![]() ![]() The pressure of not performing to a standard or disappointing your family is an experience I and many others in the Asian community struggle to overcome. Meilin’s feeling of needing to be perfect is often a character trait in children from Asian families. Personally, I have grappled with balancing my mom’s thoughts against making my own decisions. Mei realizes how to balance family life with friends and how to navigate her own identity outside of her mom’s wishes. Audiences can see Mei learn that she does not need to be perfect to be loved. The viewer sees boy bands to Tamagotchis to Sailor Moon references. Seeing a young Asian girl go through many experiences I had growing up was surreal. The film, set in 2002, has many things that are very reminiscent of young Asian teenage girls of the time. Audiences get a glimpse of the intense love Asian mothers have for their children and the pressure on the children to gain their parent’s approval. Mei’s relationship with her mother, voiced by the great Sandra Oh, reminds me of my own relationship with my mother. The movie delves into the mother-daughter dynamic of an Asian household, a theme that hits very close to home. The topics of familial and ancestral ties, mother daughter-relationships, and friendship left me a happy emotional wreck from beginning to end. ![]() As an Asian woman, the film’s target demographic, I felt genuinely understood while watching this film. I attended the opening night of “ Turning Red” at El Captain Theater in Los Angeles. Mei works to keep her life balanced as she tries to stop transforming into a giant red panda, as if in comedic Kafka style. “Turning Red” follows 13-year-old Meilin “Mei” Lee, voiced by Rosalie Chiang, navigating adolescence, boys, and emotions while staying true to her heritage, family, and friends. As a Chinese Canadian woman, Shi attacks both the bamboo and glass ceiling and portrays healthy female friendships and proper representation of the Asian American and Asian Canadian communities in a marvelous movie that tugged the heartstrings of women, especially women of color. “Turning Red” is the first Disney animated movie to have an Asian woman as head director. The new animated film “Turning Red” (2022) by Disney Pixar The new animated film, directed by Domee Shi, brilliantly shines with themes of women empowerment and Asian American representation. CADY ABE WRITES – Disney Pixar’s newest movie, “ Turning Red”, premiered on March 11, 2022, on Disney Plus. ![]()
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