Disney Pixar COCO Encourages Social Change

Disney Pixar COCO will hit theaters November 22nd and my familia can’t wait!

Earlier this month, I made it out to the Disney Pixar COCO press conference in Beverly Hills, California to meet with the all star Latino cast. This important new film has brought up an important discussion in my family and also within the Latino community. This press conference was memorable, and will go down in the books as one of my favorites.

GRACIAS Disney Pixar for inviting me to the COCO Press Conference. All Opinions are my own.

As a Latina and a mother, I am over the moon and grateful that Disney has created a film that accurately depicts my culture. This sensational film is tearing down walls and stereotypes and presents my culture in a positive light. This timeless film encourages social change, in a violent time where Latinos are portrayed negatively and inaccurately by politicians and media.

Hear what Alanna Ubach, Gael Garcia Bernal, and Edwards James Olmos had to say to Queen Bee Latina below…

About Disney Pixar COCO

Despite his family’s baffling generations-old ban on music, Miguel (voice of newcomer Anthony Gonzalez) dreams of becoming an accomplished musician like his idol, Ernesto de la Cruz (voice of Benjamin Bratt). Desperate to prove his talent, Miguel finds himself in the stunning and colorful Land of the Dead following a mysterious chain of events. Along the way, he meets charming trickster Hector (voice of Gael García Bernal), and together, they set off on an extraordinary journey to unlock the real story behind Miguel’s family history.

Here’s what my correspondent Clarissa Camacho asked the COCO panelists at the press conference.

CLARISSA CAMACHO:

“Hi. I’m Clarissa with Queen Bee Latina. And I’d like to thank you, first of all, for really being symbolic for the Latino community. So for the youth of the Latino community, what message would you like to take away from the film?”

ALANNA UBACH (voice of “Mama Imelda):

“Well, I think it was very important for Pixar to make a movie like this,because what they did was, if anything, they painted such – I mean, they – they did so –beyond my expectations, obviously, to quote Gael. But they painted such an exquisite
portrait of the afterlife. And so you can only hope that – my son, who’s 12 weeks go –when he’s old enough to understand this movie, he can walk away saying, “Mama, I am not afraid of death. I’m not afraid of the afterlife.” What a beautiful world this would be if the afterlife was like this. Could you imagine? And also, that they really did pay such a respect to the one quality that Latin families, Latin American families have across, and hat is the importance of familia, and that is something that no presidents, or borders, or politics can ever break – that importance, the importance of familia.”
HOST: Um-hmm.”

Gael Garcia Bernal is the voice of “Hector”

GAEL GARCIA BERNAL:

” Yeah, and so I have – I mean, I’ve been saying this a lot, but I really have to stress it over and over again, because – I mean, if I have to do a very personal dedication, this film is for the kids, the Latino kids growing in the United States, because in the official narrative, it’s been said that their parents, or grandparents, or great-grandparents are rapists, murderers, drug traffickers. And these kids are being born in a moment of huge, complete fear, and they have to fight against the lie, and it’s
very complicated to argument against the lie. You know? And this film, or this expression amongst – with many other forms of expression that happen day to day, you know – it’s gonna be, it’s gonna give kids a way to feel confident of where they come
from, of where their parents, great-grandparents, grandparents come from, to know that they come from a very sophisticated culture, and to know that they have the possibility to always have access to that hive, to that – you know, to that [PH] colmena of life, and that they can come up with new answers to what’s needed in life that we, as humanity, need right now. So it would be for them, it would be – I mean, this is my – you know, you asked about what, for Latino kids, no? Like, I think this would be the thing I would say, you know? I mean, this film opens up that discussion, and it is a beautiful reflection on death, and the celebration life. Yeah.”

Anthony Gonzalez is the voice of “Miguel”

Edward James Olmos is the voice of “Chicharron”

HOST:

“Hmm, interesting. Mr. Edward James Olmos, you have a – it’s a brief role, but a significant one, because it sort of sets up some of the rules of the Land of the Dead, and a character that’s not necessarily in its best stage. What was that like for you to play that character?”

EDWARD JAMES OLMOS:

“It was – you know, when they invited me to come up, Lee, and Darla – and they had invited me to come up to Pixar. And they said that they were doing this film, and they wanted to inform me about it, and ask me my opinion about it.
And they were so incredibly respectful of the material that they were working with, that immediately, it transcended into understanding on my part. And when they asked me to play the role, I was privileged. I mean, this became a real honor, because it – that character is what the story is. I mean, every single person in the room that’s seen thatmovie understands very well that what it means is if you don’t remember your loved ones, they’re gone. If you don’t tell the stories of that loved one, they cease to exist. And it was that simple. And so when I ended up – they asked me to do it, I said, “Of course. It’d be my honor.” And so we went ahead and did it. But I didn’t read the script. They didn’t hand me the script.”