A fatherless Latino boy sees dead people and almost becomes one as he searches beyond the grave for his favorite deceased musician, who might also be related to him. It’s confusing, dark, and discomfiting, and it’s also the plot of Pixar’s next family feature, Coco.

“A decade or two ago, that would have been unthinkable for white Americans to take your kids to movies like that,” said Andrew Chesnut, professor of religious studies at Virginia Commonwealth University. Chesnut has noted the rise in popularity of the Mexican folk holiday Dia de Muertos, or Day of the Dead, in the United States. Mexicans and others in Latin America celebrate the festival at the start of November in tandem with the Catholic Church’s All Saint’s Day, which remembers loved ones who have died. Day of the Dead goes a step further and imagines the spirits of ancestors visiting the living. Observers decorate gravesites and set up altars called ofrendas with candles, treats, and mementos.

Day of the Dead’s best-known symbol, the sugar skull, has become a pop culture icon in the United States, especially on and around Halloween. A search for “sugar skull” on Amazon turns up wallets, earrings, scarves, and even potholders emblazoned with the icon. Starbucks sold sugar skull cookies last fall, and Chesnut saw Day of the Dead decorations at Walmart in his town of Richmond, Va., which is only 6 percent Latino.

The sugar skull surge in the United States brings together two trends: the increasing influence of Mexican culture and a growing societal curiosity about death.

Latinos are the largest ethnic minority in the United States, and nearly two-thirds have Mexican ancestry. Salsa has outsold ketchup in U.S. supermarkets since at least 1992, and Americans consume more tequila per capita than Mexicans.

After being mostly relegated to horror stories in the 1980s and ’90s, death as a topic re-entered American entertainment around 2000—or perhaps, more specifically, after 9/11. First it was vampires (Twilight was published in 2005), then zombies (The Walking Dead first aired in 2010), and now skeletons and visiting ancestors (The Book of Life, released in 2014, was a 20th Century Fox animated story about Day of the Dead.)

Day of the Dead is rising in popularity in Mexico, too, where it once was seen as a festival only for the working class, Chesnut said. Though broader cultural acceptance of death could help Westerners develop a healthier perspective on life, it also means secular and occult views of death are becoming pervasive in public discourse. Parents used to have the opportunity to teach their children about death and resurrection or heaven and hell at carefully chosen moments, like after the funeral of an older relative. Now, Pixar—or maybe even Starbucks—might get the first swing at telling kids what to think about death and dying.

The YouTube company logo. Associated Press/Photo by Danny Moloshok

Be careful, little eyes

YouTube continues to struggle to keep viewers, advertisers, and video creators happy while turning a profit and promoting free speech. It has taken steps to try to keep advertisers’ content away from videos that promote violence and extremism. At the same time, it is making it easier for school children to view LGBT content.

In March, some LGBT YouTubers complained their videos were blocked in Restricted Mode, which was developed to let public places like schools and libraries keep users from watching pornography or graphic violence. The videos in question did not include depictions or descriptions of sex, but did include “kissing at weddings, personal accounts of difficult events, and speaking out against discrimination,” according to the YouTube Creator Blog.

In response, YouTube updated its Restricted Mode policies to allow more LGBT content. Over 12 million previously excluded videos, “including hundreds of thousands featuring LGBTQ content,” YouTube said, are now included in Restricted Mode. The company announced this month a campaign to promote LGBT videos and causes. —L.L.

The YouTube company logo. Associated Press/Photo by Danny Moloshok

Voice of America

The Library of Congress last week named singer Tony Bennett its recipient of the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. The 90-year-old singer began his career more than six decades ago as a contemporary, but not a member, of the Rat Pack. Unlike his fellow crooners from that era, Bennett found staying power by embracing music videos and reaching out to a younger generation via MTV.

“I introduced these people, these kids, to the Great American Songbook, to songs by the masters, and I mean Cole Porter, Ira Gershwin, Johnny Mercer. Friend, they never knew what hit them,” Bennett told The Independent in 2008.

Born in 1926, Bennett served in World War II, where he fought in the Battle of the Bulge and helped liberate a concentration camp. He marched with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. during the civil rights movement and has performed for 11 U.S. presidents. —L.L.