Crying Until My Eyes Turn Red: A Student’s Review of “Turning Red”

Written by Khang Dang (Spring 2024)

Generations have passed on traditions from old to new.

For centuries, our ancestors have given us pieces of the past to use in the puzzles of the future. We are given gifts and tools at our own disposal to make good use of our lives.

We are given an opportunity to live. Although we experience a different life from theirs, we can remember our ancestors as when they were alive.

Even when they are gone, they are never truly away because we are still cherishing them every day.

Ancestors are a very integral part of “Turning Red”, a movie directed by Domee Shi and produced by Pixar. Mei Lee, our protagonist, talks of how her ancestors are a part of her family’s lives that have emanated through them for as long as they had been born.

She lives the gift of her ancestors through herself, making sure to value them when it comes to helping her mother at her temple. It is a blessing that she is given as she walks day by day.

Mei is an energetic and charismatic individual who claims that she is a typical teenage girl who likes things other teenage girls like: boys, concerts, partying. She likes to believe that she enjoys all these things despite contradicting herself. Considering she doesn’t get the time to do the things that she typically would like to, she lives a very different life.

Given the hopes and dreams of her ancestors, and her family before her, Ming Lee, her mother, puts a lot of pressure on her. The pressure of hopes she failed to achieve when she was young are placed onto her daughter. Mei is given the stress of keeping high grades, helping out at the temple every single day of the week, and making sure that she can make her mother proud. She wants to be good enough for her.

For Ming, protecting her little girl is what is most important to her. She does so by keeping a close eye on her, and keeping her freedom at bay. She wants to prevent her from making any mistakes that may jeopardize her life and/or future.

But Ming can only protect Mei from the truth for so long.

One night when the moon is soaked with a bright red, something unexpected happens to Mei and completely changes her life from here on out.

She awakens to find herself completely different. Red eyes, red hair, and…red panda?

She has completely changed into a new body. One that can barely even fit in their house. It brings about catastrophe to her life as she thrashes and trashes her own house just by simply walking. Screaming and crying are the… most appropriate reactions to have, granted that you turn into a big, furry red panda.

But this red panda is not a phenomenon that is unexplained.

Once Mei is settled down, Ming comes to sit down and have a talk with her. The both of them speak calmly and try to understand the new life that she has become situated to.

Sun Yee, their ancestor, lived a calm life in China with her husband and two daughters happily accustomed next to the red pandas that roamed her village. Her love for them and the adorable look of their red coats and adorable eyes had caused her to absolutely cherish them.

But everything changed when war began between their village and bandits who had come to invade. Her husband couldn’t stay, he was signed up for the war and was sent away to fight against the bandits.

But Sun Yee was afraid of the consequences, and unknowing of the future of the village as the men had left to fight. She wanted to keep her family safe, she wanted to keep everyone safe.

She waited, and prayed. She prayed to be given assistance and especially protection, perhaps even guidance to protect her home and the people she loved the most.

Then, her calls were answered.

She was granted the ability to transform into a big red panda to protect the ones she loved.

Now…while Ming calls this a gift, she also calls it…“An inconvenience.” The world since then has changed, and there are so many new things that have come about it.

Being a red panda isn’t necessarily needed now in this developing world.

But this story is one about finding that change. It is about breaking free from what is traditional, and the idea of not having to live for other people. It is a story about development, and finding oneself. It is a story that will perhaps make you tear up as you watch the journey of Mei Lee and the life that she has to endure when its course throws her up and down. Her struggles to be perfect while also being a kid conflict with each other. Some people might find themselves able to see themselves in her, or understand the situation she goes through.

I believe I found myself to be saddened because there are aspects of this that I can understand. It is not always easy, but a lot of people can empathize in the way that her mother had taught her. Sometimes good people have good intentions, but their actions aren’t always executed so well. We just have to remember that times are changing, and that it might not always be easy. That was the beauty of this movie that brought me to tears.

Featured Photo owned by Disney.