Who Is Coco in the Movie Coco? What Does Coco Mean in the Movie Coco?

Have you seen Pixar’s Coco? If not, you must have heard of the Un Poco Loco song while scrolling through YouTube shorts or TikTok. That song belongs to the widely critically acclaimed and commercially successful film. 

With Day of the Dead here, it’s time to revisit the viral hit and look back at some questions still plaguing viewers. After all, people still want to know why Coco is called that. Isn’t Miguel the main protagonist of the story? 

The 2017 animated film Coco is named after Miguel’s great-grandmother. She is the daughter of Imelda and Héctor. The name Coco means to help someone in need. The movie is aptly named because Coco is the only one left who remembers her father and can ensure that he doesn’t get forgotten by his successors. 

Who Is Coco In The Film?

Coco, in Pixar’s Coco, is the great-grandmother of Miguel, who is the main character of the story. She moves around in a wheelchair and is the daughter of Imelda and Héctor. Ana Ofelia Murguía voices the character. 

Initially, she gets introduced as an inconsequential character who is presented as quite villainous at times. After all, she broke Miguel’s guitar when he expressed his desire to become a musician. 

So why is the film named after her of all characters? It’s because, without her character, the film would hold no meaning. 

What Does Coco Mean In The Film?

Coco in English means a palm tree or an abbreviated form of coconut. But in Spanish, it means to help or help someone in need. That’s exactly what the character does. She is the only one living who remembers her father, Héctor. 

At the end of the film, when Héctor is almost about to perish and meet his Final Death, it is Coco who remembers him and tells his story to her children and grandchildren. Thus saving her father from being forgotten. After all, who can forget the song Remember Me that Coco and Miguel sing when they reconcile.

But there’s another story behind why the film was called Coco. In an interview with Digital Spy, producer Darla K Anderson revealed that the original name of the film was decided to be Day of the Dead/ Día de los Muertos since a large chunk of the story is based around that celebration. 

Disney went ahead with it and tried to trademark the phrase “Dia de los Muertos” for merchandising. However, the move was criticized by the Mexican-American community. So, everyone returned to the drawing board and came up with Coco.

Darla said: 

“We kept gravitating back towards the name Coco. It’s a little bit mysterious, it’s got a warmth to it, it’s got lots of different meanings, but mostly we liked the idea that it’s named after the great-grandmother who’s the matriarch of the family and spans the generations and connects everything together. We really hung on to that.”

The name worked because it was short and perfectly aligned with the story’s theme. 

What was your favorite moment of Coco? Are you planning on watching the film? 

Let us know in the comments below. 

Source: Digital Spy