Why (Some) Parents Hate the Honest Sexuality of Turning Red

Wonderful movie. I also think it’s chilling that Christians condemned the movie for promoting “rebellion” - seems like they endorse the draconian parenting style as depicted. On a personal level, the part were Mei mentions thinking of the people she loves most in the world to get rid of the panda, referring to her friends, hit me right in the gut. I’m not close to my parents. While my mom wasn’t a helicopter parent (thank fuck), both of mine were emotionally neglectful and placed too much emphasis on doing well in school - I’m not Asian and they weren’t as strict as your stereotypical Asian parent, but all of that left emotional scars. I’m in therapy now and trying to work on all these issues.

Cassid E. Hawk

Haha I knoowwwwwww, I wrote it correctly in my script but in filming I got confused and said the wrong thing haha

Jessie Earl

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 YES YES YES Exactly

Jessie Earl

Loved this one, and I'm so excited for it to get out into the aether and give people some important points to consider! I loved Turning Red, and it makes sense that conservatives would miss all the brilliance, subtlety, and wholesomeness in it. They've built a culture around emotional repression. The "villain" was not Mei's mother or parental restrictions, but codependency and lack of autonomy. The fact that Mei and Ming overcame that together was such a beautiful testament to the mutual growth parents and children experience through their relationships with one another. I particularly liked the way it was Jin's advice that led Mei to her decision to keep the panda, that he saw her for everything she is and everything she was becoming, and was proud of her. That scene was so touching, and it framed Mei's independence not as "rebelling against her parents", but as her parents letting go of their own dependence (Ming) and providing the strength needed for that leap of faith into adulthood (Jin.)

Finntastic Mr. Fox

I'm always so amused by christians being outraged by portraits of things their god created. How dare the non believers confront us with the truth!? Preposterous!!

0/10 You keep saying that it's a Red Fox when it's CLEARLY a Red Panda, that is totally not poggers. (Awesome video, I loved every min of it, and it makes want to watch the movie now.)

Marron S

Thank you for speaking out in defense of children, Jessie. As the mom of a young teen (who loved this movie) it's so annoying to hear some of the Christian right promote the idea that children should just respect their parents no matter what and if they trust their instincts they are DOOMED. Parents need to learn that respect must be earned and that we are here to compassionately guide our children into their own lives, and that sometimes that will take them further from us but it doesn't need to be a disconnecting experience. Apart from that, this is one of my favourite videos of yours so far! Really nice balance of serious topic & lighthearted humour. Not sure how you did that but it's got a really nice feel with solid messaging. Thank you!

Adrenalynn

I really loved that they portrayed this stage of the learning about sexuality. Most media jumps from childhood innocence and ignorance to senior year and being caught up in the slander war of frigid vs whore. There's a pretty big ga there that almost entirely ignored in most media. I also loved that they managed to keep that tiny sequence of priya with the Goth girl in. Love that the friends were so supportive.

allykitten87

It could be female, but it isn't overtly so.

allykitten87

Ohh, I didn't catch that!

Jessie Earl

Hahaha, my bad too, I mixed up fox with panda even though I had it right in my script, not sure why I did that in my brain while filming

Jessie Earl

Ahh, agreed 100000%

Jessie Earl

Haha, as someone who tried to draw smut but could only do stick figures, I appreciate you

Jessie Earl

Thank you for watching and supporting it. And thanks, I had a lot of thoughts more on the reaction to the film then the actual film itself. And it's interesting to see how many parents appreciated the film for sparking conversations, not scared of them <3

Jessie Earl

Matt also has a drawing of a nude man's back. Now, I have nothing wrong with that. Just doesn't seem to fit his family friendly, heterosexual messaging.

allykitten87

Great take Jessie! And a great movie! One and only constructive criticism, you keep calling the Red Pandas "Red Foxes" and I'm not sure if that was on purpose or accident. I am also not sure if Red Fox is another name for Red Panda... Anyway it confused me for a minute so I thought I would point it out.

Kelsey the Bean

This film left me thinking about how coming of age movies that center on girls are usually framed as tragic or cautionary tales... Boys typically get comedic romps about an adventure to scope out boobs (see Good Boys) and girls usually get moody dramas with some sort of cautionary tale built in (Thirteen, Now and Then, etc) This movie is one of the VERY FEW honest takes on puberty for young girls that let's it's characters just fucking be young girls with crushes and it not be the start of some great tragedy for them..

Thank you for explaining the whole deal with the merperson drawings. My poor ace brain has been wondering what the deal was with the semi-smutty drawings my friends drew during puberty for the last 25 years.

Jaime Berkland

Thank you so much for making this video. I loved Turning Red and saw much of my childhood dynamics with my mom reflected in this movie, which was honestly pretty cathartic. It irked me to see so many negative comments on socials and hope they don’t dissuade others from watching and at least empathizing with Mei and the themes presented. Awesome work dissecting and investigating the criticism.