Episode 16 - Coco (Lee Unkrich, 2017) (with Eavesdropping at the Movies)
Coco (Lee Unkrich, 2017).
The Fantasy/Animation podcast takes listeners on a journey through the intersection between fantasy cinema and the medium of animation. Available via Apple Podcasts, Spotify and many of your favourite podcast hosting platforms!
Episode 16 heralds the first Fantasy/Animation crossover instalment, with Chris and Alex joined by Michael Glass and José Arroyo, also known as the Eavesdropping at the Movies team. The focus of their discussions is Pixar’s feature film Coco (Lee Unkrich, 2017), a computer-animated fantasy inspired by the Mexican ‘Día de los Muertos’ (Day of the Dead) holiday. Seizing their moment, the foursome touch on issues of cultural specificity, authenticity and appropriation; its expressive use of luminescent lighting to illuminate its styles and details; and the themes of grief, ancestry, history and heritage that support the structures of a film whose two interconnected worlds of life and death are powered by the vitality of memory.
Suggested Readings
Paik, Karen. 2007. To Infinity and Beyond! The Story of Pixar Animation Studios. London: Random House.
Sarafian, Katherine. 2003. “Flashing Digital Animations: Pixar’s Digital Aesthetic.” In New Media: Theories and Practices of Digitextuality, edited by Anna Everett and John T. Caldwell, 209-23. New York and London: Routledge.
Schaffer, William. 2004. “The Importance of Being Plastic: The Feel of Pixar.” Animation Journal 12: 72-95.
Telotte, J.P. 2010. Animating Space: From Mickey to Wall-E. Kentucky: University Press of Kentucky.
Velarde, Robert. 2010. The Wisdom of Pixar: An Animated Look at Virtue. Illinois: InterVarsity Press.