Twitter thread highlights why it's hypocritical to say "Turning Red" promotes disobeying parents
Toronto filmmaker Domee Shi’s first full-length animated film, Turning Red, is the talk of the town for a variety of reasons — not all positive.
The Disney-Pixar movie premiered on Disney+ on March 11, and parents around the world flocked to watch it with their kids.
Turning Red is a coming-of-age story revolving around Chinese Canadian 13-year-old Meilin, who gets her first period, has crushes on boys, wants to go to concerts, and is caught in the double yoke of her obeying her parents and being a carefree teenager.
Meilin’s mom, in particular, is quite protective of her, but the young girl has to stand her ground and allow herself to be the true boy-band-obsessed, hormonal teen she is.
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This premise has brought a lot of parents out of the woodwork, who say the Turning Red story promotes disobeying your parents and being obsessed with boys at a young age.
The film has a lower audience rating than its critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes for reasons such as, “it teaches kids it is OK to disobey parents if it is important to the child,” and “it’s uncomfortable that a 13-year-old was [drawing fan fiction of boy band members] in a Pixar film.”
Turning Red currently has a 66% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Dived into the reviews and had a real “don’t know what I expected” moment pic.twitter.com/xGgYXik4Ch
— Jonathan (@jonathanmb32) March 12, 2022
But one Rotten Tomatoes critic, Christie Cronan of @raisingwhasians, decided to break down why the negative takes are so hypocritical.
Cronan is a Korean American blogger raising two biracial children in Florida who focuses on creating an “honest motherhood viewpoint.”
“Everyone who’s upset about Pixar Turning Red’s Meilin disobeying her parents and ‘sneaking out of the house,’ let me remind you of a few Disney films where the girl disobeyed and no one was in an uproar about it,” Cronan tweeted on March 13, two days after the movie dropped.
Everyone who’s upset about Pixar Turning Red’s Meilin disobeying her parents and “sneaking out of the house,” let me remind you of a few Disney films where the girl disobeyed and no one was in an uproar about it:
— Raising Whasians (@raisingwhasians) March 13, 2022
Here are all the films Cronan talked about:
Inside Out
Walt Disney Pictures/Pixar Animation Studios
Riley from Inside Out literally ran away from home on a bus – finally came to her senses (emotions?) and went home. 🔴🟡🟢🔵🟠
— Raising Whasians (@raisingwhasians) March 13, 2022
Mulan
Walt Disney Pictures
Mulan disobeyed her parents, stole her father’s armor and fought in a war as a man. Talk about extreme…
— Raising Whasians (@raisingwhasians) March 13, 2022
Little Mermaid
Walt Disney Pictures
Ariel ran away from home to go make out with some random prince she saw on a boat once.
— Raising Whasians (@raisingwhasians) March 13, 2022
Beauty and the Beast
Walt Disney Pictures
Belle disobeyed her dad to take his place in a beast’s prison cell. Classy.
— Raising Whasians (@raisingwhasians) March 13, 2022
Walt Disney Pictures
Jasmine disobeyed her dad and ran away to become a street rat, nevermind that she also flew away on a magic carpet ride date with a prince she met a little bit ago
— Raising Whasians (@raisingwhasians) March 13, 2022
Cinderella
Walt Disney Pictures
Cinderella disobeyed her stepmother to escape her abusive family, met a prince at a fancy party once and end up married to him because of a shoe
— Raising Whasians (@raisingwhasians) March 13, 2022
Disney fans flocked to reply to Cronan’s threads with more instances of young girls rebelling in Disney films:
Moana
Walt Disney Pictures
Moana sailed away to find Maui
— Jonathan Nace (@JonNace9) March 14, 2022
Brave
Walt Disney Pictures
+Merida refused to be married despite tradition
+Rapunzel lied to Mother Gothel to sneak out with a wanted theif that she met when he broke into her home
+Moana disobeyed her father & took a boat out into the ocean TWICE! (second time with her mother and grandmother’s help 😉)
— 🏳️⚧️ Ash Bee Thee Enbee 🏳️⚧️ (@Hey_AshBee) March 14, 2022
And girls in Disney films haven’t been the only ones rebelling. Twitter user @Hey_AshBee also compiled a list of “disobedient” boys:
AND disobedient boys too!
+Simba took Nala to the elephant graveyard
+Quasimodo & Phoebus helped Esmeralda
+Tarzan took humans to the gorillas’ home
+NEMO TOUCHED THE BUTT!
+Miguel stole a guitar from a crypt
+Luca went to the human town
+HIRO WAS GAMBLING IN ILLEGAL BOT FIGHTS?!— 🏳️⚧️ Ash Bee Thee Enbee 🏳️⚧️ (@Hey_AshBee) March 14, 2022
Aaand that’s everyone’s cue to leave Meilin alone. Turn red on your own time.
Disney/Pixar