What "Coco Nightclub" taught me: tell a good story, from character creation to plot development

[](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCOd1kNgvJXUjFNYqTU8_AHaIO-7JPFN2oCqATkLS3cAa664WRAAvKQUJ7uwznETzImHaT2p_jQLNLHPO6t yZuFVRYWBDsEJkBYTKTAxQ5T0B7v7AJ8eGwMuzdfJcTWoVGyMlfObYAsj1G/s1600/%25E5%2 58F%25AF%25E5%258F%25AF%25E5%25A4%259C%25E7%25B8%25BD%25E6%259C%2583.jpg)

©Image source: Disney

This article The author Build Awish is a text creator who likes popular novels and movies. The goal is to continue learning, and at the same time share with everyone a few things about learning novel writing. I hope to accompany and grow with creators and readers. You are also welcome to visit her [fan page] (https://www.facebook.com/Diamanda.writer). Thank you for authorizing the “Content Hacker” website to reprint it. Thank you hereby.

[Why we reprint this article] This is not only a warm review of the movie “Coco Nightclub”, but also a personal insight shared by Zhu Yuan from the perspective of literary creation. Whether it is the analysis of the plot or the creation of the characters, he has his own unique insights, and it is worth learning from content hackers who are interested in investing in the creative field!

I was lucky. My friend invited me to watch a movie at the end of last year. At that time, I knew nothing about “Coco”. But based on my friendship with my friends and avoiding setting limits for myself, I agreed immediately after browsing the film’s introduction without seeing the obvious points. Unexpectedly, I found a lot of rewards after watching it, and the film actually won the [90th Academy Award for Best Animation] this year (https://star.ettoday.net/news/1120317).

“Coco Nightclub” is an American 3D song and dance fantasy adventure cartoon released in 2017, produced by Pixar Animation. Directed by “Toy Story 3” Lee. Directed by Anchorage, Michael. Music by Giacchino. It premiered in Mexico on October 27, 2017, in the United States on November 22, 2017, in China and Taiwan on November 24, 2017, and in Hong Kong on December 28, 2017.

The surprise of unexpected discovery

Why do you say you are lucky? The reason is that cartoons are usually not on my shortlist. I will notice that most of the movies that will enter the cinema are hero movies, action movies, or popular dramas and other popular movies. The reason why cartoons are excluded may be because I still subconsciously think that the target audience of animation is relatively young (but it is time to change this, many excellent animations can also greatly move adults).

Because I had no special expectations and went to the movies with a normal mind, I found surprises everywhere and received many unexpected touches.

Next, I want to talk about the plot and character portrayal in the movie that impressed me. Of course, there will be spoilers, and they are big spoilers. I strongly recommend that friends who have not watched “Coco Nightclub” and want to watch the movie carefully, don’t watch it yet! In order to avoid being disturbed when watching the movie and compromising your experience.

To put it simply, “Coco Nightclub” tells the story of Michael, a boy from a shoemaking family who insists on pursuing a career in music even though his whole family opposes it, but accidentally enters the world of the dead and discovers a huge secret.

Success factors of popular movies

Overall, I think “Coco Nightclub” has many elements of a popular movie:

It has the theme of high concept, the structure of three-act play, beautiful singing performances, gorgeous stages and celebrity life, touching family relationships, suspenseful plot with climaxes and tensions, wonderful and rich visual effects, and eye-catching background settings.

• → High-concept theme: The theme of the story can be described in a very short sentence, just like the introduction above.
• →The structure of the three-act play: the beginning, the middle and the end, which respectively present event triggers, conflicts and resolutions, from Michael accidentally entering the world of the dead because his grandmother objected to playing music (trigger), to encountering many difficulties in obtaining the blessing of his family to return to the living world (conflict), and finally returning successfully and untying the family knot (resolution).
• →Singing performance and celebrity life: Because the protagonist pursues the dream of music, the plot naturally integrates singing, stage performance (another art and entertainment element), and the magnificent life of celebrities (the audience will never tire of it), especially every song is sung with true feelings, which is intoxicating!
• → Touching family relationship: Whether it is the relationship between Mi Gao and his great-great-grandfather (Hait), his autocratic grandmother, his great-great-grandmother (Imelda) who was the initiator of anti-music, and his great-grandmother (Coco) who has almost no lines, or the mother-daughter relationship between Haite and Imelda, and Coco, and the mother-daughter relationship between Coco and his daughter (Mi Gao’s grandmother)… they are all touching and very rich.
• → Eye-catching background setting: The story sets the appearance of the world of the undead, and is cleverly combined with the modern world (such as modern equipment, modern leisure and entertainment…), and also formulates the relationship between the living and the dead world, and the mechanism of the undead being destroyed when forgotten by the living. It is not only like “living again”, but also incorporates some concrete presentations of existing concepts and imaginations, which shows that it is ingenious and original.

Advancement of plot tension layer by layer

As for the “strong plot tension”, we can actually say it independently.

Conflict 1 started when Michael wanted to study music but was opposed by his family. Then, Michael discovered from (incomplete) clues/torn photos that his great-great-grandfather was the god of music he admired, Dragus (Breaking Point 1). At first glance, there was a turning point, but it actually became the fuse that led him into the world of the undead (Enhanced Conflict 1), and he must return to the original world within time, otherwise he will really die (Conflict 2).

Although Michael quickly found a solution (the blessing of the undead family), the blessing of Imelda (the patriarch) was conditional (no music allowed/strengthened conflict 1), which put him on the road to find Dragus, and “happened” to meet Heit, who knew Dragus.

In the process of Haite helping Mi Gao, it was revealed that Haite also knew music, but the process of finding Dragus was not smooth (Conflict 3+). This was interspersed with Imelda sending a spiritual beast to track Mi Gao (Intensified Conflict 1), which also led to a falling out between Mi Gao and Haite (Conflict 4). It was also accidentally discovered that Imelda also loved to sing (Explosion Point 2), but still opposed music, which made Mi Gao feel even more angry and hurt (Intensified Conflict 1).

In the end, Michael actually found a way to get to know Dragus on his own! However, Haite, who followed Michael, also met Dragus. At the same time, he discovered that Dragus was the murderer who killed him and took away the music he created (the biggest breaking point). Dragus also took away Haite’s photos (Hope Not Forgotten/Conflict 5)

Later, Michael met his real great-great-grandfather Hatter (Breaking Point 4), and helped Hatter resolve the misunderstanding that Imelda thought he had abandoned the family (actually he was poisoned), and then jointly assisted Haite to retrieve the photos from Dragus (so as not to be forgotten by Coco), but failed (Enhanced Conflict 5). Fortunately, Miguel successfully returned to the original world, and then remembered his father through Coco and saved Hatter (Breaking Point 5), which also caused Dragus to taste the consequences.

In other words, it means that it has gone through various conflicts and flashpoints, giving the audience hope at one time, and putting the protagonist into deeper trouble at the other. After several waves of plot ups and downs, the strength of the forces such as Michael, Hatter, Imelda and Dragus continued to change, and finally ended successfully, which can be said to have the audience’s emotions in the palm of their hands. In particular, the plot arrangements and inferences are reasonable and the details are handled just right. Well, I can really only say that it is too high and too exciting!

In addition, the following summary plots or key points are the passages that made me particularly “feel”:

• In terms of details, the beginning of the story greatly praises Dragus’ musical achievements, but there is a vague “sense of distance”. It is not until Haite tries to take Michael to find Dragus that things go wrong, and when Michael personally recognizes Dragus, the character problems of Drago gradually appear, and then at the biggest breaking point, he discovers that he is a murderer. This kind of plot arrangement makes the initial subtle sense of dissonance confirmed, which is a very subtle and surprising description.
• When the plot enters the middle and the focus is on Michael and Hatter, smart viewers will probably start to guess: “Haite is Michael’s great-great-grandfather! (After all, Hatter plays such an important role)” Even once or twice, they almost had a chance to recognize each other, but Michael and Hatter got sidetracked for “unimportant things” (actually, it was very important to them at the time) I missed the opportunity by starting the topic; even when Mi met Dragus, I thought Dragus would deny it or clarify Mi Gao’s life experience. As a result, Dragus was surprised by Mi Gao’s existence, but readily accepted it (but this judgment was reasonable under the circumstances), which dashed my hopes again - this is the so-called power of dominating readers’ emotions.
• When Michael and Hatter are separated and Imelda catches up, Michael and Imelda have a conversation. At that time, in order to make Mi Gao stop and talk, Imelda suddenly sang a song, and then said that she also loved music, but after having children, she had to make choices for life… It was the so-called “unexpected, but reasonable”! However, when I had a question in my mind: Why didn’t Imelda support her husband (the plot pointed to Dragus, who had excellent musical achievements and should be able to take care of the family), Michael immediately asked for the audience: “Shouldn’t families support each other? Why don’t you support me?” and ran away, leaving Imelda unable to explain.
• However, at the climax of the plot, Haite finally understood that he was killed by Dragus, and that he was Michael’s great-great-grandfather, and when he got help from Imelda, all the mysteries were solved: Imelda hated music so much because Haite never came back or sent any news. , disappeared without a trace after leaving (they didn’t meet until they met in the world of the dead); when they arrived in the world of the dead, Imelda had harbored grievances for a long time, and it was reasonable that he would not listen to any explanation from Haite. What’s more, Haite had no idea that he had been killed before, and he also felt extremely guilty towards Imelda (his speaking position was humble). If it weren’t for the sake of Mi Gao and her help, Imelda might still not forgive Hatter.
• This plot makes people understand the positions of Imelda and Hatter very well, and they immediately have empathy and sympathy. All I can say is “fate plays a trick on people”! In life, many of the most embarrassing things are when both parties are good people, but they have regrets due to misunderstandings. It’s frustrating but helpless, and I can’t bear to blame anyone.

Character shaping and creative inspiration

Finally, let me mention a few more places that made me think or made me feel I gained something:

• Regarding character creation, “Coco Nightclub” uses the character of Michael, a child, to highlight that we sometimes ignore other important things or relationships (such as family) because of things we are obsessed with (such as Michael’s musical dream); and sometimes we also set restrictions on ourselves (such as Michael insisting on finding “family members who support him in playing music”), which puts ourselves in more conflicts. It often takes a lot of collisions and setbacks before we can understand and cherish the important things we ignore (although in reality we may still not understand it often enough).
• “Coco Nightclub” is also very interesting in its portrayal of several main characters and the transformation of their characters. For example, Haite started out as a criminal, a liar, and an unpopular musician, leading a miserable life, but turned out to be a truly great musician, a good father, and a good husband; or the domineering Imelda later revealed her passionate side, Dragus changed from a great man to a villain, and the autocratic and tough grandmother also softened in front of his mother Coco.
• These characters all appear with strong images (or stereotypes) at the beginning, break into the readers’ hearts, and then turn around through the plot to highlight the other side of the characters. It not only constitutes the three-dimensional sense of the character, but also becomes an important force in helping the protagonist grow in the process.
• When Haite found out in front of Michael that he was killed by Dragus, Dragus asked Michael to believe him──How Michael would respond here made me very nervous: Would Michael really believe it all because Dragus is a relative? But if he said “I don’t believe it,” Michael would definitely be in greater trouble. As a result, Michael said he believed it, but his expression (based on fear) involuntarily showed hesitation, which made Dragus understand that Mi actually didn’t believe it and dealt with him accordingly.
• I like the description of this paragraph very much. It shows that Mi is not a fool, but he is still a simple (not good at concealing) child. It also highlights that Dras is really a bad guy, but he is also a smart bad guy, so Mi still suffers negative consequences—sometimes good people are not necessarily good people who are stupid, but bad people are really cunning. Thinking this way may make many viewers feel a lot better.
• After Michael returned to his original world, I originally thought the story had come to an end. Unexpectedly, the most touching and tearful plot in the whole drama was here. When Michael played the guitar to Coco and sang “Please Remember Me”, I burst into tears without any psychological preparation.
• Later I thought about it, it should be one song that conveyed so many levels of emotions: between Michael and Haite, between Coco and Haite, between Michael and Coco, and even between Coco and her daughter, and other family members, and between Michael and other family members… all of a sudden, it surged, and I can only say it was amazing.
• Regarding the evil consequences of evil people, because Michael brought Dragus’ true face back to the world of the living (surprise), and let Dragus also taste retribution in the world of the dead (being spurned, and his income dropped sharply), this should be enough (Michael’s family is also an ordinary person, and there should be no need to do more terrible things to Dragus). In the end, everything was successful and the audience felt comfortable (https://buildawish.blogspot.tw/2018/03/blog-post.html).

But I still think about a question, that is, a villain like Dragus may indeed have great achievements in some aspects! Perhaps we don’t need to be resentful. After all, he gave up other things to pursue music (fame and fortune), and perhaps it is natural for him to receive considerable rewards. However, he must bear the consequences of what he has given up (such as moral conscience). We often envy the seemingly beautiful side of others, but the overall situation of the other person may not actually be what we want.

Finally, regarding the world of the undead set in the background of the story, and the mechanism in which spirituality will disappear if it is forgotten, I think the logical setting is very complete and refreshing-but, I believe that in the real world, spirituality will not be forgotten and eliminated so easily.

★ Content Hacking Lecture Series (CHL5): How to run corporate official websites, blogs and publications [Registration now]

★ Content Hacking Lecture Series (CHL6): How to use presentations for content marketing [Registration now]

★ To improve your content power, please don’t miss the online course “[Content Power: The Super Power of Building Brands] (https://hahow.in/cr/content-power)”

★ Photo Credit: Annie Spratt

---