I am ashamed that I had not picked up on that very explicit metaphor before reading your post!
I am not a writer but my understanding is that having a story grounded in a very specific reality helps the consumer of the fiction better enter the world than do generic settings. That reality could be a complete fantasy world like Middle Earth, it could be a town in Indiana in the ‘80s (Stranger Things), it could be Brooklyn. Easier to do when you write what you know, hence that as the advice to a beginner. You don’t have to create a consistent world de novo, you don’t need to do extensive research … you already know it.
The additional plus is that it helps educate some of us about how diverse a city in Canada, Toronto, is. Many don’t realize that. And that it represents young Asian women as people to identify with - which is an important thing to do in a time period that has been seeing many attacks directed at that broad group.
I feel like this is a situation where the board is showing it’s age again. If Domee Shi was 20 years older and set the story in the 80’s, no one would say anything. But if you weren’t a kid of the 90’s like me, you’re probably watching this movie and not seeing any difference between 2002 and 2022. Whereas I watched it and noticed a lot of little details (the slang, the clothing, the technology) the reminded me of middle school.
If you wanted to be cynical, you could argue this was marketed for people just at the right age to be having kids that would want to go see a movie. But it felt like a love letter to my early teenage years.
But most movies aren’t generic in their setting. All of them are screaming out specific times and places in the fashion, technology, language, etc. Why not set Ratatouille in 2005 Chicago? Why not set Brave in 1880 Alaska? Why not make Toy Story with 1990s toys? This is in Chekhov’s Lesbian territory. (My claim to fame that didn’t catch on. Sniff.)
Sure, but most movies don’t set something somewhere specific and then just not actually do anything with it.
I mean, Ratatouille is set in Paris because Paris is the historical epicenter of the culinary world. Brave didn’t have to be set in medieval Scotland, but they certainly leaned into it with the clans, Highland games, and so forth. Toy Story did have at least one 1990s toy- Buzz was a modern action figure type thing, and that contrast between him and Woody was an integral part of the story.
But what about Turning Red was specifically Torontonian or Canadian? Or even 2002? I mean, they show pictures of the CN Tower, and part of it takes place in the SkyDome, and there’s a Tamagotchi, but that’s it. None of it adds much “local color” and none of it is integral to the plot.
It just seemed weird to me; the movie went out of its way to point out that it took place in 2002 Toronto, and then didn’t actually do anything with it that made that important at all.
As I alluded to, it doesn’t have to be. You are insisting that anything that falls out of a “default” setting has to be for a specific reason. But there is no default setting.
Why does there need to be a storytelling reason? You have to set a story somewhere and Domee She decided to set it in a time and place she knew well. Again, I don’t see what’s so hard to grasp about this.
It was weird, that’s all. Usually the locale and time period plays into the story more than it did here, and in fact, she could have left both out without any actual impact.
This is one of the most universally relatable stories Pixar has ever told.
The geography and characters in any coming-of- age story are always going to be specific to the storyteller. How closely do the incidences have to match up with your own life in middle school?
I was thirteen once. The social pressures and hormones don’t have to be an exact match to generate empathy.
Welcome to Toronto. That’s what a friend group looks like in that part of the city.
“Inside Out” was specifically set in San Francisco but that had no particular connection to the plot, so it’s not a new thing. “Soul” was based in New York City but didn’t have to be at all.
Late to the party, but my family finally had time to watch it last night. We loved it. Your basic anime movie done in a modern style.
I thought it was hilarious and one of the funniest Pixar movies ever. Almost thought they were hitting it too hard at times.
Yeah, echoes of everyone can relate to white-boy stories, but anyone else’s stories are niche. Turning Red targets everyone who’s had a controlling parent who can’t accept you’re becoming an adult. Maybe not universal, but damn close. (On preview, I see already addressed by Kimstu.)
Maybe, maybe not. It does seem to be common theme in Disney movies, and it bothers me some. But on the other hand, any “coming of age” story has to handle the parents somehow. For the child-becoming-adult, they need to do things themselves without their parents; it’s an essential point of the story. The parents have to be absent or incapable or conflicting, etc.
I think we just have to evaluate how the parents are portrayed. In Turning Red we’re shown the redemption of the mom–enough of her story to understand her motivations (even if we disagree with her actions). I think it works here.
Not having a generic story is a good reason to not write a generic story. (And echoing the point already made by DSeid.)
A little late to see this but I wanted to add my take.
I wasn’t in a friend group like this at age 13 but did end up in the “brainy clique” by age 15 and this is what we looked like. Not all were in honors but we had the couple of Jewish girls and a variety of Asians who were all the honors math/science students, and a few other dorky but not nerdy types ( born again Christian who acted and danced ballet, a couple of sisters from Germany who I really didn’t spend as much time with since they weren’t in any of my classes, the super pretty girl who was a fantastic writer and felt pressured to be the best etc).
To tell the truth, most of us gravitated to the group because we were the awkward unpopular ones who were in the same honors classes, I just found the demographic breakdown of her friend group to be remarkably similar to our group. I think that part of this is the similar pressures placed on children by Indian, Asian and Jewish mothers.
This definitely spoke to my 13 year old self. I think it is probably appropriate for most kids older than 8-10. When we started learning about puberty in school it was about in third grade and by fifth or sixth grades the kids were having “boyfriends” and “ girlfriends”. I’ll be honest, the violence in movies these days bothers me a lot more than this. I wouldn’t take a really little kid to anything rated more than G but PG for this seems about right. (Any kid old enough to read “Are you there God, it’s me Margaret” is old enough to see this film and that is usually recommended for ages 9-10 and up).
As far as the reviewer who could not relate goes, I think the movie will appeal to anyone who has the teenage conflict between wanting to please their parents and wanting independence. Maybe he never went through a rebellious phase. I have certainly read a lot of comments in reactions to this movie saying thinks like “I’m not an Asian teenage girl but I still liked it”.
It’s weird. I can watch and enjoy a movie that I don’t directly relate too. But I can have empathy for a 13-year-old girl dealing with puberty and family trauma. It’s not required that I have the same experiences she had. I can also watch Schindler’s List and not relate at all to the experiences of the Jews in WWII Germany/Poland and still find the movie worthwhile. Complaints that someone finds a character in a movie “unrelatable” seem pretty weak to me.
Watched it on DVD a couple weeks ago. I have a lot to say about this, but I don’t think it’d be appropriate for this discussion as it’s really long and goes into great length about things you probably can’t believe I give a damn about. I’ll make a separate thread about it in a bit, but in the meantime, I got a question…
Where does Disney go with this? I don’t mean the standard stuff like merchandise and a new theme park mascot, I mean as a story. As it’s based on one person’s real-life experiences in a very specific community in the recent past, it doesn’t really lend itself to a normal sequel. But there are plenty of characters that could be fleshed out, and anytime Disney scores cool points with a young audience, they’re going to milk it for whatever it’s worth. I’m thinking either an exploration of Ming’s childhood or how Mei’s buddies got together. A boy band rivalry would be a real spectacle and make up for the concert getting cut short. Or how about a story set in the modern day with Mei and company’s own daughters, how they’re dealing with the legacy of the red panda.
DSeid - Curious. Priya kinda looks Indian, and I guess Abby could be Korean (her favorite 4 Town member is Tae Young, as I recall), but where are you getting “Jewish” from Miriam? She’s pretty much just a generic tomboy.
