We meet Miguel as the delightful young boy in “Coco". He is born into a family of shoemakers where music is banned but he has a problem. He loves music. He knows he is a musician. He has built his own guitar resembling the guitar his idol used. That’s how we meet the most famous musician, Ernesto de la Cruz, beloved and adored. Miguel soaks in every word Ernesto says in videos of concerts, and in movies he acted in. Ernesto represents the story of a man who set out to follow his dreams and never turns back, whose tenacious commitment to his success meant doing whatever it took to “seize the moment.” “The rest of the world may follow the rules but I must follow my heart.” That is where the unease set in. Ambition that sees no limit — “is that a good thing?” I wondered.
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When my oldest daughter was a mere 18 months old, I shared some pictures from our family vacation. Someone commented that she looked like she had an “attitude.” She was 18 months old. She was having fun in the sprinklers and was posing.
It never occurred to me that if I as a Black woman (symbolically) was portrayed as the maid and revealed a hidden figure, hyper-sexualized, portrayed as the sassy Black woman that my Black daughter would be exempt.
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