not a phase! I talk to frogs bc I want to, not bc all my friends are doing it!!!

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turtle-burgler · 5 years

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I’m thinking about how we say “spill the tea” or just “tea” and how ppl used to say “spill the beans” like what if we just said “beans” when gossiping

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turtle-burgler · 6 years

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[[omg someone actually followed this blog because of the links in my youtube videos.

this blog is a completely defunct Greg roleplay blog since that’s the kind of nerd i am. so i used it for transcripts instead of making a new blog. the “burglar” misspelling was intentional/in-character l o l

if you follow this blog, you’ll get notified about upcoming videos before the Rest Of The Crowd, I guess, since I post the transcripts here while the video itself is still uploading, which can take from 1 to 6 hours depending on the file size.

my personal blog is @bakurapika.]]

#i also still reblog greg aesthetic posts every once in a while for no real reason on here tho

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turtle-burgler · 6 years

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Almost a million views?! & FAQ

I’m guessing not many of you keep too close an on my lil channel, and those of you who do might remember my struggle a few months ago to keep my channel monetized due to lack of subscribers. You came through in the clutch for me which enabled me to make this little passion project I had in the works, a Coco trivia list. I spent a long, LONG time on it, put it out there and got a few thousand views, but it seemed pretty dead in the water.

And then this last week, it blew up in a BIG way. At the time of writing this, we’re at over 900,000 hits. I can barely believe it! I’m over the moon! I can’t respond to all the comments anymore because there are SO MANY, but I’ve gotten over a thousand subscribers from that activity. Hi there! I thought I’d address some of the most frequent comments I get:

“Your mic is so bad!”

I’m sorry about this one! I bought a fancy noise-canceling mic on Amazon specifically to use for this video. It wasn’t a lot of money but keep in mind that I normally don’t make a profit off my Youtube channel, so my budget is essentially $0. The mic was… pretty bad. I used it to record the Coco video but I returned it right afterwards, since it was even worse than my computer’s built-in mic. I just bought a real noise-cancelling mic on clearance, so hopefully my sound quality will go up. Sorry for the trouble!

“Your Spanish is so bad!”

I wasn’t paying nearly as much attention as I should have to the proper pronunciation of Spanish terms from the film. (“And I apologize for doing that!”) I’ll try to do better in the future. Some of you have suggested I hire a native hispanohiblante, uhh, that is to say, Spanish speaker, but I don’t have those kind of resources! I’m just a fan like you are, with a computer and an obsessive love of Coco. I’ll do my best going forward but that’s all I can promise, since I’m not anywhere near fluent in Spanish yet. Honestly, if you’re a Spanish speaker, I’d really encourage you to make your own video on some of these topics and link me to it!

“You forgot this fact!”

Most of these comments are things that I noticed in the film, but I try not to repeat other trivia lists. I assume that if you’re watching my videos, you’re probably watching other videos on the same topic. That’s why I call them “things you ACTUALLY missed.” Though you may have caught those details on your first viewing--which just makes you smarter than me! With that in mind, here are the most common suggestions for what I missed telling you that you missed:

Hector’s guitar had a gold tooth just like he does.

The Pizza Planet delivery truck is visible in the beginning of Coco.

The guitar fingering is accurate, since it was based on motion capture of real guitarists performing the songs.

The painter during the nude scene is Diego Rivera, a famous muralist and husband of Frida Kahlo.

Thanks again for choosing to watch my videos out of all the videos out there. Some of the negative comments really get me down, but I love that you’re all part of my audience. You guys know how much I like to yammer on, so if you have any questions or ideas for videos on Coco or Over the Garden Wall, please definitely let me know in the comments!

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turtle-burgler · 6 years

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Before Coco was released, the film was hounded by controversy and claims of cultural appropriation--and since Coco took so long to be produced and went through so many changes, there were tons of scandals to choose from. From Disney trying to copyright the phrase “Día de los Muertos” in 2013 (https://www.cnn.com/2013/05/10/us/disney-trademark-day-dead/index.html https://www.ocweekly.com/lalo-alcaraz-creates-amazing-muerto-mouse-cartoon-in-response-to-disney-dia-de-los-muertos-fiasco-6444786/) to Coco’s apparent resemblance to the animated movie The Book of Life, directed by Jorge R Gutierrez and released in 2014.

The Book of Life featured a young man who rebelled against his family by wanting to play the guitar instead of following the family trade, then being sent against his will to the land of the dead where he finds a way to unite his love of music with his family’s tradition when he returns to the land of the living. It explored themes of music, culture, family, and love.

The superficial resemblances were many and sparked some legitimate controversy and boycotts (http://www.latinxspaces.com/long-and-controversial-journey-of-coco) --the only reason I personally went to see Coco in theaters in the first place was after Jorge R Gutierrez vocally recommended it on Twitter. https://twitter.com/mexopolis/status/806265834356117504?lang=en https://twitter.com/mexopolis/status/933452219063484416

Bearing in mind that both of these movies were being worked on long before they debuted, the similarities are astounding. Most of these parallels have to do with the land-of-the-dead iconography, the musical themes, and the initial plot setup. If you only watch the trailers, it’s easy to assume that Coco is a ripoff of the Book of Life no matter how dissimilar the films are.

That is not the case for The Grave Escape.

Never heard of it? Most people haven’t. The Grave Escape is a two-part special episode of the criminally underrated masterpiece of a cartoon called El Tigre. If you think the art style is familiar, your eyes aren’t playing tricks on you. Jorge R Gutierrez not only directed both The Book of Life and El Tigre, the latter of which he co-directed with his wife Sandra Equihua, but he considers the two cartoons to be works in the same canon--they take place in the same universe!

El Tigre was a cartoon that ran on Nickelodeon from 2007 to 2008 about a boy named Manny, aka the superpowered El Tigre, son of a superhero but grandson of a supervillain; most of the episodes dealt with Manny’s eternal struggle between being a responsible hero or a fun-loving villain along with his best friend, Frida. Gutierrez’s pet projects always involve dia de los muertos and this one’s no exception; and the mid-2000s energetic comedy of El Tigre doesn’t strike nearly the same tone as Coco’s heartfelt quiet moments--but fans of Coco might recognize some key plot elements and just weird coincidences!

There are surface similarities: Manny’s voice actor is Alanna Ubach, who also voiced a main character in Coco. That’s right, she’s the voice of Mama Imelda! She’s, uh, she’s got a really talented vocal range.

The plots both place heavy emphasis on staying true to the family name, which in both cases is Rivera.

The villain plays a guitar with a skull on it.

A character named Frida is featured.

One of the themes is the main character proving that they’re “worthy.”

But the real similarities come to the surface when the plot of the Grave Escape gets started. We see the elder Riveras preparing for the Day of the Dead with the standard emphasis on decor, portraits, and memories--and a bit of exposition for the viewers who didn’t grow up with the holiday. The older Riveras introduce some of the dead family members and name them by looking through portraits so the audience recognizes them later. Manny is introduced as constantly sneaking away from the boring setup with a blatant disregard for his family traditions, sneaking food from the ofrenda, and being willing to go along with the holiday but secretly doubting whether it’s all real. These lines in particular sound just like something Miguel says in Coco:

Manny gets sent to the land of the dead--though, granted, he’s sent there while heroically helping his friend Frida rather than being cursed. He of course meets some talking skeletons who are willing to show him around, although when they realize that Manny and Frida are alive, they freak out--and drop their jaws in a moment of physical comedy.

Not only does Manny have a pressing time commitment in the land of the living, but he knows he has to get out of the land of the dead asap because he’s gradually turning into a skeleton. (also include bone arms clip. Once we become skeletons...) Manny has to get help from the dead Riveras before his time runs out. But when he goes to them for help, he gets in trouble for having mistreated their ofrenda earlier that night. He has to get help from his ancestor who seems to be almost an older version of himself and travels to an abandoned shack where a washed-up has-been is able to get him what he needs.

And then they travel back to the land of the living, temporarily rising from the dead, where they all beat up a huge supervillain made of the forgotten dead in a SUPER COOL action sequence-- Yeah, not every part of the plot is exactly the same. But there’s still tearful parental reunions and a moral of family unity (i learned we need to respect each other etc / both sides scene) And there’s still a time limit signified by sunrise! And the end moral is the same: “they’ll live forever now because we’ll never forget them”

Of course Coco didn’t rip off The Grave Escape any more than it did to the Book of Life. As far as I’m aware, most people working on Coco may not even have watched El Tigre. However, the parallels between the plots are interesting. Do you think they’re coincidental? Do you think Coco took some inspiration from El Tigre after all? Let me know in the comments below!

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turtle-burgler · 6 years

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The other day, my friend (afairlypudgycat) asked me a question on Tumblr: “what happened to Ernesto tho? He gets smashed. Is he shamed forever? Or does he get double killed and go to final death?” I figured you guys might be interested in my response!

There’s no 100% canonical answer, first off, since of course we don’t see de la cruz after the bell drops on him.

i was surprised at how many fans assumed he experienced the final death, though! the same way our bodies run on air and water and all that, the bodies in the land of the dead survive on memory. your health in the land of the dead is an indication of how well you’re remembered. you experience the final death when no one in the living world remembers you/passes down your stories. As Hector says, “Where there’s no one left in the living world who remembers you, you disappear from this world.”

from what we know, that is the only way to get to the final death. de la cruz may not be remembered fondly by the end of the movie, but people still remember him!

de la cruz may or may not be injured after his last run-in with the bell (though i’d guess that he healed up quickly since he’s well-remembered), but he wouldn’t have gone through the final death!

so what DID happen to de la cruz? again, it’s up to fan interpretation. i’ve seen some people say he’s stuck under the bell indefinitely because no one bothered to dig him out. i’ve seen people say he’s going to be tried for murder and thrown in jail. but according to the directors’ commentary, there was a deleted scene for the epilogue where we could “somehow see what was going on in the Land of the Dead and wrap up people’s stories there. The only thing that really changed from what we originally did is, we used to see de la Cruz. We used to see him kind of alone, wandering in his empty house with no friends anymore, surrounded by his riches. But we just couldn’t find a way that made sense, to go visit him. And when we came up with the idea of him being crushed by the bell again, I think that gave him a satisfying ending so that we could just spend time with the emotion of Héctor being remembered and being able to finally come home for the first time for Día de los Muertos.”

When a fan asked him about De la Cruz’s fate, director Lee Unkrich responded that “His status in the land of the dead is forever sullied. I imagine he’ll be on a long, slow slide into obscurity” but added that fans could use their imagination on how exactly that would happen.

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turtle-burgler · 6 years

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Death positivity in coco

If you read the video title, you might be thinking “Scary term for a kids’ film.” Death is a topic mostly taboo in Western and especially American culture and tends to be associated with either colorful spookum-scarums like Halloween or edgy, gritty media that kills off characters. But when it comes to personal experiences with death and grief, it’s not the stuff of kids’ films, to the point that many kid-friendly franchises won’t even allow the word “die” or “kill” to be used in their media. Death isn’t fun, and it’s not happy. But it also isn’t something comfortable to talk about, so it’s easier to just ignore it until you can’t anymore. And then it’s hard to process or explain, since there’s no framework in place, no widely-understood way to healthily confront mortality or grieve.

“Death positivity” is a term made and popularized by Caitlin Doughty of “Ask a Mortician” fame. Her tireless work in educating the public (with excellent videos and books that I highly recommend!) has brought many people to a more nuanced understanding of what death is. Caitlin’s death advocacy calls for relatives and loved ones to have more control over a deceased person’s corpse, for lawmakers to allow inclusive and diverse practices when preparing a body, for more transparency in the funeral industry (which is loaded down with needless expenses and misinformation), and for resources for living people to learn more about what she calls the “good death,” that is, a cultural understanding that death is a natural consequence of living, and a system in place to support people who have to confront that idea head-on.

Now, what does all that advocacy have to do with Coco? A lot!

Characters who are dead or, at least, partially dead is nothing new, not even for children’s media. What Coco brings to the table is the strength it draws from Mexican culture itself: not merely the idea of a physical afterlife, but the way the living are shown to interact with the dead. Coco isn’t a movie about losing somebody. It’s not about mourning. It’s about the connection that the dead have to their living loved ones, and it stresses the importance of that connection and that memory to a degree that’s practically unprecedented in its genre. Coco recognizes dead loved ones as individual people in the land of the dead, with thoughts and feelings and personal journeys they continue even after their lives have ended.

Perhaps just as importantly, the film introduces audiences across the globe to the Day of the Dead, with its own very specific guidelines for what to do to keep your connection with a deceased loved one. Laying down cempasuchil petals has the direct consequence of guiding one’s ancestors home. Making an ofrenda and putting up photos lets loved ones visit you. Passing down their stories is what keeps them in the land of the dead, and memories are directly tied to a dead loved one’s well-being.

And the film showcases an entire community coming together to remember their loved ones, to keep the memory of them alive in a celebration of what they did and loved in life.

And that’s the key word: celebration. Coco lovingly shares the Mexican tradition of celebrating people who have died in a way that many people, especially many Americans, may not have seen before. Día de Muertos is a uniquely Mexican tradition tied to the cultural identity of Mexico, but those of us who do not celebrate it can still take away the values that Coco stresses: Memories. Music. Family. Love. None of those things will go away, even when a loved one does.

If you’re interested in this topic, I highly recommend the article “Your Guide to the World of Coco,” published by Sarah Chavez, who is a member of the Order of the Good Death. She is also featured in the Mexico chapter of From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death by Caitlin Doughty, which also explores the topic of Día de Muertos. Links are below!

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turtle-burgler · 6 years

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If you’re interested in animation, you’ve probably seen Disney-Pixar’s latest hit, Coco. The beautifully-portrayed story of a young musician named Miguel and his journey to the Land of the Dead took the world by storm since its original debut in Mexico on Día de los Muertos, eventually making over 700 million dollars worldwide. If you’re watching this, you’ve probably heard some of the hidden-Pixar-characters trivia, but there’s so much more to the movie than that! The movie’s emotional connection, memorable music, and rich depiction of the land of the dead are full of details you missed the first time you watched, and there’s tons of behind-the-scenes info you ought to know!

As I’ve been preparing this video, I’ve been involved with the Coco fandom on Tumblr. Lots of other smart people on there have noticed things I didn’t or given insight I couldn’t! I’ll share these with you too and credit the fan who noticed it.

Without further ado, here’s 122 things you missed in Coco. This is a given, but SPOILERS AHEAD!

The directors had the mariachi Disney intro made just for fun, but loved it so much that they kept it in the film.

You can hear bells like the one that killed Ernesto throughout Coco: The opening and closing

The first line in the movie (“sometimes I think I’m cursed”) is already foreshadowing the plot.

The beginning sequence where we learn Imelda’s backstory through cut-paper, or papel picado, was originally a musical number set in the middle of the film.

Some of the papel picado is stylized and couldn’t exist if you tried to recreate them without the paper falling out!

“And never returned” Notice these skulls? A hint that Héctor didn’t just abandon his family, but was murdered.

Why did Imelda choose shoe-making out of all her possible professions? According to the papel picado, Coco’s shoes were falling apart. Imelda had to fix them herself. And it turns out she had a knack for it!

Miguel went through a few different redesigns, originally being named “Sam,” then “Marco.”

That big fat guitar isn’t off-model; it’s a guitarrón mexicano, a staple of mariachi music.

We see various Pixar characters as piñatas, which was inspired by real handmade merchandise that the animators saw on research trips to Mexico.

In this collection of alebrijes, you can see a few more Pixar characters, true--but it’s also the audience’s first look at Imelda’s alebrije, Pepita!

(Via prismasandtoonpies) Dante popping up next to the alebrijes foreshadows his future role as a spirit guide.

Coco’s background characters have their own stories and amusing reactions. As Miguel messes around, see the weird look this character gives him!

Pixar fans usually know that the movies often hide references to an animation classroom from Calarts, “A113”--even though the department was rearranged by the time some Coco artists attended. Other fans have spotted A113 on the door of the department of family grievances. But did you see A113 on De la Cruz’s album covers as well?

The set that De la Cruz performs on looks similar to the graveyard entrance to Santa Cecilia.

Speaking of Santa Cecilia, Miguel’s hometown: Santa Cecilia is the name of a real town near Mexico City, but the name was chosen because Santa Cecilia is the Catholic patron saint of musicians.

De la cruz hands off the guitar to make a fancy gesture while performing. It’s lucky he did, saving the guitar, or we wouldn’t have had a movie!

Those drunk guys were singing “La Llorona!”

The mariachi in the plaza also plays a couple chords of “la llorona”

The mariachi and Gustavo were both played by the same voice actor, Lombardo Boyar. The co-director has joked that Gustavo is the mariachi’s great-great-grandfather and it’s “all in the family”

Although Coco’s director, Lee Unkrich, has confirmed multiple times that the movie takes place in present day, here’s some in-movie proof: The 2016 calendar in the background of the Riveras’ zapateria, though it’s outdated--as seen in the up-to-date 2017 calendar in this (anything to declare) scene. https://twitter.com/leeunkrich/status/941382162355453952

You see multiple posters for “bolero expres” in the background of the land of the living throughout the movie--although “bolero” is a kind of dance, a “bolero” in Mexico is a shoeshine boy!

Lee Unkrich slipped in several references to his favourite movie, the Shining. (truck leather scene) You can see an ax in a stump here beside a red barrel, or a “red drum.” A third shining reference is hidden later in the film, where you can see the creepy twins from the movie in De la Cruz’s rehearsal hall.

Miguel’s guitar isn’t just beat up, it’s homemade with supplies Miguel took from the zapateria. It’s held together by shoe leather, and it has nails for frets.

Here’s a partial list of De la Cruz merch on Miguel’s ofrenda:

Album covers

News article clippings

Papel picado

Signs, both professional and homemade

An academic book

Photos

A handdrawn picture

Posters

Figurines (wooden, ceramic, bobblehead)

Coffee mug

Buttons

Collectible cards

Soda bottles

The video tape

According to the directors’ commentary, the De la Cruz poster was placed in this shot to make it feel like “De la Cruz was looking over him like a guardian angel,” at least from Miguel’s point of view.

“If it kills me” More foreshadowing about Miguel’s future curse!

Dante eating mole off the ofrenda was inspired by a real basset hound the directors met in Oaxaca.

The ofrenda already has a frame on the floor before dante starts inhaling mole. Sucks to be that person!

When Miguel says he’s gonna be a musician, he throws off his leather apron to symbolize his rejection of being a shoemaker.

Elena didn’t just destroy miguel’s guitar. She made the sign of the cross. She sent its spirit to the afterlife!

Even more foreshadowing as to where Miguel’s going when he runs away: he’s following the cempasuchil path that’s supposed to guide his ancestors from the land of the dead.

Similarly, the land of the living is (excepting this scene) portrayed in the daytime while it’s always night in the land of the dead for the duration of the film. It’s fitting that as Miguel runs to the cemetery and enters the land of the dead, it’s dusk.

Whenever Miguel tries to ignore Dante, his spirit guide, it’s automatically a bad decision, even if he doesn’t realize until later.

Conversely, any time Miguel follows De la Cruz’s advice to “seize his moment,” he winds up making a mistake.

The man saying “The guitar! It’s gone!” is co-director Adrian Molina.

When in the land of the living, the skeletons are glowing through their clothes. You can see faint outlines of their bones.

See the other cempasuchil bridges? They lead to the land of the dead from other cemeteries.

The architecture of the land of the dead was meticulously laid out so that old, mesoamerican buildings can be seen at the bottom with newer, modern architecture being built on top. There’s not much concern for safety regulations either, since the inhabitants are all already dead.

The reception areas for the returning dead are all shaped like Aztec style pyramids like those in Teotihuacan.

Via ashleyketchumall on tumblr: The land of the dead is partially based on the colorful architecture in the Mexican city of Guanajuato.

A costuming detail: The dead Rivera family members wear leather aprons to remind us if their role as shoemakers.

“Caquitas” If you don’t speak spanish, you might have missed the film’s one poop joke.

This guy’s grumpy because all he got for an offering was a single lousy muffin.

Meanwhile, look at these two guys who seem to be making a trade for something illicit in a bottle.

The original plot had Miguel bringing the guitar with him to the land of the dead, needing to return it to its rightful owner, and have that person strum it in order to break the curse.

The guitar isn’t where miguel left it--why? Because the cemetery worker put it back!

Because some people prefer to call the holiday “Dia de los muertos” while others know it as “dia de muertos,” the movie included both versions depending on the speaker. Miguel, his abuela, and the clerk use “Dia de los muertos.” A couple background characters and Hector use “Dia de muertos.”

There are no living plants in the land of the dead. Just metal ones.

Alebrijes are partially a reflection of the characters who own them, which is why Imelda’s spirit guide, Pepita, is strong and intimidating, while De la Cruz’s alebrijes are more for display than anything practical.

In the original script, the Riveras weren’t able to talk regularly. They had to sing. And they hated it.

Unibrow faking may be illegal because it’s so rare for skeletons to have eyebrows at all in this world, making it a privilege for certain cultural heroes like Frida Kahlo.

The inspiration for the department of family reunions was the post office building in Mexico City, the Palacio de Correos de Mexico.

There’s a physical comedy moment in the background when the twins accidentally switch heads and don’t realize right away.

Another background character moment: Dante sniffing at this background skeleton, who gets a little surprised to feel it!

Ceci was listening to “Remember Me.”

This scene was evidently inspired by a real monkey riding a dog at a rodeo that the creators attended.

“Bunch of self important jerks!” This line is probably hinting at Ernesto's villainy, but it's also evidence of hector’s self hatred.

“Pronated” means “slightly bow legged.”

You can tell that they’re going down the towers because the architecture is looking more and more ancient

Chicharron was a musician, though it may only have been a hobby. He has multiple instruments in his shack: the guitar, but also a drum and trumpet.

It makes sense that Chicharron, who collects odds and ends, wouldn’t have a matching set of shot glasses. But interestingly, the one Hector drinks from is the same design as the shot glass he was originally poisoned with.

Chicharron’s guitar has writing inside it, probably the brand name: “El Leon.”

Hector’s reaction makes more sense when we find out the true history of “Remember Me.”

Dante’s job is to bring miguel and hector together. Any time they’re together, Dante’s happy and content. If they split up, Dante gets anxious.

People have noticed this character’s shirt resembles Sid's from Toy Story. Is Sid in the land of the dead? No, director Lee Unkrich says this guy resembles Sid but isn't really him. https://twitter.com/leeunkrich/status/941386078585589760

Chicharron’s line “You gotta earn it” might be influencing Miguel to try so hard to earn De la Cruz’s blessing.

Dante has a hilariously concerned reaction to Miguel's grito.

The “Chachalacos” are named after a bird called the “chachalaca,” which is also a word for a chatty person.

Hector looks not just happy but surprised when it turns out Miguel can actually perform.

Hector’s percussive dancing is inspired by the tarima “stomp box,” a wooden platform with holes cut out of the sides so that a dancer can stomp on it to create a rhythm.

Real bones were used to record parts of Poco Loco!

Via prismasandtoonpies: Un Poco Loco mentions counting your blessings, the same phrase earlier in the movie when describing Hector and Imelda’s marriage!

Hector calls Miguel Gordito, or “chubby,” since unlike skeletons, Miguel has flesh on his bones.

Is this choreographed? No, Hector guides Miguel in his little spin onstage.

The statue in De la Cruz plaza is similar to the one in the land of the living, including the “Seize Your Moment” quote, but it’s the skeletal version of De la Cruz.

It's implied that Miguel and Hector would have won the battle of the bands if Miguel hadn't run off before the encore.

The ad here is for “cerveza de raiz,” or root beer.

You can see the famous La Catrina, the day of the dead political cartoon earlier referenced in the cemetery, after Miguel meets Pepita for the first time.

The directors confirmed that the stripe on Miguel’s hoodie was added to give viewers a sense of Miguel’s arm bones, even when his gradual skeletonization was covered by clothing.

Miguel’s calavera face paint has four streaks at the top, though it’s hard to see in most shots.

At De la Cruz’s party, you can see some characters in what might be Aztec regalia--Montezuma specifically is mentioned in a deleted scene as someone who will “live on forever” in the land of the dead due to his fame.

Ernesto’s tower has a marigold-orange carpet instead of a red carpet to mimic the color of the cempasuchiles.

Though Dante's name is of course a reference to Dante's divine comedy, a literary classic in which the main character journeys through the afterlife, Dante is in-universe named after the horse in a De la Cruz movie.

The dj is wearing a “give cumbia a chance” t-shirt, advertising the mexican electronica project “mexican institute of sound.”

There are many celebrity cameos in the land of the dead, including: musicians Pedro Infante and Jorge Negrete, wrestler El Santo, actors Cantinflas and Maria Felix, and revolutionary Emiliano Zapata beside a soldadera. http://radiobuap.com/2017/11/10-curiosidades-sobre-coco/

Cantinflas is only wearing chaps on his lower half!

Ernesto’s skull is designed with f-holes, emphasizing his legacy as a musician.

Ernesto never gets to finish his blessing, which is why the petal didn’t start glowing. It’s possible he may have been considered “family” enough to bless Miguel after all. https://twitter.com/leeunkrich/status/941362375596429312

The murder being committed wasn’t shown on screen, just implied--we never see a bottle of poison. It’s ambiguous because Miguel is put in a position of choosing who to trust more: his idol or Hector.

Lee Unkrich has said that the guitar was a gift to Hector from Imelda. https://twitter.com/leeunkrich/status/935724236668272641

Hector’s songbook has both “Remember Me” and “The World is Mi Familia” in it.

Hector and ernesto’s charro suits aren’t the same--Ernesto has a Greek-fret style design, which he also has on his belt and in his pool in the land of the dead. His suit is a darker colour while Hector’s is lighter, and has some of the same flourishes his mandible markings do

As Hector falls, he grabs his stomach! Like he did when he died!

Via karlofflugosi: In the flashback, Ernesto slyly moves Hector’s guitar away under the guise of helping him as he chokes. He steals the guitar AS HECTOR’S DYING!

Real cenotes are natural sinkholes with spiritual significance. This one is manmade, though still used to make a metaphorical sacrifice to send someone to the land of the dead: Miguel. You can see sculptures in the background that is meant to portray the king and queen of the land of the dead, Mictlantecuhtli and Mictecacihuatl.

The voice actor for Hector, Gael García Bernal, had his young daughter Libertad sing this part of Remember Me.

Emilio Fuentes, the original voice actor for Miguel, had to be replaced after his voice dropped, but he has a single line in the movie: “Places senor, you’re on in 30 seconds!”

“La Lllorona” is a recurring theme when Imelda is part of a scene.

Many viewers may not be aware that La Llorona is a traditional song and wasn’t composed for this movie. In fact, the movie has a shortened version of the original lyrics. “La Llorona” also famously featured in the 2002 film Frida, about--you guessed it!--Frida Kahlo.

Miguel’s gesture encouraging Imelda to “sing” is the same one that Hector gave him at the battle of the bands.

The guitar player and the conductor look at each other here, wondering who’s playing, before joining in.

The conductor is a cameo of the movie’s score composer Michael Giacchino (said ja-keen-oh).

Via miquelrivera: Another funny background character reaction as Ernesto’s revealed as the villain.

A quote from co-director Adrian Molina about this scene: “People give me grief about why all of these people would have fruit at a concert. And it’s because they’re coming back from Dia de Muertos, and their families leave them all these offerings!”

This character (what did i miss) was voiced by Lee Unkrich.

At this point (“it’s ok mijo/ we’re both out of time mijo”), Hector switches from calling Miguel “chamaco,” meaning “kid,” to “mijo,” meaning “my son.”

...Just like Miguel has switched to calling him “Papa Hector,” emphasizing their newfound bond as family.

Miguel did get a musician’s blessing after all!

The family members sleeping outside on the bench were probably out all night looking for Miguel.

This is an accurate portrayal of how music affects memory in patients with dementia.

Coco describes Hector’s songs as ‘poems he wrote for me.’ She may not have known that some of the lyrics were for songs!

The frames on the wall contain lyrics for three songs: Remember Me, Un Poco Loco, and The World is Mi Familia.

Besides lyrics, there are letters from Hector to Coco saying things like “Sorry I can’t be there” and “Dear Coco, I love you with all my heart.” They’re always signed “Papa Hector.”

Most of the letters have drawings on them--hearts, a picture of Coco, a star, a dog, and a little church with some cacti. Hector was a doodler!

As many have noticed, in the ending scene, Hector is more put-together and well-remembered. His bones are whiter and less loose, his clothes are nicer, and he even has a new pair of shoes!

He gives coco the B I G G E S T H U G

Pepita’s shadow at the end is similar to when she was seen in this previous scene.

Twins realistically run in the family

Miguel gets lifted up at the end like in poco loco :)

According to the songwriters, there were at least 17 different genres of music that Remember Me was performed in throughout the movie..

The original message of the film when it was pitched was about letting go of dead loved ones, getting closure, and moving on. But after doing research on the meaning of Dia de los Muertos, the message was reworked into a more culturally aware idea that dead people will always be a part of their loved ones’ lives.

And that’s 122 things you missed in Coco! Did I forget any good ones? Tell me in the comments below! Hasta luego!

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