The movies, Searching for Sugar Man (2012), and Coco (2017) are films that took artistic understandings and perceptions to new heights by addressing to perfection formal and realist elements in their narratives and depictions. Searching for Sugar Man is particularly well known for its portrayal of real life while Coco remains one of the best made movies of all time, largely because of its conventional tone. This essay attempts to compare the realist elements that are so prominent in Searching for Sugar Man with the so called formal or conventional elements of the movie Coco, pointing in turn to how innovative and creative film making can be.
Searching for Sugar Man is a well made movie that is primarily about a South African cultural phenomenon that took South African society by storm, breaking many boundaries and showing life for what it is. The movie captures and portrays realistically, the efforts that were undertaken by two very obsessed fans of a South African musician by the name of Rodriguez, whose music was hugely popular in the decade of the 1970’S but who suddenly died of a heart attack, leaving fans perplexed as to what had become of him. The fact that fans to be passionate and obsessed with the stars that they idolize is a fact that is relatively well known, but what Searching for Sugar Man really succeeds in doing is to showcase how tireless fans can be in their efforts to express or reveal the truth and nothing but the truth about the people they admire. Famous people, be it musicians, film stars, singers and song writers tend to lead unconventional lives and they are often depicted by the media for who they are not. When Rodriguez died, most of the world had accepted that this had happened largely due to the fact that he was addicted to drugs and alcohol and that it was because of this addiction that he had lost his life so early. Searching for Sugar Man shows that two of his most dedicated fans refused to accept this truth about him and undertook as many measures as it was possible to do so, to divulge that Rodriguez did not deserve to die so early and that there was perhaps foul play associated with his death, a realistic angle that resonates with what usually happens in real life.
The realistic portrayal of characters and events in Searching for Sugar Man is something that is definitely noteworthy. The element of detail is well addressed in the movie and those who watch the movie with care and attention, can see for themselves what it is that the South African music scene was all about in the nineteen seventies, how the hippie or the flower movement was one that turned out to be more damaging than good and how drugs including cocaine was claiming the lives of so many young people who showed signs of promise and who had everything that was needed to make it big on the world stage. The element of transparent language is addressed by keeping the narrative restricted to the use of simple words and phrases.
Searching for Sugar Man, is in essence a documentary film as what it manages to do is to encapsulate the life of Sixto Rodriguez, the type of music he would make that brought him the kind of popularity he received and the lifestyle he led and the company he kept. The movie is highly informative in nature with an element of mystery dominating the movie from the very beginning right up to the end. The movie for instance points to a number of realistic issues that are often responsible for the demise of artistic careers in the world as we know it. The movie portrays how bad career management led to Sixto Rodriguez suffering financially, in spite of being a musician whose songs and records were doing so well in the South African market. While royalties accumulated in large sums, none of this money was ever received by Rodriguez, leading him to become obscure in the bargain. The element of social critique and the element of class can be witnessed as the film also depicts the various reasons that led to Rodriguez’s rise in the South African music scene as well, such as his Latino identity and also the fact that his songs portrayed the oppression of black and colored people living in South Africa at the time.
What makes the movie Coco really stand out is the fact that it is beautifully animated while being quite culturally sensitive at the same time. The film contains elements of detail as follows the in detail the life of Miguel, a young boy who lives in Mexico with no one but his grandmother, a lady who suffers dementia. The film shows how passionately Miguel feels about art and music and how he expresses his desire from the very start of the movie about becoming a well known musician someday, given his love for music. The elements of class and element of social critique are addressed by show-casing how Miguel is the son of a vagabond musician and so music is something that runs in his blood. Coco as a movie realistically shows the struggle of an aspiring musician, depicting all the struggles and hardships that musicians have to go through in order to make their mark in the society as well as on stage. Unlike Searching for Sugar Man, imagination and creativity dominates Coco as a movie far more, with Miguel making his way all the way to the land of the dead in order to seek the blessings of a deceased musician De La Cruz. It is only after Miguel obtains his blessings and makes his way back to the world of the living that he is able to establish himself as a musician.
The element of transparent language is addressed in this movie. The dialogues that are used in the movie Coco, are of course fictitious and not the same as the dialogues that have been used in Searching for Sugar Man, with the latter being a realistic documentary film. Coco is more like what conventional movies are all about, with its use of animated or cartoon characters, beautiful background music, interesting story line and meaningful dialogues. It is far more entertaining to watch than Searching for Sugar Man and less morbid too, as it portrays how a young aspiring musician is able to realize his dream of being truly successful on stage after a considerable amount of struggle and hardship.
Unlike Searching for Sugar Man, Coco is a movie that can definitely be watched with a family audience. It is a movie that is suitable for viewing by the young and the old alike, in spite of being so death obsessed and life affirming at the same time. Searching for Sugar Man is a movie that points to the ills of the music industry. It points to the exploitation of artists by the music industry and shows how musicians of promise can be forced to claim their own lives or disappear into oblivion because of the unfairness that is meted out to them. It portrays how financially astute artists and musicians are expected to be if they want to avoid being cheated by music producers and distributors and claim the profit for their talent. Coco is a movie that is far more positive in tone, in spite of having many realistic elements in it as does Searching for Sugar Man. Coco is a movie which highlights the struggle of a musician entirely, but also shows how through struggle, hardship and with the help of his friends and the blessings of deceased ancestors, Miguel is one day able to establish himself as a successful musician.
Thus, both Coco (2017) and Searching for Sugar Man (2012), are movies that are very interesting to watch and which definitely do a great job of showcasing all the ills and the demerits of the music industry in the global South. While both are quite realistic in nature, Searching for Sugar Man is far more so, largely because of the fact that it is shown in the format of a documentary and not as a work of fiction. Coco on the other hand takes the form of a conventional formal animation film, with beautifully colored and depicted characters and objects and interesting portrayal of events that makes it a joy to watch for both children as well as adults. Coco also reveals the struggle and the hardships of musicians just like Searching for Sugar Man does, but in a way or format that is considered to be less morbid, more cheerful and more pleasurable to view than Searching for Sugar Man. At the end of it all, it can be safely concluded that both movies do a successful job of exposing the dark side of the music industry.
References
Eisenstein, S., 2014. Film form: Essays in film theory. HMH.
Kolker, R.P., 2015. Film, form, and culture. Routledge.
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