Deep Dive Pixar: Wes Looks at Turning Red

Given certain events going on at the time I’m writing this, I feel I should open this one up with a disclaimer. I blog about Disney movies and other various forms of visual and printed media licensed by Disney. I do this because I enjoy dissecting the elements of storytelling in film and television and to relive some fond memories from my childhood. I am in no way affiliated with the Walt Disney company and have openly condemned the actions of Bob Chapek and Disney corporate management. However, I’m not blind to the fact that we all have bills to pay and mouths to feed and there ain’t nothing in this world for free, so I will continue to write in this blog and show my support for the hardworking writers, animators and storytellers who have no control over the actions of their bosses and need to keep food on the table. That’s all I plan to say on the matter. That out of the way, welcome to Deep Dive Pixar, the monstrous transformation of Deep Dive Disney, where today we’re taking a look at Pixar’s latest offering, Turning Red. Beyond the initial teaser trailer, I knew nothing going into this movie, instead opting to go in as blind as humanly possible. Given the fact this movie was already creating controversy with the irritating anti-woke crowd, I was seriously hoping to like this one, if for no other reason than to not get lumped in with those losers. Fortunately, this movie is, in my opinion, one of Pixar’s best offerings in a very long time. Before we discuss the plot, since this is a recent movie, the customary spoiler warning is in effect from here on out. Set in Toronto Canada in the early 2000’s, Turning Red tells us the story of a thirteen-year-old girl of Chinese descent named Mei Lee who loves her three besties more than anything and is a huge fan of a popular boyband called 4-Town. Throughout Mei’s childhood, she was raised to honor her parents, specifically, her overbearing mother, Ming. However, now that she’s a teenager, she’s now trying to find her own identity. The constant anxiety that comes from the internal struggle between being what her mother wants her to be and asserting her own identity and independence triggers a most unusual transformation in Mei as she finds herself transforming into an enormous red panda monster. Turns out Mei’s ancestor used ancient magic to transform herself into a powerful beast in order to protect her family. This gift passed to future generations, but as the world became more modernized, the gift became more of an inconvenience and, using an ancient ritual, Mei’s family would purge the Panda spirit from their souls. However, Mei continues to get used to her new form and even learns how to control the transformation, Mei begins to like it and even uses it to raise money so she and her friends can go to the big 4-Town concert. Along the way, Mei must decide which is stronger, the hold her mother has over her, or her love for her friends and her new self. It’s a brilliant piece of animation and I love it, so let’s take a look at Turning Red.

Main Character:

I found Mei Lee to be an instantly relatable character. See, I too was once at that age where I was desperate to assert my independence and carve my own path. I also resisted the path my parents seemed to want for me. I also have often found it a lot easier to confide in my friends than in my family for fear of letting my family down. Mei is, for all intents and purposes, a typical teenage girl. She’s tight with her group of friends, loves boybands and karaoke and is at that age where she’s starting to notice boys and hormones are doing what they do. Throughout her whole life, Mei’s mother has drilled in the mentality that she should always honor her parents and her ancestors. This mentality in and of itself is no bad thing. Having a reverence for your family history can be a fine thing. I’d say the way Mei and her mother care for their family’s historic temple is an example of that. The problem is, Mei’s mother drills it in so hard that she’s afraid to stand up to her and declare her independence. It is for this reason that Mei feels closer to her friends than she does her family and relies on them to keep her giant panda monster side intact. I also appreciate that Mei eventually embraces her Panda powers as well. Sure, initially she’s terrified as anyone would be, but once she gets the hang of it, she realizes that this is just as much a part of who she is as loving boy bands. When she decides she wants to keep the panda, it really ups the tension when her family starts a ritual to purge the beast from her once and for all. Seriously, I was on the edge of my seat saying “Don’t Do It” the whole time. Overall, I think a lot of young people, or in my case, older people who have gone through similar experiences, will find Mei Lee to be a fun and relatable character.

Villain:

I really went back and forth on this for a very long time. I said myself when we covered Encanto that considering Abuela Madrigal as the villain of the film would be doing a disservice to the character and Ling here, for better or for worse, has much in common with Abuela. However, while both are overbearing parental figures who expect their family to live up to their incredibly high expectations, Ling Lee takes it just that much further than Abuela does that I have no choice but to label her the villain of the piece. Don’t get me wrong, this is not some cartoonish mustache twirler like Jafar or Captain Hook. This significantly more complex than that. While I firmly believe that Ling does love her daughter and genuinely means well, a lot of her actions are actively harmful and even a bit disturbing. Now, I am not a parent, but I do know that in a parent/child dynamic, some of the things Ling does are seriously not okay, namely threatening a boy who her daughter has a crush on, embarrassing Mei in the process. She also rejects the idea of listening to boy bands and openly condemns Mei’s friends as a negative influence. Now, if Mei’s friends were getting her to take drugs or sneak out of school, Ling might have a point, but all they’re doing is dancing and listening to boy band music. All this comes from a mentality that children must respect their parents no matter what, a mentality that, from what I understand, is even more prevalent in Asian culture, but being a white dude, I cannot really speak to the cultural end of it further. However, Ling’s mentality that Mei will always be her little girl is a pretty universal concept. We saw something similar play out in A Goofy Movie. Mind you, Goofy was a lot less toxic about the whole thing, but he still had a very difficult time acknowledging that Max had grown up and had his own life to live. However, unlike Goofy, who was more oblivious to Max’s budding maturity, Ling seems to see it as a sort of threat. She doesn’t even really get mad at Mei, it’s more that she sees any deviation from the vision of her daughter she has in her own mind as an intrusion that must be destroyed. This is, of course, an incredibly toxic mentality that can cause great psychological harm to a child and sadly, it appears that this is nothing new in the Lee family as when we’re eventually introduced to Ling’s own mother, she reacts the same way around her the way Mei reacts around her mother, indicating that this is all part of a cycle of toxic behavior that must be broken. Fortunately, Mei is ultimately able to break it, but not before fighting the physical manifestation of Ling’s inner toxicity in the form of Ling’s own Panda, more on that later.

Side Characters:

I really liked Jin, Mei’s dad. He’s clearly a lot more compassionate and understanding than Ling and while he goes along with his wife for the most part, he is still the first member of Mei’s family who seems to recognize that she is growing up.

Wu, Ling’s mother and Mei’s grandmother is another sign of the cycle of toxicity. The way she’s introduced, one would think that she’s going to be the true villain of the story. She even has a nasty scar above her eye, something later revealed to be caused by Ling in her raging panda form. However, once we get to know her, we see that she takes the family curse very seriously and doesn’t want to see anyone she cares about put in danger and is more accepting of Mei’s choice to keep her Panda form than Ling is.

There’s a bully named Tyler in the movie who’s a complete and total jerk. I guess it’s kind of cool that Mei and her friends befriend him after they learn they love the same boyband, but I think he gets off too easy. Finally, there’s Mei’s friends. Miriam, a Tomboy with a talent for beatboxing, Abby, a girl with a short fuse who reminds me a bit of Grenda from Gravity Falls and Priya, a girl with a Daria-esque attitude and an affinity for vampires. I think that this friendship is utterly adorable and I love how close Mei is with her besties. The fact that it’s them who help keep her Panda in check is absolutely precious. They love and support and care for one another and the whole thing is just so darn wholesome.

Memorable Scenes:

At one point in the movie, Mei’s parents put her through a series of tests to see if she truly has the Panda under control. One of the tests to see if Mei can keep her emotions in check is opening up a box full of kittens. I have a couple of questions about this, the most prominent being, why do the Lee’s just have a box full of kittens in their closet? Do they feed these kittens? Do they let them roam free, or do they just keep them behind a panel that reads “in case of panda monster, break glass?”

There’s this great scene towards the end where Mei’s Dad sees the video recording his daughter made of her having fun with her friends in her Panda form. I don’t have much to say about it, it’s just a really sweet moment and I love seeing Mei’s dad acknowledge that his daughter is indeed growing up. It’s also here where we learn that the fight that resulted in the scar above Grandma’s eye was caused by Ling because Grandma didn’t approve of Jin. It’s not dwelled on, but it does go a long way in getting us to empathize with Ling.

Finally, there’s the big climactic scene where Ling’s Kaiju-sized panda form is wrecking the Toronto Skydome during a 4-Town concert. The whole thing is really cool, even if it involves the day being saved by a thirteen-year-old shaking her ass at her own mother. (Long story) The best part comes when the ritual to calm Ling down is performed. Mei’s family using traditional Chinese chanting to aid the magic while Mei’s friends chime in with a 4-Town song. Something about this blending of the old ways and the new is really cool to me.

Story:

Gee, a thirteen-year-old going through a seemingly nightmarish transformation during a time of great hormonal confusion that brings a need for independence. GEE, I WONDER IF THIS MOVIE IS IN ANY WAY ABOUT PUBERY! Yeah, the metaphor isn’t exactly subtle, hell, at several points the movie directly references a girl’s period and explains the healthcare for in a very normalized manner, something that has earned this film quite a bit of praise. The point is, growing up can be very difficult. Our bodies are changing, our interests are shifting and maturing and everything is scary and confusing. We see all this perfectly explored through Mei’s eyes and it works very well. Another thing I’d like to comment on is the animation. This is honestly one of the most beautiful looking Pixar films I’ve seen in a very long time. It reminds me a bit of the styles of more recent movies like Mitchells vs. The Machines and the previous Pixar film, Luca with a little bit of Studio Ghibli thrown in for good measure. The colors pop, the character designs are charming and all in all, it’s a very pleasant movie to look at.

The Dark Disney Factor:

This one certainly has its dark moments. I mean, the very idea of a thirteen-year-old girl turning into a giant panda monster is pretty unsettling. Even before that though, there’s a moment early on where Mei discovers that she has a crush on a boy who works at a local convenience store and she starts drawing increasingly suggestive pictures of the two of them together. The whole scene is shot like a horror movie as Mei keeps sweating while she draws this seventeen-year-old as a sexy mermaid. You’re talking to the guy who didn’t bat an eyelash when Clayton hung himself, and yet this is the movie that got me to say “I need an adult!”

Much later, during the ritual to extract the panda from Mei’s spirit, Mei finds herself in a celestial forest where she must walk through a portal in order to purge herself of the red panda. The process seems to cause her a great deal of pain and it’s more than a little disturbing.

And finally, there’s the final showdown where Ling has transformed into a Godzilla sized red Panda and it is the stuff of nightmares. It’s like the manifestation of years of pent up toxic rage in the form of a giant monster. Fortunately, Mei is able to subdue her mother and save her life, but it is still a horrifying climax. It just feels like it’s been a while since we’ve had to fight a giant monster to save the day so it’s nice to see.

Final Thoughts: I wasn't expecting much from this one, but I can honestly say I thoroughly enjoyed this film. It's a nice look at a child growing up examined from multiple perspectives with charming characters and stunning visuals. It's definitely a winner in my book. Check it out if you haven't already. Next time, probably more Ducktales and another Patreon Exclusive look at a Twisted Tales book. Until then!