Synopsis
Mei Lee is a confident, dorky 13-year-old torn between staying her mother’s dutiful daughter and the chaos of adolescence. Her protective, if not slightly overbearing mother, Ming, is never far from her daughter – an unfortunate reality for the teenager. And as if changes to her interests, relationships and body weren’t enough, whenever she gets too excited (which is practically ALWAYS), she “poofs” into a giant red panda.
Review
Pixar’s latest film, Turning Red, is a delightful, wholesome, and fun little film about the teenage female experience. I loved it.
Turning Red is the first feature by Domee Shi (director of the short film Bao, about a sentient dumpling, which is available on Disney+). It follows Mei, an Asian-Canadian over-achiever who has just turned 13. Mei is confident, passionate, and unapologetically dorky. The film opens with her introducing herself to the audience and being lovably cringey (and very relatable) while doing it. I wish I had a friend like Mei as a kid.
The first act of Turning Red sets up one of the main themes: the clashing of cultures. Mei is from a high achieving Asian family, one where a child’s academic achievements are a constant and sometimes draining part of the parent-child relationship. Mei does appear to be naturally intelligent but the extremely high expectations from her mother, Ming, are Mei’s main drivers. Her home life embraces her cultural Asian heritage – her family owns and works at the oldest temple in Toronto – which differs drastically to her personal life.
When with her friends, Mei is the dorky, boy-obsessed teenager many girls reading this will remember from their school days (probably because they were one). Mei and her equally dorky friends, who I love for their individuality and chaotic but wholesome energy, are obsessed with boyband 4Town (since this is based in 2002, I’m going to assume they’re inspired by NSync) and the local Daisy Mart cashier Devon, who isn’t anything special but when you’re 13 and boy-crazy, any boy will do.
While Mei tries to keep her prim and polished Asian identity separate from her Canadian teenager identity, it all comes crashing down when Ming finds some (hilarious) drawings Mei has doodled of her and Devon. The protective mother bursts into the Daisy Mart to confront Devon, much to Mei’s absolute mortification.
The way the scene is framed, lit, and coloured really emphasizes Mei’s embarrassment at her mother’s behaviour, but also shows that Ming is doing this because she loves Mei, so can Mei really be angry? It’s a situation many of us have been in, and it’s a credit to the screenwriters and Domee Shi for making it so relatable.
These events lead to the main focus of Turning Red: Mei’s transformation into a giant red panda. When I first saw the trailer, I was confused as to what this transformation meant, but the film uses it as a metaphor for puberty and the beginning of Mei’s periods. I was SO HAPPY to see periods on screen! It’s so refreshing, and I loved that they didn’t shy away from Ming buying Mei all her pads, tampons, hot water bottles, and pain medication for her first time.
The red panda is a manifestation of Mei’s changing body and the multitude of emotions women (and trans men) go through during their periods. We learn that the red panda has been passed down through the women of Mei’s family. An ancestor prayed to the gods to give her the strength to protect herself and her family, and so they granted her the ability to transform into a red panda.
Back home, it was a revered gift, but in 21st century Canada, it’s, as Ming says, “an inconvenience”. Mei has to learn to control the red panda (the metaphor for her period) from being triggered. Her mother tells her she must hid it away, keep it a secret.
When Mei accidently reveals her new form to her friends after her school peers mock her for the confrontation with Devon (relatable, girl), her friends are not only ridiculously supportive, but they actively encourage Mei to embrace this new, badass side of herself. Again, we have that clashing of cultures and expectations – Ming doesn’t want Mei to talk about or trigger the red panda, but her friends want her to be open and honest about it.
Many families don’t know how to deal with periods and so they make it a taboo thing to discuss, but as Turning Red shows, having a support network of people who are and will be going through the same thing as you is empowering. Whenever the red panda threatens to come out, Mei thinks of her friends to ground herself. And in a heartbreaking moment, when Mei says she thinks of the people she loves most in the world, Ming assumes Mei means her, and her daughter doesn’t correct her.
Mei and her friends hatch a scheme to use the red panda, who everyone in the school thinks is adorable, to raise money to go to the 4Town concert that Ming has, predictably, forbidden Mei from attending (for Ming, the concert represents Mei’s transition into womanhood and she isn’t ready to let her child go).
A hilarious, early noughties montage shows Mei and her friends making t-shirts, pin badges, and selling photos of Mei as the red panda. It’s so much fun to see realistic, chaotic, crazy teenagers in their element. Teenage girls are so often looked down upon in media so it’s amazing to have them at the forefront of a film that isn’t aimed at one gender.
But when they almost reach their goal, Ming discovers their scheme and blames the friends for being bad influences on Mei! We hope Mei will stand up for her friends, and herself, but she coddles to her mother. “All her hopes and dreams are pinned on me”, Mei says earlier in the film, and it’s clear from this scene that Mei cannot bear letting her mother see who she really is for fear of disappointing her, which is heartbreaking.
The final act of the film has Mei partaking in a family ritual with her mother, grandmother, and aunts to control and suppress the red panda, while her friends go to the 4Town concert. The ritual is very cool – it takes Mei to a mythical plane of bamboo shoots where she meets her ancestor, the first red panda. Mei is supposed to give up the red panda, but she realizes that she does not want to. She retreats from the ritual in her red panda form and goes to the concert. Ming, embarrassed, betrayed, and heartbroken, unleashes her red panda, a HUGE one full of rage and repressed anger.
My favourite moment of Turning Red is when, after crashing the concert and injuring herself, Ming is dragged into the ritual circle by her family who have all unleased their inner pandas to aid her, showing this side of them has value and strength. Part of the ritual involves singing but the women of Mei’s family struggle to produce the power they need to save Ming. Mei’s friends and 4Town come to their rescue, singing to enhance the power of the circle. This powerful scene shows that both sides of Mei’s identity are equally valid and important.
When Mei meets her mother on the mythical plane, Ming has been reduced to her teenage self and is a reflection of Mei herself; a strong, independent spirit who wishes to be free from the restraints of her mother’s expectations but also cannot bear to hurt her.
I cried. It is in this moment that Mei and Ming understand each other for the first time. The rest of the family give up their pandas, but Mei’s matriarchal grandmother encourages Mei to keep hers because it’s what she truly wants. This must have been a difficult thing for her traditional and conservative grandmother to accept, so it’s amazing to see that side of her.
Turning Red ends with Mei, Ming, and her father embracing the red panda to bring tourists into their temple. They teach tourists about their cultural heritage while raising money to repair the SkyDome Ming destroyed. The final scene shows Mei and her friends (along with Tyler, the new addition to the group since their discovery of his secret love for 4Town) leaving to have some fun in Toronto. I love that the girls embraced Tyler as one of their own.
As the credits rolled, I smiled.
Verdict
Turning Red is a wholesome, fun, and relatable film about female friendship, the experience of navigating your first period, and embracing all sides of who you are. It’s a great conversation starter for parents who aren’t sure how to begin the puberty talk, regardless of which gender their kids identify as (and no, the content is not ‘too mature’ for younger audiences).
The animation is absolutely gorgeous, likely inspired by the anime styles of Studio Ghibli, and the soundtrack is too good not to acknowledge. We all love Bootylicious, right?
Written by Victoria Brown (@one_openbook) | BanterFlix Website Editor