Why Does Turning Red Get So Many Weird Reviews?!

[@XiranJayZhao]

PS you can get cute earrings like mine at the indie store Studio Thebe!! They're my favorite place for Chinese style earrings ✨studiothebe.bigcartel.com/

[@limefroggzoned5112]

First

[@Demolitiondude]

Those one star reviews are not the infamous review. Yes, they need to be called out for stupidity. The infamous one that blew up the internet and put the Tumblr cult on torches and pitchforks was from a professional critic, it was 3 out of 5, it's ok, and it's OK to have a targeted audience.

[@Wheuwe-this]

省电侠。。。😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 The joke made me smile

[@GODCONVOYPRIME]

So what do you think about the ccp.

[@aliciabell6688]

Only people with XX chromosome can menstrate. Define them.

[@smithblack5945]

Turning Red: I cant believe that were teaching kids to rebel against their parents! The Little Mermaid: A timeless classic!

[@starry_skies]

Lmaoo

[@claralima1967]

No, no, but you see! Mei is 13, which means she's a toddler that absolutely cannot think for herself and we should think of the children, meanwhile Ariel is 18, an adult that should leave her parents' house and marry a good man who'll support her through her own life Edit: My GOD, people, FINE! Ariel is SIXTEEN, I know it, you know it, but do you really think some adult who thinks Turning Red is about satanic witchcraft to make children disobey their parents will know that???

[@Little1Cave]

@@claralima1967 You know what’s funny? For those who don’t know, Ariel is 16. 😂😂

[@claralima1967]

@@Little1Cave Yeah, we know that, but most parents (at least most parents I know) think she's at least 18 😂😂 Let's not tell them, though, or Little Mermaid might be accused of, I dunno, encouraging teenage pregnancy

[@morley364]

Seriously! Cinderella, disobeys stepparent. Ariel, disobeys father. Jasmine, disobeys father/runs away from home. Simba, disobeys father. Pocahontas, disobeys father. Mulan, disobeys father/runs away. Rapunzel, disobeys 'mother' figure. Tarzan, disobeys gorilla father. Quasimodo, disobeys 'father' figure. Merida, disobeys mother. Moana, disobeys father. WHY ARE YOU SO SHOCKED. It's more surprising and rare to find a Disney protagonist that 1. has living parental figures and 2. listens to them.

[@theshire9173]

The whole period complaint reminds me about how Diary of Anne Frank was banned from some schools, as being too mature not because she and her family were hiding from a government trying to genocide them, but because there's an entry where she writes about getting her first period. It angers me so much that people think murder and oppression is more acceptable than a natural part of female life

[@rev.rachel]

Oof yeah. Or when you mention that you have cramps to other people *who have menstruated for half their lives* and they're like "ew TMI." I get that some people are wigged out by any source of blood, but can we all just agree to admit that periods are extremely normal?

[@sigridbjergbakkemeyer3653]

Even my dad who is a docter is okay with barfing during dinner, but talk about period stuff grosses him out. But my husband is really nice. I can talk openly about it and he even made me a pillow you can heat up as to help manage cramps

[@untroubledwaters2137]

@@sigridbjergbakkemeyer3653 aww, he's a keeper!!

[@kadda1212]

Don't forget, there is a lot of superstition around menstruation. The idea that one is unclean in that time in some way can be found in many cultures. For a long time in the past people didn't know what was actually happening in the body and explained it in funky ways. Coming from Germany, my great grandmother believed a menstruating woman couldn't make Sauerkraut, cause it would supposedly rot upon touch. It's very stigmatized.

[@theshire9173]

Reading all these replies, I feel so proud about how accepting my family is about periods. My mom told me about them when I was 9. And, in fact, both my mom and dad congratulated me on getting my first one and told me how it was nothing to be ashamed of

[@Phaugirl]

In a interview with Domee Shi, she explained that the reason why Meilin draws/imagines her crushes as mermen is because she is so innocent that she can’t imagine her crushes below their hips.

[@lorenasalaparm]

Owwnn so cute 🥰🥰🥰

[@NeoNovastar]

wHOLESOME

[@louise629]

i thought that lol!

[@marimecham]

Cute!! I would have loved if she also answered "well she can't really draw below the waist" kinda like how lots of artists I know growing up couldn't draw hands so we all defaulted to drawing characters with their hands behind their backs.

[@UchihaKat]

What a mood. XD

[@chocolateaddictedartist5924]

The secondhand EMBARRESSMENT I felt when Meilin's mom showed the guy the shmexy drawings was so overwhelming I had to pause the movie and get a drink of water.

[@Newfiecat]

I think I was hyperventilating at that part, lol. As a kid I was so deathly afraid of people seeing my weird drawings that I carried everything around in locked briefcases.

[@gabriellebowman2520]

@@Newfiecat OMFG SAME😫 I'm still afraid of people seeing my "keep to self" drawings, most of the time their just drawings of me and my comfort characters.

[@girlboss5305]

bruh I've been waiting for the moment when it turns out that this was all a thought in her mind but no 💀💀💔

[@stormwright8300]

No cause when me and my friends all 3atched it, we literally paused it and had like 3 simultaneous anxiety attacks. Screaming like mad

[@SerenityM16]

I’ve heard of people saying they can’t watch this movie because of the flashbacks they get of their own embarrassing moments it’s too relatable XD

[@beluwuart]

"It's a kids movie, you can't show periods. But you need to show the impact of a terrorist attack against usa in the life of this chinese 13yo that lives in Canada"

[@Jayday12345678910]

LMAOOO

[@esm1817]

More cowbell! 😅😂

[@madsceptictrooper6803]

That's the best way to summarize every stupid take on Turning Red.

[@brianstabile165]

I feel like we forgot canda and USA are brothers from another mother

[@nicolaezenoaga9756]

People are whack

[@RachelMWinship]

Society: "13-year-old girls are so crazy over these fandoms and do weird things like obsess over fictional characters and write fanfiction. Let's stereotype them as cringey fangirls who lust after pretty boys and shame them for it!" Also Society: "Pfft, completely unrealistic. 13-year-old girls don't write fanfiction!"

[@stareyedwitch]

And they absolutely 100% do not read fanfics that would scandalize their parents or share links to said stories they 100% do not read with their friends

[@zelmo5683]

I don't have friends

[@dcscruz2970]

At 13 I wrote a shitty sonic fanfic. I tried writing smutt but failed since I had no sex experience. Still don’t and now I’m 22

[@Scarshadow666]

Meh, that's just society being society and having it's weird hot takes on things. Considering there was a time period when people considered the Malleus Maleficarum as a credible source of how to treat others, imo, I'd say society doesn't always have a grasp on those aforementioned things. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[@ktownshutdown21]

Folks were just mad that this movie didn't demonize teenage girls like other shitty nostalgia bait does.

[@bowsandaro201]

“Teenage girls aren’t allowed to like anything unless it’s something boys are encouraged to like” and even then girls who do like things aimed at boys are branded as pick me girls or faking it for attention. Anything a woman or girl does, especially teen girls, is seen as being done purely for approval from men and there’s no winning side. If a girl likes ‘girly’ things, she’s dumb and stereotypical but if a girl likes ‘boy’ things, she just wants male attention. It’s ridiculous

[@tempesttossed6029]

Yep. I see this in the conspiracist/christian types. "The media wants to turn girls boyish! The horror!" But then they see girls being unapologetically feminine and see a girl's experience through the perspective of a woman and they still are not happy because "it's gross and too sexually suggestive." Honestly these guys need to get offline.

[@chidaluokoro9104]

ya

[@ashishhembrom3905]

Not really no.

[@chidaluokoro9104]

@@ashishhembrom3905 yes really

[@ashishhembrom3905]

@@chidaluokoro9104 no really

[@mynameisreallycool1]

The media: "Millennials were raised by crazy helicopter parents who were overbearing and didn't give their kids freedom! That's why they're so screwed up!" Pixar: *Makes a movie about a millennial character with a crazy helicopter parent who's overbearing and didn't give her own kid any freedom, and therefore has a lot of emotional issues due to it* The media: "ThAt'S nOt rEaLiStIc!"

[@juanchoresultay2704]

The media is hypocrite and indecisive 😂

[@TurretBot]

when did the media ever say That

[@mynameisreallycool1]

@@TurretBot Mostly in the 2010s. Thankfully all that propaganda sort of died down a little bit in 2020. It was so damn cringy, because it was less about being sympathetic to those who actually did grow up with these awful parents and more about the media trying to make fun of and generalizing millennials while making baby boomers look like a bunch of control freak Karens. 😂 You're lucky that you didn't see it.

[@jeanettekakareka]

To be fair, white parents do it pretty differently than Chinese parents 😂

[@mynameisreallycool1]

@@jeanettekakareka True. White parents generally speaking aren't as overly protective and strict. That's probably why a lot of the people complaining that the movie isn't realistic aren't Chinese or even Asian in general.

[@madnessoverload7824]

It's hilarious how people complain that this movie tackles periods which are "too mature" but also complain that it doesn't comment on 9/11.

[@elieli2893]

Yeah... Especially since this "too mature" thing is a real-life thing that happens in literal thirteen-year-old girls' lives :/ In general I think the probably mainly US thing of abhorring things like human body functions and intimacy in media, while brutal violence is just everyday and usual to show on screen, is completely bizarre. Also, why on earth would a kids' movie have to comment on 9/11? Especially since, you know, the movie doesn't even take place in USA, it's Canada, for goodness' sake! I'm sure at the time, as a neighboring country, Canada was also affected in some ways, of course, but I find it weird how US people seem to sometimes expect all the world to be impacted by their country's affairs just as drastically as they are. Yes, I live over 4500 miles away from said country, and although I was a kid at the time, remember 9/11 being covered by the news for a while... But nothing here really changed, and it was another horrible thing that happened, in a country far away. Of course it was a horrible tragedy. But it just didn't really affect us more than wars or earthquakes or any other type of tragedy, in other countries that weren't our own.

[@mm-ez6xn]

THEY HIT_______ THE PENTAGON😭

[@GhostEmblem]

*sigh* the American exceptionalism was particularly high in that one, the movie was set in Canada

[@sheavague7058]

My friend says the girl trys to monetize the "panda" selling it for parties because thats what teenage girls are forced to do in China. Is that true?

[@tadashihatsudai]

And they couldn’t be arsed to remember when puberty usually starts. It’s typically anywhere from 9-14 and over.

[@MalvinaDeClares]

I absolutely despise people implying that getting your period makes you a woman. When I finally opened up to my therapist about the man who graped and SA'd me when I was 9, she told me that he wasn't a pedophile because I got my period, so I was already a woman. I don't see that therapist anymore

[@thisisasupersayin376]

"Our expectations for you were low but holy FUCK"

[@larissabrglum3856]

What the fuck, I am so sorry

[@random_d00d]

I'm appalled, what the fuck. I hope that therapist has lost her job.

[@boomerangswingsbothways]

I am horrified, so sorry that someone who was supposed to help you would say something like that. I hate that as well but because I haven’t had mine yet and for years I felt as if I wasn’t “woman” enough. When I was 7 - 9, whenever we visited my (my parents have several siblings so my mom’s elder sister specifically) aunt, uncle and cousins, my male cousin would touch me when we were alone. This happened several times and my mother was only aware of one such occasion but still didn’t tell her sister. When I told her what was happening when we stopped visiting them (unrelated to this, visiting them was expensive) she just told me that I should be wary of all men, as if I wasn’t terrified of all men and distancing myself from my father. When I told my father he was flip flopping between saying that I shouldn’t have experienced that and saying that he was just a young boy and young boys experiment. He also blamed me for not saying anything. It is disgusting how people bend backwards to take blame away from men and boys who make us feel uncomfortable in our own bodies, who are literally nightmare material. You are better off without that so called therapist. I hope you are doing well.

[@wildsagediary1109]

That therapist needs therapy

[@MammaApa]

I am personally OUTRAGED that Turning Red did not address the reorganization of Swedish post offices that occurred in early 2002. All post offices were shut down and a number of convenience stores were henceforth designated as postal pickup points for packages etc. Never forget!!!

[@fossilfighters101]

+

[@KalinTheZola]

They can't keep getting away with this

[@gimmeurshibaquik7]

It's a kids movie. It doesn't have to be event accurate geez!

[@Fullmetalbasil]

@@gimmeurshibaquik7 They're just being sarcastic

[@gimmeurshibaquik7]

@@Fullmetalbasil I was being sarcastic too haha

[@eldupont3095]

Everyone is speculating about why the movie was set in 2002. "Its so there wouldnt be smart phones" "It's so they could call it the Skydome" ...Domee Shi was born in 1989. She was 12 in 2002. This movie probably heavily draws on her own life experience.

[@elainestegeman7204]

It is based on Domee Shi’s own experience

[@ScionStorm1]

I didn't know this movie was going to be a period piece (pun gonna pun) but throughout the movie I had this strange feeling of overly accurate familiarity. Then I found out it was set in 2002 with a thirteen year old and it all clicked. This is my exact age group. I was that age in that year and the familiarity just all fell into place straight down to the Malcom in the Middle style of the main character addressing the audience.

[@eldupont3095]

@@ScionStorm1 Same!!

[@Baldwin-iv445]

I had a feeling that was the case. Plenty of artists beforehand have based their work of their own experiences.

[@anni1348]

In the documentary Domee Shi literally said that the movie is based on her experience as a girl going through puberty in the 2000s and growing up with strict parents as a Chinese in Canada. 😃

[@catloaff]

Also YES thank you for reiterating that this movie was made by a chinese woman, I've read so many people saying that it's reinforcing Chinese stereotypes or Mei turning into a red panda is yet another POC turning into animals to make the movie palatable to white people when in reality Domee just thought anime kaiju red panda is neat. POC should be able to make whatever they wanted creatively with their own culture/experience without the guilt of what white people in the past did to a certain trope

[@akorn9943]

Moral of the story: they just need to make more movies where white people can turn into adorable kaiju, too 😌

[@Isabelle-hv6ny]

I mean it's not like princess and the frog where she spends the majority of the movie in frog form. So that's completely different

[@NIHIL_EGO]

@@akorn9943 I can't wait to see white people turning into kaiju labradors (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

[@procrastinating384]

Also with regards to the whole "another POC turning into an animal" argument, the actual problem with that trope is that it happens too frequently to DARK SKINNED POC in animation. This trope isn't nearly as common with East Asian leads, we're not struggling to find Chinese human protags in animation where they stay human the entire film, so Turning Red's premise is fine, just don't make it the norm.

[@kyptos2252]

Humans are animals for you don't know

[@RedMagius]

Mei's feverish rush to fill her notebook with the tamest self-insert anime-inspired drawings is the most relatable thing I've ever seen in a movie.

[@Ollie_the_Possum]

I felt called out

[@mochi5512]

The style too, we’ve all been there 💀

[@robin_ch]

@@mochi5512 YEAH THE STYLE... 😭

[@Sabrina-sc1db]

I only didn't relate because I can't draw for shit But oh boy the fan fic I wrote

[@SwizzleDrizzl]

@@mochi5512 Im so glad i never had an anime phase

[@umbreonofshadows]

Yes periods are a children’s issue! The “you’re a women now” always really confused me. Because most people get their periods before adulthood. Like yes it is a sign of growing up but it doesn’t mean you’re grown.

[@misamisaa4547]

My aunt (uncle's wife to be precise) was always very big into the entire "periods and boobs mean you're a Woman now" thing. It took years for me to realise that there was an unspoken "so you should be proud of yourself" instead of "be more ladylike" when she told me to keep my chin up and similar stuff...

[@denniswilkerson5536]

In the near past it was actually a sign of full adulthood, the period was literally the natural mark of adulthood.

[@rev.rachel]

@@denniswilkerson5536 It's true, but nowadays with periods coming earlier and frontal cortexes finishing development way later, it just doesn't work as a mark of adulthood anymore. It might mean your reproductive system is fully online, but that definitely doesn't mean you're emotionally (or even physically) ready to bear children yet--that used to be the implication of periods signifying adulthood, and it's often still an unspoken implication, even if the people saying it would never want their kids to get pregnant right away.

[@elimiranda5276]

@@denniswilkerson5536 Which it was an idea based only on cultural myths and traditions. It's biologically wrong, past or present.

[@strawberryfox8819]

@@denniswilkerson5536 It was also why, in the past, more girls died during childbirth. It was a misconception that getting your period means you should have children at that moment. It's not the natural mark for adulthood at all. At the start of puberty, both boys and girls are able to produce children, but in no way should. The brain is only starting to fully develop (and won't be done until you're 25) and with girls, the start of your period is to give your body time to form a natural cycle, get used to the hormones and actually develop a body safe enough to have children.

[@ЕлизаветаОвчинникова-ц6з]

I sooo related when Mei's mom blamed her friends for everything and not her! When I was a child, if I said something 'wrong' or 'silly', my grandma and mom would all be like 'And who taught you that?', 'Who told you such a thing?', 'Where did you pick this up?' As if I was unable to have my OWN thoughts or act out of my own will. Gosh. it made me so angry

[@esavvysavokiii1277]

yeah, for a lot of parents it's like their precious baby could never do things on their own. my mom flip-flopped between "it's all those friends of yours!! they're a bad influence!!" and "you are the worst child ever and no one else's kids are as bad as you" but it's funny because some of the stuff were things i actually picked up from her 😂 when i was younger i said a lot of curse words that i learned from her yelling them at me

[@ladymelven]

Seconds) I'm 28 and STILL get that from my mom. Anything she doesn't like in me is an evil external influence 😈 bc kids never have a free will of their own do they But in our case I'd rather think it's post-Soviet habit of blaming everything on outsiders, Soros, illuminati and whatever

[@mygenderisyes3519]

Same here me dad somehow can’t believe I do things without other people’s influence he always thinks that someone taught me to do it or influenced me

[@Baldwin-iv445]

Yeesh. My parents were the exact opposite because they knew I wasn't an angel and punished me righteously if I did or said anything bad.

[@dgtor_official]

Weirdest thing for me was the Christian parents getting upset about the ritual when it’s not a satanist one… it’s a fictional spin on another culture 🤦‍♀️.

[@larissabrglum3856]

I'm pretty sure they believe anything that isn't Christianity is satanic

[@dannaaay7542]

Par for the course for fundamentalists. My parents believe that everything is either godly (Christian) or of the devil (any other system of religion or spirituality).

[@dgtor_official]

@@dannaaay7542 right

[@francisnopantses1108]

Fundies don't exactly believe in multiculturalism. It's all or nothing for them. Which is why they are so closed minded and intolerant.

[@ivetterodriguez1994]

Sometimes anything pagan is technically of Satan. Since in Chrstianity even Beelzebub and other "false gods" and idolatory are seen as not of God and therefore adverse. And in the 10 Commandments God probits any other god. Granted this ritual ad nothing to d with deities so it's a blur. I'm just trying to explain Christian theology, I'm not really Christian.

[@Polyeurythane]

“Teenage girls aren’t allowed to like anything” This is so freaking true. VSCO girls, Starbucks girls, pumpkin spice, basic bitch lifestyle, I could go on and on. How come we are are constantly making fun of teenage girls and women just for enjoying things they like. It’s absurd. I used to find the jokes and memes about these women and teenagers funny until someone pointed out how targeted and unfair it was, and I realized they were right. I think that’s why I like Turning Red so much, I was a total cringelord as a teenager and the internet would have torn me to shreds. Not only did it bring me comfort to know I wasn’t the only girl to be cringe, but I also felt seen in how Priya was portrayed (I may be pasty translucent white but skin color doesn’t mean I can’t relate and feel represented by a character).

[@avyay9818]

Yeah, true. Now day because of the internet though, I feel that many teenagers (I am a teenager) fit into stereotypes much more. You don’t find as many kids that aren’t like how media portrays them because if they don’t act like that, they’re weird. So they repress that side of them, both boys and girls.

[@pappanalab]

@@avyay9818 Really? Where I am it feels like no one fits in just one clique. Even if your main friend group is a stereotype you make acquaintances with other people. Like for me I was part of the artists but I had a close friends in other bubbles like popular girls and class clowns and we exchanged interests/points of view on various things and pushed each other out of our boxes.

[@avyay9818]

@@pappanalab not a bubble, but I’ve seen many people who are unique in elementary or even middle school, but then from like 8th grade onwards have all become a certain way, and start acting like common stereotypes when they are with people they don’t have a strong connection with.

[@KazeMemaryu]

I mean, what's the harm? Sure, some assholes would proceed to mock them, but most people just laughed about the absurdity of the concepts, and how quickly some of them became viral, especially with some girls on social media basing their entire personality on viral topics. Generally speaking, there's a lot of joking made at the expense of things that garner enough attention as well as the people who contribute towards those things, simply because that means more people "get the joke".

[@followerofeir]

@@KazeMemaryu this is my take on it

[@orchidspond9005]

This is VERY minor but when mei is in the spirit forest and meets her ancestor, her ancestor has wrinkles and is clearly an older woman. Seeing that surprised me and I had to suddenly realize that so often “honored” women in media are also considered conventionally beautiful and young, or they suddenly revert back to their younger self when they pass as if that was the height of them being important women. I loved seeing an older woman regarded as beautiful, but also just MORE than that!

[@justjess6636]

I love that, too. It was one of the things that annoyed me about Coco. Sure, his great great grandmother (IDK how many greats) is very beautiful, but I have a hard time imagining ger dying at a very young age if she was literally carrying her family.

[@apocryph0n]

Bruh, that blew my mind you are so right ＿|￣|○

[@teritt]

@@justjess6636 I imagine she died at a young age due to heartbreak or overall stress

[@CalebDenn]

@@justjess6636 I think it was more because the only reference the audience had of how she looked was the pictures on the altar. Which may be why at the end of the movie, after his great grandmother died and was added to the altar she still mostly looked the way she did while alive.

[@theimplications635]

@@justjess6636 Back then people died earlier and earlier and she still seems in her 50s so I don't even get what you're saying.

[@the_enby_geek]

fun fact: Meilin running around in her Panda form with her arms up is actually based on real red pandas, when they feel threatened, they stand on their hind legs and put their arms up to make themselves look bigger

[@zanir2387]

Sadly for them instead of look menacing they look hughable...

[@Idiot_TaylorsVersion]

That's actually so cute

[@lovelessact1]

I love how people expect realism from a movie where girls turn into pandas

[@starry_skies]

Right!? Nobody says anything about other fantasy or superpower movies being unrealistic, but they expect a kids movie to be "realistic??"

[@the.muffin]

right? lol

[@diegocalderon5190]

And they are right to expect this movie to be realistic, Pixar always does realistic movies like Monsters INC, Ratatouille, Up, A Bug's life, Finding Nemo, Toy Story, Coco and others. Man Cars is based on a real story

[@Isabelle-hv6ny]

@@diegocalderon5190 You had me in the first half xD

[@hridyanadappattel4400]

@@diegocalderon5190 Pls, I was about to go off on you and then I read further xD

[@eastvandb]

My son asked me about periods when 6. I told him about eggs that hadn't been fertilized being flushed out by blood. He was (and remains) completely emotionally unscathed. He's 26 now and he's not one of those guys who gets squicked by women having bodily functions, so I feel I did at least one thing right as a parent.

[@breezy3392]

The whiny idiots who say learning these things will "traumatize the children" have no clue what trauma actually is and I hate that they trivialize the word.

[@kittykittybangbang9367]

You're a good parent

[@plainsalt]

When I was a boy I use to see commercials for menstrual products and I had no idea what it was so once I randomly had the urge to barge into the livingroom where my mom was helping my brother with something school related and I asked what menstruation was. They both just looked at me in confusion until my brother who's only 3 years olden than me said "it's when blood flows out of women's vagina every month" I just said "Ok! :D" and left.

[@HabibaKerow]

See. It's that simple. Just treat it like it's normal. That's it. And they're kids, they won't linger about it for too long and their attention will be on something else.

[@alize0623]

See, his lack of panic at women’s bodily functions is proof of his trauma. You broke the boy (/sarcasm). I saw a viral FB post where a woman was angry the movie forced her to talk to her 10 and 8 year old daughters about periods. WHY DON’T THEY KNOW WHEN THEY’RE SO NEAR THE AVERAGE AGE!?

[@DiegoElizondo]

On the topic of Meilin being overused as a Chinese name in western media, I'm pretty sure all of Hollywood has yet to figure out Spanish girls names besides Maria exist.

[@rev.rachel]

+++

[@killerbug05]

The only 2 Spanish names to ever exist according to Hollywood: 1. Maria 2. Jose

[@victorialn1317]

@@killerbug05 "Javier" "Juan" There are not more spanish names for social media

[@lunaguy1195]

@@killerbug05 And Jesús I think

[@dialgadoodz381]

FR

[@radraccoon9489]

Honestly, I think Turning Red was THIS badly received because it's specifically and only about teenage girls living their lives, something the media has always loved looking down upon. And from how badly this movie keeps getting bashed, your appreciation of it almost made me cry.

[@kingace6186]

Turning Red came out the same year ultraconservatives overturned the constitutional right for women to get access to reproductive care.

[@gawainethefirst]

Interesting that you say that since this movie seems to be almost a shot for shot remake of the 1980s movie Teen Wolf.

[@kheru3524]

The stigma about periods is so bad and it helps literally no one. I was ashamed of getting mine so badly I hid it for like, two months... And those had my dysphoria flare up significantly, at a time where I really wasn't going well. It literally put me in more danger than if I'd been told "oh yeah that's a thing". Talk to your kids, people.

[@dantefarge3369]

I literally skipped school everytime my period from when I was 10 to 12 just bc of the embarrassment

[@Error_-ct2vp]

This movie is just fucking awful

[@tanglekelp1857]

@@Error_-ct2vp wrong comment section

[@Error_-ct2vp]

@@tanglekelp1857 don’t care lmao this is a comment section. Not a comment section with limits

[@lou-cidmire3065]

@@Error_-ct2vp Opinion invalid, go to jail.

[@littlemisstfc]

“Turning Red is unrealistic-“ SHUT UP, YOU FOOLS. When I was 13 years old, I dreamed of scenarios where Optimus Prime fell in love with me. 😤 Everybody who claimed that this movie (for utterly ridiculous reasons) is bad either wants to forget about their cringe kid phase, have never been a 13 year old girl, or has never met a 13 year old girl.

[@XiranJayZhao]

love how ur pfp is Megatron, I see you're still going strong

[@littlemisstfc]

@@XiranJayZhao awww, thank you. 🥺

[@littleartfloof]

Me growing up with Transformers Prime 😅 I had the biggest crushes on Arcee and Smokescreen

[@littlemisstfc]

@@littleartfloof Arcee, regardless of which iteration you grew up with, is the best girl. 💕

[@battleupsaber462]

TFP Optimus Prime's shapely thighs were responsible for Lots Of Things

[@FuguFae]

People crying about periods being “too adult” and outing themselves as parents who are too afraid to be proactive about perfectly natural parts of growing up really made me appreciate my parents being the opposite. No, they weren’t hands free and telling all kinds of explicit stuff, but they made sure I knew what was going to happen was normal and to not feel uncomfortable asking them questions for my own health and understanding. Parents being terrified of actually talking to their kids is why me and a friend had to try and explain to another friend about the birds and the bees and a more complete explanation for periods when we were in *c o l l e g e*.

[@erickamakeeaina1649]

100th like

[@monotromatic]

IN COLLEGE IN FUCKING COLLEGE

[@ryntherain230]

Yeah~ in god damn college i need to explain that to my friends

[@PWNDON]

my mom explained the birds and the bees to me like a month before my period came (i was around 11) i dont get why people have to make it seem so bad it just happens biology does that

[@memelord7567]

if periods are so adult why do we get them at like 11 years old?

[@nightmare_eyes430]

Thank you for bringing up the 911 weird stuff. Many Americans don't seem to understand that, while the rest of the world empathized and felt sorry for the lives lost that day, and their families, we kinda moved on from that event, and, as blunt as it may sound, didn't really care about that after a year or so, if not earlier. At that time period, any counties, like Greece had our own cultural and historical shifts, so I don't see why Canada would be any different.

[@Tirannie]

Agreed. Not to mention, these are 13 year olds. They would have had little understanding about how serious that event was until they were a but older (hell, I was in high school and plenty of my peers didn't get it).

[@astee1]

Definitely. I grew up in Toronto during 2002 and Turning Red was pretty accurate in that there was really not too much impact of 911, at least, for a child.

[@impish_snake3526]

I gotta say, as an American, we make really need to stop making September about us. Yeah, what happened was a national tragedy. And we responded by creating like, 50 other national tragedies in other countries. It’s time to move on and make do with the memorials.

[@jade.meowspector]

Exactly. I'm Brazilian and I was around that age at the time, all I can remember was that a cartoon I watched on tv got interrupted because of the incident and sometimes it got broght up on news. It was a tragedy, but it didn't affect us in the same way.

[@erenb.2806]

@@impish_snake3526 pretty much annihilated our taxpayer dollars in the middle east and yeah the government created 50 other national tragedies.

[@felicityb93]

People were rly complaining that there wasn't enough racism in this movie... Like, people rly got up and said that with their entire chest.

[@Gonzas97]

@@whatsyourname9581 Maybe because the minority groups ONLINE, are always complaining about how discriminated they are?. Rather than having an actual life, which is something minorities do in real life?

[@number13burger]

I have NEVER in my life seen so many people so desperate to see racism in a movie. EVER. These people are tripping or something.

[@francisnopantses1108]

My elementary school in New England in the 1980s was very mixed. The exception was that most of the African American students were bussed in. This was because "urban renewal" tore down almost all of the historical black neighborhood in my city. The forced removal and bussing did create a cultural and social divide. However, by the time I graduated black families were starting to move into neighborhoods that had been previously off limits. My city even elected a black mayor. So the mayor, governor, and president were all African American at the same time. So that racial line was real because of redlining and "urban renewal", however aside from that our classroom was really multicultural. Chinese, Indian, Jewish, Italian, Irish, Russian, Japanese, Canadian (lol). Some of our Chinese classmates were truly right off the boat and were learning English on the fly. Cantonese was the dominant language of Chinese immigrants then.

[@58209]

privileged groups expect escapist media for themselves, but when the escapist media doesn't specifically cater to their identity, they complain that it isn't realistic enough. gotta put the target audience in their place by reminding them of their suffering. 🤷

[@CobaltLancer]

When there’s not enough racism: *_How dare you! You’re undermining a serious issue!_* When there is racism: *_How dare you! This is offensive!_*

[@Thew0rm]

I love how its always the adults getting mad that a kids movie doesn't relate or speak to them. "ah, yes. How dare a movie about a preteen girl going through changes and discovering puberty, periods, and hormones/emotions not cater towards me, a 37 year old male."

[@VioletNKisHere]

How dare they turn the tables and make a film where the main character is an Asian 13 year old girl struggling through puberty and her overprotective mother, her 3 friends, all female, 1 Korean, 1 Indian and 1 that could potentially be Jewish. This film does not relate to white men, but every other film exists does.

[@Thew0rm]

@@VioletNKisHere no literally. People can’t fathom how not every single film caters toward themselves specifically and it drives them insane

[@miss_chelles1338]

THIS!

[@bigroi2324]

Bruh im a white guy and I like this movie😢 (Oh wait, French Canadian 🤢)

[@Thew0rm]

@@bigroi2324 nobody is saying you can’t like it, I’m talking about the people who complain about it not being relatable when it clearly isn’t catered towards them

[@tunafour-shoes4618]

Call it Marvel-fatigue, But people just using their mystical abilities without becoming super heroes is exactly what I want to see now. So yeah, I really liked this movie.

[@junjunjamore7735]

It's what drawn me to Encanto when the first trailer dropped, superpowered folks just dancing.

[@cryforhelp7270]

Someone give suggestions that are similar in the replies please- I'm also having marvel fatigue...

[@vividao4123]

@@cryforhelp7270 Sleight- a young man uses his intelligence to develop abilities to perform street magic and deal drugs for money. Ultimately, he needs to use these abilities to protect his loved ones from a gang leader but he doesn't become a superhero. Instead, they move out and we're left with a cliff hanger as to what he chooses to do from then on.

[@DoveJS]

@@cryforhelp7270 Something I haven't seen yet but I'd really like to is Wolfwalkers! Werewolves in a semi-historical fantasy setting. I think we'd both like that. I /did/ watch Song of the Sea, by the same studio, which was amazing, definitely recommended! (In the latter, they do save a bunch of other faeries but it gives me Spirited Away vibes, not superhero ones. It's ultimately a fantasy/fairy tale quest story.) If you like selkies, please watch Song of the Sea. :) Oh! Another one I haven't seen but sounds like a lot of fun, and I've been meaning to get around to watching it, is The Mitchells vs. the Machines. If you liked Turning Red, I think it'd be a great tangent since it's another girl in conflict with her loving family and from what I've heard, she's a confirmed lesbian in the movie, so if you were sad to miss out on the rep, she should hopefully have your back! I don't think she has any powers but it's in a similar vein. Again, I haven't seen it yet so I'm just going off reviews for this one. :) Also, this is an anime movie but perhaps Weathering With You would count more? Especially the ending! That took me by surprise. Very heart-warming and tear-jerking, IMHO. I'm trying not to reveal too much because I think it's better going in blind. But the crux of the conflict becomes, "Tokyo, Tokyo, Tokyo is flooding! We don't need no sunshine, let the mofo drown!" And the girl is the one who gets mystical powers which sets everything else off. Another anime movie pick which isn't super heroes but comes a lot closer would be Pro-Mare. Lio Fotia is a revolutionary/terrorist at first, he starts off as the bad@ss false antagonist, and he does ultimately help save the world with his powers but it's not the same vibe overall. Please don't let that discourage you! I think everyone who cares about current events should watch this movie; very topical about oppression and how the elite echelons of society are killing us. (Also, if you wanna ship the deuteragonists, I'm right there with you. They technically kiss though it's kind of queer-baiting... I'll take what I can get; they're just awesome bouncing off one another.) And well if you want something really weird, closer to Pro-Mare, but more adult and absolutely unhinged, I watched Paprika years ago and a lot of those scenes live rent free inside my head now. If you're uncertain, maybe watch the opening intro where Paprika roams the city to decide. It's perhaps a little more whimsical than the rest of the movie, at one point she basically gets assaulted (more metaphorically than literally perhaps, still a fair warning; it made me DEEPLY uncomfortable, which was the point of the scene) but that opening is a good barometer of what you're in for, I think. Technically she does save the world, I guess, but it feels low key. I can't help it, I'm a sucker for a lady scientist with the power of imagination backing her. And walking refrigerators. Other than those, I'm not sure. I haven't seen a lot of movies lately; I've been catching up on streaming off and on. Which reminds me, if you love 2D animation, Klaus by Netflix is absolutely unrelated but a good movie! Best way I can describe the dynamic is if Kuzco from The Emperor's New Groove befriended Rise of the Guardians' Santa instead of Pacha... and he became a postal worker instead of a llama. XD

[@DeathnoteBB]

What We Do In The Shadows is vampires but the movie and show are about vampires just hanging out. I greatly prefer the show but both are great

[@ShadeHellsing]

I think its ironic that having a realistic preteen/teenage girl and the things they go through is frown upon but having a young teen look like a model and acting like an adult is ok.

[@juanchoresultay2704]

yeah society is confusing

[@limerence8365]

Something I've noticed about depictions of teenage girls is it always emphasised their relationships to boys but here it was more about the girl's crushes on boys rather than one boy in particular. Drawing smut, risking everything to go a concert, being ashamed of your body, these are all normal things teenage girls experience but are never really explored. Apart from going to the concert but that's usually only done to depict the girl as vain. Here it was an essential driving force of the plot.

[@kittykittybangbang9367]

Maybe this could be the reason as to why Turning Red is getting hate. I remember reading a comment on "Brave was a Disappointment" (which is a really great video, go watch it), which said something along the lines of "Many males (especially the writers)can't handle not being center of attention. I can think of several stories that have zero female characters, but none with zero male characters."

[@Adamkalb1]

Turning Red succeeds as a movie because it begins the same way as Cuties, both in the story and the controversy it faced before its premiere, but it comes out much better in every way. Turning Red does not get wildly positive reception for now, but it feels like it should in my heart because Turning Red became the *GOOD* version of Cuties by being everything that should have been because Domee Shi, like most decent human beings, knew why she should not sexualize teenagers in her first movie. January 29, 2023, 1:47am

[@jeanettekakareka]

Yes yes yes! I didn't have the words describe it before but I felt the same about the typical singular boy crush vs. their general boy crush phase. So much more relatable when I think back on being a kid.

[@apocalypseready6256]

About the vilification of teenage girls and their interests; I feel like the movie explores this even more with Tyler’s character and boys in general. Tyler goes out of his way to mock the girls, especially when provoked by his friends (in the birthday scene, he only begins to insult Mei after that guy says “You gonna let her treat you like that?”). It’s clear he feels emasculated by liking “girly things”, and attempts to assert his masculinity and compensate for this “belittling interest” by denouncing the very thing that make him happy through his treatment of the girls. While in some scenes (like the dance scene at his party) he appears shy and even sensitive, it’s typically immediately overcome with this need to “prove” that he’s a man by acting cruelly towards the girls. Even if he becomes super unlikeable in the process, hence him needing the red panda to get anyone to attend his birthday-people he probably doesn’t care about in the first place. This is a subtle exploration of how the teenage girl stigma reinforces toxic masculinity and male insecurities as much as it does unfairly bully girls. He recognizes that society hates any behaviors associated with teen girls, and attempts to distance himself from their “cringy” status through violence; his community unconsciously enables this toxicity in both him and many other young boys by magnifying relatively harmless, frivolous behaviors associated with girls. We often see this as young as five with boys, where they loudly protest to things like Frozen or “princess” stuff while girls tend to not have the same response to boy interests, like Minecraft-embodying how standardized male centric interests are acceptable to all audiences while female interests tend to have much more pushback, even at a young age (think how princess movies are perceived in comparison to Marvel movies; the latter being for all audiences). It’s acceptable for boys to begin watching corn at 14, even with all the industry’s links to male violence and desensitization, but heaven forbid a girl have a crush on a boy band member.

[@DecemberDaydreams]

great comment

[@fatimahanwaar306]

best comment ever

[@Wonbaeofficial]

Here, you dropped this 👑

[@zdiegi5493]

I also love that instead of laughing about Taylor when they find out, the girls are totally hyped and imediately accept him into their group❤ I wish we could just all be like this in real life! Edit: Just corrected some grammar and spelling mistakes😅

[@amitystan]

Yeah but that doesn’t excuse him being racist to her

[@della3440]

I personally identified with Mei’s mom blaming her friends instead of her, because my mom did the exact same to mine when I was Mei’s age. I had to explain to her over and over that I wasn’t misbehaving because of them and that I was misbehaving because I didn’t feel like I was given enough freedom to express myself with them (that “misbehavior” being drawing and wanting to pursue art as a career in the future, as in my conservative Asian Muslim household, I was taught drawing is a sin because you’re trying to “imitate God’s creations”). I think this comes from a place of parents not wanting to accept that their children are not a mini version of themselves, and wanting to believe that their babies will not and cannot be any other way than how they are viewed by their parents.

[@alberto2567]

As someone from México I can tell I had a very similar experience as yours

[@peterwang5660]

Wait… drawing is a sin in Islam? But there’s plenty of visual art from all over the Islamic world, and I know a lot of it is geometric or based on Arabic script instead of trying to drawn an animal or something. But drawing being straight up a sin? Really?!

[@umjackd]

I always felt like my parents very much reacted to parenting asa result of their upbringing. They tried to give us what they didn't have, but sometimes didn't realise that might not be what we want. Like you said, they saw us as mini versions of themselves.

[@della3440]

@@peterwang5660 I think it's drawing living beings but don't quote me on that. I don't follow it anymore, but it's what I grew up being taught.

[@auroraqiana8805]

Aha! I spot another Asian Muslim like me! I also vaguely remember that I was once told I shouldn’t draw too realistically for the same reason, so I kept drawing in a different style for a while (can’t remember what style) but now I’m trying to draw Semi-Realistic and most of my family is really supportive of it. Hope you are doing great!

[@thetea1502]

I kinda realized something about how Mei and her parents dress when their about to remove their red pandas. Mei’s relatives and mom dress in green which is in contrast to their red hair. This symbolizes their desire to separate themselves from their red panda and that they consider it a different part of themselves.Mei on the other hand wears pink which is a lighter tint of red and forms a monochromatic color scheme with her red hair . This illustrates that she has accepted the red panda within her and has become one with it.

[@zierragacha5089]

Another thing is that Mei's ancestor smiled at her because she was the first relative to keep the panda

[@Problempossum11]

I was a kid living in the Toronto area when 911 happened. It did NOT have an earth shattering impact on most children here. Yes it was talked about in school and by our parents but we weren't constantly bombarded by it. People also need to understand that Toronto is literally the second most racially and culturally diverse city in the world. Its super common here to have racially diverse friend groups, ESPECIALLY during childhood. There were a lot of times where being white actually made me a minority in my friend group and even my current friend group is racially and culturally diverse

[@mageofmagic870]

Yeah, some of these reviews just scream "Didn't do any research about Canada because they just assumed it's the US, but bigger and colder".

[@eshaleemadgavkar]

@@mageofmagic870 Lol this movie is made by a Chinese-Canadian!!!

[@mageofmagic870]

@@eshaleemadgavkar Right! It's so ridiculous how some people (like Mr. Enter) just assume that a Chinese-Canadian woman somehow got major cultural aspects about Canada wrong, all because they're just assuming that 9/11 had the exact same impact in Canada as it did in the US! It's like they don't even realize that Canada is a different country!

[@katiewong1547]

I mean, I grew up in Texas (other family is in Toronto, too!) and had a racially diverse friend group, but we never thought of it that way until we left school and started going to required diversity trainings. It was like... wait.. you all have to force this? We did it "naturally" (there weren't conscious choices). Not every place in the world is/has racism. The kids I tutor now don't chose their friends by ethnicity/color. And yes, my parents (mixed) were more wary of the partying white kids than my dorky friends.

[@starmic1852]

@@mageofmagic870 J.J. McCullough (Reviewer #2) is Canadian interestingly enough.

[@DahVoozel]

Tyler saying that the temple is creepy while simultaneously wanting a part of the culture he perceived as valuable to be at his service is.... like... peak western cognitive dissonance.

[@ghostprince4284]

Sooooooooo,Is Tyler Chinese?

[@daw668]

@@ghostprince4284 no, more like he wants the part of Chinese culture that benefits him to serve him while tossing away everything else he dislikes about it

[@bluecanine3374]

Sounds like the commodification of foreign cultures. Sand it down to just the few cherry picked pieces that are palatable. Just want some easy to digest flair to add to things and not anything authentic. Like an all you can eat chinese buffet that serves americanized chinese, korean, and japanese food along with pizza, french fries, and mashed potatos with some trinkets bought out of an airport souvenirs shop strewn about.

[@jasonbrennan9918]

@@ghostprince4284 Apparently his surname is Nguyen so... Vietnamese? His dad definitely seems to have some kind of Afro-carribean accent though...

[@stacey4758]

Tyler isn't western, or not any more western than Mei. I think his dad was Indian, though 1 line & digital form aren't enough to tell

[@綿棒人間]

What gets to me about all the "oh noes, disobedience and rebellion!" criticism is that the movie did a great job of portraying Meilin as wanting to be a good daughter and genuinely happy to participate in family tradition. Of course there's external pressure to act that way, but that's not all that motivates her. For example, in the temple cleaning scene, rather than it being a duty she carries out grudgingly, it's a time where she finds real harmony with her mom. As she grows, she naturally wants some distance from her mom's excessive control and needs space to find out who she is, but it's not something she has to abandon her heritage or dispose of her family to get. If anything, she opts in the end for a more traditional path than the last few generations. I thought that the idea of making room for oneself within traditions was very positive.

[@jordanetherington1922]

I really liked that it was more complex then a binary "PARENTS AND TRADITION BAD: CONSUMER CULTURE GOOD" story. Like you said, Mei clearly loves her parents and her heritage, she just naturally wants some space to herself as she gets older. I liked that she enjoyed working at the temple.

[@peterwang5660]

@@jordanetherington1922 Does she really love her heritage? Even if she enjoys commodifying it, she prefers Western pop, thinks French is sexy (while Cantonese is portrayed without much dignity in this movie) etc. Or maybe I should stop commenting on this video and movie because it wasn't made for people that feel 100% Chinese like me. This whole movie just seemed to be for kids who ended up assimilating. Domee also draws way too many characters with straight fucking lines for eyes, I've always accepted that East/Southeast Asians have a different eye shape, but it's not a straight fucking line. I get that Domee incorporates a lot of Chinese influence in this movie, but that's pretty much just taking advantage of the few memes of Chineseness that are familiar in the West. Using Chinese art style in the backstory of Sun Yee is just exoctizing Chinese culture even more, because it's like saying only when you want to make an animated video of Chinese history is it logical to use Chinese art styles. It's like saying you're just drawing something, you ought to catch up with the times and draw like a Westerner.

[@LiNestHetalia]

@@peterwang5660 she literally grew up in a western environment so sure she enjoy western entertainment, it's not the same that she not loving or appreciating her heritage, also it's funny as people wants see cultures as some type of monolith, I'm latine and I enjoy asian culture that's not mean I don't love being latine and all my culture expressions

[@tawnystone1292]

@@peterwang5660 This movie is about as Chinese as Panda Express.

[@AnonYmous-en7op]

@@LiNestHetalia they see it as a monolith to invalidate the experiences of Asians who were born in the west. You can see it in the comments tinged with the weird critique about Mei / the director being not Asian enough. It's a simplistic take on culture and identity, when in fact we should understand identity as an evershifting force influenced by our transforming and changing relationship towards heritage and culture.

[@riarivera5995]

When i first watched this movie with my own mother. She hated it but i loved it. She hated it because she said Ling was too overbearing, and that Mei keeping her panda was in realistic and "what does she expect to be an adult and just transform whenever she wants?!" I think the idea of adults learning to cope with their emotions went horrifyingly over her head. It explains so much...she litteraly just yelled at me today because I'm working 12 hour shifts on weekends instead of 5 days during the week. (still 40 hours pay). And here's me, a 20 year old woman, crying myself because i still feel like lesser in my family...this movie makes me feel like I'm not alone, but also really sad, like what did i do wrong that i let my mother take over my adult life this way?...

[@rootfish2671]

Inject hot sauce into her tampons

[@anneblackwood9013]

Your subservience to your mom is a normal trauma response to having an emotional immature parent. It takes time and support to unlearn those patterns, and it's not your fault that you're struggling with this. Do you have access to therapy? Online might be a good option for you as it would be less obvious to the scrutiny of your mom. Not that her opinions should dictate your health decisions, but I know that it's not as simple as that, and gaining independence is a skill that therapy would help with.

[@sarahsander785]

I have the same issue with my father. Doesn'T help that we live in the same house, too. He regularly has his moments when he just explodes over nothing, complaining about my life choices and then trying to frame it as concern for my future. All while I'm thinking "It's my life, dude. Just ignore it, if you don't like it." I KNOW he does it out of his own insecurities and traumata, I know his family backstory (I think even more of it then he knows by now). But it still took years to get over it and it hurts very hard in the moment. Luckily I have support from most of the rest of my family. I hope you can learn to deal with it in some way - even thou it will not go away, because it's her fault. Not yours. She needs to change.

[@crybabyyy9398]

literally have ONLY seen true complaints about this movie from non-asians, which just about tells you all you need to know about exactly the kind of backlash it's receiving. turning red was one of my first instant favourites from pixar in a long time, honestly.

[@michaelh13]

Accented cinema made some complaints

[@batzdoartz]

I have an Asian friend who didn’t love it but is was just because of the pacing. People who aren’t Asian will just criticize everything tho 🤦‍♀️

[@lexdraws1729]

@@batzdoartz I’m black and loved the movie, I can relate to how mei’s mom treats her, and thought the movie portrayed how it felt to be a 13 year old/preteen girl quite well

[@neoninthedark5818]

Trust me, if you search hard enough you will find real complaints from other people too. The movie has received enough mixed reviews to the point where you're incredibly likely to find reviews that both contain good complaints AND come from non-Asian people.

[@endieisded]

@@lexdraws1729 Same here and I'm Mexican. Mei's mom reminded me a lot of my own, even those scenes where she "acted like no parents would"

[@amphithere]

YES I was in elementary school when I started my period. I hate when people refer to it as becoming a woman because I was no where near adulthood! I was still playing with toys and all I was worried about was recess and snacks! I was so ashamed of my period because of this. There's so much shaming around periods and people don't realize how that causes insecurities in young kids!

[@s-a-r-a-h]

Same here! The whole "becoming a woman" thing is just gross adultification and hyper-disciplining girls

[@MerelvandenHurk]

@@s-a-r-a-h Agreed. I think it stems from the time when women got married in their early teens because having your period means you're of childbearing age. And to be fair, in nature it kinda works that way, but our society is faaaaaaaaaar from nature. Our definition of "woman" isn't "able to bear children" (unless you're a transphobe or you're just so narrowminded that you leave out everyone going through menopause etc.). And if our definition of "woman" isn't linked to bearing children anymore, getting your period shouldn't be associated with "becoming a woman" either.

[@wherefancytakesme]

I actually got mine 'late' compared to everyone else I knew (12). There was only one girl behind me and I, ashamedly, was like "Really?? YOU haven't gotten it yet?" But before I did get it, I was prepared for it and despite knowing it wouldn't be comfortable, almost wished I would get mine too, like everyone else. And my chest grew in around 9 like Ms. Zhao too-- but one side faster than the other. Both these reasons made my mom freak out and she thought it was an allergic reaction to a bug bite, keeping me home from school to see the doctor.

[@Maglors_grief]

When I was a kid I got my first period at 11 years old and my mom told the whole family about it despite me asking her not to and it was just so weird getting congratulated by some family members for becoming a woman because I definitely still felt a little awkward child 😩 my parents even cried a little because they felt like I was growing up and all I wanted to say to them was that literally nothing had changed about me.

[@adamuffoletto7869]

Even for girls who get their periods in high school, (I got mine at sixteen; my mom was seventeen) periods shouldn't be a signal of womanhood. I was still a minor! Why are we calling minors "women?"

[@mgreenester]

People complaining about a girl's period are like; "I really don't want to ever have to talk to my kids, or you know.... Raise them."

[@MerelvandenHurk]

Totally. Somewhere along the way parents have apparently forgotten that raising a child is all about guiding them through their development, preparing them for adult life and making sure they're able to be self-sufficient enough before they leave the house. Instead, parents just see it as "keeping the child alive long enough so that they can then leave the house and learn how to adult". Of course there's a time and place for everything, but menstruation is such a normal, natural thing in life. It happens to the overwhelming majority of afab people. Why the hell wouldn't you want your kid to be prepared for when it happens?

[@TrueMentorGuidingMoonlight]

Part of the parenting problem is familial abuse that we stupidly dismiss as “tough love.” Because why teach your kids real consequences when you could instead beat them every time they screw up? Once you’re gone, they will have no one to beat them anymore, but by then, they’ll have kids and beat your grandkids too.

[@mykodibear17]

A really underrated detail in the movie is when Mei's mom asks Mei if she got her period, *and Mei already knows what she's talking about.* There's no scene of her mom trying to awkwardly explain what a period is because, despite the fact that her mom says herself that she thinks it's too early for Mei to be hitting puberty, she's already had that conversation with Mei and normalized the topic by the time this happens. 10/10 parenting in that regard. The best time to have that conversation is long before you think it'll happen, not once it already has.

[@DoingStuffWithDiana]

This movie really calmed down my guilt over being a rebellious preteen. Literally her lying and claiming she was in an after school club is something I did at that age and carried the burden of lying with me. This movie made me feel better about how I acted…not justified it, but made me realize it was normal to rebel!

[@20dabarr58]

If it helps, I was beyond rebellious as a kid -- I was actually horrible. Lying is a normal part of development, vital to making your identity

[@madsceptictrooper6803]

Rebelling is a natural part of going through puberty.

[@SilverionX]

If that was the worst thing you did, don't be too hard on yourself. I went down a very dubious path that could have ended badly. Got out in time and I didn't hurt anyone, so thankful for that.

[@BerryHunter]

Most of the bad reviews come from restrictive families that are using ignorance as a shield from harsh reality and straight up racist narcissists. It's just sad that the movie teaches about acceptance but those people say that accepting is just wrong, terrifying, bad and *"A MOCKERY TO THE CHRISTIAN GOD"* .

[@SwizzleDrizzl]

as a christian i can tell you we really don't claim those people

[@Gloomdrake]

If personal experience is anything to go by, I assume that a lot of those people are way more strict than the mom in this movie, with a lot less love

[@crewmatewillthrowthesehand7600]

Christians have a problem with a movie about another culture, but they would defend a bunch of Christians forcing people to listen to their gospel songs on an air plane 30000 feet in the air. It's the double standard for me

[@fictions_in_motion_07]

The kicker here is like Christian God when the movie is mostly based around people who are Asians. Like. . . Asian culture and all that. . . something they clearly don't have knowledge of. . . so their reviews were kind of ridiculous. Bring Christian beliefs into the argument while the movie showcases another type of religion from an entirely different culture. Absolutely stupid. I am not against Christians by all means, but I won't respect the people behind reviews like these, mainly because of how that just shows how these people are the type who would want to use their own religion as a way to represent themselves as someone that is superior than others. This religion and culture thing is kind of amusing to me, especially after I experienced something similar with a teacher from my semester. I am in a university which is occupied by foreigner students, and I am learning on the creative field (animation in this case). I had a movie idea that is inspired by Asian culture, and I present it like multiple times when it comes to consult with the teachers about it. Then when the final week came, I had to showcase the project in the best quality that was possible for me within the short time we got, and like in previous times, that one or two teacher still went on about how their culture this and that, when I told them multiple times in the very beginning about how this is mostly inspired by Asian Culture. So yeah, people like these teachers and the parents in the reviews are ridiculous, especially when they chose to fend their time in being ignorant than use that time for something more useful. . . like educating themselves. . . . It's so sad to be honest. . .

[@mattwolf7698]

@@Gloomdrake I was forced to attend a very conservative church as a kid where some members found every Disney movie satanic, yeah, they were far more strict than the mom in this movie. My parents were a bit more liberal but strict by most peoples standards but I think that still caused me to strongly relate with this movie, my mom was about as strict as the one in the movie.

[@greywaren6034]

Meilin’s mom coming to school to deliver her forgotten pads gives me a flashback of my Chinese mom in elementary school chasing me down the school street in front of everyone to give me my water bottle because she thought I forgot my water bottle 💀

[@whatever5401]

Lmaoo my mom isn't Chinese but I relate to this

[@madeliefynana]

I could feel that pain, but honestly some times thinking about those moments I'm like "wow, my parents really care about the smallest things for me" Though it's overbearing and I kind of dislike those actions, but at the end of the day, I can't help but think of how much effort they are going through the small things. -there are still a lot of other issues, but oh well... It's going to be okay-

[@greywaren6034]

@@madeliefynana for sure after everything I’m rlly grateful how much my parents care and put me first always

[@miss_chelles1338]

@@madeliefynana that's true.

[@helenacrispim3744]

Your take on the parenting and how viewers got different reactions for being from different cultures made me laugh so hard. Cause as a latina girl I remember how "evil" people from north america kept saying Abuela from Encanto was. While us latin people were like "yeah, that's aggressively accurate." The most unaccurate part was having an abuela admiting to be wrong instead of using religion to justify herself. lol P.S: Loved this movie SO MUCH! I myself was very lucky when it comes to my mom being prepared for periods, since she had no help at all and didn't want me to go through the same thing. ♥♥

[@XiranJayZhao]

LOL yeah they hate Abuela so much omg

[@AntediluvianRomance]

Well, that's one magical abuela for sure.

[@misamisaa4547]

Damn now I fear the reactions when disney/pixar decide to make a movie about Balkan 😂😂 I'm already betting there will be at least one scene with enough alcohol to drown a whale

[@kumashock4074]

I’m absolutely losing it over ppl making abuela a villain. Her husband died and she was fleeing war with THREE BABIES. She then had to raise three babies and be a community leader all over night. That’s trauma. The whole point of encanto is creating a dialogue so you and your older generation of family can begin to address trauma and how it effects the family. From another lense we could completely make abuela out to be the protagonist. At the end of the day everyone with generational trauma just wants an apology and to fix the relationship. Even Steven Universe is about generational trauma and I feel like people humanize the diamonds more than abuela

[@kenzihenderson5258]

I haven't heard anything about people saying Abuela was evil (I'm a white american). Then again the shitheads on the internet are the ones that scream the loudest. Among Disney fans Abuela is seen as just human, her and Mirabel's arc are seen as sweet and sends a message about holding on too tightly (something many parents and grandparents are guilty of). And using religion to justify yourself is something north american bible thumpers are JUST as guilty of

[@danathomas72]

i am a white disabled woman, and whilst i dont get all of the cultural things from this film being completely relatable, the feelings Meilin had about not being good enough for her mum and her family is incredibly relatable. i really liked the film, and as someone who was a teenage girl, it was a very accurate portrayal of being a cringey, weird teenage girl. i may not be the intended audience but i definitely found some of the themes relatable

[@ellasorrow4stolas445]

Same here. Being Autistic girl in an Evangelical household. This movie hit home. I literally had people trying to pray my autism away, and wish I could get better. Little me needed this movie.

[@brucenatelee]

"How dare they make this kid's movie about a kid's experiences without indoctrinating kids into being a certain way for the parents' benefit. 0/10."

[@edelgrane9375]

This!!

[@JewelWildmoon]

Sadly this is one of the reasons why my mother refuses to watch movies like this. If she knows it has a message about understanding your child, she won't see it. But she will force me to watch every movie that involves the son/daughter suffering for not listening to their parents... 🤣 Hell. Even if I managed to get her to watch it, she'd either fall asleep or at the end be like "and none of that would've happened if she just listened to her mother"

[@pinkpinkmermayyy]

@@JewelWildmoon LITERALLY SAME THOUGH!! my mom said that Turning Red was a bit "innaporpiate", but hey any movie with a child suffering because they didn't do one thing the parent said to do is totally fine!

[@JewelWildmoon]

@@pinkpinkmermayyy Damn I'm sorry you have one that acts like that too 🤣 It's so hard to get em to listen to the message in those movies unless it's beneficial to them.

[@miss_chelles1338]

@@JewelWildmoon that is sad. Really sad.

[@ziljin]

I never understood the "this movie is bad because I cannot relate to the character". I can enjoy media targeted towards any race, age, gender, religion, nationality, etc. I cannot relate to the majority of tv shows and movies and I still enjoy them very much. Also there seems to be the dated notion that anything animated must be only for babies . Even when they are rated PG13 or even rated R.

[@GringoXalapeno]

It was the original intention for animation to appeal to kid’s as well as adults it just got stigmatized to be only for kids later on and that stigma is gradually getting pushed away

[@gracekang2161]

I hate the idea that a story has to be relatable in order for it to be good. Not every film is going to relate to every part of its audience and it shouldn't

[@GringoXalapeno]

@@gracekang2161 i agree everyone has different personal experiences

[@garaj1]

It's also a pretty racist critique, given that it's never said about movies with white main characters

[@ziljin]

@@garaj1 racist and sexist. Many time when there are characters that are not white men there is going to people outraged.

[@emilynam6084]

The complaints and reviews about how this movie is teaching kids to defy their parents is hypocritical. Like is this not a reoccurring theme in Pixar films??? Nemo defied his dad, Merida defied *her* mom, Miguel went against his family, and Luca defied his parents! Like????

[@poeticjustice5240]

Exactly! Like I don't even have words anymore at this point, so stupid

[@Error_-ct2vp]

Because those weren’t glorified like Turning Red or as annoying

[@franknstein5376]

@@Error_-ct2vp Mulan leaving her family wasn't glorified? And Moana?

[@nyxcole]

@@Error_-ct2vp annoying? how? cause it reminds them of all the annoying and embarrassing stuff they did when they are teenagers? glorified? how? have you watched Disney movies? they are literally about defying your parent's expectations and finally standing up for your own self and choosing your own destiny.

[@blahblahsuperanon]

@@Error_-ct2vp Mulan was glorified. She even got the emperor of China honoring her for defying her family and saving china lol.

[@whatgsaid]

I’m Hispanic rather than Chinese, but there were small things from Mei Mei’s mom that intimately reminded me of my own mother When the closed door and personal space were totally ignored, and when the squad of aunties appeared / commented about weight, I *felt* that

[@PHSDM104]

Cuban Jamaican here. SAME!

[@whatgsaid]

Eyyyy, Rican here! Those Caribbean moms, though.

[@omanoma5278]

peruvian here. Very similar shit happened

[@lonely-lee]

indian here, SAME. the end of this movie always always always gets me in the sense that mei mei was finally accepted, and was able to be TRUE with her mom. it hit bcs it felt so personal, also maybe because i knew i'd never be accepted by my own mom. but yes definetely also the points you mentioned!

[@nobodyimportant6871]

OMG SAME LMAOOOO

[@lasrber]

I would like to add, I had a coworker who's daughter got her first period at 7. My coworker was in a complete panic because she was not prepared for how to explain periods to a 7 year old. Equating periods, to some preconceived 'womenhood' is highly problematic, especially for a 7 year old.

[@MerelvandenHurk]

Exactly. Precisely because the overwhelming majority of people who get their periods for the first time are specifically _not_ adults.

[@cam4636]

Yeah, there are people who are literally born having their periods--it's not a healthy thing, but it happens. If a toddler has to learn about it, an adult should recognize that it's not an "adult thing."

[@voidraptor73]

And like...not even just women? I'm a transguy and that shit caused SO MANY ISSUES

[@alexandrarivera2332]

I got mine at 9 years old

[@jace_d]

@@alexandrarivera2332 Same

[@felicityb93]

11:26 Okay but can we have a conversation about how people are calling this sexy or sexual, when this is quite literally cliche shoujo manga art style. There are books dedicated to teaching people how to draw like this. That shit is innocent af. Especially compared to the shit most millienials were getting upto on the internet.

[@SniperJade71]

I can't help but wonder if some of the "critics" are just millennials who still feel guilty about their own spicy deviantart phases lmfao

[@nessyness5447]

I would love to see those people reacting to canon character x selfinsertOC and canon character xreader fanfics/imagines/headcanons , etc written by real 13 years old girls. They would have a heart attack seeing the super cringy and badly depicted ( as is only normal) graphic smut XD

[@egrumblybus7792]

Premarital handholding 💀

[@whathell6t]

@@egrumblybus7792 For anime/manga weebs, it's lewd. For tokusatsu weebs, it's wholesome and practical.

[@catsinwonderland7473]

Like, it’s 100% them and not the movie.

[@snarkitty3118]

For goodness sake, those parents refusing to tell their children anything about puberty are partly why some cis men call periods a hoax. Thank you so much for unpacking this and everything else!

[@egg_mittens]

Hold on cis men do what now

[@Aloewaves]

@@egg_mittens "As a male, I believe menstruation is a myth" -Guy on twitter literally being serious in a talk abt periods

[@egg_mittens]

@@Aloewaves "as a bear, I believe hoverboards are a myth"

[@cookieaddict16]

@@egg_mittens Yeah, some men either don't think periods are real or they believe they're not a normal function and only happen to women because of poor diets. I've actually seen some guys on Twitter talk about that.

[@tisvana18]

@@Aloewaves Ah yes, I deliberately bleed half to death once or twice a year (if I mess up on BC) because I am trying to trick my husband into buying me chocolate. The shivering and inability to breathe just adds another layer to the power high.

[@gziaki6520]

I also read that characters are "unrealistic". But when I watched it I felt like they were perfectly realistic. Mom being strict and hating any band her teenage daughter likes, but still showing love and care for her. Dad being awkward and silent, but supporting his girl. Aunties commenting on weight and just suddenly appearing out of nowhere. Putting grades and family above anything else. Girl drawing fanarts and everthing. PS Do anyone's parents knock on the room door? Like really? I wasn't allowed to instal a lock, even when I was already an adult...

[@elainestegeman7204]

The auntie I think, was hypocritical. She wasn’t exactly designed as skinny herself.

[@OMGSweetCakes]

@@elainestegeman7204 which makes it realistic because this actually happens (hypocritical aunties)

[@ellistherulerofrats]

My dad just installed a lock for me, I never even asked for one. Idk I’m blessed with having really chill and supportive parents 👍 (extra note: my family is mixed of white and indigenous)

[@Paw_Lover86]

My mom allways did. My door also had a key to lock from both sides. I barely used mine tho. I didn't need it.

[@Ax-xo4ux]

My mom has always knocked (my estranged father never did) and I’ve always had a lock- though it was a push lock that you can open with an uncurled paper clip

[@marvech9830]

I love the "how do I explain this (periods, sex, homosexuality, etc...) to my kids?" argument; as if we should organise society according to what you can/can't explain to your kids.

[@johannesstephanusroos4969]

Well, the answer is that it's your job to do it anyway, you're the freaking parents here

[@troodon1096]

They also miss that "PG" literally means "parental guidance suggested."

[@justjess6636]

@@troodon1096 For real! Parents are so weird sometimes. They go up to school, demanding stuff like "why are you teaching my kid THIS!?" Well, it's because some parents will just lie to their kids about their bodies, or parents think that they don't need to be teaching their kids X lesson. Why do you think it keeps becoming the "school's" problem? If you aren't going to teach them, SOMEBODY will and you just better home they teach them correctly (because as it stands, those same parents will say, yes, it's totally okay to lie to children if that means they have no idea how their body works!) Parents want total control sometimes and I wish they would realize they're bullies.

[@marvech9830]

@@johannesstephanusroos4969 I often say, any moron can have a kid. But raising one correctly is not something anyone can do

[@SR.PlayAlot64]

@@troodon1096 Well that's because ratings are stupid and pointless. Heck, it seems that the people who would use them don't actually use them

[@Gyrono]

As a Canadian child who was the same-ish age as Mei when this was set, I can very much say that I had no real understanding of what 9/11 was at the time or how it impacted my life until years later when I was like 15 or 16. So I can see how that event would have little to no effect on Mei or her life that in anyway needed to be depicted. Edit: Also I could kinda relate to the Chinese Mom stuff, not by personal experience as a very Caucasian man, but through my cousins and their interaction with their mother that I would occasionally see and/or hear about.

[@miniciominiciominicio]

Yeah, exactly. If the characters had gotten on a flight, taking off shoes/coats and only being able to bring liquid that could fit in a litre ziplock would have been important to show. But as a teenager in Canada post 9-11 it was not something I was thinking about in 2002. Unless I had to get on an airplane.

[@TheBiggestMoronYouKnow]

Born in 95 did not give a flying shit, i was litterally a little kid 😂

[@soragranda]

From that similar age, I did care, my father was working closer the place so I was fucking scared but he was fine, and after that he move to new jersey, also cause NY was getting like a shit show and he thought it will get worse (it does XD).

[@aquariussolaris2492]

As american, i was like in the first grafe when 9/11 happened and didnt realize it was a thing until middle school

[@akorn9943]

Oh, I think the whole point of bringing up 9/11 is because of the verrrryyyy anti-immigrant culture that came as a reaction to it, I don’t think they were saying that it was weird that children didn’t care about global events lol, just that they believe it’s a weird time to set a feel-good childrens movie starring an Asian character. Now Personally, I don’t think it really matters, but I just thought I’d point that out since you said you were talking about your reaction as a Caucasian boy

[@annalisa9755]

The fact that people write off the scene where the mom shows up at the school hiding behind a tree as “unrealistic” and “over the top” makes me laugh so much because that literally happened to the director (iirc, it might have been the producer? One of the people in charge of the movie anyway). The fact that it was so over the top and unbelievable when it happened to them is the reason it stuck with them so much that it made it into the movie

[@nahte123456]

This movie is set in 2002 ,not even a year after 9/11. That's the only reason that scene came off as unrealistic to me, people were very jumpy about suspicious looking people at that time. I don't know if the real life one just happened earlier then 02 or what but it felt way to soft on her with that reference in mind.

[@justjess6636]

@@nahte123456 The movie takes place in Canada, not America. I think this is also the disconnect because Americans fear stuff they legitimately don't understand. I don't think Canadians got the same... Message Americans got that year.

[@nahte123456]

@@justjess6636 You realize there were security changes in Canada as well correct? Putting aside that "fear of the unknown' was not the largest issue, I lived in New England, I understand what it changed thank you.

[@bluester7177]

@@nahte123456 but the movie setting is Canada, it may be hard to imagine but 9/11 didn't affect people of other nationalities that much, yes, there were political , security changes (mostly in the US) but it probably didn't affect the everyday lives of most people who are not american, I know in my case it was literally old news by october of the same year, nobody cared because it didn't affect the place I am in at all. Also, you live in New England the area close to the place it was affected so yeah, to you it fucking changed, a person who lives more far away like probably didn't have to deal with any changes, you're experience is not universal and also this is a kids movie, where people turn into a red panda, it's not supposed to be realistic.

[@nahte123456]

@@bluester7177 First as I already said, Toronto isn't small, it has had threats as well. But also I said, multiple times, that's just me feelings on a mostly good movie. You are not required to agree with me any more than I am to you. Even then I never said it was badly written just that I think it wasn't something I can personally like. The only thing I'd say isn't good writing is I think they tried to do to much with the panda to quickly but since that's the movies gimmick I'm still not that critical of that.

[@juliana__9267]

The negative people can't differentiate between "I - personally - didn't like it" and "it's bad". The animation is good, the characters are fleshed out, the cringe parts are done *intentionally* to fit the story, the music is good, the references are spot on, and all the parts of a narration (introduction, conflict, climax, ...) are done well. I won't say it's perfect and I'm sure people can criticize it, however, to just say it's *a BAD* movie? Nah... You can say it doesn't fit your taste, or that it could improve, but no logical critic would call that straight-up *bad.*

[@aval00]

I didn't expect to relate to this movie as a Mexican-American, but I was shocked at how much of my own childhood I saw in this movie. Especially Mei's struggle with balancing the love she had for her friends with her family responsibilities. When she lies and says that her parents are the reason she can control her panda when it was really her friends hit close to home for me. There's a lot of guilt associated with prioritizing friendships over family, and I love the way the movie showed that!

[@serelylyhikari9771]

Glad to know I wasn’t the only one. I am also Mexican-American myself and there were many parts within this movie that had me close to tears or had me crying. There were just so many things that hit close to home.

[@Chaos_Incarnat.e]

Cuban-American here... this movie hurt.

[@youraveragemexorican]

This ^^

[@GoreHusbando]

^^^ Absolutely this. It hit hard

[@OscarGomez-hg8cb]

I have very few friends from the US, but as a Mexican, the Asian kids really seem to have the most similar family experiences. When I sister lived in the US, some of her closest friends where Indian or Chinese, exactly because they could relate so much to each other about their families *and* had similar values, both the ones aligned with their families and the ones developed in reaction to them. It’s eerie and heartwarming at the same time

[@abbyh8403]

My sons have been calling pads “vagina bandaids” since they were toddlers. We normalized periods early on.

[@Silver_Red4248]

thats pretty funny

[@rev.rachel]

hahahaha that's hilarious

[@christopherstein2024]

Why the fuck did you teach your toddlers about periods??? That just seems obsessive. Like I think it's important to teach children about many things at some point (like politics and ethics) but I'm not going to teach any of that to my kids before they are 5...

[@ilyysm]

@@christopherstein2024 hi

[@Silver_Red4248]

@@christopherstein2024 what do periods have to do with politics??

[@markvicferrer]

The multiculturalism critique annoyed the heck out of me. Growing up in Toronto, me & both my siblings circle of friends were from all different races. That part about the smartphone is so true. 😂 And for non Torontonians, yes, a giant red panda did attack the Skydome in the summer of 2002. Absolutely true.

[@HAYAOLEONE]

Beijing needs 10 mosques and 50K congolese people to become a really enriched vibrant city.

[@user-jn4oe9sb5z]

Even in America while my fam did experience racism and islamophobia I was friends everyone and anyone. And I went to a rural and conservative school my whole life. That dude just exposed himself as a racist and expected everyone to be like "omg same". Plus a white Canadian, Chinese Canadian, Indian Canadian, and Korean Canadian being homies? Tell me you only know white people without telling me you know white people, the 3 second gen immigrants + white girl is such a common friend group

[@HAYAOLEONE]

@@user-jn4oe9sb5z 'islamophobia' means nothing

[@user-jn4oe9sb5z]

@@HAYAOLEONE no bitches?

[@nessyness5447]

I live in madrid, spain. When i was in middle and high school, my group of friends had me ( white spanish girl), another white spanish boy, two boys from ecuador, one from peru, a chinese girl and a filipino boy( who was the chinese girl's boyfriend), and also a girl from morocco. ( Almost all the classoom was close since we were only 17 students in it anyway). And now as an as an adult my closest female friends are one indian, one muslim from morocco, one black dominican, and another white. So like, a multicultural group of friends sounds like the norm for me, i don't see what is unrealistic or strange about it.

[@darknessfall9890]

I am an adult who watched this with my parents when we where bored one night and saw it on Disney+. I was heartbroken by their reaction and reminded me how I felt as a child. They just hated on the movie the whole time and complained about the child. Meanwhile I would have loved this type of movie as a kid.

[@calamitysangfroid2407]

in a way, this movie is what Brave should have been. an actual, unabashed focus on mother-daughter relationships, not in a vague "rebellious teen needs to understand protective parent and vice versa" story that could take place between any parent/mentor and child. Brave got hit with so much executive meddling, i'm glad Turning Red escaped that.

[@mibbles2371]

Have you watched "Brave was a disappointment"? kzbin.info/www/bejne/rYPNeX9uoMeekM0 It covers the points you made in lots of detail and is amazing

[@hihi615]

I agree and disagree. Brave and Turning Red show 2 different types of relationships/scenarios (despite them being similar), to kind of show a similar message, although Turning Red's message was clearly more different than Brave's.

[@guster-animations]

i completely agree! that was what i was hoping for and expecting before i watched turning red

[@ningmushii]

I disagree with Brave because although it’s similar to Turning Red with the mother/daughter relationship they had two different points (which another person in the replies mentioned.) In Brave, Merida needed to see that her mom was controlling because she really cared for her. Merida wasn’t a brat but she wasn’t understanding of her mother until she turned into a bear. When the mom turned into the bear, she slowly realized how she treated the daughter before was harming their relationship, so she changed. We couldn’t see that too vividly because she was a bear and couldn’t speak. In Turning Red, Mei Mei’s mom was controlling but Mei Mei doesn’t realize how bad it was until her mother pulled that stunt with her drawings, and until after she FEELS that she has more freedom as a red panda. So in the end, we got to see why the mom acted the way she did to Mei Mei, but also that she didn’t mean to. In both stories, Merida and Mei Mei both realized why their mother’s did what they did, but also continued to live their lives with the newfound understanding between each other. The difference between the two is that Merida was in fact too hard on her mom (arguably rightfully so) and Mei Mei, got more freedom. Edit: However I agree with your initial point and understand what you’re saying.

[@jessicaHcat]

Brave tried 😂 It wasn't the best movie but I actually still like it a lot. It came out when I was in high school while I was arguing with my mom on a daily basis. Brave helped me realize I need to learn to understand the way my mom sees and thinks. Now my mom is like my big sister, we are very close. I'm really glad Turning Red has a much better mother-daughter development, and I really hope it helps kids in this new generation to bond with their parents.

[@dantedare2797]

I started my period at 9, and because there was this weird taboo about teaching it I thought I was dying. It is terrifying and traumatising to be a child out in public suddenly bleeding profusely with no obvious cause. I would 100% put the protection and comfort of other kids in my position now over whiny parents too afraid to do their job.

[@cherilynsarts8845]

Mine started at 9 too but I was already aware because my mom let's me see her period blood (it was disgusting 😭)

[@akinmytua4680]

The best book that had this when I was young was "the year without a summer". (Set during the titular event, the main character's mom died so she raises her siblings. She decides to walk them back to Connecticut from upstate new York because her father is a drunkard working on the Erie canal. Partway through the journey she starts bleeding and, thinking she is dying, she turns around to save her siblings and it's super heartbreaking. Then it turns out she's not dying thankfully but yeah. If no one talks about it, you are starving, and your mom died of illness, why wouldn't you think Random blood was a sign of death?)

[@TheAzureSystem]

Same. I freaked out but my mom was in the room with me. She also taught me what it was earlier so i knew what it was unlike like everyone else my age then.

[@rev.rachel]

@@cherilynsarts8845 Oh geez. That's maybe not the best way to teach your kids about periods lol. But yeah @Dante Dare, I have heard so many stories of people who thought they were dying when they got their first period because what else would you think if you were suddenly bleeding and no one had told you it was normal?

[@Sonicsis]

“Trying to hide it[period] by using wads of toilet paper” My mom did the exact same thing and she told me about it because she didn’t want me to go through it like she did. One important story that Turning Red tells is that while you expect puberty to happen you don’t know when or how it’ll happen. Mei’s mom thought she would be able to find out before it happened but failed. When I got my first period my mom wasn’t home, but because she taught me and told me what to do early on, I was able to sit tight and wait till she came back to comfort me.

[@feiradragon7915]

My parents taught me about periods before mine came too. Which is probably the main reason I was calm about mine and didn't panic thinking my privates were somehow injured, as I would've assumed blood = wound.

[@SuperrNinja16]

Same here. When I got my period I was actually away from home during Winter Break. My mom was actually bummed because she wasn’t there to support me.

[@adamuffoletto7869]

I got really lucky in that my mom is a medical professional who isn't grossed out by anything, and I didn't get my period until sixteen. (family trend) So I didn't freak out or have anyone else freak out about it. I was very UNLUCKY in that we were on vacation at the time and all my mom had were her tampons. That was not pleasant.

[@zorosboobies5346]

I actually did the same thing for like two whole years. Just used toilet paper. No joke. I told nobody.

[@Olivia_Dreamrider]

I got mine really early at eleven with no prier knowledge of what was happening. I just did the rolled toilet paper trick for FOUR DAYS while the bleeding happened. My mom didnt find out until she was doing laundry and was like, "is there something you would like to talk about?" Turns out she was going to give me the talk the next week, lol.

[@chaoticjunji]

The ending of the movie with the mom as a teenager crying and saying she'll never be good enough for HER OWN mom hit me incredibly hard. This movie was one of the few Disney movies I could fully relate to.

[@braelinholden7526]

I once was kicked out of a Sims group for discussing the production of a period mod for child/teen stage sims. They said even if the game is rated T for teen, that kids shouldn't hear about the menstrual cycle. So to hear that again in a Disney movie comment makes me want cry at our future of a society.

[@LadyDragonbane]

A game where extreme violence and wicked whims mods exist they couldn't deal with menstruation?

[@frauleinfunf]

@@LadyDragonbane Also Wicked Whims has had a menstruation feature forever

[@LadyDragonbane]

@@frauleinfunf Oh yeah, I'd forgotten about that

[@HollyBenedict]

You will be pleased to know about one of the most massive Sims mods in existence, Wicked Whims. Probably one of the largest community contributed sims mod, all aimed to make the Sims more 18+ ... Also to say that the game is rated Teen and that kids shouldn't hear about the menstrual cycle when Teen is exactly the group that needs to hear about it because they are experiencing it .....

[@Karin-fj3eu]

@@frauleinfunf pretty sure that's the main reason wonderful whims got made as well, no? People who wanted more realism but without the 18+ graphic sexual positions and whatnot

[@frog_pogs]

if i remember correctly, Domee Shi has an interview where she says that the part about Mei's mom trespassing on school was actually based on real events in her life... so yes, a parent would actually do that

[@bioticjedi3864]

I knew a kid whose mom chaperoned him DURING class. It was bad the school had to tell her to stop doing it, she did it for like two weeks, following him around like a hawk

[@themochi8329]

I’m happy my mom called me out of school the day it happened 💀 I stayed in bed all day while she went out to buy me pads, snacks, and heating pads 💗💗

[@Quandry1]

These behaviors are far more common. Even in Western Cultures than most people want to believe. many just get into these ignorant mindsets about things, Including what parenting actually is or should be like. Then they make knee jerk statements about how this or thta always happens or never happens. But often the same person if they really thought about it. Talked to some adults of their past or to some of those friends from their time periods. There was at least one parent that did something at least vaguely similar.

[@serahmatsu6906]

Yeah! In fact, she said a lot of Turning Red is based on real experiences and the feelings were actually a mix of a lot of the team who were mostly asian women, kids of immigrants who try to balance their parents expectations (most of them to make them feel they didn’t abandon their home for nothing) and the fact that they are teens in a country with other culture

[@nahte123456]

I don't know what or how it happened to Domee Shi to compare. But in the movie this is right after 9/11 and she assaulted the school guard. I don't know if the real event was earlier or the hit was made up or if it just happened like that, but that was the one part of the mom's behavior that felt hard to believe because of that. People were taking shady people in public places rather seriously at the time.

[@turtle4llama]

"It's unrealistic for her mom to behave that way!" Me, with a Romany mother: *stares into the camera*

[@FunFilmFare]

Basically anyone who's mother isn't American can relate😆

[@MangoPop]

Try a black old school mom lol.

[@atikahrostam5778]

Ahahaha

[@SEReina-gk1kx]

Same!! But with a Latinas mom. My mom had a habit of yelling out the car “make us proud, mija!” whenever she dropped me off. Good intentions but oh god embarrassing

[@Solacedew]

Me with a brazilian mom:

[@jslyster]

As a middle-aged white guy, I have to say I loved this movie. It's wonderful to be shown through your video the layers I missed by not being (a) female and (b) Chinese-Canadian.

[@bittsystar276]

My family is super white, and throughout the whole film, my mom was saying “this is totally something my mom would’ve done.” And then i found out that people online were calling this mom character super-exaggerated? I mean, of course there’s some exaggeration, animation is built on exaggeration. But maybe it’s not as much of an exclusive experience as some people think?

[@MegaChickenfish]

I had no idea how repressed we were as a society until people brought in their stories regarding this movie. As a boy I never really thought about it but suddenly bleeding profusely as a young teenager with all the adults in their life refusing to explain what that means because it's "not appropriate", apparently we've just collectively assumed making these girls panic and try to mop up this mess on their own is better because it's a *really* common story. We focus so much on "the consequences of telling these things to our CHILDREN!" we completely ignore the consequences of NOT telling these things to our children.

[@untroubledwaters2137]

We always protect males/boys at the cost of female/girls. The way of patriarchy.

[@_.soymilk]

Yeah and the reality is that puberty starts earlier nowadays and with the internet, children can also come across information online on which may not leave an accurate or good impression. Explaining it properly is so important but so many parents just don’t. The way to help an issue is by talking about it not avoiding it lol

[@dragongamer4753]

@@untroubledwaters2137 so, can you explain why male rape and domestic abuse is consistently treated as a joke in media with that framework. Or why women are not included in the draft, or why custody goes to the female parent most of the time.

[@cythonyheart3579]

@@dragongamer4753 hi, um. There's actually a really good couple of videos by @ThePopcultureDetective that can help explain this. I'd suggest Male Sexual Assault Played For Gags part 1 and 2

[@misssteak1290]

we've had a lot of animated kids movies where they touch upon adult topics like murder and violence all throughout history, but talking about periods are "just too inappropriate! *clutches pearls* "

[@AccentedCinema]

Thank you for making this video! So much details in there that I can only relate to the emotion but not the experience. I really hope we get more movies like this that let people see life from perspectives less explored in cinema. Also, Cantonese here. Can't say I have ever heard of Red Peony used as slang for period. Peony is not native to Guangdong, and it's usually associated with central and northern China.

[@vanessameow1902]

Ayyy you're here😸👋

[@hawktalon7890]

Also Cantonese! While I've never heard it used in Guangdong, my family was originally from the North. So I can back that up.

[@Yuunarichu]

Ayee Accented Cinema!!

[@shrutiiyer3987]

Nice essay Yang

[@12Tecpatl]

I love your channel, i hope you and Xiran collaborate someday!

[@davidrothfels9295]

I just watched this with my mom, and a really sweet, surprising and sad moment was when my mom said "I wish I could have watched this with my mom"

[@Princess_Weekes]

Turning Red made me cry in so many ways and knowing that Brown kids are gonna have a film where the mom says "be yourself, I will always be here" is gonna change their lives.

[@annoyingisheep574]

😂🤣

[@DecemberDaydreams]

i wish i had this movie when i was a teen lol

[@FunFilmFare]

Does "Soul" count?

[@coppermoth6069]

I didn’t know that Asian people were considered brown

[@snakeslife-uroborodjinn790]

@@coppermoth6069 The Chinese are not. They are absolutely not in any capacity. The only Asians to be considered "brown" skinned are in the Indosphere in South Asia

[@derrickchow9415]

As a Torontonian whose parents are Chinese immigrants, this movie meant so much to me. It did such a good job of portraying the diaspora experience as a young person.

[@peterwang5660]

So basically, wanting to do all the cool western things while our heritage meant nothing but inferior backwards family dynamics? this movie has great feminist value, but it doesn’t seem to show Chinese culture as anything but antiquated or simply fucked up

[@reallymjc]

@@peterwang5660 interesting interpratation

[@derrickchow9415]

@@peterwang5660 Throughout the film, Mei, is repeatedly shown joyfully interacting with her Chinese culture: she loves helping out at her family's temple, she adores watching historical Cantonese soap operas with her mother, she has a clear love for Chinese food. Also, the mere fact that she chooses to 'keep' the panda spirit within her rather than caging it within an object (despite her family's initial objections) is essentially Mei unambiguously embracing her unique ancestral heritage. Also, family dynamics are the very foundation to a person's well being and sense of self. So I don't see what is the problem with family dynamics being at the core of any story, regardless of the nationality?

[@ezool18]

16:13 it's funny you say this bc Domee Shi stated in some interview that the "mother hiding behind a tree while wearing sunglasses" was something that came straight out of her own middle school memory. apparently it was like the first day of school for Domee, and while she was in class making some potential new friends, one of them said "who's that woman in the yard out there" and Domee turned to look and it was her mom.

[@jmdoe5822]

That phrase "cannot relate" is the crux with this movie. It's being used as an excuse to dismiss the film, by non Canadians, non Chinese, people who have never been a teenage girl etc. I myself am all those things, but I'm still interested in seeing the stories I can't directly connect with because I realise there are more histories and experiences out there in the world that deserve a voice. Turning Red will be a cult classic for young women for years to come.

[@cryforhelp7270]

I needed to hear that. I was trying to avoid certain tropes with black characters I was making because I was afraid of the way it looked, even though I'm black myself. Racist people will be racist either way, they'll see what they wanna see anyway- I should be able to create the story I want without worrying. Because I see myself and my characters as people.

[@NafNav32]

Let your characters be who they are, however they are. ❤️

[@yasminali3388]

I have the same problem took me awhile to come to this conclusion. So good on you

[@bumblequeen3287]

Exactly! Racists should never have influence over someone's creativity.

[@someguy6966]

Same with me! Expect I’m Native American

[@xmoonilyx2977]

same, I'm writing a story where the main characters happen to have lighter skin tones and the villains with darker ones (the mcs have fur in more light colours and I don't have many dark concept ideas and the villains have darker skin since I wanted them to be prettier) and I'm brown myself so would that be considered racist? If anything I'm a little too biased on the villain character designs... I have some examples on my channel if anyone wants to know

[@lauraboyd8666]

In case no one remembers (and I can't blame you), the Lorax came out in 2012 where the movie added a 12 year old boy named Ted Wiggins who had an obsession with a much older girl named Audrey. Watching it as a kid I thought it was creepy because I thought Audrey was a young adult, but in hindsight she's probably just a very tall 16 year old. But I don't remember that movie getting any flack for the crush even though it lasts throughout the entire movie and clearly added to pad out the run time.

[@billcipher8645]

Honestly, in the Lorax it's so much worse not only because it's a possible weird age difference but also the main character didn't plant a tree because he actually wanted to change the world because of the implications of all of nature going extinct but because he wanted to impress a girl.. it's so trope-y, cliché and unsatisfying

[@MerelvandenHurk]

Of course there was no backlash, because why would society oppress male sexuality etc. when you can oppress female sexuality instead? (insert sarcastic eye-roll). I haven't watched The Lorax by the way. So thank you for bringing that up and exposing some more of society's hypocrisy (which is thankfully on the mend).

[@nidohime6233]

Most people don't see a young boy getting a crush with an older girl as creepy because of double standards, there usually see as "nice taste, dude" rather than the actual implications behind it. Even South Park lampshaded that in the most extreme version with Kyle's brother dating with his teacher, as you can guess is quite gross.

[@slurples149]

Lorax is indeed my least favorite movie

[@candycane1744]

Bc it's kinda "good" that boys get it from older ladies but noooo don't let it happen to girls

[@purplezombie4940]

The B+ under the bed thing hit me WAYYYY too hard. For context: we are both adults, 18 (19 in June) and 21, and we have a good relationship overall. We don't fight or bicker and we have common interests. Also my brother has A.D.D and wasn't diagnosed with it until he was like 16. Back to the story. I've been reflecting on my life, confronting my trauma, and what-not. As a child I grew up in an environment where my brother mom and dad would fight about my brother's grades. He'd be pushed for it and it made me so anxious about my grades that when I was 11 and my mom told me "Hey, you usually have an A in this class and now it's almost a C. Make sure you're doing what your supposed to" I. Balled. My. Eyes. Out. I was terrified of being punished for my grades and it also didn't help that everyone around me hammered into me that if I didn't get good grades, and go to collage, I have no future. Anytime my brother and parents faught about his low grades, I would act angry and cold twords him. Because in my perspective, I wanted him to do good to relieve that pressure off of me so I don't have to worry if I slip up or not. Last year, I told my brother I had been feeling a lot guilt over acting that way. I explained my perspective and why I was cold to him and I told him I was sorry for treating him like that. My brother's eyes were wide opened. He confessed that he never thought that I could hear the arguments, and to him he wished I wouldn't "make him look bad" when I got all As and he said "I'm sorry for my part in your trauma" and I cried. Let's just say, my mom is a sick twisted maship of Abuela from Encanto and Mother Gothel from Tangled, so her apologies sounded more like "I'm sorry, but-" so hearing someone actually apologies to me, wholeheartedly, no bs, no excuses was so reliving to me.

[@random_dragon]

That's an amazing story, and it's wonderful that you were able to open up to your brother, and talk to him, about that

[@purplezombie4940]

@@random_dragon thanks. It's hard. Especially when it feels like if I try to talk about it with my mom she'll get super defensive and act like I'm blaming her when I'm just saying "hey this hurt me"

[@AngDevigne]

💛💛 This story is so wholesome. Good on you and your brother for making the decision to heal each other. Also also... I'm sorry you both had to go through this in the first place. I don't think people realize how much anxiety and resentment can build up when one child is "the good one" and another is looked down on for not being the same. I'm so happy you two made up.

[@purplezombie4940]

@@AngDevigne sometimes it feels like it's us vs our mom

[@marcello7781]

Amazing story. I'm sorry for what you've been through. I wish more parents could value the effort their kids make to learn and how they learn.

[@snail4177]

im not chinese, but im navajo and mei's mom was relatable af, i was surprised when people gave the " no parent acts like this" criticisms also who else cried with the dad speech and mei's mom and grandma reconciling 🙋

[@Baldwin-iv445]

I did. Also, I guarantee that the people saying "no parent acts like this" all grew up in the part of the suburbs where parents spoiled their children rotten.

[@teathesilkwing7616]

@@Baldwin-iv445or they are the parents that acted like this and are refusing to believe they are bad

[@Baldwin-iv445]

@@teathesilkwing7616 That is true.

[@JurassicLion2049]

Oml Xiran THANK YOU for that last point about “self stereotyping”. Im so sick of us BIPOC being told to avoid behaviors or interests because “its a stereotype” or portraying characters like that.

[@bioticjedi3864]

It's such a shame, my own grandma won't do, say, or eat certain things because it's a stereotype, she didn't eat fried chicken for years because she didn't want to get racist comments

[@Patrick3183]

Nobody refers to themself as bipoc

[@ma.2089]

I’ve seen this so often lately as well. I hate how ppl outside of a culture and not of a race complains about ppl of said culture and race depicting it in media and getting told they’re stereotyping or being racist by portraying real life. Just like how said cultures didn’t have a voice, by doing this they’re once again trying to silence them by policing how they must portray their own lives

[@untroubledwaters2137]

@@Patrick3183 Looks like someone just did, you are proven wrong.

[@cokesodaa]

@@bioticjedi3864 thats so sad wtf

[@MateoJFR]

19:52 I found it funny that she was blaming the friends. more specifically, I think the mom was blaming the white girl, Mir. They set it up by having Mei shove her friends out the window and say, "sorry mir, my mom already doesn't like you." then later the mom says to the husband that she doesn't trust her friends, especially that Mir girl." finally a third time when she walks up to the girls after the party and is talking to the "girls" but is actually pointing at Mir alone and looking directly into her eyes alone when accusing "them" of corrupting her baby girl Mei. I'm sorry yt ppl, but our immigrant parents do not like our yt friends. My mom (Mexican) did not like my white friends and often shared that she was worried they would be a bad influence on me. They should've been more worried about my sister than me or any of the yt kids we brought. I noticed a lot of subtle cultural differences. For example; when the girls are playing doge-ball, they're lamenting about how they were told by their parents that they couldn't go to the concert. But as a POC I noticed the way the parents broke the news to them separately. The POC girls were told the music was stripper music and the other girl could go when she was 30. But the white girl could go if she could come up with the money herself. These moments felt like little nods to how our parents were like while we were growing up that I think the white audience may have missed/ went over their heads. I loved this movie a lot, I'm glad they wrote it the way they did.

[@ArekusaSan]

Can confirm, I’m white and this went completely over mine! To be fair, I’ve heard similar comments from white parents of my white friends (I grew up as a pastor’s kid in a Protestant church, I’ve heard… quite a lot of things), but I find that detail regarding the girls’ parents’ attitudes towards the concert very interesting. I gained a new perspective today. Thanks for pointing that out!

[@MateoJFR]

@@ArekusaSan thanks! It was something my poc friends noticed and saw on TikTok that no one really noticed. Made me laugh because it’s the details that jump out to folks who lived it, but almost seems unimpressive to the rest of us.

[@taybaybay5553]

Parents were racist got it 👍

[@shockofthenew]

I didn't know this was specifically a thing, but as a white person who grew up in an area with a large Asian population, my Asian friends' parents never approved of me! This is actually some kind of useful context, since I was a well-behaved kid and felt like "what did I do wrong?" Thinking about it now I can understand it's a complex issue if you (maybe subconsciously) see 'the white friend' as representing a majority culture which you feel is influencing your child negatively, or at least causing distance between you.

[@TMNTfever]

My parents are heavily racist. We are Filipino, and they essentially hate everyone except other Filipinos and white people. They told me never to befriend or date black people. Well, my brother's BFF is black, and I had a black girlfriend. Our parents constantly call black people the Filipino version of the N-word (egot). Then in college, I hung out with a lot of Chinese and Filipino people. Filipino because I joined their choir, and Chinese because I joined the lion dance team. And my parents would tell me to not trust my Chinese friends. Some may not relate to having their friends blamed by their parents for their behavior, but I lived that.

[@justinchandler6045]

The same reviewer who said it didn’t reference 9/11 also was confused about the anime references since anime “wasn’t as popular in the West until 2005.” …even though the movie is set four years after Toonami debuted and the same year adult swim’s first anime block took off.

[@mastermarkus5307]

I remember trying to watch his videos some years back, but seriously he's a moron. He's also weirdly over-sensitive about a lot of things. Like... I'm not making fun of him for getting triggered by anything he just was constantly shocked and appalled by a cartoon for kids being kind of gross or having something "adult" in it even though it would HAPPEN ALL THE TIME IN CARTOONS THAT HE LOOKED AT.

[@psychotophatcat]

I was watching old anime like Speed Racer and Sailor Moon in middle school in 1999-2001. I know this because I have the drawings in my old journals. That guy is a moron.

[@michirukaioh4014]

I gvrew up watching anime, in the 90ies, in SouthAmerica. That guy must have been hiding under a rock all along

[@politereminder6284]

I'd like to watch that review. 🤔. Surely 9/11 didn't affect teen life _that_ much in every country everywhere. 😳

[@anni1348]

Also Ghibli exists since way longer than the 2000s. Ghibli was already a massively popular animation studio in the west. Like "Spirited Away" came out in 2001! Animes were already a thing in the 2000s.

[@aliciabergman1252]

I really agree that periods need to be seen as a children’s issue and not like the ultimate sign of becoming more adult. When I got mine att eleven I was overwelved and upset, feeling like adulthood was forcing itself into my happy childhood that now seemed to be ending. Whenever my mom called me a woman and not a girl I got very uncomfortable and angirly corrected her. I was more uncomfortable with the cognitive dissonance more than the periods themselves.

[@katphish30]

I'm a middle aged white lady, and "Did the red peony bloom?" made me laugh my ass off. I don't understand even a little bit why anyone would be bothered by it.

[@sachsoup]

i also found it funny because of how poetic-sounding it was

[@ejsese]

The shock of white audiences not understanding parent child relationships hit me when I watched Everything Everywhere All At Once when the entire audience gasped in shock when mom told daughter she was gaining weight lmao

[@jessicawilson1751]

A lot of the people losing their shit about the movie are conservatives (and especially Christian) who love to pearl clutch over stuff like Turning Red. Ben Shapiro and Matt Walsh had segments where they malded over the movie...

[@ImaNerdANDaGeek]

I am white, and I had thought that was just something family did, like the more familiar you are with someone the less of a filter and might say things that sounds rude coming from an outsider. My family didn't comment on my weight, but would make other comments. Also grandma's never think you eat enough.

[@hihi615]

@@ImaNerdANDaGeek Grandmas always think their grandkids are too skinny lmao

[@Strampunch]

It must be a white North American thing because at least in my Spanish family my mom and all other female relatives loved to comment on my and my brother's weight. Hell, we're over 30 and we still get the odd "wow you got chubby" or "oh wow I can see your bones, have you been sick?!" every Christmas break. I thought this was something all mothers/families do, but maybe not as directly and bluntly as other cultures?

[@gabriela2377]

Not Chinese here but the difference in perspective for white audiences really hit me when encanto came out and white people kept wanting to talk about how they didn't like the ending bc the grandma "didn't apologize" and I just stood there baffled like ..... ??????

[@MatisaSuong]

There was a social media trend where women explain how things work down there to *ADULT* men, and their reactions were mind-blowing. And sadly it's not even the fault of the men, but societies need to taboo and sanitize the female experience. Someone once explained that we don't give kids enough credit to understand "mature" concepts.

[@bioticjedi3864]

God I'm so lucky that my school made both boys and girls watch education videos about boys and girls going through puberty so they are least knew the bare basics

[@judeconnor-macintyre9874]

The people who criticize Turning Red are kind of dumb. Like all the criticisms are: -Not enough 9\11 (in Canada) -Not enough racism. -There is a period metaphor. -A child in a child movie rebelling against their parents (oh, the humanity) -The kids do embarrassing things.

[@ChiseledDiamond]

"Its not realistic, theres not enough racism in it" BRUH. SHE TURNS INTO A FUCKING PANDA.

[@troodon1096]

This is the kind of attitude people develop when the demand for racism exceeds the supply. The same people who complain the characters weren't racist enough would have complained profusely if the characters actually were racist. There's no winning with those kind of people, which is why we should refuse to play their game.

[@user-jn4oe9sb5z]

Was talking about this with my friends like what was she supposed to pull someone's hijab off? Have Mei yell "Go back to your country"??? Why are people craving to see that do they miss it or something💀💀💀

[@FunFilmFare]

@@user-jn4oe9sb5z Tyler calling Meilin's temple "creepy" is the closest they ever get to that

[@eshaleemadgavkar]

@@FunFilmFare I just want to ask, why is Tyler calling Mei's family temple "creepy" racist? I just want more understanding.

[@FunFilmFare]

​@@eshaleemadgavkar By calling her temple "creepy", Tyler was basically suggesting her entire culture, religion, and beliefs were all "creepy" and didn't belong in their community. That's how it's racist (or xenophobic) if you want my take on it.

[@tripsplat]

There were quite a few moments in the movie that felt really inconsistent with the lore, but as someone with a Catholic Mexican immigrant mother who was very similar to Mei's in terms of prudence and personal denial, it made a lot of sense to me that there would be some strict rules around the panda lore within the family that were straight up lies. Ming not suspecting that Mei's panda had emerged, the family's red panda spirits being released when the jewelry holding them was broken, and the red moon ritual working on everyone on the same night despite the earlier warning that it could only work *once* on the *first* red moon after the panda-ing - all seemed like sloppy plot negligence until I started thinking about my own mom. Like how she would deny/ refuse to consider parts of my own growing up that she thought were coming too soon, or her tendency to overexaggerate the consequences of things she didn't want me doing (i.e. "shaving your legs will make the hair grow back so thick that it will be painful to shave again") even if the things she was saying were directly contradictory to other things she said (i.e. "you have to shave your armpits because the hair is too noticeable, don't worry it's easy and painless"). There were also a few times when it became clear that she herself believed in those overstated consequences, because she'd be genuinely surprised when things were fine (i.e. my leg hair is normal). (disclaimer - I love my mother very much, and now as an adult I have a very healthy relationship with her. but also, WOOF. also she has thin invisible leg hair she's never had to shave, so like, she was genuinely ignorant there. every day that woman continues to surprise and astound me.) All of the weird contradictions around Mei's panda and how her family reacted to/ tried to control it, to me, read as very a accurate portrayal of how some mothers try to maintain authority and control through overstating consequences and hoping that the fear of those consequences will be enough to deter any "misbehaving," - and, how many times, those mothers may actually believe in the overstated consequences through their own fearmongered upbringing. If Meilin's family is *genuinely* afraid of what might happen to her if she keeps her panda, then it makes sense that they would do or say whatever it takes to get her to get rid of it, even if it means exaggerating the consequences. The ends justify the means, and all that. It's misguided, and a cycle that needs to be broken, but it clearly comes from a place of genuine love. Seeing Meilin never face any dire consequences from her panda, despite the many warnings about how "bad" it was for her, reminded me of the dissonance between my parents' fearful christian homophobia in my youth, and my real lived experience being queer and happy in my adulthood. Anyway, yeah, what had me going "really, Ming? You couldn't immediately tell what was going on???" on my first viewing, had me like "Ming is back at it again with those classic Motherhood Brain Worms. we love to see honest filmmaking" on my third. Also, Sun Yee's smug little grin the entire time she's flying with Meilin was so stinkin' cute - like FINALLY one of her descendants is *properly* honoring her by not rejecting her gift. We love to see it.

[@s.castellino4306]

Mexican mother here too, I felt the mother very realistic and relatable to mine. My mom saw her own mom and herself in Mei and her mother too

[@fwizzybee42]

That makes a lot of sense, thanks for that analysis. It wasn’t deeply bothering me but interesting to think about it that way.

[@MerelvandenHurk]

Thank you for sharing your story! You're right, people are inconsistent in real life. The trick as a writer is to walk the line between having characters be inconsistent because of sloppy writing, or having them be inconsistent because they reflect real life. As a viewer/reader/listener it isn't inherently clear which is the cause of inconsistency, as you demonstrated here as well. Also, I like what you said about that cycle coming from a place of genuine love. I firmly believe that a lot of hurt in the world is caused by people who believe they're acting out of love. Not just people who unintentionally harm others, like Ming, but even people who do intentionally harm others. Even terrorists usually act out of love for their country/people/faith and believe they're doing something good by harming others. Even parents who force their queer kid to undergo inhumane conversion therapy act out of love, believing (even though it's not true) that their child will be happier if they're rid of that "sickness". I don't think that actual evil is that common in the world. I think that most people who are called evil by people are more just terribly misguided and blinded to the consequences of their actions, but I think that deep down they're still convinced they're doing the right thing. They're most of the time not out to hurt someone just for the sake of hurting someone. Those people exist, but they're extremely rare. Most harm is caused by people with misguided ideas on what's best, with a warped sense of reality, twisted thoughts about which course of action would actually benefit the people around them.

[@GG553]

I remember seeing a review that was a Karen yelling about how she had to explain to her 13 year old boy what a period was I was in awe

[@latesummer]

like oh no he's gonna learn something

[@saurus8689]

How long was she gonna keep that normal fact from him?!.

[@GG553]

@@saurus8689 my guess is forever and she would just let him figure it out himself later, meaning he'd have zero sympathy for girls on their period or say some dumb bs like "Just hold it"

[@thejasminedragonmerchant6843]

Oh no, what a nightmare, that kid will get to learn about actual IRL female biology and maybe even feel sympathy for how this is something millions of girls and women experience every month and often feel discomfort from. The horror 🙄

[@VioletNKisHere]

Another one involved a 13 YEAR OLD GIRL! That’s something someone should know by 9 OR 10! AND SINCE GIRLS GET THEM THEY SHOULD KNOW AT THE TIME WHAT PERIODS ARE?

[@LiliLovesStuff]

With “Turning Red” it was literally the first coming of age movie I had watched that I related to. I loved my pretty boys in boy bands, drawing cringe art, and I mean you said you were sorting your fan fiction by “M” I was writing “M” rated fics at that age.

[@adamuffoletto7869]

The "unlucky four" thing shows up in Korean culture too. When I got my Korean phone number, the cashier asked me if I was okay having four in my phone number. I said yeah because I'm Wiccan and four is a more positive number in that faith. So my phone number has three fours; Koreans look at me weird when I give them my number, and I have a super easy to remember phone number

[@untroubledwaters2137]

Blessed be!

[@DrTssha]

That's so cool. 4 is my favourite number, and I was born on a 13th, so I just love all the "unlucky" numbers. I'm glad to know Wiccans love the number 4, because I love it too.

[@aishwarya8106]

@@untroubledwaters2137 is that a wiccan thing to say it is kinda similar to the phrases they say in handmaid's tale

[@thnecromaniac]

Korea, China, and Japan, they share alot of similarities due to being directly infuenced by the same language group.

[@makeilaha6155]

@@thnecromaniac Korean, Japanese, and Chinese (Mandarin, Cantonese, etc.) are all in different language families though they have influenced each other through trade, colonization, and general vicinity.

[@japperjay52]

One of the aspects that I haven’t seen talked about is how the priest specifies that it doesn’t matter what is sang so long as it has heart. Which means that 4Town care about the music they make. Just having that fills my inner 13 year old with validation.

[@KalinTheZola]

I never actually picked up on that, but that's cute!

[@NeoNovastar]

Oh that's so blessed.

[@Genevieve1023]

I just wish they'd had a better song to sing. They should have just hired Max Martin to write the boy band song.

[@MerelvandenHurk]

Yesssss!!! That's so wholesome!

[@MerelvandenHurk]

@@Genevieve1023 I didn't mind the song, actually. It sounded perfectly like something an early 2000s boy band would make.

[@Vinya]

Meilin's mom saying "it's too soon" felt more to me like she was caught off guard with the whole passage of time - in denial that Mei actually was 13. We also know that even though her mom thought it was about her period, her mom may have considered panda-ing being the issue but it would have been "too soon" - her mom was in college when she became a panda, which we know from the story her dad told her about him dating her and her mom not approving. Also I know they are Canadian, and maybe it wasn't a Thing in Toronto to have American Girl/Pleasant Co stuff (because, duh) - but I feel like a reference to Care and Keeping of You, the early aughts pre-teen hygiene bible, was a missed opportunity that was RIGHT THERE that some kid at the school would have had on them.