babycharmander:

Disclaimer: I am not a musician–I learned to play piano mainly by ear, never learned to read music properly, and don’t really know how to analyze music in a professional manner.

However, I do know some things about music, and those things include the fact that music–without words–can be used to tell a story or to aid a story, and the latter is what I’ll be discussing here.

There’s several different recurring themes in the music of Coco, and I’m not just talking about “Remember Me.” One is the one you hear during “Much Needed Advice” that’s also played when Miguel crosses the bridge. Characters have their own themes as well–Pepita has a loud, blaring fanfare of trumpets whenever she takes center stage.

And as you can probably guess, Héctor has a theme, too.

(Skip to 0:57.)

This shady little leitmotif is what introduces us to Héctor, and it makes itself clear whenever he’s doing something related to his “conman” persona. We hear it first when he’s trying to sneak across the bridge, when he’s trying to bribe the corrections officer, and several times when he’s scheming with Miguel.

This aids the story in the way it presents Héctor to the viewers. He first shows himself as a shady conman, running from security, trying to illegally cross a bridge, bribing officials, and even working a little kid into his schemes, so he can cross the bridge for unknown reasons.

And his leitmotif emphasizes that. It’s shady, slinky, and untrustworthy, much like Héctor himself.

And its main instrument is a guitar.

An out of tune guitar.

But it doesn’t play every time Héctor appears. In fact, it’s only heard in, oh, maybe a third of the movie or so. Guess when we stop hearing this theme?

Yeah. This shady theme of his is never heard again after the visit to Shantytown, when Héctor must pick up a guitar for the first time in a long time.

But, wait! Does that mean Héctor doesn’t have a theme anymore, after that leitmotif disappears from the soundtrack?

Well… yes and no.

When Héctor’s conman persona theme stops playing, we stop seeing that part of him, mostly (I mean, there’s the bit where he sneaks into Ernesto’s party, but that’s about it). But his conman persona isn’t all there is to him.

When I said that Héctor’s shady leitmotif is what introduces us to his character? That was a lie.

Because we hear Héctor’s true theme much earlier in the film…

…long before we realize who it really belongs to.

(Skip to 0:23.)

The very first song we hear in the film introduces us to Héctor’s true self: a father that loves his his family.

But we don’t really see that after the prologue, because Héctor left, and never returned. In fact, unless I’m missing something, I’m pretty sure that leitmotif doesn’t come back until late in the movie…

…during Héctor’s flashback, when he tries to go home…

…during the cenote scene, when he’s revealed to be Coco’s father…

…during the rooftop scene, when he apologizes to Imelda…

…and during the sunrise scene, as he gives Miguel his final blessing.

All moments tied to Héctor showing his love for his family.

Oh, and the instrument that tends to be used for this leitmotif?

A guitar that’s been properly tuned.