Ernesto de la Cruz | Hector Rivera : Two sides of the same coin (Coco Film Analysis)
Ernesto de la Cruz. Hector Rivera. Both musicians. Both with high levels of charisma and charm. Both interwoven with Miguel’s destiny. Both are the same, and yet so different.
Both two sides of the same coin.
So how are they two sides of the same coin? Firstly, understand that Coco as a whole is a film with multiple references to the duality and contrasts of the universe. We see themes involving life and death, blessing and curse, dark and light, remembering and forgetting, vice and virtue. Hector and Ernesto are representations of the symbolic dualities of the film. We also see a lot of Christian motifs and symbolism throughout the film which in itself has a lot of themes of duality, and they influence the characters of Hector and Ernesto to a great extent.
So what are some recurring themes that Hector and Ernesto both represent?
Life and Death, Blessing and Curse
Ernesto and Hector symbolize the separation of Life (Ernesto) and Death (Hector), Blessing (Ernesto) and Curse (Hector).
Ernesto is symbolic of life and blessing, as we can see that he wears light-colored clothing, has a fresh and healthy skeleton, or his body after the physical death is nourished and well. He is remembered the world over, or he is “ alive in people’s memories”. He is also in a way “blessed” in his life after death, receiving the adulation and awe of all inhabitants of the land of both the living and dead. In this way, he is somewhat eternally blessed, much like the eternal life promised by Christ to his disciples.
His radiant body after the physical death is a reference to what was said by Apostle Paul for those who died in Christ, or those who died and will receive life again:
“…who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body…” (Philippians 3:21 NKJV)
Throughout the film, there is references to blessings, such as the family blessing Miguel must earn in order to return to the land of the living. Ernesto is a representation of blessing, and his clothing is a representation of his blessing, in that it is white, or “Christ-like”, or that he is a disciple of Christ, to be eternally blessed.
Hector, on the other hand, is symbolic of death and curse. We see this motif represented in his dark and tattered clothing, and his degrading skeletal body after death. He even has a limp when he walks. Due to his transgressions against his family, he is slowly being forgotten, which bears on his body as a curse. He is dead in memory, and his life in the land of the dead demonstrates how pathetic his existence after death is, almost like he is good as dead in the afterlife. As Mama Imelda even said: “He is dead to this family”.
Hector is on the brink of experiencing “the final death”, which is the destruction of his body in the afterlife, which is almost a fate worse than death. This draws parallels to the “Second Death” of Christian belief, where the soul is destroyed by an eternal condemnation. The destruction of Hector’s body after death through “the final death” is like the “Second Death”.
Hector’s after-death existence is in his own way experiencing the “Second Death”, in that he is cursed and tormented by his sins and the fact that he is ostracized by his family after death, and that he cannot see his beloved daughter Mama Coco.
Apostle John stated what will happen to those who experience the Second Death while on the island of Patmos, which kind of sounds like what Hector is experiencing:
“… And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever… This is the second death.” (Revelation 10, 14 NKJV)
Miguel even said at the beginning that he sometimes feels like he’s “cursed”, which was the foreshadowing to Miguel actually experiencing a true curse. Through the decay of his body, his tattered clothing, and his torment at his past transgressions, Hector is experiencing the curse that is his own second death.
Order and Chaos, Convergence and Divergence, Breadth and Depth
These contrasts between Hector and Ernesto is further demonstrated in their family names.
Rivera: “river”.
de la Cruz: “of the cross”.
Order (Ernesto) and Chaos (Hector) is a more subtle motif throughout the film.
Ernesto is “of the cross”. He is a representation of order, and this is reflected by his lifestyle in the afterlife. This is because the cross of Jesus Christ is a bastion for order, stability and security, and people look to and pray to the cross for order in life. We see this order in Ernesto’s life after death, even in his life while on Earth, as it is very predictable and structured, and there is very little room for chaos. It involved people celebrating him as a celebrity and venerating his memory, day in and day out.
Hector is like a river, hence his name “Rivera”, and he represents chaos. Like Hector’s life after death, a river is chaotic, strange, unpredictable, and unstable. We can see Hector’s afterlife as one rife with chaos and uncertainty, just scraping by and doing what he can to survive in the land of the dead. His earthly life was also met upon with the ultimate chaos: his untimely death at the hands of his best friend Ernesto. This act also threw his family into chaos, with Mama Imelda and Mama Coco being left alone, and Mama Imelda enforcing a ban on music.
Another subtle symbolism found throughout the film that involves their names is the idea of convergence, symbolized by Ernesto, and divergence, symbolized by Hector.
Ernesto is convergence because he is “of the cross”, and all prayers, pilgrims and those of “lowly hearts”, according to the Bible, go to or “converge” at the cross of Jesus Christ, and all want the “glory” of Jesus Christ through the cross. In fact, the Bible states:
“But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ…” (Galatians 6:14)
We see in the movie that all people converge to Ernesto’s memory in the land of the living, and all the inhabitants of the land of the dead converge at Ernesto’s presence because of his status. In fact, Ernesto is the catalyst for his convergence with Hector through music, as Hector stated before he left Ernesto: “This was YOUR dream. You’ll manage”.
Ernesto’s light-colored clothing even subtly mimics the clothing of Christ in terms of color and the facade of purity, as if Ernesto is a Christ-like figure or truly “of the cross”. He seems to be an upstanding man with a a strong moral direction, and he even carries himself with great dignity in terms of his posture and manner of speaking, but he is in fact a false idol. Behind his pure exterior is a murderer and a fraud, and he is essentially what Jesus describes as a “wolf in sheep’s clothing”. In the end, he is exposed, which leads to his divergence from the respect he was once held in, a precipitous fall indeed.
Hector, on the other hand, is divergence because he is a “river”, and rivers diverge from the ocean and into the ocean. In terms of Christian symbolism, a river is where people who have “diverged” from God are returned to him through the cleansing waters of baptism. In terms of being cleansed, the Bible says:
“… Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool.” (Isaiah 1:18 NKJV)
In the movie, Hector’s memory is fading and being forgotten as people from the land of the dead “diverge” away from him and his family in both world “diverge” away from his physical body after death and his memory. He is the catalyst for his divergence from Ernesto, as he wanted family, while Ernesto wanted fame.
Hector’s dark and decaying clothing indicates that he is weighed down and dirty in sin, and mimics people who are “red like crimson” because of their sins. Even his initial behavior makes it seem like he lives an afterlife of sin, as he is shown to be a sleazy trickster, cunning and manipulating others to survive his pitiful existence after death.
Hector is weighed down by his sins, but through redemption, or more symbolically, baptism in a river, he is cleansed “white as snow”. He makes amends with his family, even though the color of his outfit at the end of the movie does not really reflect it. In the end, despite his family’s vast degree of divergence from him, his love for his family leads to his own convergence to a peaceful life after death.
Ernesto and Hector is also a contrast in breadth against depth, with Ernesto representing breadth, and Hector representing depth.
This may be a strange comparison, but it has merit.
Ernesto de la Cruz, or “of the cross”, is breadth, because he is much like the gospel of Christ, who after crucifixion on the cross, commanded the gospel to be “preached to all nations”. This relates to Ernesto’s vast influence, and how Ernesto’s self-proclaimed “family” is the world. He has millions of adoring fans, but no real family.
In other words, his relationships are of great “breadth”, but of little “depth” (in other words, he has shallow relationships). Even his clothes are light-colored, mirroring the light colors of a shallow river, or a river with great breadth but of little depth.
Hector Rivera, or “river”, is depth, because is much like a river. A deep river at that. Hector lost his opportunity to have great influence, and to have “breadth” like Ernesto, due to his death, and we can see his lack of breadth in how few people remember him in the afterlife.
However, he has depth in his relationships, particularly with his wife Mama Imelda and his daughter Mama Coco, enjoying a proper family structure, unlike Ernesto. He even has depth in his relationships in the land of the dead, in particular his minor relationships with Frida Kahlo and Chicharron. The irony is that he even had a deep relationship with Ernesto, who was at one time his best friend before his betrayal. His dark clothes is similar to the color of deep, open water, like the water at the bottom of a deep river, a river with great depth.
Strength and Weakness, Wealth and Poverty
At first glance, it should be obvious that Ernesto represents strength and wealth, while Hector represents weakness and poverty.
Ernesto has great influence and power in the land of the dead, and he lives a life of wealth. His clothes look brand new, he commands great offerings during Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), and he has loyal followers wherever he goes. He even has influence over Miguel indirectly at the beginning of the movie through his songs and his aura of greatness. Miguel is greatly influenced by Ernesto’s memory, and holds him in great reverence, even defying his family and holding a secret ofrenda for Ernesto. Ernesto’s supposed strength comes from his fame and fortune, and not from anything internal, even if he may have hinted at his work ethic, which is a characteristic of strength. He says to Hector before he tries to eliminate Miguel: “I’ve worked too hard, Hector. Too hard to let him (Miguel) ruin everything”.
In the end, he ultimately reveals his weakness, even cowardice according to Miguel. He cannot face the consequences of his transgressions he has committed, leading him to commit even more transgressions in the form of the attempted murder of Miguel by throwing him off a ledge.
Hector is weak in the eyes of the society of the land of the dead, and he lives a life of poverty. He has tattered clothes, commands no offerings during Dia de los Muertos, and he is mostly despised by the upper echelons of society, forcing him to associate with the bottom-feeders of the land of the dead. He had little influence over Miguel, with Miguel defying his wishes, mistrusting him, and even viewing Hector as another means to an end. His destitution and perceived weakness comes from appearance only, not from within, even though his sleazy, manipulative demeanor might lead to a perception of weakness, in that he cannot command a room like Ernesto can.
In the end, he shows his strength near the end of his earthly life by being strong enough to abandon Ernesto, who was his best friend, stay true to his convictions and return to his family, even if this decision cost him his life. Through his reconciliation with Mama Imelda, he once again becomes a pillar for the Rivera family in life and in death, once again becoming the main patriarch of the family lineage.
Ernesto and Hector’s experience with strength, weakness, wealth and poverty is much like those that are rich or strong “in the world”, but poor and weak “in God”, and vice versa. It can be said that Ernesto began as strong and rich, before God made him weak and poor, while Hector began as poor and weak, before God made him strong and rich. This is because Ernesto’s heart was “poor in good works”, while Hector’s heart was “rich in good works”.
Two Sides, One Coin
Hector and Ernesto’s relationship has had a fluid power dynamic, and the dynamics of their relationship changed from life to death in “the flip of a coin”. Hence, they are two sides of the same coin.
We see the first power dynamic in the flashback scene, where Hector was about to leave, and Ernesto was begging him to stay, because Ernesto couldn’t be successful in music without Hector’s songs. In this instance, Hector held the power in the relationship, and the coin was flipped on his side.
The second time Hector encountered Ernesto, the power dynamic was flipped to the other side of the coin. This is where Ernesto was about to give Miguel his supposed blessing, before Hector appeared and begged Ernesto to let Miguel return to the living with his photo so he can see Mama Coco again. Here, Ernesto clearly had the power in the interaction. We see Ernesto exerting power over Hector again at the Sunrise Spectacular, Ernesto’s concert, where Hector begged Ernesto to leave Miguel, “a living child”, alone.
The story of Hector and Ernesto also draws parallels to the Biblical parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector, in which they are two side of one coin, which is the manner of prayer and the desire to receive God’s grace. Jesus describes them as such:
“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men- extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess. And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Luke 10–14 NKJV)
Ernesto is like the Pharisee: self-righteous, arrogant, exalts himself before the people of the land of the dead. He exalts himself much like how the Pharisee exalted himself before God. In the end, he was humbled, undone by his treachery and deceit, his reputation destroyed.
Hector is like the tax collector: supplicating, humble, self-aware, gracious in accepting the sins, transgressions and responsibilities of his past. Humbles himself before Miguel, Ernesto, Mama Imelda, and the entire Rivera clan. He humbled himself like how the tax collector humbled himself before God. In the end, he was exalted, forgiven and cleansed of his transgressions, and once again becomes the head patriarch of the Rivera clan.
What is the one coin that Hector and Ernesto are the two sides of? It could be music, as they are both musicians. Or even existence, as their lives and deaths, even their existence after death travels along parallel roads, only converging through Miguel’s intercession. The one coin could even be Miguel’s destiny, and how both sides influence Miguel’s path through both life and death.
Perhaps it is a common goal: the goal of being remembered. Much like the same way the Pharisee and the tax collector had the same goal: The favor of God and his answer to their prayers. What is the coin? No one really knows.
Hector Rivera. Ernesto de la Cruz. Both are the same. Both are different.
Both two sides of the same coin.
