>>704531
TL:DW (Spoilerrific, if you care):
>Basic plot is your garden variety "I've gotta follow my dreams! Even if I face resistance from my family!" In this case "I've gotta be a musician! Even though my family disapproves!"
>Movie centers around The Day of the Dead: pretty much Halloween - Latin American Edition, including all the pagan baggage that goes with it.
>House has Christian cross on wall, but plot mainly centers around what dominates the family's entire room, it's "Ofrenda": basically a pagan ancestor worship altar: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ofrenda
>Hijinks ensue, and protagonist, Miguel, gets accidentally sucked into the land of the dead during the Day of the Dead celebrations. He can see and be seen by the Dead, but can no longer be seen or interact with the living.
>During the course of his adventures in the land of the dead, finds out the musician he idolizes and inspired him to become a musician in the first place (and thought was his great-great-grandfather) is a fraud and actually murdered the man who wrote his songs and taught him to play guitar.
>Turns out said murdered man, Hector, is Miguel's real great-great-grandfather, and is desperately trying to get into the land of the living during The Day of the Dead festival, but can't, due to his photograph not being placed on the family's Ofrenda out of spite, due to being perceived as leaving the family behind for the music biz (was actually trying to return to family, before being murdered.)
>Actually shows shanty town in the land of the dead full of people who can't get out due to not having photos on their family's Ofrendas. One character here is finally completely forgotten by his family and literally fades away into oblivion/annihilation. Hector says (roughly paraphrased from my memory) "We have no idea where they go. It's a fate that awaits all of us eventually when we are forgotten by our families."
>Movie wraps up in a pseudo happy ending when Miguel gets Coco, his great-great-grandfather's daughter to snap out of her dementia stupor and remember Hector, and the fact that he always sent her songs and poems and made time for her even in his travels. This, combined with Miguel's testimony, restores Hector's reputation; he is placed on the family's Ofrenda and is able to cross over and visit Coco (who herself has passed away); and he is remembered as the real greatest musician of Mexico by the town, while his murderer is defamed and forgotten. Miguel is allowed to become a musician by his family because of Hector's restored reputation.
>Completely brushes the dark undertones of the afterlife under the carpet (to be discussed more below.)
Pagan themes:
>Ancestor worship.
>Your deeds/fame/remembrance by your family/village/others is your "immortality."
>Literally acknowledges that the above is temporal and all are eventually doomed to, at best, an ambiguous final death, and at worst, outright annihilationism upon being completely forgotten in physical reality.
>Basically spits in the face of the concept of the true immortality of the Christian afterlife, as well as living a life for Christ that goes beyond the pursuit of fame and approval from your family/society.