Turning Red is Disney’s latest coming-of-age film that it is unlike any you’ve ever seen before. Tackling “taboo” subjects like puberty and generational trauma, this film normalizes and encourages these conversations. Turning Red follows the story of Mei, a 13-year-old Chinese Canadian living in Toronto. The animation is incredible, featuring many recognizable sights and attractions in the city.
Mei is a hard worker, who aims to please her mother by always getting straight A’s and helping at their family temple. However, she also wants to be a teenage girl. Mei struggles to balance her family responsibilities with her social life and eventually discovers that when she is overwhelmed with emotion, she turns into a giant red panda. Her initial shock and embarrassment force her to hide in her bathroom, where her mom finds her and assumes she has gotten her period. This conversation has been quite controversial on social media, with some parents believing it isn’t Disney’s place to teach their children about periods. While some parents didn’t like this scene, I think that it’s important to talk about puberty and all that comes with it, as a way to normalize these conversations. After all, everyone goes through puberty so there should be nothing to hide.
While Mei and her mother originally see her turning into a panda as an inconvenience, Mei’s father encourages her to accept who she is and look at it as a gift. As a female-focused story, it is nice to see a male figure encouraging her and supporting her on her journey to womanhood.
The movie has also been critiqued for making it seem okay for children to betray their parents, as long as it’s for something really important. After a scene where Mei sneaks out of the house to go to a party with her friends, parents on social media lost it as they felt it was encouraging kids to do the same. However, I read an interesting Twitter thread where a woman listed all the other Disney movies where children disobey their parents, which viewers seem to be fine with (The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, etc.).
Overall, I thought the story was a very cute, heartwarming story. Mei has to come to terms with who she is and accept her traits, both good and bad. She is able to stick up to her parents and admit that she wants a more normal teenage experience, even if it means letting them down at times. The moral of the film is being comfortable in your own skin and embracing your quirks. Nobody is perfect (especially at 13), and this movie normalizes the imperfections of life.