#especially the mariachi skeletons ;-;

[asfeatured]

What Cultural Traditions Does Mexico Have?

Mexican cultural traditions are one of the most famous cultures in North America. Mexican culture is known for its vibrant colors, rich traditions, and cultural diversity. Mexican traditions are celebrated worldwide for their cultural diversity. Spain ruled for more than 300 years thus Spanish Cultural influence is more on Mexico and has been shaped by indigenous traditions. Western and Native American civilizations also influenced the Mexican cultures. This blog post will take you through some of the most captivating cultural traditions that define Mexico's identity.

Architecture of Mexican cultural traditions

UNESCO added 34 sites to the list of world heritage of Mexico, which shows the rich heritage of Mexico from ancient to modern Mexico. Most of the sites pertain to Mexico's history. For Example, Mesoamerican architecture is best known for its public, ceremonial, and urban monumental buildings.

Mesoamerican architecture Another popular architecture of Mexico is New Spanish Baroque, during the 17th century one of Mexico's most popular architectural styles was Mexican Churrigueresque. The Academy of San Carlos, which was founded in 1788 is the finest art of architecture. The academy promoted Neoclassicism, focusing on Greek and Roman art.

Day of the Dead: A Time of Remembrance and Celebration

Day of the Dead or Día de los Muertos is the tradition of the Mexican culture. In these traditions, Mexican people give honor and remember to loved ones who are not alive. They celebrate the souls of the deceased relatives who return to visit their living families for a brief reunion. Traditional Altars It is known as the heart of the Mexican Day of the Dead culture. It fills the gap between the living and the deceased and helps to guide the spirits back to our world. The holiday is a blend of Mesoamerican ritual, European religion, and Spanish culture, and it is celebrated from October 31 to November 2 every year. The holiday has its roots in the ancient Aztec belief that death is a part of life and that the souls of the dead travel to the Land of the Dead after a long and challenging journey. Sugar skulls

It is made with the names of departed family members and friends. It symbolizes the sweetness of life and joy for those who have passed. The holiday involves various traditions and symbols, such as building ofrendas (altars) with food, flowers, candles, and other offerings for the dead, wearing skull masks and eating sugar skulls, and displaying calacas (skeletons) and Calaveras (skulls) in art and costumes. Marigolds It also known as cempasúchil, is a vibrant orange flower. It is believed that marigolds attract the spirits with their color and fragrance. These flowers are used to decorate altars and cemeteries during the celebration. The holiday has evolved and has become more popular and recognized in other countries, especially in the United States, where many people of Mexican heritage live. It has also been influenced by pop culture, such as movies, parades, and music.

Mariachi Music: The Beauty of Mexican Culture

It is the internal part of the Mexican communities and is celebrated at Mexican festivals. Origins and History of Mariachi Music It is originated from the Western countries state of Jalisco and influenced by the Soanic traditions. Spain ruled for over 300 years in Mexico so most of the cultural traditions are influenced by the Spanish people. And, some part of this art form is influenced by African musical traditions. Traditional Instruments It is a traditional Mariachi band that uses instruments such as guitarrón, vihuela, and trumpet. Every instrument has its role. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlXJ5jsjHWU

Mexican Cuisine

Every Culture has its own foods and cuisine culture. Mexican Foods is one of the most popular in the World, and available around the world. Mexico's cuisine boasts a variety of famous dishes, each with regional variations that showcase diverse flavors and ingredients. 1. Tacos It is a popular Mexican dish, available in numerous variations across the country. In Mexico City, al pastor tacos are popular, made with marinated pork cooked on a vertical spit

Mexican food 2. Enchiladas It is rolled and filled with various ingredients. It is known for spicy and uses the spicy red chili sauce. The cheese and chicken are used for their fillings. 3. Ceviche Ceviche is a yummy seafood dish that uses local ingredients found along Mexico's coasts. In Baja California, they make it with fish, and in Veracruz, they use shrimp and tomato sauce. Lime or bitter orange juice is used to "cook" the seafood, making it a delicious appetizer.

Literature

Juana Inés de la Cruz was a great and colonial Mexican writer, philosopher, and poet. She was amongst the main American-born contributors to the Spanish Golden Age.

Juana Inés de la Cruz Mexican literature started with the writing of the indigenous people in Mesoamerica and the Europeans who came later. Modern Literature was influenced by the Spanish culture. The most famous colonial writers and poets were Juan Ruiz de Alarcón and Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz.

Mexican Music and dance

Mexican music has its roots in the indigenous sounds and heritage of the country. The original inhabitants of Mexico used drums, flutes, rattles, conches, and their voices to create music and dances. These were often performed during celebrations like Netotiliztli. Some parts of Mexico still play this ancient music, but a lot of the traditional contemporary music was written during and after the Spanish colonial period. These songs incorporated instruments influenced by the old world. Many traditional instruments, like the Mexican vihuela used in Mariachi music, were adapted from their old-world counterparts and are now considered distinctly Mexican. Read the full article

#culture

[pastelbatcave]

At Home Pastel Halloween Decorations 2018

｛source: thehauntedhousewife.com}

#still upset that I missed this #especially the mariachi skeletons ;-; #pastel goth #パステルゴス #pastel gothic #creepy cute #pastel #kawaii #spooky #pastel goth aesthetic #kowakawaii #pastel halloween #halloween #파스텔 고스 #day of the dead #día de los muertos

[sixpenceee]

La Santa Muerte, skeleton saint popular among those in drug trade, gaining popularity in U.S. 

Article via NYDailyNews

A follower in New Orleans built a public shrine in her honor. An actor in Albuquerque credits her with helping him land a role on the TV show "Breaking Bad." She turns up routinely along the U.S.-Mexico border at safe houses, and is sighted on dashboards of cars used to smuggle methamphetamine through the southwest desert.

Popular in Mexico, and sometimes linked to the illicit drug trade, the skeleton saint known as La Santa Muerte in recent years has found a robust and diverse following north of the border: immigrant small business owners, artists, gay activists and the poor, among others — many of them non-Latinos and not all involved with organized religion.

Clad in a black nun's robe and holding a scythe in one hand, Santa Muerte appeals to people seeking all manner of otherworldly help: from fending off wrongdoing and carrying out vengeance to stopping lovers from cheating and landing better jobs. And others seek her protection for their drug shipments and to ward off law enforcement.

"Her growth in the United States has been extraordinary," said Andrew Chesnut, author of "Devoted to Death: Santa Muerte, the Skeleton Saint" and the Bishop Walter F. Sullivan Chair in Catholic Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University. "Because you can ask her for anything, she has mass appeal and is now gaining a diverse group of followers throughout the country. She's the ultimate multi-tasker."

Exact numbers of her followers are impossible to determine, but they are clearly growing, Chesnut said.

The saint is especially popular among Mexican-American Catholics, rivaling that of St. Jude and La Virgen de Guadalupe as a favorite for miracle requests, even as the Catholic Church in Mexico denounces Santa Muerte as satanic, experts say.

Her image has been used on prayers cards citing vengeance and protection, which are sometimes found at scenes of massacred bodies and on shipments of drugs.

U.S. Marshal Robert Almonte in West Texas said he has testified about La Santa Muerte in at least five drug trafficking cases where her image aided prosecutors with convictions. Last year, Almonte testified that a Santa Muerte statue prayer card, found with a kilogram of methamphetamine in a couple's car in New Mexico, were "tools of the trade" for drug traffickers to protect them from law enforcement. The testimony was used to help convict the couple of drug trafficking.

Almonte has visited shrines throughout Mexico, and given workshops to law enforcement agencies on the cult of the saint.

"Criminals pray to La Santa Muerte to protect them from law enforcement," Almonte said. "But there are good people who pray to her who aren't involved in any criminal activity so we have to be careful."

Devotees say La Santa Muerte has helped them find love, find better jobs and launch careers.

Gregory Beasley Jr., 35, believes he landed acting roles on "Breaking Bad" and the 2008 movie "Linewatch" after a traditional Mexican-American healer introduced him to La Santa Muerte.

"All my success ... I owe to her," he said. "She cleansed me and showed me the way."

Some devotees pray to the saint by building altars and offering votive candles, fruits, tequila, cigarettes — even lines of cocaine in some cases — in exchange for wishes, Chesnut said. A red La Santa Muerte, her best-selling image, helps in matters of love. Gold ones aid with employment and white ones give protection. Meanwhile, a black Santa Muerte can provide vengeance.

"She's my queen," said Arely Vazquez Gonzalez, a Mexican immigrant and transgender woman who oversees a large altar inside her Queens, New York apartment. Against one wall of her bedroom altar is a tall, sitting Santa Muerte statue in a black dress surrounded by offerings of tequila.

Gonzalez, who sports a tattoo of La Santa Muerte on her back, holds an annual event in August in the saint's honor, with mariachis and a feast.

"All I have to do I ask for her guidance and she provides me with what I need," she said.

The origins of La Santa Muerte are unclear. Some followers say she is an incarnation of an Aztec goddess of death who ruled the underworld. Some scholars say she originated in medieval Spain through the image of La Parca, a female Grim Reaper, who was used by friars for the later evangelization of indigenous populations in the Americas.

For decades, though, La Santa Muerte remained an underground figure in isolated regions of Mexico and served largely as an unofficial Catholic saint that women called upon to help with cheating spouses, Chesnut said.

It wasn't until 2001 when a devotee unveiled a public La Santa Muerte shrine in Mexico City that followers in greater numbers began to display their devotion for helping them with relationships and loved ones in prison. Economic uncertainty and a violent drug war against cartels that has claimed an estimated 40,000 lives also are credited for La Santa Muerte's growth.

Oscar Hagelsieb, assistant special agent in charge for Homeland Security Investigations in El Paso, said agents have found that most members of the Gulf and Zeta Cartels mainly pray to Santa Muerte while those from the Sinaloa and Sonora Cartels honor folk saint Jesus Malverde.

"Altars are very intricate. We have found some with food and others with blood from animals," Hagelsieb said.

The association with cartels and denunciations by some priests has resulted in some non-devotees destroying makeshift roadside altars. Recently, assailants smashed a life-size statue of La Santa Muerte in a South Texas cemetery. Police in Pasadena, Calif. recently found human bones at a home with a Santa Muerte altar outside. The owners say they bought the bones online.

But the vast majority of devotees aren't crooks.

Kiko Torres, owner of the Masks y Mas art store in Albuquerque, said sales of La Santa Muerte statues, incense, and oils have skyrocketed in recent months.

"Most people who buy the stuff are regular people who just recently found out about her," he said. "Some probably have no idea about her connection to that other world."

One such devotee is Steven Bragg, 36, who said he was introduced to La Santa Muerte in 2001 and began praying to her for a variety of different reasons, including a plea for a life companion. Recently, the New Orleans man built a public chapel to her and holds rosary services that attract around a dozen people.

He also just formed a nonprofit to support the "New Orleans Chapel of the Santisima Muerte," the official name of his public altar.

"It's something I decided to do after all that La Santa Muerte has provided," Bragg said. "She has never failed me."

#creepy

[namajague]

I'll have 7 through 10 with a side order of 25

TWICE NOW I have typed this out and then the page mysteriously refreshed. My energy is gone.

7. Favorite theme song?

That’s so hard, there are so many good ones! Kaze Ni Nare is the obvious answer, and Kushida’s is also up there, though I haven’t been able to listen to it since his last match because it’ll make me sad. I’m also fixated on Rebel Heart lately, because I continue to be obsessed with how little it fits Johnny’s character anymore. That’s definitely my favorite theme of the moment, but not of all time.

8. Least favorite theme song?

Hm, I don’t really care for the new Rainmaker? Mostly if I don’t like a theme I just tune it out instead of focusing on disliking it, but that one still makes my head hurt. I’m also unreasonably annoyed by the new B-Team theme, but that’s just because the original was so unsuited to their gimmick that it was fun, and an actual silly theme is a letdown. This isn’t something I have real opinions on, I think.

9. Favorite gimmick?

A depressed skeleton mariachi is a pretty great gimmick, you have to admit. I wish he’d bring the guitar back.

10. Least favorite gimmick?

Any gimmick that relies on mimicking mental illness, especially if they’re pretending to be multiple or if commentary calls them “psychotic” like that’s not a real thing with an actual definition. It’s offensive and it makes my heart hurt, no matter how good they are at playing the character. It isn’t a character to be played.

(Hiromu is the exception to this, the only one, because he’s not a caricature. He’s playing a fully-formed person with fixations and unpredictable reactions, not acting craaaaaazy just to be alarming.)

25. Worst faction?

I don’t… I don’t want to be mean and say Bullet Club, but. It’s kind of Bullet Club. (Bearing in mind I’m only addressing NJPW, because WWE doesn’t really have factions and I’m not familiar enough with CMLL yet to know if they have factions I dislike.) I’m more kindly inclined towards them now that the Elite are gone, and also now that the xenophobia angle of their founding has kind of been folded in, but I still can’t help but resent them. Their fans mostly aren’t their fault, but it’s honestly too much effort to separate those impressions, and I do also have a personal dislike of several people who are still there, so it’s harder to be generous.

They’re still not bad, I guess? Good wrestlers, interesting characters, all that. I’m just sick of them.

#rasslin #fancy fight club #the squared circus #de! ja! pon! #ichiban #rassletext #Anonymous

[azure-wolf-227]

Coco AU: Witnesses Ch 4

Chapter four is finally here! It originally was longer it included the part where Imelda and Chicharrón return to Mexico City and Imelda identifies Héctor's body. I decided to put that scene in the next chapter to get this one out quicker. Also, a shout-out to fellow author BoorkwormGal, who gave me permission to use some of their headcanons/world-building of the Land of the Dead (with some alterations done to fit my personal headcanon's), and whose Coco's stories are some of the best in this fandom.

Chapter 4: Arrivals and Pawnshops

Deep within the most ancient buildings in the Land of the Dead, the ancient Aztecan pyramids from which the marigold bridges formed stretching for miles below the waterline, were cavernous chambers where the newly deceased appeared. No one knew who had built these chambers or why the people appeared within them, but one legend has it that they were a creation of Mictecacihualt, la Santa Muerte.

Regardless of their origins, the recently deceased always appeared in these chambers and in the same places on the stone floor, that it, until someone had the idea to put beds in them. The chambers have been upgraded over the years, overhead lights to give illumination and curtains that separated each bed to give privacy, anything to make the newly arrived skeletons more comfortable upon awakening.

The dead always appeared unconscious, the length of time between their manifestation and awakening depending on how long it took for them to die and whether their death was traumatizing or not. Those who had died peacefully or quickly without much suffering took a few hours or a few days, while those who had violently or had suffered before passing, their awakening took longer as their souls took time to adjust to the crossing. Regardless as to what their cause of death was, all new arrivals woke up confused and often terrified, especially if they were children. That’s why deceased children were moved to a private and more soothing room. Only a few agents were qualified to handle dead children and, Arrivals agent Fabian Acosta was grateful that he wasn’t one of them.

Fabian has worked as an Arrivals Agent for more than thirty years, joining a few years after succumbing from a terrible fever. In those three decades he has seen many things and meet all manner of newly deceased people. As Fabian and a few other agents make their rounds, he notices a skeleton wearing a mariachi suit breathing, the man’s chest rising and falling quickly as if he’s having a nightmare. The Agent exchanges a quick nod with his closest colleagues, a silent acknowledgement that he’ll take care of this one but that back up would be nearby if trouble arose. Most people didn’t take well to waking up dead and could react badly.

Approaching the bed, Fabian draws the curtains around it, so they’d have some privacy. The curtains sectioned the beds and muffled the sounds so that the new arrivals wouldn’t be overwhelmed. He takes note of the skeleton’s complete lack of gray hairs on his hair, and while guessing someone’s age is harder without flesh, it was obvious that the man was young. It was always tragic when a young person died when they still had their entire life ahead of them.

He gives a quick glance at the chart at the foot of it, the information on it stating that the unconscious skeleton had arrived less than a day ago. That, combined with the rapid panting, tells Fabian that the man had died painfully but not suffered for long either. Perhaps he had suffered a serious injury and couldn’t get proper medical attention in time or maybe succumbed to a sudden illness like Fabian himself.

How he had died wasn’t too important however, and Fabian settles on the chair next to the bed to wait. There was a lot of things to do, from explanations to contacting family to dealing with the paperwork, among others, but they could wait. One of the first things that Arrival Agents were taught was to never rush the new arrivals and let them adjust to their new situation at their own pace, for death wasn’t something easy to deal with, so Arrivals Agent Fabian Acosta sets himself to wait.

Héctor’s eyes remain closed as he wakes up with a gasp and frantic confusion swarms his mind. Where is he? The last thing that he remembers is collapsing on the street after feeling a sudden pain as he walked with Ernesto to the train station to board a train home-

Home!

That single thought cuts through the remaining fog in his mind and his eyes fly open as Héctor bolts upright. He’s suddenly struck with nausea and dizziness as his surroundings spin wildly.

“Easy there, amigo.” A male voice says calmly. “I know this can be very disorienting at first breathing slowly helps.”

Héctor does at the voice instructs and takes slow, deep breaths while closing his eyes again. The dizziness and nausea fade away thought he still feels like there’s something amiss. As soon as he no longer feels like he will throw up, Héctor slowly opens his eyes again and has a moment to take in the curtain insolating the bed his lying on before he notices the owner of the voice-

“Ah!”

-and nearly falls out of the bed when he sees a skeleton sitting right next to him!

“It’s ok, amigo,” the skeleton holds up his boney hands in a gesture that’s meant to be reassuring but Héctor is too busy freaking out to notice. He does notice that the skeleton has odd, colorful markings on its – his? – skull, is wearing a blue outfit like that of a train conductor and, strangely enough, possess hair and eyes. “No one’s going hurt you, calmese.”

The skeleton’s tone is reassuring, and he doesn’t look like he wants to hurt Héctor but that does not change the fact that he’s alone with a talking, moving esqueleto and he needs to get out of there right now!

Héctor doesn’t take his eyes off the skeleton as he slowly pulls his hand out from under the sheets so that he doesn’t get tangled when he escapes. A flash of white halts his movements and Héctor freezes at the sight of his hand, stripped of all its flesh with only the bones remaining.

“What…” he whispers in shock as he stares as his trembling skeletal appendage, flinching slightly when he curls his fingers and they move without the aid of muscles and tendons. He quickly feels his body, hoping that what he suspects isn’t true but that hope evaporates when he feels bones rather than flesh and there’s an empty space where his stomach, the source of his earlier pain, is supposed to be. He runs his bony hands over his face only to feel more bone (and how can he even feel anything without nerves?), his features too angular, and his large nose and ears missing, confirming that he was now a skeleton. “What happened to me? W-where am I?”

“I’m sorry to tell you this, señor, but you have died,” the other skeleton says sympathetically. “This is the Land of the Dead and we’re in one of the Chambers, rooms where the newly deceased appear in this realm. Now, I know that this can be a lot to take in and that you must be scared and confused, but we’re here to help you adjust to your new situation. My name is Fabian Acosta and I’ll be happy to answer any questions that you might have as we fill out your paperwork and work on contacting any deceased family that you may have.”

Family.

That single word pulls Héctor out of the shock at finding himself turned into a skeleton. His family. Imelda… Coco… Ernesto…the Twins.

“My family… my wife, my daughter… they’re still alive…”

Héctor had been an orphan, abandoned at the steps of the orphanage when he was just a baby and raised by the nuns. His only family had been them and Ernesto, an older orphan, until he had met his Imelda and they had Coco. He had no one here. He was alone.

“That’s alright,” reassures Fabian. “We have resources for new arrivals without any deceased family. Your case isn’t exactly rare. We’ll provide you with all the information you need.”

Héctor barely hears what Fabian was saying, his thoughts only on the fact that he is now separated from his family. Th fact that he had died before he could go back home to them. He doesn’t realize that he’s moving until he feels Fabian grab him, halting his frantic escape.

“Please, I have to go back to them!”

Two more skeletons in blue uniforms, summoned by Fabian’s calls for help, hold him as his struggling grows wilder but Héctor doesn’t care. His only thoughts are that he needs to return to his family.

“I promised that I would come back!”

The image of his wife and daughter flashes across his mind, and Héctor feels his heart break as he continues to fight against the agents holding him, despite the futility, unwilling to admit what he already knows.

“Imelda! Coco!”

He can never go home again.

Ernesto tries keep a casual demeanor as he enters the pawn shop, trying to not look too suspicious and draw attention to himself. For the first time he curses his natural ability to draw attention and, despite once practically thriving by being the center of attention, he now wishes he could become invisible. How ironic.

The shop’s owner looks up from the paper he’s reading, a single eyebrow raising as he takes in Ernesto’s appearance from behind the counter. Ernesto hopes that his stare is only due to his messy hair and slightly dirty mariachi suit, a consequence of being forced to spend the night in a dirty alley. Ernesto didn’t care what others thought of his appearance, as long as no one can identify him later if the police came asking, He couldn’t afford to care anymore.

“Can I help you, amigo?” the shop owner asks as he gives a charming and welcoming smile, his tone the kind that gains your trust and easily persuades. Ernesto himself had used that smile and tone countless of times in the past to get his way. Either to get out of punishment from the nuns at the orphanage, convince pretty señoritas to have a ‘fun’ night with him, or to book shows in inns and bars without a previous contract.

“I’m here to pawn off this songbook,” Ernesto gets right to the point, focusing on the present as he pulls the red notebook from inside his jacket. While he loathes to sell the songbook, he sacrificed so much to get, he knows that it will be worst if the police caught him with it. Whatever charisma that he has won’t do him any good if that happens. And he desperately needs whatever money he can get, at least enough to buy a train ticket out of Mexico City. The police won’t follow him outside of their jurisdiction and, once safely away from the city, he could then figure out what step to take next.

“Hm, let’s see it then,” the shopkeeper peruses through the songbook, checking pages at random and quickly looking over the song lyrics within. “Well, I’m not musician but these appear to be very good songs. I assume that you wrote them yourself, Señor,” a quick glance at the first page. “Héctor Rivera, right?”

“Yes,” Ernesto lies easily, no bothering to correct the man. The more to help hide his trail the better. “I would normally not give them up like that, but some complications came up recently and I’ve lost most of my belongings, even my guitar.”

“That’s a shame,” the shopkeeper says sympathetically as he opens the cash register. “While I can’t pay you as much as these songs deserve, I can give you a decent amount.”

And Ernesto is handed a more than generous amount. This is more than enough to get out the city and maybe buy a new guitar, if only a second-use one. He happily leaves the pawn shop, glad that finally something is going his way for once.

Felix Conde watches as the mariachi leaves his shop and once he’s certain that the man is out of sight, he pulls out the paper he had been studying earlier. A police sketch of the man (whose actual name is Ernesto de la Cruz according to the information that he was given) with the words ‘Se Busca por Robo y Asesinato’ written on top stares back at him.

“Juan, take care of the store,” he calls towards to his eldest son in the backroom. “I need to go someplace urgently.”

“Sí Papá!”

Felix nods as his boy takes his place behind the counter and he exit the shop, immediately taking the quickest route to the police station from it. He prays to God that he can relay this information to his compadre Gabriel before that murderer leaves the city.

Arrivals Agent Fabian Acosta, Felix Conde and his son, Juan are OCs created by me. They are named after some of my relatives, Felix named after my uncle/godfather and Juan and Fabian being named after my cousins, while Conde is my paternal grandmother's surname. The Gabriel that Felix mentions is Officer Gabriel Gutierrez from chapter two (also named after another cousin). He and Felix are childhood friends, and Felix usually acts as an informant for the police. Next time, we have more angst with Imelda.

#pixarcoco #coco au #alternative universe #canon divergence #Witness AU #héctor rivera #ernesto de la cruz #original characters #hurt/comfort #family #angst #poor héctor #karma and lady luck love to hate ernesto #coco witnesses au

[im-fairly-whitty]

For Whom the Bell Tolls

Ernesto Strikes Back: Fan Fiction for “Coco” 

[Part 1: Fallen]

Part 2: Anger

The sight of his mausoleum was the first slap in the face.

Ernesto let his hood fall back as he stared up at the white stone building that had been built in his honor. A green spray of light from nearby fireworks washed over the building, briefly illuminating the board that had been hung around his effigie’s neck.

“Forget you.”

He walked up the trash littered stone steps, passing through the locked door effortlessly now that he was in a true spirit form.

Everything inside was covered in thick dust. The edges of the floor were lined with desiccated marigold petals, obviously not laid down for this year. An oil portrait of himself hung over the marble sarcophagus that presumably held his mortal remains. Between them three metal brackets jutted from the wall like broken ribs, missing whatever they had been built to hold.

He walked to the sarcophagus and set a hand on the heavy stone lid, an odd tingling sensation raced up his bone arm. For the first time, he wondered what his handsome body had looked like after he had been crushed to death by the first bell.

Ernesto shivered and pulled his hand away. He noticed some mostly scrubbed away red graffiti on the side of the stone box, he was only able to make out the first few letters: “MUR”

A sticky hot feeling crept up his spine as he turned away helplessly, unable to even straighten the slightly askew lid of his final resting place in his translucent state. He grit his teeth as he passed back out through the barred door.

How dare these people desecrate his grave. Ofrendas were one thing, this kind of spite was quite another. This was his own hometown, it had been his generations before it had ever been home to whatever tonto had decided to graffiti his coffin.

Ernesto stalked across the cemetery, past dozens of properly respected graves festooned with wreaths of orange flowers, decked with worthy offerings, attended by the smiling living and the reminiscing unseen dead beside them. The warmly candle-lit scene of joy and family only made the pounding ache in his head worse.

What did any of them know of love, what it was like to be truly adored by millions? What had any of them accomplished in life that was worth celebrating? Ernesto had clawed his way to stardom, had become a household name, had changed the musical world forever when he’d seized his moment.

Hector had been a small price to pay for the return it had gotten Ernesto, and the world for that matter. Hector had been the selfish one, wanting to keep his gift to himself, to abandon Ernesto right at the critical moment of their careers. Ernesto had been the one to give the world the music it craved, that it needed, who had kept it from being caged up in one man’s home.

And now it was Hector’s descendant who had ruined everything.

Ernesto walked out the cemetery gates, weaving around other skeletons who were walking onto the cobblestone streets of Santa Cecilia, following trails of orange petals. He pulled his hood up again after an especially inquisitive glance from another dead man and turned to the path.

The petals here were fresh, glowing soft yellow as the dead tread along them. Ernesto’s shoes reflected the golden light as he felt the magic of the petals gently tugging him forward, guiding him to an ofrenda with his picture. Toward the Rivera home.

The streets all looked so familiar as he walked across town, nearly the same as the nineteen-hundreds with the same old arches and stucco and cobblestone, but now with a new thin layer of modernity over it. Plastic signage, electric lights that shone bright and steady, cars that put even the fancy fords he’d had the wealth to enjoy during his life to shame.

Even so, his feet guided him more than the petals underfoot as the memory of Santa Cecilia came back to him, the memory of the hundreds of times he had walked this road to visit Hector in his previous life. Visiting to practice their songs, to endure dinners with his new bride, to fake smiles when handed little Coco to hold. Above all, so many visits to plead, to beg Hector not to let his music go to waste.

Ernesto was pulled out of his thoughts as a barking hairless xolo dog and a street cat gambolled past his feet as they tore down the street, turning into a house’s courtyard down the road.

Hector’s courtyard.

Ernesto pulled back, suddenly unsure at the sight of the old place. It had been turned into a shoemaker’s shop sometime in the last hundred or so years, the family name painted for all to see on the stucco wall. Festive laughter and singing spilled from the archway and into the streets, eliciting grins and waves from passersby, both the dead and the living. He heard two sets of familiar guitar strumming coming from the courtyard.

Of course Hector and his family would all be here. Gloating over Ernesto’s fall from fame no doubt.

Ernesto walked casually past to entrance, glancing at the fiesta inside. There was the brat, proudly dressed in a maroon mariachi outfit and singing with all his heart, playing his song on Ernesto’s guitar. So that explained the empty brackets in the mausoleum, the little mocoso had stolen his white skeleton performing guitar.

Beside the kid was Hector, playing a spirit copy of the guitar. The arrogant burro. That copy belonged to Ernesto, he’d played that instrument for the world longer than Hector had even lived in it. That guitar did not belong to the Riveras, it was his.

Hector glanced up, an irritatingly wide smile on his face. Ernesto ducked away and out of sight. He dashed around a corner and another and to the backside of the property, passing through thick weeds and piles of trash. He tried to lean against the back wall to catch his breath but to his exasperation fell right through it, sending him sprawling on the tile floor inside.

He looked up and was greeted by the warm, dancing orange light of an ofrenda. Several tiers high and staggering under a collection of carvings, shoes, candles and a blanket of marigolds, the ofrenda took up the entire small room.

At the very top sat an old picture of Hector with his family. He looked just as he had the day he’d finally been coaxed away to perform music on the road. So he’d had gotten his picture put up anyway after all Ernesto had done last year to prevent it.

Ernesto pulled himself to his feet, folding his arms tight and seething inside as he stared at the ofrenda. Yes this was despicable, yes they had stolen his happiness, his reputation, everything he’d worked so hard for, but what could he possibly do about it now? Miguel was out of his realm, literally out of his reach. The dead Riveras were enough in number to overwhelm him in a direct confrontation anyway even if he could somehow touch the boy.

He clenched his fists, trembling with anger. If only the blasted curse had stuck on Miguel, Ernesto would be able to get at him, to at least cut short whatever time he had among the living in the only kind of revenge left to him.

Ernesto clenched his teeth against the howl of anger rising in his chest and viciously swung an arm at the side display of the ofrenda.

To his shock a manic swirl of petals flew off the tabletop, glowing a deeper orange than usual, and a single painted ceramic alebrije tipped off the table, shattering to pieces at his feet.

He stared at the broken figurine on the floor, then at his hand.

A slow smile crept up his lips.

Perhaps some of last years’ curse hadn’t quite worn off after all.

[Read Part 3:Cursed] 

----------------------

Reblog if you enjoyed it and follow me or the tag #forwhomthebelltolls to get the next part as soon as I post it. Looking forward to reading your tags/responses/comments! :)

---------------------

Readers who asked to be tagged in future installments:

@nerdy-emo-royal-dad

#forwhomthebelltolls #pixar coco #coco fanfiction #ernesto #hector #imelda #miguel rivera #miguel #part 2 #revenge #part two #exo angst #curse

[scrawnydutchman]

Coco Movie Review

Note: this review contains spoilers highlighted by bold letters for readers convenience. If you have not seen the film yet skip the bold sections and come back to read them once you HAVE seen it.

So I just came back from the theater after seeing Pixar’s Coco with a friend. An adventurous little romp about a Mexican boys’ supernatural journey to find his destiny, Coco is a spectacularly colorful, visually stimulating, heartfelt and clever little masterpiece that shows that in spite of recent worries many people have been having (myself included) Pixar isn’t losing their touch in creating marvelously original animated pieces. Granted this film borrows a lot of stylistic choices from Disney Animation Studios as well as other animated films (cough *BOOK OF LIFE* cough) but it also arguably takes those choices and makes them better. I’ll delve into more detail about that in a bit, but let’s tackle this film one section at a time, starting with story.

Story:

Synopsis: Miguel is a young boy who is part of a large family in Mexico and has aspirations to become a great musician. But music is banned in his family due to an ancestor of his leaving his wife and child behind to selfishly pursue a career in it. This doesn’t stop Miguel from striving for greatness though as he feels it’s in his blood to play music. One thing leads to another and Miguel ends up transporting himself to the realm of the dead where he decides to learn more about his families past to find out just what happened all those years ago. But it’s a race against the clock as Miguel finds out if he doesn’t leave the realm of the dead fast enough he will end up staying there forever. Will he be able to find his destiny and discover the truth about his family in time?

This is a pretty typical Disney plot setup. Young protagonist wants to achieve something greater than what his family has planned for him, goes on big misadventure to discover his true destiny, his family learns an important lesson about letting their kid follow their heart. If you’ve seen a Disney movie you know the ropes. But while this storyline is undeniably common among Disney films, Coco actually has a unique take on the subject matter that I haven’t seen previous entries ever do before. The lesson of the family letting Miguel follow his dreams is still present, but this time around it isn’t as clear cut and dry as, say, Pixar’s Ratatouille, which also had an ongoing theme of passion vs. family. While in Ratatouille the family pretty much has to concede to Remy as the film demonstrates he was right all along, Coco has the angle that Miguel is also at fault for a lot of his actions and has to know the importance of family as well. The film also has a great plot twist that makes the point that there IS such a thing as going too far for your dream. Truth be told it’s probably the most refreshing take on the subject matter I’ve ever seen either Disney or Pixar do.

The plot twist in this film is arguably the most effective twist I’ve ever seen either a Disney or Pixar film pull off. Matter of fact it’s very similar to the plot twist in Disney’s Frozen, but I would argue Coco succeeded where Frozen failed. In Frozen the true bad guy is hidden through a cheat in the narrative. The prince acts all starry eyed and innocent even when in the context of the scene nobody is around him, and so it’s a bit of a cheat to have it be executed in this fashion. With Coco, the bad guy is shrouded in mystery for the majority of the film. Ernesto de la cruz plays a very similar role to Gusteau in Ratatouille, where he’s a role model the protagonist never really interacts with outside of watching films and pretending to be there with him. At least that’s what it is for the majority of the movie. But when we DO finally meet him and learn his dark terrible secret, and that he cheated and murdered his way to his success, it’s not unbelievable, because just like the main character we as the audience only saw what he wanted us to see. We only ever saw his on screen persona and heard other people talk about him, whereas again, in Frozen the context implies the prince is virtuous even behind closed doors. It doesn’t feel out of nowhere because the narrative doesn’t progress in a way where betrayal was ruled out. And this twist is beyond clever because, again, it takes the moral we all see coming and puts a completely different spin on it. There IS such a thing as going too far for your dream, and there IS a certain extent where you have to put your family before your aspirations. It’s a much more profound look than kids are used to.

Beyond the compelling plot twist and the clever spin on an otherwise overdone message, it’s a pretty cookie cutter Disney movie. There’s a comedic foil, an adorable sidekick, an ambitious young protagonist, and this time around more than a few tear jerker moments. But hey, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. And man, when it comes to the tear jerkers, this film comes from the realest place since Pixar’s Up. The last 30 minutes are especially gut wrenching, which I for one think is a welcome compensation after Moana was pretty lacking in the sad stuff (though I will admit as a result this movie is lacking in the more comedic side). Also there’s a more than healthy dosage of Mexican culture to really break up the monotony of the story we’ve heard millions of times.

Animation/Art Design:

This. Film. Is. GORGEOUS!!! Absolutely colorful, inventive backgrounds, great use of contrasting blue with orange, dripping with Mexican atmosphere, and it really showcases some of the most impressive and inventive visuals I’ve ever seen in a Pixar movie. For one, this movie is not afraid to zoom in on all the intricate guitar playing, and for good reason. You can see every detail, every plucked string, every held note in the guitar playing. You might think this is a minor point, but take it from an animator; animating guitar or piano playing is EXTREMELY difficult especially if you want to make a point on being as accurate as possible. There’s a reason why in most animated media they zoom out, zoom in to the face or depict the playing from the other side of the piano to hide the fact that they probably aren’t hitting the right notes. Also, the way the skeletons move is wonderfully creative and interesting. So much thought went into how they walk, how they interact with their environment, how they rebuild themselves after splitting into several pieces. I especially love the squash and stretch the skeletons have; it makes them look appealingly jagged and really sells how lightweight they are without all that flesh and meat. This films is dripping with inventive visuals from beginning to end. The use of colous are on point, the lighting is great, the Textures are the best Pixar has pulled thus far. It’s a visual marvel. The character designs are great too, especially Dante the very derpy looking dog. The way his eyes and tongue look make for an effective comedic foil as well as the way his lanky scrawny body moves. In fact, the animal creatures in this movie are all very appealing in different ways. Many people including myself were skeptical about the designs of the skeletons, particularly with the big expressive Disney-esque eyes. While I’ll admit at first I thought they looked a little too odd they grew on me over time.

Also this movie is great at using it’s visuals to better progress the story, like how Miguel’s body is becoming more of a skeleton to sell the passage of time without verbally pointing it out too often.

There is just one very VERY minor issue I have with the visuals. I’m not 100% certain on this as I’ve only seen the film once thus far so it’s possible there’s just something wrong with my sight or some other reason, but I think the film uses motion blur to it’s disadvantage at times. There are scrolling shots in this movie that are supposed to showcase how massive an environment is and how many people are present in a location, but the use of motion blur makes it too fuzzy to really take in and I honestly think they laid it on too thick at times for how fast the camera actually moves. It got to a point where trying to follow the movement actually strained my eyes a little bit. It would have benefited the film more if they just left it out in certain points to make the image pop as clear as day. All well, it’s a minor knitpick that for all I know might not actually be a problem, but for the time being i’m docking a wee bit from the overall score. Besides that, it’s an undeniably beautiful flick.

Acting:

Pretty standard Disney and Pixar quality here. Every voice actor and actress in this movie does a stellar job. The cast is authentically Mexican and it shows (lncluding a Gabriel Iglesias cameo), making for greater immersion into the scenery. No performance seemed out of place, everybody got the proper emotions across. Not a whole lot else to say really.

Sound Design:

Again, pretty standard Disney and Pixar quality. Being that this movie has a heavy music theme in it, the soundtrack is beautiful and, again, authentically Mexican. The recurring song “Remember Me” is especially beautiful. This is one of those movies where the music is actually so good that I ended up getting the soundtrack on Spotify. Also, though it’s a minor addition, the mariachi cover of the music for the opening Disney logo is a nice touch. The sound effects were effective as always.

EDIT: I forgot to mention this the first time around. Not only is the music stellar but it actually plays into the plot as well in a way that’s very effective in retrospect. The song “Remember Me” has 2 versions; the opening bombastic one done by the villain of the movie and the softer, more sentimental version done by the real musician. This is actually brilliant foreshadowing to the types of characters each of them are. de la Cruz is a self absorbed, entitled asshole, and so his version of the song reflects that by being a big over the top dance number. The phrase “Remember Me” in this case is more about him telling his audience about how important he is. In contrast, the lullaby version is soft, sentimental and genuine. It isn’t superficial and it’s beautifully simple. This is a reflection of the writer. He didn’t write it to become a star. He didn’t write it because he wanted attention or glory. He wanted to make a connection with his daughter before he left. A touch like this is brilliantly subtle.

Conclusion:

Coco is tightly written with a clever and refreshing take on a recurring Disney trope. It’s visually stunning, very inventive, dripping with Mexican atmosphere and culture, and showcases some of the most heartfelt visuals and audibles I’ve seen come out of Pixar in a very long time. Really, my only problem with it was the use of motion blur at times, and that’s me REALLY stretching for something bad to say about it that I’m not even entirely sure I can back up. It’s a great film to take your kids to or to see for yourself if you’re an animation fan.

Story: 2/2

Animation/Art Design: 3.9/4

Acting: 2/2

Sound Design: 2/2

Final verdict; 9.9/10 - DAMN close to perfect.

#coco #pixar #disney #disnerd #disney pixar #animation #3d animator #3d animation #film #movies #film review #movie review

[victoriarenteria]

Line

Alt text: Concept art from the movie Coco. Includes sketches of a female skeleton, a mariachi skeleton band, and skeleton hands. On the right there is a colored, digital painting of an elder skeleton image found here

This image is concept art from the movie Coco. There are many different types of lines used to show the artist’s vision on how they see the character in their imagination. On the upper right, there are contour lines used around the hands. These lines are darker and distinguish between the background and the outline of the hands. The drawing of the mariachi can be seen in an action of motion using gesture lines. The mariachi are playing their instruments with energy in a kinetic state. The lines around the music player’s trumpet shows that the trumpet is making loud sounds.  The rough sketches of the female skeleton on the bottom left uses line quality to show depth. Line quality is the process of using lines to make an image look more life-like and three-dimensional. In the hair of the female skeleton, there is more line quality because one can see that the bottom layer of hair has a shadow. Line as value is used efficiently in the drawing of the elder skeleton on the left.  The effect this has is that it adds value and shading to make the piece look more realistic and detailed. On the cempasuchil flowers, there is darker shading to the left, which indicates that the source of light is coming from the right of the picture. 

Line Glossary

Lines have both a direction and a length. Line means a mark, streak, stroke, slash, path, stripe, border, contour, striation, course, route, and track. Curved, bent, thick, wide, broken, vertical, horizontal, burred, or freehand, lines delineate shapes, forms, and spaces, volumes, edges, movement and patterns. Not only that -- lines create both2D and 3D objects and figures. Lines are awesome and powerful. 

Contour lines indicate the edge around an object or the changes in volume within an object. Contour lines dramatize changes of plane within the form. The curve of a belt around the waist is a contour line.

Diagonal Lines are useful to draw the eye into a composition such as toward the vanishing points.  Three common types of diagonals are 1) actual diagonal lines 2)objects placed diagonally in a scene 3) a diagonal line created by the viewpoint such as the Dutch tilt.

Dutch Tilt (known as a Dutch angle, canted angle, or oblique angle) is a type of camera shot that  has a noticeable tilt on the camera’s “x-axis.” The Dutch tilt camera technique was introduced by German Expressionists in the 1920s — so it's not actually Dutch. Directors often use a Dutch angle to signal to the viewer that something is wrong, disorienting, or unsettling.

Explicit Lines means clear, direct, and obvious.  If a drawing is easy to read it may be that the lines are explicit, clean, with efficient use of variety. There are explicit lines around the frame of the Dutch Tilt illustration.

Gesture Lines capture motion, such as in an action pose when gesture drawings are used in storyboards. The figures at the head of the Rembrandt Elephant drawing show the quickly sketched human gestures responding to the elephant.

Implied lines in 3-D scenes a line in a scene that is not physically there but is suggested by points in the art. Implied lines suggest the edges of an object or planes within an object. The line may be broken such as a dotted line, it may be defined by value, color, or texture, or it may not be visible at all. With implied lines, our brain interprets that a line exists.

Line As Value has a long history. Artists have used line drawings to create value, or shading, and to achieve the impression of volume. In this quick sketch of a live elephant Rembrandt used outline contour lines around the edges of the elephant and curved contour lines around the big legs and belly. Most of the lines are at the lower part of the elephant to show that the light source was from above. 

Line of action is an imaginary line that extends through the main action of the figure. When you draw an action figure you can capture the line of action on one layer then draw the figure drawing on another layer.

Line quality is the expressive essence of lines. Varying the line quality makes objects appear more 3-dimensional and exciting. Range in line quality heightens descriptive and3suggestive potential. A single line can change in darkness and width, can vanish all together to mentally reconnect later on an edge.

Line weight refers to the thickness or thinness of a line.

Lost and Found Lines- we don’t really need a strong contour line around every part of an object because our brain will fill in the blank where the edge disappears. When a line fades out and then restarts further along the edge it is called a lost and found line. There is a lost and found line at the top of Rembrandt’s elephant behind the head. There is a strong contour line of the skull of the elephant and a strong bulge of the back, but between the 2 curved shapes the line fades out, yet we still know that the elephant shape continues.

Psychic lines are invisible. Psychic lines form between characters or between a gun and a target, or a hand pointing in a direction. There is no real line yet we feel a line. Eyes looking in a direction, especially characters looking at each other create a psychic line.

[solemnveloci]

COCO & BOOK OF LIFE Joint Review

Alright, lemme just get this out of the way.

I know that I’m gonna get some people saying “Hey, don’t compare them! They did a good job conveying two different stories, don’t be spiteful to one over the other!” and that’s a good point. I didn’t even intend on watching them back to back at first.

However, I needed a cleanser after the three straight Open Season movies I’d watched, and it made more sense to me to rewatch TBoL and to… first-watch Coco since they were both about the same holiday. So, worry not. I’ll get it over with quick in the beginning.

Let’s start! (obvious spoilers for both movies)

The Book of Life was practically strangled to death before its time by the multiple years in production until it was finally accepted by ReelFX. The creative minds behind the project were native Mexicans Jorge Gutierrez and Sandra Gutierrez, famous for such projects as El Tigre, Carmen Got Expelled, and with resident fish-kisser Guillermo Del Toro working as producer, they could finally bring their idea to fruition.

Then Lee Unkrich went to Mexico on holiday, mentioned sugar skulls to his higher-ups, and Pixar immediately grabbed him by the throat and said, “DUDE MAKE A MOVIE.” DisNepotism at its finest.

Of course, Disney proceeded to screw themselves over so hard they practically ripped their metaphorical cocks off when they tried to trademark DIA LOS MUERTOS so that no icky DreamWorks producer could get their paws on it. The blatancy of this dick movie rightfully pissed off about a million Latino people (Mexican or otherwise) and Disney realized that maybe they had the wrong priorities. In order to assuage the backlash, they threw about six Mexican creators at the script and creative departments and begged them to sew up the Austria-sized fuckup.

Coco now sits as the highest animated film of all time in Mexico. I’d say they helped a lot.

PROS

The Book of Life:

God, the voice acting is amazing. How the hell they got Channing Tatum in this, I’ll never know, but he nails his lines like he’s not even trying. Kate Del Castillo and Diego Luna are my two favorites, though, considering they dual-dubbed La Muerte and Manolo in both English and Latin American Spanish. This line in particular always gets me.

I adore the puppets as a framing device. There’s just something so cool about it, especially with how characters like Xibalba and the Candlemaker interact with them.

Joaquin shouting his own name like a Pokémon every time he does something.

The Mariachi brothers physically roll around sometimes instead of walking.

Both versions of Manolo’s love song are gorgeous and sweet. They’re a welcome addition to the jukebox musical style of the rest.

Placido Domingo as Manolo’s disabled, opera-singing, bullfighter great-grandpa.

*chuckles* “They crushed our dreams!”

Manolo’s mom is so darling, you guys.

“Being bullfighters, we often flirt with death.” “And that’s why there’s so many of you down here.”

Xibalba, the god of evil, pigging out on a giant table of food and causally telling Manolo that’s he’s been completely screwed over.

Something’s oddly funny about the fact that Chakal’s got a giant, untouched drawing of the medal in his Cave O’ Death.

“Hey! My arthritis is gone!”

“Hello… puddle.”

Manolo’s mom bitchslapping Chakal.

The scene where Manolo apologizes to all the bulls his family killed, and the way the bull just clams down and dissolves into marigolds, like its soul was just put to rest.

Luchadore Priest. Hell, just the whole fight scene.

The kiss between Manolo and Maria, not helped by the fact I though he was flipping Chakal off during it instead of raising a finger.

“Men! Typical.” I love that delivery. “WELP, SAW THIS SHIT COMIN’.”

The little goth kid passing out when La Muerte undisguises herself.

Coco:

Again, the voice acting, fucking astounding. Props goes to Gael Garcia Benal, he pulls off his character so well! Disney/Pixar movies have sort of been lackluster with their voice acting (with a few exceptions) but this one was perfect.

*flashback to Ernesto getting flattened under a bell* “I wanna be just like him!”

“Miguel, vitamins are real.” “Well, now I’m thinking they might be!”

Hector’s facial expressions are so good, you guys.

Actually, I want to talk more about this. Not just him, but all the physical comedy with the skeletons. Like, they way they detach their limbs or heads, it’s so animated and weird. Reminds me of old cartoons.

If someone told me they watched this movie for Hector, I’d support them.

“Those aren’t the words!” “There are children present.”

I don’t care if all the acts were meant to be bad on purpose, I thought they were cute.

“Bring back the singing dogs!”

Seriously, the body language is incredible. Gael must have been having the time of his life recording this.

“HAVE YOU MET MY GRANDSON?”

“I hope you die very soon!”

Ernesto’s twist villainy is better than Big Hero Six and Frozen combined, fight me.

In fact, it’s the only way the villainy would have worked. Dammit, Disney! You made it look lazy!

Holy fuck, he just fell over. That’s… jarring.

Art theft is bad, you guys.

*sobbing*

*LOUDER SOBBING*

Awww! She’s dead! Wait, that sounds bad.

CONS

You scrolled down here for the negativity, didn’t you?

Book of Life: This movie gets shorter every time I watch it. Not kidding. Maybe it’s because I’m used to all the plot beats and twists. But… why is it soooo short?! Even like, two more scenes could have helped it along. I NEED MORE.

Coco: The inclusion of Frida Kahlo. This one kinda doesn’t count, but it does annoy me that she was used as just a quirky side-character, which is a huge slap in the face for all that she’d done as an artist and an activist.  The gag at the beginning with Hector wasn’t that bad, but if I could’ve changed it, I’d put the guy who invented Alebrijes in her place, Pedro Linares. You’d only have to do a little bit of tweaking, the Rivera family would dress as a giant Alebrije puppet to get backstage instead, Hector could disguise himself as one to sneak past Ernesto’s guards, and we could have this scene.

Ernesto: Ah, excuse me, sir! The stage is that way.

Hector: *takes off mask*

Ernesto: Hector. You’ve gotten back into performing, I see.

And now, for some rapid-fire nitpicks if that wasn’t enough negativity for you.

Why does the museum have a trick wall? Is it always there, or just there when La Muerte needs it? Is this their day job, or did they shapeshift into actual museum workers? Where’s Joaquin’s Mom? If she’s alive, why is she neglecting a child to live out in the streets? If she’s dead, who the hell raised him before Maria’s dad? Where’s Maria’s mom? Is nobody going to point out that Manolo is the only living member of his family left?!

Why didn’t Imelda just ban people seeking out musical careers and not all music? Are they not allowed to go to church? What do they do for parties? Quincenaras? Did nobody that Hector knew talk about the movie where his own death was ripped off? Did he never even overhear it? If you do something evil, do you only go to the Land of the Remembered if you never get caught?  What if you’re a serial killer who never got caught? Does that mean there’s a hell? DID CHICH GO TO HELL BECAUSE HE WAS FORGOTTEN? WHAT KIND OF FUCKED UP GHOST CAPITALISM DOES THE PIXAR-VERSE AFTERLIFE RUN ON

#review #reviews #reelfx #disney #pixar

[pryde-the-manticorn]

Here comes the pre-T trans guy why doesn’t know a lick of Spanish to make things awkward! Every persona of mine at this point is blatant wish-fulfillment, especially in this case where I must craft a hypothetical story about my future. Oh man, drawing skeletons is hard, especially these faces. My eraser was the Real MVP. The awkward thing is that one thing HRT can’t do after your first puberty is change your bone structure. So that made things confusing.

I die of old age, remembered by my grandchildren. Biological or adopted, I have no idea at this point. I find it odd how many people in The Land of the Dead are young. It leads me to believe you can die old, but still be young there. My ofrenda has raw semi-precious gemstones, like I made jewelry out of as a hobby in life, as well as perhaps some kitsch earrings that I loved to wear, candy, or guitar picks. I play in mariachi bands with my guitar and my violin. While my background is bluegrass, rock, and orchestral, I have plenty of time to learn in the afterlife. Maybe I climb the ranks to conductor? I also have plenty of time to learn Spanish if I haven’t already by this point. (I’m like kindergarten level in French and Japanese, lol.) I become a mildly successful songwriter. However, in life, some of my art gets its own exhibitions, or I am showrunner of a popular preteen animated action comedy. Maybe both. That is what I’m best remembered for.

I’m an oddball artist Frida Kahlo type, and I love dressing in English Victorian attire and bright or pastel colors, especially pink, purple, and green. My hair is dark blond, and there’s a little heart on my face because I’m passionate about love. Thanks for listening. @miguelcocofangirl

#i have no idea what my alebrije would be because i love so many different animals and have had so many pets in my life already #cocome #coco me #coco pixar #my art #haha um i hope being trans and totally overthinking it isn't considered inappropriate for this kids/family film

[creepykingdom]

Death and Legacy: A COCO Review

By Josh Taylor

For those of the Creepy Kingdom, you understand how dark and deep a Disney or Pixar animated film can be, especially when it comes to the idea of death. We’ve seen plenty of family members or villains die in a film, but I can stand here before you right now and state that there has never been a Disney or Pixar film so steeped in the idea of “what death really means” as COCO. Let me get the easy stuff out of the way here. COCO is by Pixar so it’s a beautiful film. The animation is gorgeous. It’s also an emotional film so bring a tissue. This is also a movie studio that likes to hide little Easter Eggs for you to find so yes, there is a pizza truck in this film. All of those things are fantastic but COCO shines because it is different from the films previously coming out of Pixar’s NorCal studio. How so? First, this film feels representative of small town Mexico. A good chunk of this movie is in Spanish with no subtitles. Everyone will understand what is going on if you don’t speak Spanish but it does add something unique to the story. Then this film goes out of it’s way to showcase classic Día de los Muertos, the folk art of Mexico, and Mariachi music.

If you know nothing about COCO just know one thing. It’s about a boy who wants to play music but his family forbids it but it longs to find a way and through mistakes of his own finds himself in the land of the dead. This is also Pixar’s first true musical film. Many of the characters play instruments or sing or dance. It’s beautiful and refreshing that they didn’t hire someone like Ricky Martin to sing some pop ballad for this film but instead opted for the actors to sing real folk songs from Mexico and the original songs written for the film seem just as authentic as those old songs are. …but I digress. Lets talk about death. This film revolves around it. Much of the story takes us into the land of the dead and we see skeletons everywhere. More important to Dia de los Muertos is that the land of the living and the land of the dead are connected and traditionally Nov. 1st is the one night a year the dead can revisit their families and their families can honor their heritage. Its portrayed beautifully in this film and the plot builds from a boy wanting to play music to a story about death and the legacy you are remembered by when you pass on to the land of the dead. I’ve never heard more sniffles and ugly crying faces in a theater than the last 15 minutes of COCO. Everything wraps into one large concept of never being forgotten, even in death, and that we all should have a desire to remember the ones we love and care about. Death is inevitable. What we do before death is what matters most. COCO cuts right to that point. It cuts deep and lets us all know that we aren’t all cut out for glory in the afterlife. Sometimes we just fade away into oblivion. 

So…would I recommend COCO, especially to those citizens of the Creepy Kingdom. As Stone Cold Steve Austin would say…”OH HELL YEAH!” This movie is not ashamed to be authentic to Mexican culture, a bit artsy, and a journey that will make you question how you live your life, who will remember you when you die, and what you will remember about others when they pass on.

COCO hits theaters nationwide on November 22, 2017!

#blogposts #coco #pixar #pixarcoco

[dweemeister]

Coco (2017)

In 2013, the Walt Disney Company moved to trademark “Día de Los Muertos” in anticipation of Pixar’s planned Day of the Dead film. Responding to the news, comic strip author Lalo Alcaraz (La Cucaracha) created a protest image of “Muerto Mouse”, warning of its intentions to, “trademark [Latino] cultura!”. Alcaraz, through La Cucaracha, has always been politically-minded through his comic strip and has been a vehement Disney critic since at least 1994, when he infamously dressed Mickey Mouse as “Migra Mouse” to protest the Walt Disney Company’s support of California Proposition 187 and the immigration policies of then-Governor Pete Wilson. So it came as a surprise to Alcaraz’s readers when he accepted a job as cultural consultant on Coco, directed by Lee Unkrich and Adrian Molina (also a co-writer). Alcaraz helped oversee an American film that justly honors Mexican culture while approaching questions about death in ways that cross borders, answered in different ways by people of different ages.

Looking at the reaction in Mexico, Pixar and Disney have avoided what could have been a mortifying cultural blunder. Unadjusted for inflation, Coco is a Mexican cultural phenomenon, being the highest-grossing film in that nation (adjusted for inflation, it is behind a handful of 2000s releases). With the exception of Russell from Up (2009), it is the first Pixar film in which the human protagonists are non-white. It is the first Pixar film to make note of and celebrate that specific cultural and national background. At worst, Coco is devalued by hackneyed storytelling decisions (this is a great Pixar movie, but not the best of what the studio has to offer) and its frantic climax. At its best, this an affecting tearjerker always in command of its characters’ sorrow and strength in family.

Born to a family of shoemakers, all twelve-year old Miguel wants to do is be a musician like his movie hero, Ernesto de la Cruz (a composite of Mexican singer-actors Pedro Infante and Jorge Negrete; both dominated the Golden Age of Mexican Cinema and make a joint cameo in Coco... Miguel also believes, for reasons best seen than described, that de la Cruz is his great-great grandfather). Miguel lives with his extended family, including his parents, cousins, grandmother Elena, and great-grandmother Coco (for whom this film is named). Día de Los Muertos – the day when the dead return to the Earth – is approaching. To describe how Miguel enters the Land of the Dead is too convoluted, lest this paragraph should run far too long. Upon entry with a stray Xolo dog named Dante, he is instantly recognized by his deceased relatives – everyone appears as skeletons – and is informed that he must return to the world of the living before sunrise with the family’s blessing. The family stipulates in their blessing that he must abandon any musical pursuits. Miguel refuses, and seeks to find Ernesto de la Cruz and receive his blessing.

Along the way to find de la Cruz, Miguel will pair up with Héctor, a fellow unable to return to the land of the living and on the cusp of being forgotten by his daughter. 

Día de Los Muertos (also known without the “Los”; “The Day of the Dead”) is a Mexican holiday with Aztec origins that has been synthesized with Catholic elements. The holiday, known superficially among non-Mexican-Americans in the United States, might not be as familiar to audiences outside the Americas. But Molina and co-screenwriter Matthew Aldrich do their damndest to introduce the holiday, Mexican culture, even more than several snippets of Spanish throughout. This has been covered before in Jorge Gutiérrez’s The Book of Life (2014), another musical animated film delving into the Day of the Dead. Then again, there is boatloads of Christmas media that has been produced by American television and movie studios, so there should be room for more than one Day of the Dead movie. The animators certainly have taken great care of their worldbuilding and although the colorful Coco does not highlight the incredible visual bounds Pixar has innovated with each film (The Good Dinosaur’s photorealism, water animation breakthroughs in Finding Dory), the layered wide shots in the Land of the Dead recall what the multiplane camera provided for Walt Disney Animation Studios in the 1930s.

Preventing Coco from being top-tier Pixar is its tendency towards exposition dumps, a plot structure dependent on fakeouts that is becoming predictable and tired (something that keeps reappearing from Frozen to Big Hero 6 to Zootopia and unfortunately, I cannot elaborate any spoilers), and lightly treading on heavier moments (think of nursery rhymes that, after the first two stanzas, reveal stories dark and twisted, never recited by most parents). Molina and Aldrich spend too much of their screenplay having the dead characters explain their world, rather than it revealing itself to the audience. Once the basic rules are established for the Land of the Dead, they neglect Miguel and his living family. The living family also disdain Miguel’s wishes to become a musician, so how does he reconcile his love for family with their attacks on his true passion? The movie never makes that clear, missing a compelling facet of characterization. It is too focused on its an increasingly repetitive journey-to-x adventure (see: Inside Out, which I loved despite that criticism) that reveal more about the supporting characters than it does the leads. Not that exploring supporting characters is a terrible thing, but the aforementioned explains one reason why I haven’t truly connected with a Pixar lead character in a non-sequel since Up.

As I have mentioned before, personal and collective loss have been central to Pixar’s greatest movies since the beginning. Titles like Finding Nemo (2003) and the entire Toy Story series have been premised in loss – some losses being more abstract than others, like the emptiness of humanity found among the passengers of the Axiom in WALL-E (2008). Coco takes these themes further than all of these previous films, acknowledging that death is its central theme and not an accessory to characterization. All other subjects, feelings, and ideas can queue behind it as Coco inspires tears. Here, death takes on a culturally specific context approaching areas that major American animation studios have rarely endeavored: that death can inspire both anguish for whom one has lost and celebration for how they lived their lives. It is how one conducts themselves in life that informs how we die – even if one’s death is unexpected, senseless, arbitrary, excruciating.

Coco wants to reaffirm that, through the characters of Héctor and Ernest de la Cruz, that a person’s goodness will impact how they live in others’ memories, but takes a circuitous way to that point. The film neglects others who do not have a distant family member who can embark on an adventure through the Land of the Dead for them – in depicting the celebratory half of death, Coco forgets how death can devastate. The two can be balanced (see: Up), so it is an unnecessary compromise.

The closest Coco comes to darkness is the fact that, when a resident of the Land of the Dead no longer has anyone on Earth who remembers them, they disappear. This idea is first introduced when we meet Chicharrón, a musician friend of Héctor’s, whose time is dwindling. Chicharrón’s second and, perhaps, final passing occurs in silence and stillness, not entirely at peace. I wished that, while leaving Chicharrón’s shack with guitar in hand and after explaining the metaphysics of the Land of the Dead, Héctor took the time to tell Miguel things like why he and Chicharrón were friends, what he found admirable about him, a single memorable moment, and what he would miss about him. This need not have been a ten-minute retelling of Chicharrón’s life story, but it would have helped to show younger audiences that, yes, some are forgotten after death, but also the complexity of memory’s weight: how those we love most continue to live, in a way, when they have passed on. Though death devastates, it is not to be feared.

Coco is also a musical journey featuring a good score from Michael Giacchino (his fourth and final film score of the year, and his second-best behind War for the Planet of the Apes), but especially the songs penned by Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez (Frozen and the upcoming Frozen 2). Orchestrator Germaine Franco (an orchestrator decides upon the instrumentation of the score; Kung Fu Panda series, The Book of Life), was brought in to assure the music’s authenticity. Michoacano and Oaxacan (two states in Mexico) music is featured, as is a variety of genres: mariachi, banda, chilena, and norteño. Solo guitar, violin, pan flute, and trumpet respective to all those genres lead the orchestral-based score. A more qualified person should judge the appropriateness of Giacchino’s score, but, to me, it does not sound like a poor imitation of Mexican music that I might have expected from him about ten years ago. Giacchino continues to progress as a composer, knowing how to adjust his styles for the films he is working on.

Yet it is the song score from the Lopezes that take center stage in Coco, and no song is as important as “Remember Me”/”Recuérdame” (all provided links are the Spanish-language versions, as they are superior to the English-language versions – note that this review has been written on the basis of the English-language version). The song’s first appearance, sung by Ernesto de la Cruz in a flashback, is an energetic ballad replete with an awesome grito (a Mexican interjection analogous to an American cowboy’s “yeehaw”). But the song’s integration in its next two placements that will break the eye’s floodgates. Without saying too much, the lullaby and its final use in the film proper are marvelous examples of how a song may evolve in meaning from the beginning to the end. It changes with context; it changes as Miguel finds his way home. Pedro Infante and Jorge Negrete would be proud.

Marcela Davison Aviles (President/CEO of the Mexican Heritage Corporation) and playwright Octavio Solis joined Lalo Alcaraz as Pixar’s cultural consultants on Coco. Noting and implementing the suggestions from these three proved difficult for Unkrich, Molina, and the producers at Pixar, but it has been well worth it in the end. Aviles critiqued the film’s music, Solis examined the theatrical presentation of the film, and Alcaraz, “looked to include more Mexican elements in the film when possible, like additional Spanish in the dialogue, and made suggestions on specific words.” Says Alcaraz: “I think we struck a good balance on giving comments that helped the cultural authenticity of the story without bogging it down as if it were some kind of Día de Los Muertos documentary.”

Quality representation in American cinema has always been difficult (this is a classic film blog, so I should know something about that), and some movie executives say “catering” to minority communities is not worth the risk. When done correctly and with respect, the results are incredible to behold. Such fortune has followed Coco from the moment it premiered in Mexico, endearing itself to Mexicans and non-Mexicans alike. It is on its way to becoming the highest-grossing Pixar film in China (where Pixar has historically struggled). The Chinese censors have, in the past, enforced a rigid ban on the depiction of ghosts and other undead. But I sense in Coco’s case, because the veneration of the deceased is so prominent in China (as is the case in many East and Southeast Asian nations; being Vietnamese-American, my extended family’s practice of ancestor veneration is the most prominent aspect immune to Americanization), the censors did not mind this time. If your movie can even make a censor feel feelings to the point where they are not executing the letter of the law, you must be doing something right!

Perhaps my criticisms of Coco are actually quibbles, but I guess I will only know upon any rewatches. In any case, Coco is one of the strongest films – animated or otherwise – released this calendar year. It attempts storytelling that other contemporary animation studios and filmmakers are too hesitant to try. It builds understanding in a year where the nation this film came from has turned inward, benefitting none. That alone makes this newest Pixar film worth seeing.

My rating: 8/10

^ Based on my personal imdb rating. My interpretation of that ratings system can be found here.

#Coco #Pixar #Lee Unkrich #Adrian Molina #Lalo Alcaraz #Matthew Aldrich #Jason Katz #Michael Giacchino #Robert Lopez #Kristen Anderson Lopez #Germaine Franco #Marcela Davison Aviles #Octavio Solis #My Movie Odyssey

[zappsbrannigan]

 Ok can we talk about Coco for a moment?? I saw it days ago and...as i have mixed feelings towards it and mostly of them arent that good; before to start keep on mind: IM MEXICAN, IVE LIVED ON MEXICO MY WHOLE LIFE ‘TIL NOW AND TRUST ME I LOVE MY COUNTRY, so...yeah this goes more than whole representation...

READ MORE BECAUSE IS HUGE

For start i thought it was gonna be a mess because Dia de Muertos, topic...which ,even if is something we celebrate even at schools isnt even the fuckin half of our culture as country so see that its kinda tiring...but guess what that became a good point about the movie...its fuckin obvious n im amazed they made good research about our country n some little quirks towards it so I cant say that is bad I laughed on a couple of scenes (especially on the bands contests...IS THAT A MOTHERFUCKIN BRONCOS/LA BANDA EL RECODO’S REFERENCE??!! ) and also..I’m very grateful about the mexican dub, they got really fuckin good talented and well known celebrities so at least my ear it was so thankful to hear El Buki and Gael Garcia (and others)...and let them sing for the ost...the good animation (expected from pixar),the decent research and the AMAZING ost/dub are things are worth to mention

The movie really captures the mexicans family escence?? yes...but here is when the whole thing goes down.

Why?? Ok the plot is about a kid (Miguel) who wants to become a Mariachi but his family is agaisnt it, doesnt sound that bad??,right?? well the kid actually tries to do something and...his family breaks his beloved guitar; the way how his grandma (not confuse with his Mamà Coco aka the great grandmother and Im not enterin into details about her “arc” its emotive and i understand if someone here cried with that) thinks “is helpin him” and doesnt really listen him...n even his parents agree with it...its so harmful even abusive ; and how they force him to work at the familiar’s job...I know there’s a plot beside that fear for the musicians but anyway...

the whole movie is mostly around that mistery on his family...about Hector and Ernesto de la Cruz backstories...that I even felt that Miguel is just standin here ‘til a point he *gives up* when...suddenly before the movie ends his relatives change their mind (talkin about the final scene with Mamà Imelda)...which, I dunno sounds fake...or doesnt convice it; on that aspect the movie is weak even is the rest of the stuff is decent n...here comes the problem.

The whole “Your family is first” or “You have to be with your family doesnt matter what” might be very delicate topic about kids (even teens or adults) living on similar situation as Miguel...but unlike on the movie ,their family IS ABUSIVE because sadly irl there wont be plot twists or your family wont change doesnt matter how much you try. Of course...neither the movie should be NEGATIVE but...I dont feel genuine how everything got resolved and the message doesnt apply on everyone.

Even, yeah Its a fun watch for kids or people (spooky skeletons), I like that kids are seein animated movies again but...yeah I feel Coco more like: A Libro de la Vida but with an Oscar.

Nice animation, mediocre story and horrible message if we’re talkin about the MC, I’m sorry so much.I think normalizes “casual” abuse (im sorry i cant find a proper word, feel free to tell me if there’s a better word or term)

#zapp vents #obviously has spoilers not huge ones tho #and im sorry i cant allow myself to ENJOY this movie #its ok if u enjoy it!! but just my thoughts and experence #abuse mention

[segadores-y-soldados]

Reaper and Soldier: American Cultural References

Alright, I know the title is a fuckin turn off for some people but I’m tired and so bad at essay titles, guys, you don’t even know, fuck I’d show ya’ll my college essays if they didn’t immediately reveal who I am but the titles were BAD.

So after a few people mentioned that the Reaper References post was helpful (and I saw your comments, I’m coming back to them, I promise), and after thinking about it a bit more this morning, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to try and explain some of the more...oddball American cultural references going on in these skins.  Please note that I’m not trying to be rude by not discussing the Mariachi or Blanco skins, but rather that I consider those to be out of my field of depth and would rather focus on the skins I do know more about.

This will have mild shipping discussions for Reaper76 but it’s mainly from an analytical perspective.  In my opinion, with Blizzard being what it is, these are primarily coincidences or a way of demonstrating the two characters’ shared interest in American pop and literary culture.

Since this is kinda turning into a mini series, have these as well:

Reaper Art Assets

Reaper References

A LOT MORE under the cut, fair warning, this one is LONG.

Name and Design Comparisons

In the Reaper References post, I talked about how the name “Gabriel Reyes” could potentially have been derived from California’s Spanish history, such as by being references to the Mission San Gabriel Arcángel or the El Camino Real.  John “Jack” Morrison has some interesting possible name references as well.

John of course, is another Biblical name, derived from the Greek Iohannes, which in turn is derived from the Hebrew Yohanan, meaning “graced by God.”  “John” as a unique English name is due primarily to the Biblical figures John the Baptist and the Apostle John.  So both characters feature religious or spiritually derived given names.

Jack is actually a nickname for John.  Which like, makes no sense to me either, but this is from the language that made “Dick” a nickname out of “Richard” so we can all be lost on this one together.  The term “jack” features a MASSIVE variety of uses and meanings in English, including but not limited to things like “jack of all trades,” “jumping jacks,” “a jack” (the card), etc.  “The Encyclopædia Britannica article on the history of the word "jack" linked it directly to the common name: "Jack, a word with a great variety of meanings and applications, all traceable to the common use of the word as a by-name of a man."”

Morrison is an interesting one because it too is religiously or spiritual derived.  One etymological hypothesis links it to Scottish or Gaelic roots as “son of Maurice,” with Maurice being the English version of the name Mauritius.  Saint Mauritius is the patron saint of the Holy Roman Emperors, but more importantly, Saint Mauritius is the patron saint of soldiers.

“Maurice became a soldier in the Roman army. He was gradually promoted until he became the leader of the Theban legion, formed of 6600 soldiers.”

Mauritius ascended to martyrdom when he and his troops refused to engage in sacrificial offerings to the Roman gods, and Mauritius and his troops were killed for their refusal.

This, of course, has a number of parallels to the lore that Blizzard has provided around Jack Morrison.  How much of it is intentional is debatable, but considering the Soldier: 76 concept and character has existed for like fifteen years, I’m willing to bet it’s pretty deliberate.

Other odd points of comparison:

Gabriel Reyes = 12 letters

Jack Morrison = 12 letters (still works with John)

Again - how deliberate is this?  I have no fucking idea, but considering that both men are 6’ 1” (1.85 m) and they effectively swap outfits after the Fall of Overwatch (Reyes goes from simple jacket/sweatshirt and plain pants to long, dramatic overcoat; while Morrison goes from long dramatic overcoat to simple jacket and plain pants; both men wear masks after the Fall), like...I would not be surprised at this point?

Once upon a midnight dreary

“But the Raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour. Nothing further then he uttered—not a feather then he fluttered— Till I scarcely more than muttered “Other friends have flown before— On the morrow he will leave me, as my hopes have flown before.”

Then the bird said “Nevermore.””

So I’ll just be honest and say that I’ve never really liked Edgar Allen Poe, and other people will offer you better analyses of “The Raven,” but for our purposes, we just briefly need to cover the subject of the poem and some of its themes.  Basically, The Raven is about a man heartbroken over the implied death of his lover.  He is visited in the night by a mysterious Raven who only speaks one word - “nevermore.”  While the man is aware that the Raven probably only knows this word through conditioning from a human owner, he continues to ask the bird increasingly deep questions about love and the afterlife, despite being aware that the Raven will only ever give him one answer.  It’s a play on the futility of deeper thinking to solve grief, a discussion on the nature of grief itself, and also a partial satire by Poe on making “a commercially successful poem” - one with deliberate rhyming intended “to appeal to both critical and popular tastes.”

It is perhaps one of the most famous and well-known pieces of American literature in history.

The Raven character is frequently compared to both heavenly messengers, such as angels, and more “evil” figures such as the devil, offering both the duality of possible salvation or damnation, depending on how the reader chooses to interpret it.  In the last stanza, the man effectively gives up on deciding which aspect the bird represents to him, and lets the bird’s “shadow” both consume him and “lift him.”

So basically, Reaper’s Nevermore skin is fucking American literary NERDISM.

“This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing

To the fowl whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom’s core;”

And

“And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon’s that is dreaming, And the lamp-light o’er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;”

In the skin, Reaper’s eyes glow purple, as do the “eyes” on his shotguns.  Moveover, Reaper will occasionally say “Nevermore” upon killing someone with this skin selected, a reference to the single word the bird says and also represents.  The word “Nevermore” represents a true finality - something that shall never happen “anymore”.  This is the first Reaper skin to be steeped in American literary history and references.  

The second, which might surprise some people, is:

Pumpkin?  But Pumpkin is a Halloween-theme skin!

But Pumpkin is also a reference to the Headless Horseman from “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” one of the oldest “American” folkstories and pieces of literature.  It’s true that the Headless Horseman character is himself derived from a number of European original sources, but the variation found in “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” has worked itself into American folklore and cultural concepts so deeply that it continues to affect American ideas of death, ghosts, and - yes - Halloween today.

In the Irving version of the story, the main character Ichabod Crane rides through the woods of Sleepy Hollow after a night of heavy partying and drinking and sharing ghost stories.  The man is very superstitious, and is frightened when “a ghost” appears riding on a horse, carrying “his head” in his lap.  The Headless Horseman pursues Ichabod through the woods, and eventually throws his head at Ichabod’s face.  In the morning, Ichabod has mysteriously vanished from town, and the only traces found of him in the woods are his startled horse, a saddle, a hat, and a smashed Jack-o-lantern.

In almost all versions of the tale, the Headless Horseman either wears or carries a flaming Jack-o-lantern for his head.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SsCHYW_I3s

This is the Disney version of the story that I remember seeing as a child.  From the Headless Horsemen, a number of other American “skeleton” or “death” figures have been derived, including characters like Jack Skellington, Skeletor, and well...Reaper.

This is also probably why “The Reaper” in Junkenstein’s Revenge had strange horse noises associated with his appearance:

http://juunkrat.tumblr.com/post/151882686536/the-reaper-comes-for-your-s-horse-noise

Since the Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Halloween in general are associated with celebrating the fall harvest, Reaper has a number of voice lines exclusive to the skin talking about “harvesting”: “Harvest time” or “Time for the reapening.”

In fact, the entire concept of the Grim Reaper in American culture distantly stems from the Romans - not exactly Thanatos or Charon (both of whom were Greek), but Saturn, god of time and, well, harvesting.  Saturn was frequently depicted with the sickle or scythe, a tool that has carried over to other mythological figures like Father Time or the Grim Reaper, and Saturnalia was the Roman celebration of the harvest.  Much like Halloween, Saturnalia permitted role reversals, a shift in expectation, lots of partying, and both a respect and playful mockery of death.  Saturnalia is one of the possible sources for the origins of Halloween, combined with Gaelic, Scottish, and Irish roots and festivities - such as the dullahan and pumpkin/turnip-carving - and the Christian “All Saints Day”.  All of these aspects build into both the Grim Reaper and the Headless Horseman.

Again, this is not to say that the Headless Horseman is unique to American folklore mythology, nor that even skeletal figures are, but rather to acknowledge the prominence that these figures have taken on, especially as they relate to American Halloween.  Jack-o-lanterns (also not uniquely American) have become a popular symbol of the holiday.

And since we’re on the subject, here’s one of the myths of the origins of the Jack-o-lantern, from Irish roots:

“Many years later, the thief died, as all living things do. Of course, Jack's life had been too sinful for him to go to heaven; however, Satan had promised not to take his soul, and so he was barred from hell as well. Jack now had nowhere to go. He asked how he would see where to go, as he had no light, and Satan mockingly tossed him an ember from the flames of Hades, that would never burn out. Jack carved out one of his turnips (which were his favorite food), put the ember inside it, and began endlessly wandering the Earth for a resting place. He became known as "Jack of the Lantern", or jack-o'-lantern.” - Wikipedia on the origins of Jack-o-lanterns

(Almost all uses of the word “jack” derive from the name “Jack”)

Which brings us to a certain immortal soldier.

The reference to immortality denoted by the skin’s very blatant name “Immortal” probably indicates something like vampirism or simply being undead (as death seems to be something that both Jack and Gabriel are like...physically incapable of doing).  The extra-pale skin and the “skeletal” white paint on his gloves also point to him being some sort of...undead spirit.  While I’m willing to say he’s probably some sort of vampire in this (like Symmetra...whose Halloween skin is a whole ‘nother can of worms), it’s not impossible, giving the Scottish/Gaelic/Irish origins of the name Morrison, that “Immortal 76” is also a reference to Jack-o-lanterns.  Just food for thought.

More significantly, and more blatantly, the design of the Immortal skin is almost dead-on (heh) another cultural reference, although this one is less literary and more...poppy:

Given the fact that the black stripes on Immortal 76’s jacket is about as dead-on (somebody stop me) as Soldier’s design can get, the comparisons seem obvious.  Even if the design was not deliberately influenced by Thriller, Michael Jackson’s outfit in the music video is so iconic that it’s pretty difficult to escape its influences, especially if you’re making a Halloween skin.

Soldier’s “sunken”/overly-make-upped eyes are also probably a reference to Jackson’s ghoulish appearance in the Thriller video, when he’s taken on a more haunting appearance:

Moveover, both Thriller and Junkenstein’s Revenge (both the in-game event and the comic) pay homage to “cheesy Halloween thriller movies,” featuring things such as a third-person narrator, a number of movie references, and the overall theme of “playing at” Halloween.  I would hypothesize that Thriller probably had some sort of direct influence on the Halloween event itself, such as featuring a few “human protagonists” against a “zombie horde,” the narration by Reinhardt, cheesy lines between characters, and the whole concept of:

“You’re fighting for your life inside a killer thriller!”

Thriller remains one of the “theme songs” of American Halloween; arguably, it is the theme song of Halloween, so it would be very strange if Immortal 76 was NOT an homage to the song and the music video.

Plus, it yields itself to one of the best puns in Overwatch: Michael Jack-morri-son.

(Please note that I’m not necessarily arguing that Soldier: 76 was the best character for this homage - honestly, the fact that Lucio HASN’T had a Michael Jackson reference yet is mind-boggling considering he is actually a “professional music and star.”  Maybe for a different event?)

Going Commando

So I brought this up briefly in the Reaper References post, but as far as I can tell, Reaper and Soldier are the only two characters who make references to a major American movie star: Arnold Schwarzenegger.  This is rather odd considering characters like Reinhardt and Mercy are geographically and culturally closer to Arnold’s home country of Austria; Reinhardt in particular shares a similar sense of bravado and battle-lust that Arnold has portrayed in many of his films (Kindergarten Cop Reinhardt when?).

But in any case:

The Commando 76 skin pays homage almost directly to the Arnold Schwarzenegger film by the same name, “Commando,” which itself is pretty much a reference to other movies of similar caliber and nature.

Like, we’re talking down to the facepaint and everything:

And the vest:

And Arnold’s entire fucking outfit, really:

Reaper, on the other hand, has the voice line “If it lives, I can kill it,” which is a reference to Arnold’s famous quote “If it bleeds, we can kill it” from Predator, a movie that also features Schwarzenegger in a military role.  I’m waiting for someone to get an “Hasta la vista, baby” line - bonus points to Blizzard if they give it to Mercy.

And since Soldier’s stupidly Americanized skins aren’t fucking deep enough in American pop culture, he had to be given this fucking abomination of a skin:

This is a reference to American stuntsman Evel Knievel, known for trying to do crazy jumps on his motorcycle while wearing a very...patriotic outfit.

Why the fuck they gave him the mustache is...I dunno.

Evel Knievel is one of these weird American icons that is difficult to explain.  America has a long and bizarre history of “doing daring feats,” such as dropping off of Niagara Falls in a barrel (seriously, I’ve read a book on Sam Patch and just like...the whole concept of bravado in American culture is something that’s difficult to try and explain.  I blame our revolution or something) all the way down to dumb shit like pranks and stuff like “Jackass” (ahaha, another Jack word).  Again, it’s not that other cultures don’t have this - many do - but it’s so bizarrely celebrated in the U.S., to the point where Knievel has been dead for ten years but his legacy is still very much active and impressive to many Americans.

Knievel is also the source of the line: “Bones heal, pain is temporary, but chicks dig scars.”  Which, of course, “Daredevil: 76” has a slightly different variation on the line: “Bones heal, pain is temporary, but scars look good.”

Now, trust me - the change in wordage is super tempting to read into, but it’s much more likely that Blizzard dropped the line about “chicks” because the term is slowly falling out of favor in North America.  It’s not really a fun way to describe women anymore (although arguably it never was?), and I’m more inclined to say that they probably modified the quote to reduce the aging, not-funny slang.

That said, if you wanna read into it, go ahead?

...why did they give him the mustache?

And since we’ve got the ball rolling on military/stunt stuff:

When Does the Rooster Crow?

So in the Chinese New Year/Lunar New Year event, Soldier got a new voiceline that says “The rooster crows at midnight.”  Despite being FUCKING HILARIOUS for the implied “the cock crows at midnight,” it’s actually another reference.

This time to M*A*S*H.

http://mash.wikia.com/wiki/The_Rooster_Crowed_at_Midnight

“In an otherwise empty mail bag, they find a package for B.J. Hunnicutt which turns out to be the novel The Rooster Crowed at Midnight which, according to the jacket blurb, was "another brain-teasing, spine-chilling whodunit from the prize-winning pen of Abigail Porterfield". The jacket blurb also described Abigail Porterfield as a 97-year old lady who had been residing in Sydney, Australia for the last 60 years.

The bored MASH staff soon pass the book around sometimes a chapter or a page at a time. For Hawkeye, getting to read the first chapter "just might be better than sex". For the impatient Winchester, "it certainly takes longer around here." The efforts of the MASH staff to identify the murderer take up much of the time in the episode.”

It’s actually a rather clever homage to both a military show and the Year of the Rooster, and is pretty much the only time a crossover between the two is applicable.

And hopefully people don’t take this the wrong way, but I wanna get a little bit into Chinese-American and Korean-American culture.

Many people may not realize this, but in big cities, or hell even medium-sized cities and towns across the U.S. West Coast, Asian American individuals are ubiquitous.  I believe more people are familiar with the concept of Ellis Island in New York, which was a historic immigrations center almost everyone coming from Europe had to travel through, but the West Coast had “Angel Island,” a similar immigrations center that, quite frankly, was used to regulate how Asian immigrants entered the country during the 1900’s, many of them predominantly Chinese.  That said, even with “regulations,” Asian immigrants continued to enter the country and settled at various points along the West Coast, including in neighborhoods like San Francisco’s Chinatown and Los Angeles’ Koreatown.

“Since Koreatown has a Latino majority, it's not unusual to find Latino employees in restaurants and grocery stores speaking Korean with customers or Korean store owners engaging Latino customers in Spanish. An example of a cultural interchange between Koreans and Latinos in Koreatown is the popularity of Korean-inspired taco trucks in Los Angeles that feature classic Mexican food infused with Korean ingredients.” - Wikipedia on Koreatown

Inter-cultural exchanges here in California are fairly commonplace in major cities, and “multiculturalism” (or whatever you want to call it) is taught at schools across almost all grades.  In second grade, my class celebrated both Hanukkah and Chinese New Year - we learned the lion dance and ran around with paper dragons.  In third grade, we learned about St. Patrick’s Day.  In fourth grade, we studied the California Missions.

During Chinese and Lunar New Years, large “historically Asian” neighborhoods openly celebrate the festival, sometimes spanning two weeks or a few weekends.  San Francisco and Los Angeles in particular hold huge parades and have open markets of gifts and food for anyone to stop by and visit.

“The parade theme emphasizes ethnic diversity, Chinese culture and exposure to Chinese-American businesses. The parade continues to be a rich and diverse experience for Angelenos of all ages and ethnicities.

The day of the Lunar New Year is the most celebrated holiday of the year for nearly 1.5 million persons of Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese descent in Southern California. It is celebrated with colorful festivals, parades, and most importantly, large family gatherings. It is also a time when ancestors are fondly remembered and families give thanks for their blessings. Red packets of money (Lai see or Hung bao) and firecrackers add fun and excitement to the Chinese New Year celebration.”

http://www.lagoldendragonparade.com/

I understand that the Year of the Rooster event was not limited to set characters, and that all characters received sprays, voice lines, etc.  My point is that characters like Reaper and Soldier celebrating the event alongside characters like Mei and D.Va would not be unusual to them.  Gabriel in particular would probably be more familiar with the event, which it seems like he is based on his line “now those are some fireworks” and his firecracker spray, but Jack having the “folded hands” spray would not be particularly unusual either.

Regardless of how I feel about Blizzard’s writing abilities, I believe that their familiarity with Los Angeles and California culture at large (and the fact that many of their employers are Asian Americans or of Asian heritage) led them to the conclusion that, 60 years into the future, Chinese and Lunar New Year will be events largely celebrated across the globe, or at least globally recognized.  The events are already massive celebrations in Asia, parts of North America, and parts of Australia.

Please know, however, that I obviously don’t speak for all Asian Americans on this matter, just myself and a few friends who I’ve talked to about this.  I believe that, given context, the way the Year of the Rooster was approached was handled well.  Personally, I found the Year of the Rooster events to be fun, entertaining, and delightful.  They reminded me of the the spirit of fun that permeates San Francisco on the CNY weekends.

Sorry this got so long, but hopeful this was informative and helpful!  The short version is that Reaper and Soldier are fucking NERDS about American history, literature, and cultural references.  There are times when American culture gets bleak, or poppy, or downright weird, but Reaper and Soldier show an interesting variety of references to a number of American cultural aspects, from the bleakness of Poe, to the pop of Michael Jackson, to the weirdness of Knievel, to the love of celebration and diversity of cultures.

And I guess that also makes me a nerd because I find that to be FUCKING AWESOME.

#i don't even know how to tag this #reaper #soldier 76 #gabriel reyes #jack morrison #references #my writing #my essays #resources #overwatch #american cultural references #jack is surprisingly varied in his references #lots of military stuff but also some really oddball pieces of culture there #seriously #everyone go read about sam patch #dude was fucking insane

[im-fairly-whitty]

Hi Wit I love your blog! Random headcanon? Because I can imagine Imelda and Héctor singing 'Tonight' from West Side Story. : Broadway/ Disney tunes are very popular in the Land of the Dead. When Frozen arrives the song Let It Go for a year tops the charts placing Remember Me at second much to Ernesto's annoyance. Even more so when he catches himself humming it. In the arts district people on occasion, (especially the theater groups) will break out into random musical numbers to relieve stress.

Hi there Anon! Glad to have you here! :)

1.) I can definitely see Hector singing “Tonight” to Imelda, who rolls her eyes as she continues to work. Undeterred and ever persistent, he sings her parts too in a convincing falsetto, making her snort in laughter.

2.) The idea of Ernesto suffering because of “Let it Go” makes me so happy you have no idea, but it’s a close second to imagining him absently humming it to his Chihuahuas when he’s up late one night bedazzling his new white mariachi jacket.

3.) Theatre geeks are theatre geeks, no matter what side of death they’re on! I could definitely see dead artists *cough*FRIDA*cough* inventing some very interesting routines incorporating the fact that skeleton dancers can detach their limbs at will.

Thanks for the ask!