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The Book of Life and references to Mexican culture and history
It's very obvious that the movie was a presentation of Dia De Los Muertos, a holiday celebrated by (only SOME AREAS in) Mexico. (While everybody in Mexico is aware of it, only some areas of the country practice it so don't be surprised when a Mexican tells you they don't do it)
I wanna start out by saying that the Aztecs (or Mexica) were basically the inventors of everything we know about Dia De Los Muertos. Basically, back in the day the Aztecs once lived in a place called Tenochtitlan, a little area that looked like this:
It looks familiar, right?
Might just be coincidence, but why would they put a town on an island, right?
ANYWAY. So the Aztecs actually celebrated the dead. They celebrated it in a festive way, and they knew that as they celebrated, they were watched over their goddess of the underworld and the seer of the bones and the festivities, Mictecacihuatl. HOWEVER, because the invasion of the Spanish, they were stripped of their culture and worshiping the death was seen as barbaric and just... something Spaniards were uncomfortable with.
Fast forward many many MANY years later, the Mexican revolution starts and the Mexicans try making the Europeans look gross. So Jose Guadalupe Posada comes along and makes this image he calls La Calavera Catrina
As wiki says, "She is offered as a satirical portrait of those Mexican natives who, Posada felt, were aspiring to adopt European aristocratic traditions in the pre-revolutionary era." In El Libro De La Vida, which is the Latin American adaption of the film, La Muerte's name is called La Catrina. Looks just like her, right? Also because of La Catrina, this made the Mexicans want to celebrate the dead again and take back what the Spanish stripped away from them many years ago. Thanks, Posada.
That doesn't end there, but this whole snippet of history deals with Maria as well. Not only is her last name taken from Jose Guadalupe Posada, but her presence as well! You see, Maria adopted "European aristocratic traditions in the pre-revolutionary era" for her father's sake. Of all places, she was sent to Spain instead of staying in Mexico. And before I leave this here, I also wanna point out Manolo practiced Bull Fighting, which is also a European (Spanish) tradition.
La Muerte, which is Spanish for "The Death" also goes back to Mictecacihuatl. You know, goddess of the underworld? She's married to the God of the underworld, Mictlantecuhtli. He's depicted as the ruler of the lowest part of the underworld and is presented as skinless. So I hope this silences every movie viewer who keeps questioning why Xibalba and La Muerte are together and in love?
By the way, Xibalba is the name of the underworld coined by the Mayans. I think people who've watched The Road to El Dorado already knew this though.
Random things:
Las Adelitas (Manolo's twin cousins) are linked to the history of actual Soldaderas which are extremely important to Mexican history.
The maze scene is most likely linked to Mexican maze toys found in piñatas and parties.
The reason why Manolo and everybody else were made of wood were due to Teotihuacan culture where they made bendable figures made of wood back since 600 AD. If I'm wrong correct me but that's what I found out.
And I need to sleep I need to wake up at 7 am so I'm leaving this as is. If I think of any more things or see new things as I watch the movie again I'll note it here.
I wanna start out by saying that the Aztecs (or Mexica) were basically the inventors of everything we know about Dia De Los Muertos. Basically, back in the day the Aztecs once lived in a place called Tenochtitlan, a little area that looked like this:
It looks familiar, right?
Might just be coincidence, but why would they put a town on an island, right?
ANYWAY. So the Aztecs actually celebrated the dead. They celebrated it in a festive way, and they knew that as they celebrated, they were watched over their goddess of the underworld and the seer of the bones and the festivities, Mictecacihuatl. HOWEVER, because the invasion of the Spanish, they were stripped of their culture and worshiping the death was seen as barbaric and just... something Spaniards were uncomfortable with.
Fast forward many many MANY years later, the Mexican revolution starts and the Mexicans try making the Europeans look gross. So Jose Guadalupe Posada comes along and makes this image he calls La Calavera Catrina
As wiki says, "She is offered as a satirical portrait of those Mexican natives who, Posada felt, were aspiring to adopt European aristocratic traditions in the pre-revolutionary era." In El Libro De La Vida, which is the Latin American adaption of the film, La Muerte's name is called La Catrina. Looks just like her, right? Also because of La Catrina, this made the Mexicans want to celebrate the dead again and take back what the Spanish stripped away from them many years ago. Thanks, Posada.
That doesn't end there, but this whole snippet of history deals with Maria as well. Not only is her last name taken from Jose Guadalupe Posada, but her presence as well! You see, Maria adopted "European aristocratic traditions in the pre-revolutionary era" for her father's sake. Of all places, she was sent to Spain instead of staying in Mexico. And before I leave this here, I also wanna point out Manolo practiced Bull Fighting, which is also a European (Spanish) tradition.
La Muerte, which is Spanish for "The Death" also goes back to Mictecacihuatl. You know, goddess of the underworld? She's married to the God of the underworld, Mictlantecuhtli. He's depicted as the ruler of the lowest part of the underworld and is presented as skinless. So I hope this silences every movie viewer who keeps questioning why Xibalba and La Muerte are together and in love?
By the way, Xibalba is the name of the underworld coined by the Mayans. I think people who've watched The Road to El Dorado already knew this though.
Random things:
Las Adelitas (Manolo's twin cousins) are linked to the history of actual Soldaderas which are extremely important to Mexican history.
The maze scene is most likely linked to Mexican maze toys found in piñatas and parties.
The reason why Manolo and everybody else were made of wood were due to Teotihuacan culture where they made bendable figures made of wood back since 600 AD. If I'm wrong correct me but that's what I found out.
And I need to sleep I need to wake up at 7 am so I'm leaving this as is. If I think of any more things or see new things as I watch the movie again I'll note it here.
no subject
Hello Jonah.
No worries, dear boy, there aren't any spoilers regarding the story, and I'll be able to appreciate it all the more with this background information!