Turning Red brings up a pretty common problem among a lot of kids, especially those with overbearing parents like Mei Lee. It’s not a bad thing to admit that we’re embarrassed by our parents when we’re younger since life happens, we go through a great number of changes with each passing year, and our parents don’t always appear to understand. The thing is that they do understand, but some simply aren’t equipped or don’t pay good enough attention to realize that their kids are going through the same process they did in a different way. We only get a short blurb to see how Mei reacts to the stress of seeing her mother beating up a security guard on school grounds while class is in session, but it’s enough to sympathize just a little since it’s likely that plenty of people can remember moments when their parents might have stepped over the line just a bit in their defense or because they figured that their child needed them for whatever reason. But none of us can say that we’ve ever morphed into a giant red panda simply because we’re stressed, no matter how many strange things can happen when one is stressed.
The audience is definitely going to want to find out just why it is that Mei turns into a giant, fluffy red panda when she gets stressed out since it’s likely that some of us have felt out of control and ready to lash out at anyone and everyone around us when we get stressed. But Turning Red won’t be coming out until March 2022. Hopefully there will be a few more hints here and there as to what’s going on and why Mei has this ability. It might even be that it could come in handy at some point, though according to the trailer it’s a nightmare since she has to spend so much time calming herself down, and even too much excitement can be her undoing.
On a more real note, stress in kids is a very real thing and has grown increasingly more serious over the years. It’s likely that this kind of development has been around for a long time, but we’ve only just noticed it in the last several decades. Many would wonder what kind of stress a kid would have to worry about, but there is actually a wide assortment of things that kids stress over, and not all of them are as easy to resolve as some might think. Stressing about grades, about fashion choices, and about anything that might be able to receive a quick fix is hardly the problem a lot of times. Problems at home, which can vary greatly from person to person, a mental, emotional, or physical deficiency that keeps a kid from developing the way they need to, and even relationship issues can become massive stress points that kids aren’t always equipped to deal with since like it or not, a lack of life experience is a big issue that comes into play since many kids don’t have the personal experience to deal with many issues that life tends to come with. Add that all together and it’s a recipe for anxiety that can branch off in many different ways and seriously damage the chance that a kid will be able to handle a stressful moment without wanting to explode.
But there’s more to this story than just the stress that Mei feels and the fact that her mom appears to think it’s okay to check up on her while she’s at school. That ability to change into a giant red panda kind of needs to be addressed simply because it’s the most noticeable part of the movie, and is bound to fuel a lot of discussions. It’s also bound to happen that Mei’s case will get looked over from a few different angles and that we’ll hear more about mental health and the steps that can be taken to ensure that people are kept safe, secure, and are given help when it’s needed. It’s also likely that we’ll see at least a blurb here or there about helicopter parents and their constant need to check up on their kids and smother them with attention.
Some folks might think that it’s necessary to be there for their kids at all given times, and they’re not entirely wrong. It’s important to be there for your child when they need you, but it’s also important to give them space to grow and develop. Kids that feel smothered and always under the watchful eye of their parents are bound to feel far more pressure than those who are given their freedom more often. It’s in a parent’s nature to protect their child, hopefully, but protection can’t come at the cost of personal freedom.
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