A Cultural Adventure

Dynasty Dias-Maxwell, Contributor

 

     By all accounts, ‘Coco’, the latest Disney movie to hit theater’s is a box office smash, and people are raving.  

   “Enchanting and dazzling, ‘Coco’ is a resplendent love letter to Mexico,” says Claudia Puig on Rotten Tomatoes.      

As of February 11th, it has made more than $700 million worldwide.

  For years cartoons and movies have consisted of mostly white characters.

Researchers at the University of  Southern California studied the 700 top-grossing films from 2007 to 2014, excluding 2011, and analyzed the race and

ethnicity of more than 30,000 characters to show diversity in film.

The results showed that filmmakers have made nearly

no progress in depicting more characters from non-white racial and ethnic identities.

In 2014 75% of the 100 movies studied had only white characters.

Only 25% of the top movies that year featured non-white lead or co-lead actors.

‘Coco’ has been different.

It tells the story of a 12-year-old boy in Mexico named Miguel whose dream is to be a musician.

He goes on a thrilling adventure to the ‘Land of the

Dead’ and learns about his heritage and history.

Having a character like Miguel in a movie like this is very important.

This is because children learn from the shows and movies they watch.

When children see a Latino boy as a main character they get more educated on diversity and culture.

Latino kids are even more influenced because seeing someone they look like in a movie can inspire them so much.

Next time you go to the movies, watch Coco.

You’ll in for a cultural adventure.