Turning Red (2022)

Woohoo! So EXCITED.

Tonight’s #FamilyMovieNight, we’re watching Turning Red.

My cousin has been texting me about this movie all weekend about how awesome this is.

And oh look, the main character has my wonky eyebrows!!!

Alison B.:

My 5 year old has watched this…actually I don’t know how many times so far, but a lot- she loves it. I watched it once with her, couldn’t focus the entire time but enjoyed it. I’m excited to hear your perspective!

Ashia R.

My cousin has watched this more than once since it came out on Friday and I get it, there’s a LOT, like, a LOT going on very fast.

Alison B.:

I definitely zoned out a few times (bc that’s just what my brain does, not specific to this movie) and was like “woah what is happening what the heck did I miss in those couple of minutes”

Ashia R.

Also the tiny details are spectacular. The Chinese groceries on the shelf are based on real brands, the chinatown looks real, they even have a courtyard where elders hang out at tables playing games like in actual chinatown.

OMG the relationship between her and her mom! The self-blame because you can’t blame your parents when they do something terrible because they sAcriFIceD so MuCH for YoU.

Like it doesn’t even *occur* to mei mei to yell at her mom or even talk back about how she messed up. ACCURATE!

oh wow this is… this is…very accurate.

When Meimei bursts out and shouts at her mom to leave her alone and then immediately punches herself in the face.

I’m not sure…about her red hair.

So she freaks out and turns into a red panda. Calms down and returns to a little girl. Got it.

But as a little girl coding as ‘going through puberty’/’managing anger’, giving her red hair as a sign of her ‘change’ to being more angry is…. not great.

Like – they couldn’t have picked any other visual sign that didn’t reinforce stereotypes about quick tempered redheads?

Moving on. 

VERY short and hard to catch – but one of her classmates has a wireless diabetes monitor on her arm

This metaphor for parents who refuse to talk about puberty and menstruation until a kid gets a flood of hormones and suddenly FREAKS OUT CAUSE OMG AM I DYING is so good.

Awww, her supportive friends helps her process her feeeelings!

Plot hole (or maybe I’m just old and out of touch): The friends scheme a fake ‘sleepover’ to go to a concert but….is that a thing now? Are Chinese girls allowed to go on sleepovers now?

Aww damn lao ban waipo is here and she looks SEVERE.

I can’t identify with this because my grandmother was basically a human steamed bean bun and she was just nothing but hugs and snacks. And polyester shirts.

This grandma is more like the MIL in Crazy Rich Asians.

Earlier, mei mei’s mom made her juk (rice porridge) and R2’s like “I WANT THAT. That looks delicious!” and I’m like DUDE everytime I make that, you refuse to eat it!

But sure okay in cartoon version he changes his mind? FRUSTRATION.

Meimei deciding to tamp herself down and not be herself because all her parents and ancestors “hopes and dreams are pinned on me” YUP. Oh yes. The PRESSURE.

(Don’t forget that they traveled uphill across the ocean and fled persecution and occupation and starvation and being left on a mountaintop to die to give you a better life! BEHAVE and be 乖 (guai)!)

Hah her dad has those Adidas Asian dad sandals.

eEEE! The chant they’re singing is in Cantonese! Usually American chinese movies use Mandarin, so this is loooovely!

I can’t tell what they’re saying but it’s definitely cantonese, based on a childhood of hearing my family talk over my head knowing damn well I can’t understand a thing they’re saying.

The Earthquakes are screaming with glee, and I’m laughing my ass off, and Nathan is like “ugh guys i really want to hear what’s going on in this movie” and we’re having such a good time.

I can’t believe how awesome this is for discussing this month’s conversations on a women’s right to be angry.

I mean like every March we talk about how certain people are taught to tamp down and not show our anger EVER (women! Asians!) to make other people (white folks! men!) comfortable, and how it holds us back.

and it’s like DAMN this is the wavelength we need!

Not like my kids have ever held back their loud screaming rage.

but maybe maybe maybe this would help them see that not everyone has parents like us who are like “it’s okay to be angry and confused, here’s a healthy way to process it.”

5/5 favorite movie SO GOOD.

And that’s not even getting into the main theme of generational trauma – generations and generations of women taught to tame down their anger, to be obedient, quiet, polite – to be guai.

What they don’t do at all in this movie is explain why a Chinese mother would need to push her daughter to excel, given that she had to work 10x harder to survive growing up herself.

But it’s there, right? It’s like… a movie for Asian folks, without forcing us to sit through exposition explaining to the white people all the background stuff we already know. For us and by us, and not centering white viewers.

And this cast! so many ACTUAL asians!!!

Sasha H. C. 

It was so delightful

Sarae P.

We all just loved it. Glad you enjoyed it too!

Ashia R.

Discussing with my cousin today – how Turning Red both reinforces the Tiger mom trope and also gives the mom character some nuance.

And of course there’s the affable loving dad who pairs up with the tiger mom. Nathan really liked that he cleaned and cooked, but there was definitely a shadow of ‘mom is the primary caretaker.’

The thing that was SUPER SPOT ON, from the perspective of the kiddo though, was the turning anger inward.

In that scene where she’s in the shower, hitting herself. Speaking back to an elder or someone with power over you is NOT DONE. It’s not safe to express anger toward those who have power over you, so turning that anger inward, and needing to release it with a punch to the face is Definitely A Coping Thing.

So maybe if we watch this movie enough, my kids will understand why my meltdowns take the kind of flavor they do.