{"id":3238,"date":"2022-08-02T12:44:00","date_gmt":"2022-08-02T12:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vulvani.com\/die-pubertaet-im-film-rot-pandas-und-die-periode\/"},"modified":"2022-11-02T17:18:12","modified_gmt":"2022-11-02T17:18:12","slug":"puberty-in-turning-red-pandas-and-periods","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vulvani.com\/en\/puberty-in-turning-red-pandas-and-periods\/","title":{"rendered":"Puberty in ‘Turning Red’: Pandas and Periods"},"content":{"rendered":"

Turning Red<\/em><\/strong> is an animated Pixar film directed by Domee Shi, which was released on Disney Plus on March 11th, 2022. It follows a thirteen-year-old Chinese Canadian girl named Mei, who finds out one day that she turns into a giant red panda when overcome by emotion. The parallel to going through puberty and experiencing your period for the first time<\/a> is clear.<\/p>\n\n

Turning Red \u2013 a movie about periods and puberty<\/h3>\n\n

Turning Red<\/em><\/strong> is unique in that its allegory for periods<\/a> is something that the main character grows into and embraces, rather than treating it as something to be ashamed of. The film is humorous, but it laughs with menstruators<\/a>, not at them, as Mei figures out how to navigate these changes to her body. Director Shi has said it was always intended to be unflinching in exploring that experience, and how teenagers deal with the changes they\u2019re going through. It handles teenage crushes, embarrassing and confrontational interactions with parents, and the emotional changes that happen during puberty. Shi based it on her own experiences as a Chinese Canadian teenager growing up in Toronto in the early 2000s, which makes the representation of puberty in Turning Red<\/em><\/strong> feel so sincere. There are other examples<\/a> of such positive exploration of periods in media, but there are by no means enough.<\/p><\/div>\n\n

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Photo Credits: \u00a9 2022 Disney\/Pixar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

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How is puberty represented in Turning Red<\/em>?<\/h3>

Even outside of the allegory of the giant red panda, Turning Red<\/em><\/strong> mentions periods directly. In a scene where Mei is trying to understand her transformation, her mother assumes she\u2019s panicking because she got her period for the first time<\/a>. Hesitantly, she asks, \u201cHas the red peony bloomed?\u201d She then springs into action: \u201cI have ibuprofen, vitamin B, a hot water bottle, and pads.\u201d She reassures Mei that this is what happens as she grows older. The movie doesn\u2019t go into technical details, but it uses clear language to describe what is happening, with words like \u2018flow\u2019, \u2018blood\u2019, and \u2018time of the month\u2019<\/a>.<\/p>

The discussions of periods and puberty in Turning Red<\/em><\/strong> were always going to be included. Producer Lindsey Collins said that the creatives on the project were concerned about the reaction from Pixar. There was a risk that they would be told to tone it down. But the issue never came up. Collins attributes this to how puberty is \u201cvery much in the DNA of the film and its characters\u201d<\/a>. <\/p>

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