I was surprised by Turning Red. In a good way or bad is up for debate. When the advertisements came out for this movie I had no interest in it. For the first time in a while a Pixar movie did not seem interesting to me at all and the animation style turned me off. For this reason, I never intended to watch it until one night we were looking for a film to watch as a family, something new.
Well as soon as the film started the surprise hit me. First, it was quite funny and shockingly set in 2002, exactly the time I would have been around the same age as the characters and filled with 2002 nostalgia. Is that what kids are into now? Pretty quickly that good surprise dissipated. . .
The direction and messaging of this movie is pretty shocking. It was made “known” before the release that it was supposed to be a movie about entering puberty and, specifically, I understood that the Red Panda was supposed to be an allegory for menstruation. That is not the case. What this movie actually seems to be about, is sexual awakening. (They address in the movie that M.C. has not gotten her period and even though she has to control her emotions to control the problem the first time her Panda Appears is after an incident relating to a boy which causes brand new feelings with the M.C.
The problem is, whoever was creating this film seemed got their allegories crossed; at least I can hope that was the case. The more the movie went on the less I was able to sympathize with the M.C. and the side gigs going on had my eyes almost bugging out of my head. So slight spoiler, the main goal for most of the movie is to attend a concert by 2000’s esque boy band. The girls (M.C. & friends) have to find a way to raise the money for these tickets on their own as M.C.’s parents at least would not buy a ticket or even let her go.
From there start the part of the movie that felt the most uncomfortable. They start selling time with the Red Panda to their classmates. On the surface this might seem an adorable and minor plot point. Audiences at a glance might even mistake it for the M.C. being accepted for herself or how entrepreneurial she and her friends are (though they are going behind their parent’s backs). However, the Red Panda was never supposed to just be a fluffy cute superpower. It can not be denied that, by whatever interpretation, the “Inner Panda” is an undeniable allegory, and they proceed to literally “sell” the Red Panda.
When this plot point began I looked over at my husband in disbelief and asked him if this was really happening. To be clear, the 13-year-old character who is just going through a sexual awakening or entering puberty and has manifested a physical representation of that is now selling that representation to kids all over her school. And as they purposefully show, it is a constantly revolving door of people who want to spend time with the Red Panda.
Like I said before, I want to believe this was just gross oversight; the mixing of messages that landed us in a surprising portrayal of teenage prostitution and not something subversive that they were trying to slip in. However, it’s there whether they intended it or not.
The movie was basically already done for me at that point. The constant lying, treating her friends badly (even though they are supposed to be the key to calming the Red Panda) and the last line of “My Panda, My Choice” made me sick to my stomach by the end. This is supposed to be a 13 year old girl, one who is going through a huge change yes, but is still a child. If they had kept to one through-line about the trauma and shame often heaped on young girls who are transitioning into womanhood, and how the past generations did not always handle it well, I probably would have like this film. Even more if they had acknowledged that how the M.C. was handling things was just as toxic and damaging as her mother’s way (if not more so) and tried to find a middle ground, even better.
As it is I was glad the movie was over and will never be showing it to my children in the future. Instead we can have a healthy and honest discussion about the topics they butchered and hopefully create a generation who can speak openly about puberty, menstruation, and sexuality while staying safe and respecting themselves and others.
