Seriously, though, this movie is LITERALLY ME and every other fangirl/human who loves a particular thing with every fiber of their being. Just saying 😆🐼❤️
The other stuff (that isn’t 13-year-old fangirling)
The REST of Disney’s Turning Red is pretty good. You know the formula: child coming of age, emerging conflict with parents who genuinely want the best for her but are also dealing with their own past hurts, supportive group of friends who have a secret handshake and shared love of a particular music group called 4-Town, bully who becomes a friend, and a heartwarming happy ending where the parents accept the child and everyone moves on with their life. I really did love this part of the movie, and while I can’t speak for the accuracy of the way that the family’s temple and beliefs were represented, it did seem like Disney did their research.
But…
My FAVORITE PART: A MOVIE WITH FANGIRLS!!!!!!
I am fully aware that the fangirl character has been represented in lots of different media in the past couple of decades or so. But THIS movie… Oh my GEEZ it’s so awesome the way they did it! Everything, from the way that the characters’ eyes are drawn when they see a picture of their fandom, to the fact that the girl-friend group will spontaneously break out in beatboxing and singing their favorite song, and the scene where they’re all daydreaming about their favorite band members and joking about being married to them– I wasn’t around when 90s/early 2000s boy bands were a thing, but I kinda wish I was now 😹
Replace fanart with anything in fandom — spending countless hours scrolling through Tumblr or Twitter, reading fanfiction. Mei and all of her friends are not only you, but they’re also all of your fangirl besties — the ones you text when you need to flip out about all your favorite things to someone who just gets it.
Jamie whitebread, Marvelous Geeks Media
And on a little bit deeper note, Turning Red also does a fantastic job of representing the way that Meilin experiences powerful emotions that she doesn’t know what to do with, and how she struggles to act like an adult and is entirely too hard on herself expecting herself to act mature and perfect all the time. I also loved when she addressed her mom’s shared struggles with the feeling that she would never be good enough, and how they both begin to heal and grow together.
Here are a few of my favorite still-shots from the movie:
Oh and one more thing I almost forgot to mention: MALE FAN-PEOPLE!!! The fact that the Mean Kid, Tyler, who’s trying to act like he doesn’t care for most of the movie, shows up at the concert and the girls are SUPER ACCEPTING and they all unapologetically fangirl over the group together is just aaaaaahhhhhh so wonderful! I hope everyone’s experience is like this 🥰💖🤩😻💖🥰🤩
Okay, I think I’m done now 😹 I hope you enjoyed this review of Disney’s Turning Red. Have you seen it yet? What did you think? What other movies/books/shows have you seen with fangirls/fanpeople like this?
Happy fangirling!
Let’s connect! Subscribe to email updates below so you never miss a new post from me, plus get lots of FREE THINGS!! 💖
[…] Turning Red on Disney+ (read all about it here!) […]