Why Does Turning Red Get So Many Weird Reviews?!

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Turning Red Takes:

Images:

[Phaugirl]

In a interview with Domee Shi, she explained that the reason why Meilin draws/imagines her crushes as mermen is because she is so innocent that she can’t imagine her crushes below their hips.

[smithblack]

Turning Red: I cant believe that were teaching kids to rebel against their parents!
The Little Mermaid: A timeless classic!

[theshire]

The whole period complaint reminds me about how Diary of Anne Frank was banned from some schools, as being too mature not because she and her family were hiding from a government trying to genocide them, but because there's an entry where she writes about getting her first period. It angers me so much that people think murder and oppression is more acceptable than a natural part of female life

[chocolateaddictedartist]

The secondhand EMBARRESSMENT I felt when Meilin's mom showed the guy the shmexy drawings was so overwhelming I had to pause the movie and get a drink of water.

[beluwuart]

"It's a kids movie, you can't show periods. But you need to show the impact of a terrorist attack against usa in the life of this chinese 13yo that lives in Canada"

[MammaApa]

I am personally OUTRAGED that Turning Red did not address the reorganization of Swedish post offices that occurred in early 2002. All post offices were shut down and a number of convenience stores were henceforth designated as postal pickup points for packages etc. Never forget!!!

[RachelMWinship]

Society: "13-year-old girls are so crazy over these fandoms and do weird things like obsess over fictional characters and write fanfiction. Let's stereotype them as cringey fangirls who lust after pretty boys and shame them for it!"
Also Society: "Pfft, completely unrealistic. 13-year-old girls don't write fanfiction!"

[the_enby_geek]

fun fact: Meilin running around in her Panda form with her arms up is actually based on real red pandas, when they feel threatened, they stand on their hind legs and put their arms up to make themselves look bigger

[RedMagius]

Mei's feverish rush to fill her notebook with the tamest self-insert anime-inspired drawings is the most relatable thing I've ever seen in a movie.

[orchidspond]

This is VERY minor but when mei is in the spirit forest and meets her ancestor, her ancestor has wrinkles and is clearly an older woman. Seeing that surprised me and I had to suddenly realize that so often “honored” women in media are also considered conventionally beautiful and young, or they suddenly revert back to their younger self when they pass as if that was the height of them being important women. I loved seeing an older woman regarded as beautiful, but also just MORE than that!

[madnessoverload]

It's hilarious how people complain that this movie tackles periods which are "too mature" but also complain that it doesn't comment on 9/11.

[radraccoon]

Honestly, I think Turning Red was THIS badly received because it's specifically and only about teenage girls living their lives, something the media has always loved looking down upon.
And from how badly this movie keeps getting bashed, your appreciation of it almost made me cry.

[bowsandaro]

“Teenage girls aren’t allowed to like anything unless it’s something boys are encouraged to like” and even then girls who do like things aimed at boys are branded as pick me girls or faking it for attention. Anything a woman or girl does, especially teen girls, is seen as being done purely for approval from men and there’s no winning side. If a girl likes ‘girly’ things, she’s dumb and stereotypical but if a girl likes ‘boy’ things, she just wants male attention. It’s ridiculous

[limerence]

Something I've noticed about depictions of teenage girls is it always emphasised their relationships to boys but here it was more about the girl's crushes on boys rather than one boy in particular. Drawing smut, risking everything to go a concert, being ashamed of your body, these are all normal things teenage girls experience but are never really explored. Apart from going to the concert but that's usually only done to depict the girl as vain. Here it was an essential driving force of the plot.

[Polyeurythane]

“Teenage girls aren’t allowed to like anything”

This is so freaking true. VSCO girls, Starbucks girls, pumpkin spice, basic bitch lifestyle, I could go on and on. How come we are are constantly making fun of teenage girls and women just for enjoying things they like. It’s absurd. I used to find the jokes and memes about these women and teenagers funny until someone pointed out how targeted and unfair it was, and I realized they were right. I think that’s why I like Turning Red so much, I was a total cringelord as a teenager and the internet would have torn me to shreds. Not only did it bring me comfort to know I wasn’t the only girl to be cringe, but I also felt seen in how Priya was portrayed (I may be pasty translucent white but skin color doesn’t mean I can’t relate and feel represented by a character).

[eldupont]

Everyone is speculating about why the movie was set in 2002. "Its so there wouldnt be smart phones" "It's so they could call it the Skydome" ...Domee Shi was born in 1989. She was 12 in 2002. This movie probably heavily draws on her own life experience.

[kheru]

The stigma about periods is so bad and it helps literally no one. I was ashamed of getting mine so badly I hid it for like, two months... And those had my dysphoria flare up significantly, at a time where I really wasn't going well.

It literally put me in more danger than if I'd been told "oh yeah that's a thing".

Talk to your kids, people.

[DiegoElizondo]

On the topic of Meilin being overused as a Chinese name in western media, I'm pretty sure all of Hollywood has yet to figure out Spanish girls names besides Maria exist.

[catloaff]

Also YES thank you for reiterating that this movie was made by a chinese woman, I've read so many people saying that it's reinforcing Chinese stereotypes or Mei turning into a red panda is yet another POC turning into animals to make the movie palatable to white people when in reality Domee just thought anime kaiju red panda is neat. POC should be able to make whatever they wanted creatively with their own culture/experience without the guilt of what white people in the past did to a certain trope

[ShadeHellsing]

I think its ironic that having a realistic preteen/teenage girl and the things they go through is frown upon but having a young teen look like a model and acting like an adult is ok.