‘Turning Red’ — The Tribute to Feminism, Sisterhood and the transition from Girlhood to Womanhood
A modern-day coming-of-age story told through the eyes of Meilin Lee — an overachieving, eager-to-please but delightful thirteen-year-old Chinese Canadian who turns into a red panda after an embarrassing incident.
By the morning, Meilin wakes up as a red panda and discovers that the ability to turn into one of these creatures is a blessing passed down to the women of her lineage from the time of her ancestor Sun Yi.
Now she must control the overwhelming emotions that come with puberty in order to manage her new ability until the day of the red moon when the spirit of the red panda in her can be locked away forever.
From the opening scene of ‘Turning Red’, we are introduced to the character of Meilin “Mei Mei” Lee and her obvious devotion to her mother, her heritage, and her “besties” — Miriam, Priya, and Abby with their secret handshakes and matching bracelets.
These four unique individuals despite being best friends have one thing in common and that is their overwhelming crush on the members of the boy band ‘4Town’ which they express in the exaggerated, passionate sighs, squeals, and dreamy eyes of horny, teenage girls.
In the Lee household, Meilin’s mother Ming is the breadwinner of the household while her husband, Jin takes care of the household. The trend of the man staying home to cook and clean is known is identified in Asian culture as a ‘househusband’, and Jin does his work with quiet, gentle ease.
Having only one identified, staple male figure in her life, Meilin is surrounded by female figures such as her mother, grandmother, four aunts, three best friends, and her ancestors who are mostly female. Seeing as the most revered of the ancestors of Meilin’s family Sun Yi was a female, and the shrine dedicated in honour of her and the other ancestors belongs to Ming’s part of the family (Meilin’s mother), it is safe to say that Meilin’s life is dominated by the presence of strong, female characters.
These different individuals contribute in shaping the person that Meilin is, and the person she becomes throughout the movie.
But then, how is it that the story of a girl who turns into a red panda can relate anyhow to feminism, sisterhood, girlhood or even womanhood? Watching at a surface level, one would think that ‘Turning Red’ is just a cute movie about the adventures of a girl with powers, and her relationship with her mother. However, even as it is all that, the movie is also so much more than what it appears to be.
From the onset, the Director of ‘Turning Red’ Shi Collins had wanted to create a coming-of-age movie that revolved around girls, and so when Pixar approached her to work on a new project for them, she knew that this was the way to go.
And in creating a movie about a girl, one needs girls –and so for the first time in Pixar history, the entire team that created ‘Turning Red’ was made up of females working together to tell their stories through the life of Meilin. Thus, before it was even released as a motion picture, ‘Turning Red’ was already a shout-out to the efforts and struggles of thousands of actors, directors, producers, directors, set designers, cameramen, production designers, costume designers, editors and all the many other positions that contribute to telling a story.
It created a space where women’s voices were heard and acknowledged, and their views were respected and considered, a place where women were treated as human beings and not discriminated against because of their sex — the very essence of feminism itself.
According to Sandra Oh, the actor who voiced Ming, “it was women at the top of their game, given the opportunity to take the leadership in storytelling.”
This acknowledgment and display of sisterhood is also reflected in the movie. As earlier mentioned, the team that created ‘Turning Red’ was made up of women, and in turn, the character of Meilin Lee was surrounded by women, and girls such as herself.
Meilin experienced sisterhood through her relationship with her friends — the undeniable bond of young girls trying so hard to be seen and treated as adults, to navigate the madness of puberty and boys while loving and supporting each other through it all.
And the concept of sisterhood is also highlighted in the relationships between Meilin’s relatives and her mother. Ming (Meilin’s mother), Meilin’s grandmother, and her aunts come together in the time of need to support and help Meilin and her family through the required ritual where Meilin’s panda spirit would be locked away. This shows a community of women, a sisterhood that one can rely on in times of need and support.
The concept of girlhood is explored as ‘Turning Red’ is a story of a girl told from the voices and experiences of many other girls turned women, but who never forgot the embarrassing and catastrophic period of being a “young woman” with all its embarrassing moments. This agrees with a statement by Sandra Oh, (the voice of Ming) when she said “And it’s just, like, here’s our story. Here’s what we wanted to say.”
And so this group of women made a movie about a period in every girl’s life that we try hard to forget — menstruation begins, boys become attractive, the littlest issues are exaggerated into the most dramatic moments even as our bodies are changing and hormones are raging. “I think we, as people, try to avoid that time or talking about that time, or like looking at photos of that time, period,” Shi Collins said, and according to her “Oh, everybody hates talking about it. Let’s make a whole movie about it.”
A particular scene in the movie captured just how crazy it could get when Meilin obsessively draws pictures of herself and her crush ‘Devon’ in the throes of an intense, heat which the Director called a “horny spiral”. Upon discovering these pictures, Meilin’s mom confronts her daughter’s crush in front of other people thus thoroughly embarrassing her daughter into a state of cringe-worthy emotions and guilt.
And then there’s the constant emphasis on “becoming women” by Meilin and her friends. This, to them, will happen when they get the opportunity to attend a concert by their favourite boy band ‘4Town’ and they are determined to go through this ritual together. To do this, the girls come up with a brilliant strategy that involves ‘hustling the panda’ which involves commercializing Meilin’s ability to turn into a red panda in their middle school.
From the sales of pictures and well-thought-up red panda merchandise, they are able to pull the money together and attend the concert. Therefore according to their standards of what it means to become a woman, these four girls are able to fulfill the rite of passage together.
Assumptions and points of view concerning ‘Turning Red’ are that it’s a movie about menstruation, generational trauma passed from mother to daughter, and the separation between mother and child as the child grows older.
These opinions and conclusions are not wrong. Based on the view one has of this movie, all these concepts are evident in the story told through Meilin Lee and her mother. Concerning menstruation, the idea of Meilin turning into a red panda and having a sudden bout of raging hormones and emotions were used to symbolise the arrival of the menstrual cycle in a young girl’s life, as well as the varying emotions she must battle with as puberty arrives and her body changes.
In fact, it was the intention of the Director, Shi Collins, to talk about menstruation in a way that can be understood seeing as conversations or the concept of menstruation is hardly ever mentioned in animated movies for children.
The movie tackled this conversation head-on through a scene where Meilin’s mother presents her with different sanitary pad options, as well as mentioning remedies often used for menstrual issues such as ibuprofen, vitamins, and a hot water bottle. In this scene, Meilin refers to herself as “a gross red monster”, and what girl going through menstruation hasn’t sometimes felt like a gross monster of no particular colour.
Also, the generational trauma in this movie is identified by the stained relationship between Ming (Meilin’s mother) and her mother (Meilin’s grandmother) following the arrival of the red panda in Ming’s life.
Ming is strained by the expectations her mother has of her to be perfect which she eventually passes on to her daughter who is also stained by the expectations Ming has of her. Lastly, as these expectations weigh heavy on mother and child, they grow apart and, even when they are able to get past their differences, they still grow apart simply because Meilin is becoming her own individual and naturally, she must wean herself away from her mother to do this.
So yes, ‘Turning Red’ is diverse in its themes just as it is diverse in its cast, production team, and the many characters it introduces us to. No one opinion is entirely wrong as this movie gives space for interpretation from many angles.
And although it has many themes, opinions, and angles, the original desire of the Director to tell a coming-of-age story is not lost along the way. Rather, it allows for the movie to be explored in a depth that is not expected of an animation about girls, the crazy antics they get up to and their focused but shallow view of life which is expected of people so young.
It’s the sort of movie where one cries, laughs, and cringes from second-hand embarrassment but in the end, one thoroughly enjoys it.
Director Collins and her team definitely told the stories they so wanted to tell through this movie.
They told a story of the joys and tribulations of girlhood, the transition from girlhood to womanhood with its confusing, but rewarding moments, of a sisterhood that loves unquestionably, supports in any situation and lastly, they packaged all these in a sweet, intense yet lighthearted, humorous movie that would make any feminist heart proud.
