3 Lessons from Pixar's Turning Red

Spoilers ahead!

By AnniePublished 4 years ago • 3 min read

On Friday, March 11th, Pixar's Turning Red came out on Disney+ and select theaters. The film is a coming-of-age story about a 13-year-old girl, Mei Lee. During the film, she is met with a few challenges including her insanely strict and judgemental mother, remaining a loyal friend, having a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and turning into a giant red panda whenever she feels a sudden strong emotion.

The film embraces what life is like for a young teenage girl who is trying to juggle appeasing her family and her friends, even when their wants contradict the other, while also dealing with a large personal issue.

There are three main lessons that can be taken away from this movie.

1. Embrace your truest self

Image from https://www.motionpictures.org/2021/07/watch-the-trailer-for-oscar-winner-domee-shis-debut-pixar-feature-turning-red/

Mei is seen at her happiest when she embraces the panda and she is at her lowest when she is trying to conceal it.

Towards the end of the movie, Mei is about to complete a ritual that leaves the panda out of her life permanently. As she undergoes the ritual, she visualizes all the good times she had with her friends because of the panda. Everybody at school reacted so positively to the panda, and when she and her friends started capitalizing off of the panda, they were able to raise around $700. She gained a lot from her experience, and when this part of her was going to go away, she couldn't help but feel like the panda was part of her identity.

At the end of the film, all of the family members who also have a panda had to undergo the ritual to contain it once more. These women don't see the panda as a positive part of who they are, so they let it go because it isn't who they are. However, the panda is a part of Mei and she decides to keep it.

This shows how embracing yourself is the first step to finding happiness. It is hard to be happy when you are trying to hide who you are.

2. Don't let others dictate how you want to live your life

Image from https://news.disney.com/turning-red-movie

For most of the movie, Mei's mother is trying to get Mei to undergo the ritual that will get rid of the panda. Instead of fighting it, Mei acts like she agrees and then begins lying and sneaking around so she can be the panda with her friends and classmates.

Her mother, being the strict person that she is, scares Mei. Mei wants nothing but to make her proud and by doing that, she typically has been obedient. However, when their goals don't line up, it leads to consequences. Mei's mother tried to dictate how Mei would live her life and lost her in the process.

3. Give your kids space and let them grow on their own

Image from https://www.distractify.com/p/is-turning-red-about-puberty

There are a couple of scenes in the movie that set up Mei's mother as an antagonist. The first is when she finds Mei's notebook, where Mei had been drawing images of her with a boy. Mei's mother disapproves, figures out the boy's identity, and embarrasses Mei in front of him. And the boy doesn't even know who Mei is. This showed her mother's lack of respect for her privacy and willingness to act on her protective impulses. This is the first time Mei's mother does something that starts Mei's journey to stray away from obedience because this was like an act of betrayal.

The second scene we see of Mei's mom not respecting Mei's boundaries is when she is watching the class through the window and she gets confronted by campus security. Mei's mother runs up to the window and shows Mei that she brought her extra pads. Mei, embarrassed by her mom's actions, uncontrollably turns into the panda and once again feels betrayed by her mother's lack of privacy.

Both of these acts give Mei a reason not to trust her mother.

However, Mei's mother isn't like this for no reason. Her own mother was strict. This is seen in a short clip when they are trying to contain Mei's mother's red panda in the fantasy world. We see Mei's mother as a young girl, crying to herself because she feels as though she will never be good enough for her mother.

The pressure of containing the panda has passed down this pressure generationally, along with the idea of being perfect.

By allowing your kids some freedom, you grant them a life lacking trust issues rooted within familial trauma.