I'm supposed to be writing right now, but #DaylightSavingTime has me all messed up, so instead I'll take this moment to get something off my chest. This is about #TurningRed. I should probably do a video, but I'm a social media dinosaur, so Twitter thread it is!
Been thinking about that critic's review that the film wasn't universal and was limiting since I saw it. I don't think there's any bigger way to announce "I'm a mediocre white man" than to claim you can't see the universal themes in a Disney movie.
To be clear, I love Disney. "Lion King" is one of my favorite movies of all time and "Encanto" might tie for first. I have a whole case of Disney movies on DVD. I watch Disney+ on the regular without my kid just because.
Thus I feel imminently qualified to say this: Disney doesn't do anything but universal themes. Every movie since "The Little Mermaid" has the same themes: identity, belonging, parental loss, family conflict, and empowerment. EVERY SINGLE MOVIE.
Disney essentially takes their plotline from child development textbooks. They focus on the key developmental issues of children's lives. That's why parental loss is so big. It's children's biggest fear.
Did I mention my PhD is in clinical child/family psychology? Family therapists love Disney movies because they tap into universal family themes. I guarantee you somebody's writing #TurningRed into their syllabus right now.
How do you even get a job as a film critic if you can't identify the universal Disney themes? I need an image of @mskathykhang's t-shirt right now. Some of y'all know the one.
What might it have been that the movie critic couldn't connect with? Was it that a movie about Asians on the North American continent didn't center White people? Maybe it was that Disney's put out too many movies in a row that don't center Whiteness.
Could it have been the gender role reversals? The sidelining of male characters combined with the strong female characters? The women are the business geniuses and source of the family's magic? The dad is neither a goofball nor a warrior, but a sensitive homemaker?
The one depiction of toxic masculinity was a kid who really just wanted to hang with the girls at the boy band concert. That was priceless!
There was no love story, no pining for a male's attention, no man coming to save the day. Mei had a fierce group of loving and loyal friends who accepted her fully as she was. This may have been one of Disney's most feminist movies ever.
Oh yeah, there was all that talk about menstruation. Woooo, I didn't realize how little our culture mentions that until I was struck with my own discomfort about it.
But that's the most universal part of the movie. Because every human on this earth either menstruates or came from someone who did.
Can I be a film critic now? Because I'm pretty sure I'm more qualified than that dude was. Not to mention, I feel like I've got a whole series in me about #Encanto. It's a family therapist's dream!
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