For all the mother-daughter relationship tropes 'Turning Red' gets right, it also accurately depicts what it's like to be a middle school girl.
In a media landscape that is increasingly pushing the envelope, and more and more stories focusing on teenage characters dealing with the problems of adults, it’s refreshing to get stories about kids being kids and dealing with issues related to that. Turning Red is unapologetically about girlhood. It’s about being young, weird, and unsure of yourself. It’s about trying to find your identity outside of your parents for the first time.
The problems that Mei faces outside her identity struggle may seem insignificant but the attention given to Mei’s other worries shows a sensitivity in this film. While things like concerts or embarrassing moms seem trivial to most adults, they’re still very important to Mei and her friends, and the film treats them with due gravity. She wants to go to this concert with her friends both as a symbol of her own independence but also because she’s a fan.
This is also why the gesture of Miriam taking care of Mei’s Tamagotchi means so much. It’s about the gesture more than the material result. Taking care of it shows a degree of childishness but also shows how greatly she cares about Mei as Miriam, despite also being a child, is doing what’s within her means to maintain their friendship. The things young girls cherish are often trivialized, yet here a simple toy works as a symbol of friendship and connection.
Turning Red does the incredible balancing act of showing how important trivial things can be to young girls without trivializing the emotions attached to it. The film isn’t afraid to let girls be girls. It highlights the strength of female friendships and female bonds without sacrificing the weight of their emotional conflicts. It’s silly and serious simultaneously in a way that doesn’t feel heavy-handed.
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