Analyzing the Movie Coco through the Way of Ritual

張欣

摘要： Coco is a film based on the festival of “Day of the Dead” in Mexico. This commemorative ceremony is full of religious and artistic colors， which also shows the organizational culture of the local people. Through the analysis of ritual in this festival， people can know that a good ritual is important for an organizational culture.

關鍵詞：Day of the Dead; Ritual; Organizational culture

1.Introduction

Culture is shared meaning， shared understanding and shared sense-making. In one organization， in order to travel across the strands toward the center of the cultural web， an outsider must discover the common interpretations that hold the web together. Consequently， understanding the organizational culture is crucial for us to assimilate into a new environment. We can know the organizational culture through the three different ways： stories， metaphor and rituals. Stories that are told over and over provide a convenient window through which one views corporate webs of significance. Metaphor clarifies what is unknown or confusing by equating it with an image thats more familiar or vivid. The ritual refers to the “texts” that articulate multiple aspects of cultural life and often marks rites of passage or life transitions. These rituals are nearly sacred， and any attempt to change them meets with strong resistance. The ritual can be a school song， a festival or an activity in company. There are so many communities use the rituals for shaping their organizational culture. The ritual part is what I will discuss in this paper. The movie named Coco fully presents how the ritual affects peoples daily life. Firstly， I will introduce the main plots of movie Coco. Secondly， the theory I have used will be explained through the ritual in this movie. Lastly， I will discuss about the significance of ritual in peoples life.

2.Analyzing the Ritual Plot in Movie

Coco is a film based on the “Day of the Dead” of Mexico and the whole story of the film is developing within 24 hours of this royal festival. In the film， people are very happy to commemorate their deceased relatives. They hold a big concert for the dead， they are singing and dancing， the whole family stay together to put the photos of the deceased relatives on the wall. They also place offerings of flowers， drinks and food alongside the photographs. And then people strew flowers on the ground to guide the deceased relatives come back to their home.

In Mexico， the "Day of the Dead" is held every year from October 31st to November 2nd. This festival aims to commemorate the deceased relatives. Unlike Chinese Qingming Festival， Mexico's Day of the Dead is the gala which is full of joy for singing and dancing. The Qingming festival is heavier and more serious. Why people celebrate the festival rather than showing the sorrow for the dead is because that Mexicans believe that death is not only the end of life， but also the beginning of a new life. Death is not terrible for them. What they really fear is that their descendant and family members forget them.

The representative of the “Day of the Dead” is the skeleton. Mexicans not only need to dress themselves up and draw the patterns of skull on their faces， but also need to redecorate the cemetery. They put various kinds of interesting skull decorations in front of the tombstone. They respect skeletons and believe that skeleton is the link between life and death. Skeleton is not horrible， but beautiful and a little festive， it is full of people's best wish for a brilliant future life.

3.Conclusion

Obviously， the “Day of the Dead” not only is a festival for Mexicans， but also is a kind of rituals for their organizational culture. It totally shows the optimistic and open-minded character of the Mexican nation and their humorous attitude towards death. The most important is that this ritual reflects the family value of Mexican. Through the celebrating activities， we can know that Mexicans pay much attention on their families. They always put their families first and consider their family members as the important part of their life. Even some people has died， they can also gather together with their family through the “Day of the Dead”. There is nothing important than staying with family. From this movie， we could feel that the ritual is crucial for an outsider to know a new culture. A good ritual not only can present their organizational culture， but also make people unite together and become more cohesive. So， ritual is beneficial for establishing the organization.

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