My Hong Kong | Disney’s Turning Red left me empathising with Mum and comparing Mei to Hong Kong – like the teen, the city is caught between colliding worlds
- While Disney’s Turning Red offers a long overdue exploration of puberty, as a mum there were times I empathised with the main character’s mother, Ming
- Mei is caught between honouring her family and herself and, the way I see it, the city of Hong Kong feels a similar tug between the values of East and West
The other day I decided to give Turning Red a watch, given the buzz that the film has generated in the Asian community.
I must say that I absolutely loved the movie – but, underneath the cutesy Pixar animation and heart-warming narrative, it was one that left me with mixed emotions.
On the one hand, I am overjoyed we are finally seeing a mainstream film openly explore the little discussed topic of puberty. Coming-of-age films have tended to skirt this topic or avoid it altogether, and it was about time a big-name studio gave this topic some airtime (even if it’s represented in the form of a red panda).
On the other hand, I watched this film through the eyes of a mother and there were certainly moments when I empathised with the main character’s mother, Ming, who is voiced by Canadian-American actress Sandra Oh.
