Turning Red Movie Review: I Love It, Instant 5 Stars

Each Turning Red movie review bustles with commentary ranging from super amazing to omg no to super controversial. Honestly, I fucking love Turning Red and cannot stop watching it (I probably have watched it like 20 times on Disney Plus now). Turning Red is a story of Chinese Canadian tween Mei-Lin Lee in 2002 going through her period, navigating relationships with her mom and friends, and learning all about herself.

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You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll laugh so hard you’ll cry. Because it’s so fucking good. The animation, the plot, the raw emotion, the humor, the honesty. Everything about it just makes my heart SOOOOOO happy. I remember before watching the movie, I heard that it was bad, narrowly focused, and only negative things. Well, those Turning Red movie reviews were written by dudebros, people who are not comfortable discussing periods, and people who don’t like Asian people, so interpret that as you will.

Plus, it’s 2022, and you’re still listening to men?…….. LOL

Aside from the blatant racists and sexists and people who don’t want to discuss female puberty, a ton of other Turning Red movie reviews praised everything from the plot to character development and so much more. I agree with those Turning Red movie reviews, as I’m TEAM TURNING RED 100%!

Turning Red Movie Review – Let’s Start with the Period

As a women’s health advocate for a decade, I can tell you that so many people who menstruate are taught from the time they experience a menarche (scientific term for first period), that it’s disgusting, awful, and hell on Earth.

People with a uterus are taught to hide in shame and to never discuss periods in public, too always hide period pain, and so much more.

Turning Red flips all that social respectable shit on its head. The main character, Mei-Lin Lee, shows herself freaking out in the bathroom after she turns into a red panda and her mom comes in with a box of pads ready to go. Her mom follows her to school to give her spare pads.

Her mom wants to support her and talk with her, and that’s what we need to see more of. We need to see more parents talking to their children, regardless of whether they have a uterus, about menstruation. It’s something that affects half the people on this planet, yet it is so stigmatized.

When I saw some Turning Red movie reviews talking about how “controversial it was for Disney to make a movie with pads,” I thought, “why didn’t Disney do this sooner?”

I got my period at age 11. Most of my friends got theirs between ages 8-13. Most people are completely clueless about periods unless you learn about it from families and friends. I was lucky to have a mom discuss periods and pads and sex with me, but so many young people do not have that.

What about them?
Why are people so afraid to talk about periods?
Why are parents acting like they never talked to their children about periods?
Seriously, the way society acts around menstruation needs to change.

Now.

Let’s Talk About True Representation

OK, aside from the awesome plot line and animation and music and tone, it was just so refreshing to see a LEADING Asian character with glasses and confidence and her super supportive friends. And also her super diverse school and overall movie. I’ve watched a ton of movies, and I legit think Turning Red is the most diverse movie I’ve seen.

There’s a Sikh school security guard. Mei-Mei has two Asian besties. The main band 4* Town has Asian and Black singers. There were hijabis. This movie was full of non-white characters, and I could tell that it was not created for the white gaze.

AND I’M LOVING IT! Many Turning Red movie reviews talk about representation, but true representation is not just throwing in some non-white characters to appear less racist. It’s about actually giving those characters a purpose and a story, something Turning Red did very well! Even when thinking about what to write for this blog, I never thought I’d end up doing a Turning Red movie review, but it stuck with me so much. Plus, who doesn’t love red pandas?! 😀

A lotta Turning Red movie reviews are coming out the woodworks with a lot to say, so consider this.

How do you feel about periods?
How do you feel about your relationship with your mom?
What do you think about female puberty?

See you next week!

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