repetition in coco

anotherweepingwoman:

is powerful. some of the most effective patterns I can remember off the top of my head:

– repetition in threes

• remember me as a story point with changing meaning (ernesto, héctor + coco, miguel + coco; there are of course many other renditions playing in the background, plus the moment where ernesto, miguel, and his party guests sing it together, not to mention the weirdly commercial credits sequence)
• coco speaks of her papa three times (once to ask if he’s coming, once while pointing at his headless photo and setting off miguel’s notion that he’s de la cruz, once to share his stories with the family)
• imelda gives miguel three blessings, although the second one is aborted by ernesto, and the third is shared with héctor
• there are three generations of dead Riveras: imelda and her brothers; julio and rosita; and victoria
• there are three deaths: the first is illustrated by héctor’s death in the flashback; the second, the burial, is never seen in the film but implied by the cemetery; and the third, final death 
• héctor dresses as frida kahlo on three separate occasions: to cross the bridge, to gain entry to ernesto’s party, and to sneak with the family onto the spectacular stage. where did he get the second costume – did he steal it back from the authorities or convince céci to lend him a new one?
• miguel falls three times from increasing heights: once when he slips into ernesto’s pool, once when security throws him into the cenote, once when ernesto throws him towards the pavement several stories down. twice he lands in water; the third time, héctor’s photo lands in water
• héctor plays three different songs on three different guitars for three different audiences (chicharrón’s guitar for juanita, a backstage guitar for la llorona, his skull guitar for proud corazon). miguel also plays three different guitars: his makeshift one, chicharrón’s guitar, and héctor’s guitar
• miguel is validated as an artist three times, first by frida, then héctor, then ernesto
• clips from Ernesto’s films are shown on four separate occasions, but there is a difference in kind: the films are shown on screens and for on-screen audiences only three of those times. (once when miguel is playing along with the clips in his hide-away with dante, once when he is playing along before (and with) ernesto in front of the party audience, once when héctor confronts ernesto and play becomes all too real.) by contrast, the first time we see clips, the screen is our own (i.e. the movie screen itself, with only us as audience), hinting at miguel’s inability to distinguish fiction/projection from reality (and how he will ironically learn this difference precisely because he assumes the poisoning scene in the film was real)
• there are three big grito moments, the one during warm-up (héctor accepting miguel’s wish and trying to help), the ones onstage during poco loco (miguel listening to that advice), and the ones in the cenote expressing their pride in being family. this last one is loud enough that it arguably leads dante to where they are
• there are three references to the shining

– repetition in twos

• ernesto is crushed twice by a bell (what is the significance of the bell? it’s a musical instrument with sacred and symbolic importance, but …?)
• ernesto takes a guitar from a rivera twice: once after poisoning héctor, once by tossing away the guitar on miguel’s back in the pool
• ernesto flies twice: one in a film, once thanks to pepita
• imelda sings la llorona twice and for very different reasons. if one counts the mariachi singers who are silenced by abuelita, the song is technically played three times
• héctor brings two shot glasses into chicharrón’s shack and leaves one empty, one full. his murder also involved two shot glasses, his own empty …
• in the torn photo, héctor’s belt is engraved with two crossed guitars – there’s something going on here with la cruz (cross) as a word, the theme of crossing the bridge but also ernesto’s name, maybe even being double-crossed …
• we see two bridge crossings: the one with miguel, and the one with coco and héctor
• many forms of projection are repeated: the poisoning scene in ernesto’s film is seen twice; frida’s pre-show art is seen twice, once unfinished in rehearsal, once in full glory onstage; there are two flashbacks, etc.

… and I know I’m missing a ton, additions and improvements most welcome!