Pixar is known for making films portraying parent-children relationships and moral lessons for the child audience in every movie. But few Pixar films are known for Asian portrayals with Up (2009) being the only film with an Asian lead character.
Pixar’s 25th film Turning Red includes many Asian characters and their relationships and sets a precedent for portraying Asians like never before.
Mei Lee, the protagonist, is a teenage Chinese-Canadian girl who works hard from looking after family temple to acing in school to make her mother proud.
Although Mei has her own interests and fascinations, she can’t share them with her mother Ming because of her strict and overprotective nature.
Trying hard to keep her feelings to herself and working hard put stress on Mei, which turns her into a giant panda. However, the critics see the giant panda transformation as an allegory to puberty.
Pixar did a great job of portraying a concept that is seen as taboo in families - menstruation. Although it is a taboo topic in Asian households, Ming showed great care for her daughter when she mistakes the panda transformation as a sign of puberty.
She is even seen to cross lines by watching over her daughter secretly in school so that she can deliver sanitary pads to her, which stresses Mei enough to her transform into a giant red panda in public.
Though Mei sees her ability as a problem, her friends help her accept herself. Pixar is known for showing animosity at first by friends of the lead character when the character has unnatural changes.
But in Turning Red, the friends of Mei never shows any sign of hostility. Instead, they love her as she is, conveying the moral lesson of accepting people for who they are.
Mei is shown conforming to anything her mother says. She never wants to disappoint her and is eager to be the perfect child. Even though her mother embarrasses her in public only for a normal teenage feeling, she accepts the behaviour and promises not to repeat it.
But as the plot progresses, Mei finally stops restraining her personality and having emotional outbursts while confronting Ming, which works as a catharsis for the audience.
Ming is shown to be a fussy mother who is snooping on her daughter all the time. But in reality, she cares a lot for Mei, which crosses the line sometimes.
Witnessing the outbursts of Mei makes her realise the imperfections of her upbringing and has a change of heart. That makes the parent-child relationship in Asian households more heartwarming to watch.
Turning Red has a diversity of including characters descending from many Asian countries’ backgrounds, making the film quite inclusive. It is also the first Pixar film solely directed by a woman.
Cartoonish overexpressions of emotions, nostalgic 2000s culture, and entertaining comedy gags give the film a unique appeal to the audience, making it quite fun to watch as a family movie.
And above all, the theme of the film shines bright as it shows how girls in Asia literally turn red (blush) over a physical phenomenon. The film’s success lies in normalising that taboo and releasing Mei and millions of girls like her from the suffocation.
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