by Kay Curry
Northwest Asia Weekly
“Going Red” is a groundbreaking film, the experience of the protagonist Mei Lin (May) growing up, and the first time the producer has the guts to tell us about it.
How many decent, honest movies are there about teenage girls? We have men eating pies (obviously indecent) and we have books (because girls are pretty bookish, right?) “Are you there, God?” kind.
But Disney and Pixar’s “Go Red” struggled to be a real girl on the big screen — and had fun.
Plug your ears if you need to, because the first “first” is when the girl is menstruating. Yes. Not only are they inconvenient and scary – girls rarely have the same “talk” as boys – but they are also excluded because of their innate bodily abilities, which is an added injustice. It is never explicitly stated that May is menstruating, but the symbolic meaning cannot be ignored. There is a funny scene at the beginning, Mei locks herself up, and the parents panic – “It’s too early!”
Modern man is often not ready for this fully anticipated female coming-of-age ceremony. Poor May – or Lucky May? – and the added complication of becoming a red panda.
Will she turn into a red panda in place of that “monthly time”? Well, it’s complicated, right? Because being a 13-year-old girl is complicated. All of a sudden, there’s some “messy” emotion — anger, frustration, sexual arousal — that leads to the red panda. All of a sudden, there was a conflict with the parents, especially the mother, because before this, her children were obedient and inaudible.
Turning Red addresses all these complexities with honesty and humor, and uses the phenomenon of turning into a red panda to illustrate what a teenage girl goes through as she tries to figure out her relationship to the world around her.
“She’s going through these big changes in this film, and she’s dealing with that,” explains Rosalie Chiang, who voices May. “But at the same time, she has all these things in her life, but she doesn’t want to lose herself.”
The female voices of “Go Red,” screenshots of their virtual media tour: (bottom, from left) Sandra Oh, Rosalie Chiang; (top, from left) Hyein Park, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, and Ava Morse.
Sandra Oh, who voices May’s mum, admits that this phase of life is “difficult” for mum, but is a normal part of growing up. “I play Ming…who she is, I want to call her, a hyper-vigilant, loving mother…we basically go through…the natural transition between mother and daughter when daughters have to be their own independent people. “
Turning Red makes good use of visuals to convey a message. The film is a unique and successful collaboration between the two studios, adhering to director and writer Domee Shi’s vision of seeing through the eyes of a 13-year-old girl.
Set in Canada, where most of the cast is from, the film claims to be another “first” by combining Pixar’s animation style with anime, and the cute aesthetic that came to be known as chubby. Tributes to anime can be found throughout the film, such as star-studded characters or other exaggerated facial expressions. At the same time, the world created is an entirely immersive version of the city of Toronto, with locals able to identify street corners and identify buildings.
“I’m Canadian, I’m Asian, so I absolutely love the film,” said animator Benjamin Su, who felt the “diversity aspect” of “Red” — cast and crew –” Very important”.
Fellow animator Bruce Kuei is excited about combining styles because “all the cartoons I watched growing up…all were 80s and 90s animation.”
Both animators draw inspiration from their own youth and their experiences as teenage fathers to inject authenticity into the work.
As part of guiding a 13-year-old girl, the animators were tasked with being the first to create an animated boy band in a film.Mei and her friends are over 4 years oldtown (the popular joke is why they are called 4Are there five people in town? ). The girls show remarkable business acumen, raising money for a concert while getting caught up in a typical teenage frenzy for the little boys in the band.
Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, who voices Mei’s friend Priya, describes herself going to a boy-band-style concert: “I keep thinking, why do people cry…? Like, shouldn’t you be excited about being there? … …but, they yelled as soon as they got on stage. I’m done…I’m like, I understand…the music, growing up, totally shapes who you are. And, with your Friends to enjoy together…especially female friendships.”
The friendship of the girls in the movie is for the first time again – they’re not mean girls; they’re not about getting each other. Instead, friendship was crucial for May to emerge from her struggles intact and happy. They are her support network.
“What I love about this film is through friendship and music — it’s a precious time when you start to figure out who you are, when your friends become very, very important,” says Oh, who still has the women she nurtured Friends follow.
“It’s a beautiful thing,” continued Ava Morse, who voiced May’s capricious friend Miriam. “Everyone is together…to live their lives as best they can….All of my friends mean a lot to me. They’ve been very supportive, no matter what.”
The number of collaborations on the film feels like another first – from the way the friends collaborated on the story to the way the filmmakers and the two studios worked together. Representation is definitely a part of that – the diversity of women and the cast and production team.
There were also representatives of many age groups, and people from many different walks of life who came together in a single vision to create the film. The song was written by Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas O’Connell (voicing one of the members of 4*Town).
Producer Lindsey Collins explains the music choice: “I have three teenagers in my house who are listening to music all the time. Billie and Finneas’ music is always playing in my house. They are obviously the ones who talk to this generation, and… they feel… Those songs… were written for them.”
She recounted how the filmmakers feared it was such a “weird question,” but Eilish and O’Connell agreed immediately. “It’s huge. It’s like a gift, really,” she said.
Everyone can relate to “going red”. No matter what gender we are, we all have to decide at some point whether we’re going to let our “messy” emotions sublime, whether we’re going to have ourselves, or whether we’re going to “go red.” The trick is that somewhere, all three are healthy together, something that May has to figure out for the first time.
“Go Red” hits theaters on March 11.
Kay can reach info@nwasianweekly.com.
