People only look at the wrong thing | Essay on "Turning Red 2022"

 

You are only a teenager once in your life, and it is not the best part of your life. Always hormonal, face full of pimples. Weird things are happening to your body and you are not sure what's up and don't even get me started on the number of crushes you get at that age. 

I loved being a teen but it was not as fun as movies make it to be. That's the subplot of the movie turning red by Domee Shi. 13-year old Mei Lee is born into a family bleed by spirits. She and all the women in her family before her bore a special power, and turned into giant red pandas upon exhibiting over the top emotion.

The trailer of the movie did not hold me very excited, I presumed it to be another coming of age movie, but I forgot that it is Disney Pixar, and it's not just normal ever. My peak of interest arose after seeing at least 5 posts a day about how the movie is being in controversy for being showing pads and talking about menstruation.  

Menstruation is not something special or forbidden. Half of the world's population experience it and out of which a huge portion of that population uses pads. Yet the mere mention of it for less than 20 seconds in movies enraged such controversy is beyond astonishing. What is even wilder is that the movie is not even about menstruation and puberty. The message of the movie is completely lost in the controversy linked with the social media post circulation.

The main plot of the movie is generational trauma. Mei Mei and her mother have a very special bond that is not a common phenomenon in the history of cinema. 

Mei Mei is constantly put on the pedestal by her mother who only sees her only as a perfect daughter and completely ignores other parts of her personality. She is a teenager but her mother fails to acknowledge that blinded by her love for her perfect daughter.

On reaching a certain age the women on Mei Mei's mother's side gain a special power of turning into joint red Pandas which is not only adorable but a major inconvenience in city life. They can harness That Power by performing to control their vibrant emotions from being exploded in front of the people. 

Throughout history, women (and men alike) have been expected to not be open about their feelings and hide them. This continues in the 21st century. No other character could have been better in training the expectations of parents, more than immigrant Asian parents who want nothing but academic success from their children.

Mei Mei's mother would not let her enjoy the simple pleasures of teenage activities such as fangirling and going to parties. Mei Mei is OK with this because she wants to be the perfect daughter just like her mother is. 

Upon seeing her mother in her valuable state, she realises that she is not alone in this journey. The fear of being a failure she harbours comes from her mother. She has always been prim and proper, with a stoic model, now that's the silhouette Mei Mei aims for. 

Each generation sets irrational standards of expectation only to get approval from the previous generation, creating a divide. This message was all undermined only for the movie to be known as the movie about the period. 

Another interesting motive in the film is the use of red colour to show the teenage attraction and lust we feel in the blossoming years. 

Red is the colour of love, lust, embarrassment and culture. This movie captured all of it. 

But people only focus on the wrongs.