In the latest Pixar film, “Turning Red,” ain character, Mei, hides in the bathroom before school. Prior to being in the bathroom, She finds herself unfamiliar with her looks. So in the film, she has turned into a giant red panda. Her mother, Ming, concludes that her 13-year-old daughter has received her first period in the bathroom.
Ming quickly gathers all menstrual essentials and walks to the bathroom to aid her daughter. Her hand holds ibuprofen, vitamins, a hot water bottle, and pads. Mei starts to realize her body is now no longer the same.
Instead of taking on the subject of menstrual cycles straight on, Pixar decides to disguise one of the most awkward phases of life into turning into a big furry red animal. Thinking about it, It is pretty hilarious.
Mei turns into a furry red panda when she loses control of her emotions, then reverts to normal after getting her emotions under control. It is similar to having a natural period, so it is no surprise that the metaphor was used.
Throughout the film, The Mei is faced head-on with lust attraction while she crushes on the cashier at the convenience store and members of her favorite boy band.
“From the very beginning, I was just really trying to not hold back with telling the story about a girl going through puberty. We’re going to go there,” Shi expressed in an interview with IndieWire.
“From the very first version, it had pads, it had puberty, it had the weird boy crushes and drawings.”
The movie can quickly remind someone of the rated R series Big mouth, which tackles puberty’s awkwardness but with monsters depicted as similar to an imaginary friend. The monsters symbolize each character’s hormones, which gives them the name in the series of hormone monsters.
In “turning red,” The main character Mei faces the stages of puberty and all it has to offer from lust and attraction while developing crushes on the cashier at the convenience store and members of her favorite boy band.
“From the very beginning, I was just really trying to not hold back with telling the story about a girl going through puberty. We’re going to go there,” Shi expressed in an interview with IndieWire.
“From the very first version, it had pads, it had puberty, it had the weird boy crushes and drawings.”
Instead of stigmatizing this coming of age, the movie embraces it and makes it kid-friendly enough to learn and enjoy.
