Disney and Pixar’s latest offering Turning Red tells an endearing story of a dorky teenager, Meilin (Rosalie Chiang), going through changes in her life while navigating a chaotic yet loving relationship with her ‘tiger mother’, Ming (Sandra Oh). Besides the regular challenges of adolescence, Mei also has a gift passed on by her ancestors. She turns into a red panda whenever she gets angry or excited!
While her family, especially her nosy maternal relatives wait for the ritual to her problem, Mei goes through a rollercoaster ride with her close group of friends to acquire tickers of their favourite boyband’s concert. Ahead of the film’s release, News18.com attended a press conference with the cast of Turning Red, where they spoke about the importance of teenage female friendships.
Answering a question on how the film completely rejects the tropes of teenage female friendships being catty or backstab-y and the importance of good portrayals of such friendships for the younger generation, Sandra said, “I don’t know who sets this up, that girls are like this. Because I don’t think it’s very true. And I think this is an extremely good representation of deep friendships, and the highs and the lows.”
Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, who voices one of Mei’s closest friends Priya, took the thought forward and continued, “With TV and film, we always portray that your love interest is the one that you should be closer with. You know, like, that’s the real bond. That always made me sort of sceptical, because wouldn’t the childhood best friend know you better? What your favourite ice cream flavour is? Don’t they know what to do when you’re having a breakdown? Growing up, if you don’t have that, you can get all the lovely internalized misogyny where you’re like, ‘Oh, yeah, I only like hanging out with guys ’cause girls are, like, so dramatic’.”
“So it’s so awesome that we have this in Turning Red between the four girls because now my little cousin gets to see and think this is the kinda girl gang you want,” she added.
Sandra further said that the girls’ entrepreneurial skills also send out a good message. “I just like the characters so much. They’re not afraid to be smart. They’re not afraid to like their work. And that they’re extremely entrepreneurial in this. I also appreciated how all these girls, even in their young womanhood are in charge of their lives and they’re making their decisions,” the Killing Eve actress expressed.
The film also delves deep into the relationship Mei shares with her mom, who is constantly keeping an eye on her like a hawk. Sandra recalled her own ‘tiger mom’ moment when she was younger. Sharing an anecdote, she said, “I’m not afraid of that concept of a tiger mom. I actually do have something that I posted a very long time ago on Instagram. Basically, my mother said, ‘If only you were neater, I would love you more.’ (laughs) So, I happen to have a really good relationship with my mom, and I know not everyone does, but I can’t stop her from being herself.”
“I think, with our mothers and with our Asian mothers it’s very, very difficult to satisfy them,” she joked.
The debut feature film of Academy Award-winning director, Domee Shi, Turning Red also stars the voices of Ava Morse and Hyein Park among others. It will release on Disney+ Hotstar on March 11.
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