- (Meilin) The number one rule in my family...
- Yes!
Aw, this movie was so cute.
- I love this.
- (Meilin) Who sweated and sacrificed so much.
- The relationship she had with her mom
is exactly the same thing that I went through growing up.
- (Meilin) Food on your plate, an epic amount of food.
The least you can do in return is every single thing they ask.
- Mm-hmm, yeah.
- True. - Very true.
- So accurate.
- Thankfully, my parents are a little bit more chill than that.
- (Meilin) But if you take it too far,
well, you might forget to honor yourself.
- I wish we had this when I was younger though.
But I'm happy that like the younger crowd now can see this.
- Ugh, this movie, man.
I feel like I felt so seen.
- (Meilin) I don't have that problem.
(Char laughs)
- The Tamagotchi on her thing! (laughs)
- 1000% had a Tamagotchi, put it on my backpack like that.
- (Meilin) I wear what I want.
- Her outfit slaps, I would wear that.
- She's so like feisty.
♪ (upbeat music) ♪
- (laughs) That's so cute.
- I just wish I had her confidence though, growing up.
- (Meilin) Oh, fudgesicles! I gotta go!
- (Miriam) Wait, we're going karaoke-ing today.
- (Abby) Yeah! - (Priya) Come with us.
- I like how they're trying to bribe the Asian girl with karaoke.
(laughs)
Immediately, I'd be like alright! (laughs)
- (Abby) Yeah!
- They literally just remind me of my friends and I in middle school.
- These are like the people I wished found me
in like middle school.
- Love how diverse it is, and to see an Indian girl in there,
I'm half Pakistani, you don't see them at all in Hollywood, at all.
So to have her in there, and be a representation, it's amazing.
- I even like that they did the whole thing with the hands,
just like the respect when you go in there.
- (Ming) Mei Mei, there you are!
- (Mei) Hey mom! - (Ming) You're 10 minutes late!
- I love the mom.
Just a little overbearing.
- I really appreciate that they didn't show right off the bat,
like a mother and daughter warring with each other.
Most of the times in Asian American stories,
you pick up where the kid is already disgruntled with the parent
and they don't have that relationship.
- (Ming) Our family runs one of the oldest temples in Toronto.
- This hip-hop trap beat that they're playing for like cleaning.
(laughs)
- (Ming) We honor our ancestors.
- (Meilin) And not just the dudes, either.
- Not just the dudes, either! (laughs)
- I love her!
- Now cooking, Asian food, another level!
- This is like exactly what Bao felt like.
- (React) Fun fact, same director. - Oh yeah?
- I love how much food is featured in this movie,
like, it's important to every culture,
your identity, your conversations, your history are told through food.
Encanto showing the arepas was amazing,
Luca showing the pasta,
like, Disney is now understanding that you can tell so much culture
through the food that's shown on screen,
and normalizing food that people think is weird,
or different, or exotic,
into just something that is commonplace in every day.
- The dad's really funny in this,
which reminds me of my own like household.
My dad's the cook for my family.
- You know them, with the soap operas. (laughs)
- I remember those shows.
My grandma used to watch them, and I used to watch along with her,
kinda as a little kid.
- (Meilin) Totally, Siu-Jyu is so two-faced!
- I think it's pretty cool though
that she has a relationship with her parents at that young,
to be able to talk to them like that.
- And inspect it, make sure it's good.
- (Jin) Perfect. - (Meilin) Yes!
- Perfect, yes!
- Food in just Asian cultures
and Pacific Islander cultures in general
is like everything, because a lot of the food
has significant meaning to it as well.
- It's also a time that you get to spend together.
Like you get to do a lot of these things together,
which is not like different than like a lot of other cultures.
- It's like one of the ways as a culture
that we show our love and welcoming to people
is by feeding them.
So it hits close to home like that.
- Aw, you're a cute little fluffy bear! (laughs)
- She's adorable.
- This is my favorite moment.
- (Ming) Is it a fever, a stomach ache, chills, constipation?
- (Meilin) No!
- (Ming) Wait, is it that? (Jin gulps)
Did the red peony bloom?
- (whispers) Her period. (laughs)
- He's just like I can't help with this situation,
like, I'm just gonna stand out of this conversation.
- (Ming) I'll get everything you need.
- See, but it also shows like how much her mom loves her.
- (Meilin) Get out!
- I feel it. (laughs)
- (Ming) Mei Mei, I know this is upsetting,
but we are going to get through this together.
- I love that!
- Her anxiety gives me anxiety. (laughs)
- (Ming) Pads, regular, overnight, scented, unscented.
- So many pads, why does she have so many pads?
- (laughs) She had all of 'em.
- (Ming) Maybe we should talk about why this is happening.
- Do you see how she tried to set a boundary like two times already?
- Oh my gosh, I hate these awkward talks.
- (Ming) ...and your body...
- Mm-mm, never liked these talks with my parents, it's so awkward.
- (Ming) It's nothing to be embarrassed about.
- (Meilin) Mom, please!
- (Ming) You are now a beautiful, strong flower!
- It just reminds me of like, my mom,
and when I had my first period, I think I was also 13 years old.
I just remember my mom not really explaining it well at all either,
it was just kind of like awkward, and I'm like okay. (laughs)
- (React) There's controversy surrounding this because
some parents online are saying that they're not ready
to have that conversation with their kids.
- I mean, it was nice to know, I learned at a very young age
that you're gonna get your period, and that's just,
you know, it's just gonna happen. You can't hide it.
- It does take that conversation away from parents
who might want to be the one to have that with their kid,
but at the same time,
there are a lot of parents who don't have this conversation with their kid,
and there are a lot of kids out there that need something like this.
- It's such a normal thing that every girl goes through,
and I'm shocked that hasn't,
there hasn't been more dialogue in kids movies about this.
- That plays part in why a lot of girls
going through puberty aren't so comfortable
talking about puberty, or like, being so ashamed
that they got their time of the month.
- Besides, if you're like too young to get it,
you're not gonna get it. (laughs)
- (Ming) Where does she get that from? Treating her own mother like that.
- (Jin) Ming, it's your mother. - (Ming) I'm not here!
- (laughs) That, I have a lot of experience with.
- That was a really good representation
of like generational trauma.
- If my mom even opened her mouth
and said something that my grandma didn't like,
she was gonna get it.
- I learned that my mom is only the way that she is
because of how her mom treated her.
- You just see her, and you don't realize
that this is generational trauma that's been pounded into her,
and you just think she's a terrible mother.
- (Meilin) Save me leftovers? - (Ming) What if I come with you?
(Izzy laughs)
Linear equations, geometry?
- (Meilin) You really don't have to come.
- (Ming) Don't be silly, we're already on the way.
- (Meilin) But I don't want you to! - Woah.
- Stand up for yourself!
- Uh-uh, uh-uh, you can't say that. You will disappoint your mother.
- (laughs) This is so funny.
'Cause you always imagine like Filipino moms, aunts and grandmas
with their Louis Vuitton purses. (laughs)
- (woman) She's lost weight! - (woman) No, no, she's gained.
- Oh my God.
Family gatherings and just talking about body weight.
- It's super, like a normal thing to be like oh,
you gained a little more weight.
- You're too chubby, too skinny, you're not eating enough.
- They will shove so much food into your mouth
while also telling you you're getting fat. (laughs)
- I have three aunts, and this is exactly how it goes.
- Aunties could be like family friends too.
- You have like the people who are related to you,
but I also had my mother's whole gaggle of sorority friends,
who they're all my aunties.
- (Ming) Mei Mei, please, just come with me.
- (Meilin) I'm changing mom.
- Man, this moment.
- (Meilin) I'm finally figuring out who I am.
- Every time I've seen this, I've cried. (laughs)
- (Meilin) But I'm scared it will take me away from you.
- Aw!
See, at the end of the day, she's still a daughter.
- (Ming) You try to make everyone happy,
but are so hard on yourself,
and if I taught you that, I'm sorry.
- What we wanna hear from all our parents.
- (Ming) So don't hold back, for anyone.
(Char sighs)
- I definitely felt like I needed to hear these words,
in this movie. - (Ming) The farther you go,
the prouder I'll be. - And it is kind of,
it's very emotional, 'cause it's like stuff you wanna hear
coming from like your own mom, but there's like such
a generational difference.
- (React) Alright, so we've talked a little bit about
some of the response to the movie as it pertains to the puberty scene,
but in general, there has been some questionable responses to this movie.
- This story is very targeted to a specific audience,
and if you don't fall in that category this film is not for you.
I had to turn it off after 10 minutes,
after I saw the main character drawing fan fiction as a 13 year old.
It left me uncomfortable that a 13 year old
was doing this in a Pixar film.
Overall, I would rather watch Cars 2.
- Did you not go through puberty? (laughs)
Are you still a child?
- I can only see a very small group of people actually relating to this movie
that feels so conditioned by current political trends
it loses all, oh, well first of all,
it's loses with not two o's, it's not looses.
- Sounds a little bit like they're just categorizing Asians.
- The Asian community is way large.
It is the largest group in the entire world,
so that's not true at all.
- Pixar is about representation. I'm glad they're going this route.
- I too prefer more universally relatable heroes
such as cars with eyeballs. (laughs)
- I'm dead, yes Linda! We like Linda!
- The cars with eyeballs, a rat, a robot, Nemo even,
you're not listening to your dad, you touched the butt.
- There are specific things that are part of the AAPI community.
There are a lot of universal conversations
that apply to any parent dealing with a child
going through the changes of going from a kid
into becoming an adult.
- It's not very often, especially in the American culture,
that people are aware of our experiences.
- The relationship with a mom,
and the growth, and the character development
between everyone was just phenomenal,
and I think all cultures should see it, it's beautiful.
- Thanks for watching this episode.
- Did you watch Turning Red?
Let us know down in the comments below.
- Don't forget to subscribe for new videos every week.
- Thanks for watching, bye!
- Bye!
- I have a fat crush on one of the 4*Town dudes.
(laughs)
He's just fine AF,
I need to see like the pictures of all of them,
and then I can like show you. (laughs) - (React) Okay.