- “Like the time you promised to bring back my van? Or my mini-fridge? Or my good napkins? My lasso? My femur?!”
- ―Chicharrón[src]
Chicharrón is a minor character in the 2017 Disney/Pixar animated feature film Coco. He was a friend of Héctor in the Land of the Dead.
Role in the film[]
After agreeing to enter a music contest to meet Ernesto de la Cruz, Héctor takes Miguel Rivera to his friend Chicharrón to get a guitar. While there, Héctor and Chicharrón share some banter and a final drink together, as Chicharrón is slowly fading from the Land of the Dead because he has no relatives to remember him in the Land of the Living. Héctor asks for Chicharrón's guitar, but Chicharrón demands Héctor sing Chicharrón's favorite song, "Everyone Knows Juanita", in exchange for the guitar. During the song, Chicharron notes that Héctor is not singing the correct lyrics, to which Hector explains that there are children present (Miguel). When Héctor finishes the song, a satisfied Chicharrón embraces his final death and his spirit fades into oblivion, with only his hat left in place. While Héctor finishes the drink he shared with Chicharrón to honor him, Miguel is astonished by Chicharrón's disappearance, but he agrees to use Chicharrón's guitar in the contest to save Héctor from succumbing to the same fate.
Trivia[]
- He’s most likely forgotten due to his cantankerous nature or living in such squalor/poverty that he never had a chance to get an ofrenda for himself.
- He is the opposite of Ernesto de la Cruz, Hector's other friend. Ernesto was Hector's friend in life, while Hector presumably met Chicharrón in death. Ernesto is superficially charming and friendly, but is selfish, traitorous, and murderous when it comes to getting what he wants, while Chicharrón is cranky and rude, but is willing to help Hector regardless of receiving nothing several times while being grateful for the little he does get from him. And to top it all off, Ernesto was famous and revered before the truth tarnished his reputation while still stuck in the Land of the Dead, while Chicharrón is forgotten but remembered fondly by those who still remember him.