Turning Red is the latest Pixar movie to hit our screens, and so far, it has been
a mega hit among fans. It has been praised for everything from its cultural portrayal,
its unique sense of humor, the amazing storyline, the animation, and many other things.
It follows the story of Mei Lee, a 13-year-old Chinese Canadian who comes from a long line of
women who have the ability to turn into red pandas whenever they are angry or experience other strong
emotions. Mei is unaware of this fact, and when she turns into a panda for the first time,
she is scared, which is understandable. I mean, anyone would be scared if they suddenly
went from being a human to a panda. Also, did you know that Turning Red
is the second Pixar movie to have an Asian lead character? I’m betting that you didn’t.
Anyway, Mei's parents finally find out when she turns into a panda at school, and her mother,
Ming finally tells her the truth about how the transformation is a trait that has been
passed down through the women in their generation. Ming also tells her that there is a ritual
that can be performed to trap the panda in a talisman, and Ming agrees to this.
Now, even though Ming loves her mother very much, Ming can be sometimes overbearing.
She is overprotective and often demands perfection from Mei, who finds herself
keeping some secrets from her. As the saying goes, the strictest parents raise the sneakiest kids.
So the day of the ritual comes, and while the ritual is going on,
Mei changes her mind and decides that she would rather attend a music concert with her friends
than go through with the ritual. Of course, her mother doesn’t want her to leave,
and Mei accidentally knocks her mom over, causing her talisman to break,
and Ming’s panda is released, and it was revealed to be huge, way bigger than Mei’s panda.
Ming as the panda goes to the concert and gets into a fight with Mei’s panda. However,
Mei’s panda grows bigger and bigger as she gets angrier, and she eventually knocks Ming’s
panda out. The other women in the family willingly break their talismans and help
Mei drag Ming into a circle and start the ritual again, which sends them into the astral plane.
Now, let’s talk about the ending and why it’s the best part of the movie. In the astral plane,
Mei meets her mother, and they finally sort things out. They talk about Ming
and how overprotective she is, and how she often drives Mei to perfection. In a surprising twist,
it is revealed that the reason Ming is so strict is that her own mother, Wu was also super strict
and controlling with her. Wu also disapproved of Ming’s marriage to Jin, who is Mei’s father.
It is revealed that Ming has a strained relationship with Wu that started in
adolescence when she first transformed into the panda, which is kind of similar to the strained
relationship that was starting to develop between Ming and Mei. Ming was treating her daughter the
same way her own mother treated her, and this is a tell-tale sign of generational trauma.
This is kind of similar to the issue of generational trauma that we saw in
Disney’s Encanto, where Abuela had unrealistic expectations from her children and grandchildren
because she never really healed from the trauma of her husband’s death.
Generational trauma seems to be a topic that more and more animated movies are starting to explore,
and the fans are HERE for it. Now, it is unclear whether this pattern can be found in other
females of the family and their daughters, or if it is peculiar to Wu, Ming, and Mei.
Mei and ming fix their relationship in the astral plane, and as a result of this, Ming finally finds
it in her to let go of all her resentment towards her mother, and she forgives her, causing the
cycle of generational trauma to break. The three generations of women are finally able to form a
healthy relationship with one another without the hostility that they had experienced before.
Ming also accepts that her being so controlling of Mei means that she is pushing Mei away,
even though what she really wants is to have a good relationship with her daughter.
Another thing that happened at the end of the movie is that Mei finally accepts her red panda,
even though the rest of her family don’t. For many generations, the women in the family have
seen the giant red panda as something that they should fear. They see it as a kind of
burden and they never really bothered to learn more about it, or even learn how to
control it. They just kept it locked away in a talisman like it's a dirty little secret.
I’m not sure if a lot of people noticed this, but the family treats the red panda
like a secret. For example, Ming tries to force Mei to get rid of the panda, even when it is
obvious that Mei was not sure if she wanted to get rid of the panda or hold on to it.
There’s also the fact that Mei had no idea about the red panda until
she transformed for the first time. Can you imagine how scary it must be
to transform from a normal teenage girl into a panda and not know why?
It’s kind of strange to think that even though this is something that has been happening in
the family for generations, Mei had absolutely no idea about it. I mean,
you would think that it's something that her parents would have brought up,
right? This is why many people think that there is a big secrecy around the red bear and the family
doesn’t like it, and this is why they don’t tell the girl until they come of age. I mean,
I personally think that there are better ways to handle it, but hey, that’s just me.
Anyways, at the end of the movie, after Ming,
Wu, and Mei make peace with each other and break the cycle of generational trauma,
everyone decides to let go of their pandas. Wu, Ming, and all the remaining females in
the family say goodbye to their pandas and let go of them. Well, all the females, except Mei.
You see, Mei had gotten to love her red panda and she chose not to let go of it.
Instead, she embraced the panda and she finally accept herself for who she really
is. While the other women saw the panda as a weakness to them, Mei saw it as a strength.
Of course, she knew that it was going to be hard to learn how to live with a huge
panda that gets stronger and more violent when she’s angry or experiencing any strong emotion.
She knows that she has to learn how to control the panda, which
would be A LOT of work for a fully grown adult and even more work for a 13-year-old
girl. But she decides to keep her panda anyway because she likes it and she likes who she
is with the panda. She finally learns to accept herself no matter what everyone else thinks.
She is also not discouraged by the fact that she is the only one in her family
to keep the panda. She knows that she is going to be different from everyone else,
but she is at peace with that too. And when she is swept into the clouds by her ancestor,
she is at peace because she knows that she made the right decision.
At the end of the day Turning red is a coming-of-age film, and at the heart of the story,
there is reconciliation and self-acceptance, kind of like other movies. Self-acceptance is
a common theme that you find in many movies about teenagers and young adults because it is something
that many youngsters struggle with. The unique thing about Turning Red is that it shows these
things in a different light. I mean, I’m not sure about you guys, but I’m not sure that I’ve
seen a movie that teaches self-acceptance through learning to love and accept your inner red panda.
Turning Red is fast becoming one of the most loved movies among fans and it has become a
mega hit. But now I want to hear from you guys, what do you think about the movie?
Do you agree that it is one of the best movies that Pixar has released in recent times?
Which part of the movie is your favorite? What do you think about the ending of the movie?
Don’t be shy, let me know what you think in the comments down below, and don’t leave anything out.
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