Turning Red

The Pixar movie Turning Red, which takes place in the early 2000s, is about a 13-year-old Chinese-Canadian girl, Meilin (or Mei) Lee, who’s an only child and who’s desperate to please her mother all the time (and sometimes at the expense of her friendships); and from research that I’ve done, it seems like this desire to please is not uncommon in Mei’s culture.  One day, Mei wakes up to find that she has turned into a giant fluffy red panda!  It turns out that a family curse (which was once a gift) has every female in her family transform into a red panda once they come of age (or start puberty); and this happens whenever they experience extreme emotions.  Mei’s mother tells her that there is a ritual that will turn her back to “normal” but, when Mei and the others around her start to embrace the red panda side to her, she wonders if she really wants to be “cured” after all.  This is by far Pixar’s best movie in years!  Don’t get me wrong, they have released some good movies recently, but I was starting to get tired of them releasing just sequels when they could release very good original movies like this one! Anyway, this movie has beautiful animation, awesome characters, great plotlines, funny moments, and some very catchy songs courtesy of Billie Ellish and the awesome Finneas.  But what I like most about this movie is the message about embracing your true self.  So many parts of it made me think about the parallels between Mei’s red panda and myself being autistic.  So many times, both Mei and I were told to hide parts of ourselves in case others wouldn’t accept us; we were both told to keep parts of our true personalities bottled in.  But that was just going to make both of us miserable and unhappy.  Isn’t it just best to release your inner red panda?  For years, I didn’t tell people I was autistic and I felt like I had to hide it.  Isn’t it just best to show your true self in front of the people who will love and accept you for who you really and truly are no matter what?  Will showing people who you are always work out perfectly?  No, sometimes it will be hard but at the end of the day that red panda part of us is too important to let go of.  Both Mei and I found out about those parts of ourselves at the exact same age and so I think that’s part of the reason I connect with this movie/her so much.  At the end of the day, embrace others for who they really and truly are and, even more importantly, embrace yourself and your own red panda; and when it’s safe to do so, don’t try to hide it!