A Couple Observations About "Turning Red"

I watched the latest Pixar movie “Turning Red” and loved it. Seems like a lot of people really enjoyed the movie as well (even if there is a tiny bit of ridiculous controversy). I thought that there were characters that were just lovable, a good storyline with both humor and drama, lovely animation (if nothing else you can expect great animation from Pixar), and an excellent climax. 

While watching and enjoying the movie I made a couple of observations.

Observation #1:

“Turning Red” is directed by Domee Shi. She was born in China and raised in Canada (mostly in Toronto). Her feature film debut takes place in Toronto. The previous Pixar movie “Luca” was directed by Enrico Casarosa. That movie takes place in Italy, and the director was born and raised in Italy before coming to America to strive for a career in the arts.

I think it’s more than a coincidence that the past couple of Pixar movies take place in the native countries of their directors. I wonder if Pixar encourages this particular kind of story.

Observation #2:

Like many Judy Blume books that have come before it, the movie “Turning Red” discusses features of puberty, including periods. Overall the characters, perhaps especially the teenage girls, seem to be realistic as far as personalities and human behavior goes. I think that a few years or so back that this would have been less likely, to feature aspects of puberty this frankly in a major animated film aimed towards children and families.

This reminded me of a movie called “Only Yesterday.” Before I go into the story of that movie, I should probably give you some background about Studio Ghibli and their relationship with Disney. For many years beginning in the late 1990s, the Disney company dubbed the Japanese studio’s movie into English and distributed them in America. They did the dubbings for films such as “Spirited Away,” “Kiki’s Delivery Service,” and more.

One of the few Studio Ghibli films that Disney didn’t distribute or dub into English was “Only Yesterday,” a movie about a young woman vacationing in the Japanese countryside while reminiscing about her childhood. Personally I had mixed feelings about the movie, mostly having to do with the way certain aspects within the plot either resolved or didn’t even bother resolving themselves (also the love interest seemed to spend more time talking about the wonders of organic farming rather than wooing the main character). However, the movie wasn’t without merit and I was glad that I watched it.

“Only Yesterday” was originally released in Japan in 1991. It was finally released in 2016  with an English language dubbing (which actually features the voices of Daisy Ridley and Dev Patel), twenty-five years after it premiered. By then Disney and Studio Ghibli had ended their partnership, and another company called GKIDS took over distribution in the United States. 

One of the main reasons that Disney may have been hesitant to release “Only Yesterday” is because in one of the childhood flashback scenes, they actually discuss periods. The main character Taeko Okajima as a young girl is seen learning what periods are, along with other facts of puberty at school. And you see her and the other girls discussing puberty and eventual womanhood. 

I think this just goes to show how culturally things have changed at least slightly in America, and what people (and studios making movies) consider to be appropriate for general audiences. Not too long ago Disney was hesitant to release a foreign film that briefly discusses puberty into the English language, a movie that realistically would only be seen by a relatively small audience in America and a few other territories. Now Disney through Pixar has spent tens of millions of dollars on creating an animated feature of their own which features the same topics.