Jessica Rapoza

The part I do not like about this movie is how extremely overbearing and demonizing they made the mother. Yes they did portray the personality of some preteen/teenaged girls. She’s quirky, fun, silly, and yes, interested in boys. That’s understandable… I was too at that age. What is not relatable is how they made the mother. Now I agree there ARE SOME parents in the world who are this level of controlling and overbearing - but i do not believe they accurately depicted what a typical parent may do with their child at this age. I do understand this pulls a lot of Chinese culture… and some parenting can be pulled from “Asian parenting”… but aren’t we supposed to be breaking down these stereotypes and showing that people do not have to be confined to these ideas….. I found it purposeful -it seemed the goal was to to demonize parents and glorify rebellion and push a message that only your friends can understand and support you. Only your friends can be trusted. Only your friends can help you. Do friends play a very, very important role in our lives? Yes… but so do our parents. This movie was only interested in creating the ideal that healthy parent/child relationships do not exist. This is a dangerous theme to paint… and I say again - Yes there are SOME parents who are not productive in their parenting and make bad parenting choices…. But I know so, so, so many more parents who would’ve acted very differently toward their preteen/teen child’s development. This could have been an opportunity to show parents who DO talk to their children about important topics and develop a trusting bond. Show a healthy relationship and promote good connections between children and parents. They attempted to do a little of this with the very last minutes of the movie…. But the damage was done… they already made the mother out to be evil for the whole movie. Turning Red seems like a clear attempt to make parents one thing: the enemy. There are cute themes… and again I emphasize that they really clung to the image of preteen/teen girl with quirky and fun personality. Interested in boys - yes! I was boy crazy as a young teen… but my parents allowed me opportunities to show trust and maturity. There were select times I didn’t get along with my parents…. But they never acted like the extreme, overbearing, and frankly kinda evil way the mother in Turning Red did.