Pixar's Turning Red is an unlikely culture war battleground

[Jilly_in_VA]

What makes a controversy? In the case of Turning Red, Pixar’s delightful new film about a Toronto teenager who discovers she can turn into a (huge) red panda, it seems no one can make up their minds. But the quest to pick an objection, any objection, to this quirky little movie might have conscripted Turning Red into larger ongoing conversations about parents, kids, and — deep sigh — the culture war.

The vast majority of the film’s audience seems to adore its main character, a 13-year-old Chinese Canadian girl named Mei, with her proud fannish hobbies and her loyal geek squad friends. And they’ve been loudly celebrating Turning Red’s unique elements: Its early-2000s Toronto setting, its celebration of teenage girlhood, and especially its thoughtful depiction of a child grappling with complicated issues of family, community, and repressed history.

But the buzz around the movie in the days since its March 11 release has been tinged with drama, and might well give you the impression that Turning Red is Pixar’s most controversial film since — maybe ever. While that’s probably not true, the dust-ups around Turning Red keep gaining attention and going viral — maybe less because lots of people are mad than because the things a few people are mad about are just ... kind of weird.

The controversies, such as they are, range from claims that this film isn’t relatable to insistent discomfort with the depiction of a young woman in puberty, a child having autonomy, and the very reality of — yes, sometimes cringeworthy — 13-year-old girls.

In many ways, Turning Red will be a deeply familiar story to many members of its audience. Its Toronto setting is full of local color and details to delight the natives. Mei is a boy-crazy fangirl who’s confident, passionate, and loves school. Those descriptors could easily fit millions of teen girls and adult women, but it’s rare, outside of Bob’s Burgers’ Tina Belcher, to see this kind of femininity lovingly, playfully depicted on screen. Mei’s favorite band, 4*Town, is a hilarious amalgamation of every early 2000s boy band, sporting all the nasally vocals, heavy synth, and drum pads you could want from a nostalgic trip down the backstreet. The film also sports cheeky period references, from Tamagotchi to Sailor Moon. Even more familiar to many more viewers might well be the film’s loving but strict parents, as well as the rich Chinese cultural signifiers on display, which have drawn praise from viewers:

https://www.vox.com/culture/22981394/turning-red-reviews-controversy-reactions-parents

[Tree-Hugger]

1. The complaints are ridiculous

A lot of the whining I have heard/read center around Mei liking members of a boy band as well as puberty topics. There is not, "I got my period!" moment, but the mom offers her daughter pads. It's hilarious and is a very relatable cringe moment. Same pearl clutching is over a twerking red panda (I laughed my ass off and rewound it 3 times). The whiners can't handle a story about the very real and very normal aspects of being a young teen girl. Our culture has a huge problem seeing young women find themselves and navigate independence without a male hero to swoop in and save them (and their "purity&quot . It also has problems with women being anything other than sex objects. This is echoed in Netflix's recent decision to cancel the well-loved Babysitters Club series.

The same people who freak out that Turning Red is "inappropriate" because of puberty themes have zero problem letting their toddlers watch fighting and l people getting blown to bits in the various Marvel movies.

Turning Red is a god damn delight. I watched it this week with both of my kids - my daughter is 10 and my son is 15. They both thoroughly enjoyed it. It's a very sweet movie with great humor. I laughed and cried. Highly recommend.

[obamanut2012]

11. I agree with you!

Funny and delightful.

[Xoan]

2. Clickbait from VOX ...

say it ain't so.

[Jilly_in_VA]

5. It's actually quite true

Did you even read the whole article? Right-wingers, the One Hundred Moms, racists, and of course, the offended white males, are all up in arms about it.

[Hekate]

3. Two columnists in the Los Angeles Times gave it rave reviews: their film critic Justin Cheng and ...

…. Mary McNamara, long time writer for the Times. Justin Cheng straight up loved it — I always enjoy the quality of his writing.

Mary McNamara was reacting to a reviewer from some other publication who had sneered at it as being hopelessly narrow in its likely audience (Chinese-Canadian, family temple, relationship between mothers and 13 year old daughters — he wondered where in the world of intersectionality a sufficient audience could be found). She, otoh, was charmed by the particularity of its setting and the universality of the female relationships, and felt he evidently thought all movies should be produced from a male point of view for only a certain age-range of males.

My husband and I watched it together, and yes, we really liked it. Two thumbs up, as Siskal and Ebert used to say.

[Tommymac]

4. Guess it's misplaced marketing, but I was immediately turned off by The Title.

Even subliminally making 'Turning Red' into a good thing is BAD IMHO.

Fuck Red and everything associated with it.

Now, if they said she was Blue or Green or Pink or Yellow...

Sorry, this old fart will not be watching it at all.

[Jilly_in_VA]

6. Oh please

Now you sound like One Hundred Moms. Please get a grip. It's cute.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

7. lol what on earth

[obamanut2012]

8. Lol wtaf

Blood is red btw.

[muriel_volestrangler]

10. Wow. Even when the title has been explained to you, you think it's a problem?

I mean, I can see that as an "old fart", you (or I) are not the target market. But if you think a colour is now permanently a Bad Thing, you need to regain a sense of perspective.

[Tree-Hugger]

12. Oh come on!

The only subliminal message is that it's okay for females to actually FEEL their feelings.

[obamanut2012]

9. Lovely and important movie

People freaking about this are immature, sexist, and tbh a tad pathetic. Folks need to grow up.

[Takket]

13. they can make up any excuse they want but ultimately......

it simply comes down to them not liking anything that depicts persons of any ethnicity other than American Caucasian as anything other than a background character and/or comic relief. The moment they see a Chinese starring role they immediately hate the movie (the effect) and start looking for any reason (the cause) to justify the effect that has already occurred. (When the cause was really racism five seconds into the movie).

POSSIBLE SPOILERS IF YOU READ ON:

I saw the movie. I though it was great. Funny, truthful, poignant. My wife was nodding her head the whole time and telling me stories about what it was like when she hit puberty for the first time.

It has a 73% on the tomamater, 7.1 on IMDB and I gave it a 7, I felt that was about right. Wasn't the best Disney movie I've ever seen but it was definitely high on the list. It was definitely a little too close to Brave in the climax which is my only complaint, but the climax was still excellent.

If the racists want to scream at each other in the void, oh well, they'll do it for this, and Encanto and every other depiction of not-Caucasian culture that comes along too. Fuck em.

[Dial H For Hero]

14. I watched it, and it was well made, but...meh?

I just didn’t find the protagonist that engaging or likable. But then, I’m hardly in the film’s target demographic.

I did on the other hand thoroughly enjoy “Inside/Out”, which was thematically similar to some degree.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

15. I really liked this movie