‘Turning Red’s portrayal of periods is a turning point for coming-of-age films

Pixar’s Turning Red is a celebration of growing up — including all the messy bits that children’s films don’t often show.

Directed by Domee Shi, the film centers on 13-year-old Meilin Lee (voiced by Rosalie Chiang) as she deals with benchmarks of puberty, like first crushes and intense emotions that transform her body into a giant red panda.

While the first bits are standard fare in films about growing up, Turning Red also references less-shown aspects of puberty, including periods and menstrual products. Importantly, it does so without any kind of shame or stigma, opening up space for candid conversations about puberty and hopefully paving the way for similar conversations in future coming-of-age films.

Mei and her squad of friends.
Credit: 2022 Disney / Pixar

To learn more about why Turning Red‘s portrayal of puberty is so important, Mashable spoke with Dr. Amy Roskin, an OB-GYN and the chief medical officer of Favor, which describes itself as a “wellbeing coalition dedicated to accessible, affordable birth control, skin care, menstrual care, and more.” As an expert in the sex education space, she recognizes the value of Turning Red as an opportunity to inform young people and their families about how to approach puberty.

“[Turning Red] highlights how this time in a child’s life can be one in which family members don’t always know how best to support their kids, and how providing space for frank, honest conversations about puberty, sex, and body changes are important to helping a child traverse this significant time in their lives,” Dr. Roskin told Mashable via e-mail.

The idea of approaching a topic as big as puberty with your family can be daunting, which is why it’s so important that things like menstruation are normalized in media. Unfortunately, film and TV often frame periods as gross or frightening experiences. For example, one of the most famous movie scenes depicting getting a period is in 1976’s Carrie, where it’s presented as a traumatic and embarrassing experience for the teen Carrie (Sissy Spacek).

In recent years, periods have become a somewhat more common occurrence on TV, appearing in shows like Big Mouth and Pen15, both of which tackle adolescence through an adult lens. But menstruation is still rarely discussed in media targeted at younger audiences — the ones actually going through puberty. That’s why seeing periods and pads mentioned in Turning Red, even in passing, is such a big deal.

Ming discovers Mei’s notebook.
Credit: 2022 Disney / Pixar

“For children, I think that Turning Red is great because it’s relatable,” said Dr. Roskin. “It shows kids that they’re not alone in their development process, and it provides an example of someone who’s likely experiencing many of the same things that they are.”

Given the amount of attention that ‘Turning Red’ has received since its premiere, I do think there’s an appetite for stories of this nature.

Turning Red‘s relatability and its choice to show growing up from a young perspective also helps parents understand what their adolescent children may be going through. Dr. Roskin pointed out that this can pave the way for honest discussions about puberty and sex education.

“Addressing topics like puberty and periods directly is the best way for kids to develop a positive understanding of sex, and to develop the skills to have conversations about sex later in life,” explained Dr. Roskin. “The fact that Turning Red is engaging in these conversations gives parents and kids tools to discuss these subjects.”

Since its release on Disney+ on March 11, Turning Red has already sparked a number of conversations about on-screen depictions of puberty, as well its fair share of controversy. It’s also been one of the most-streamed films of the past weeks, proving that people are watching.

“Given the amount of attention that Turning Red has received since its premiere, I do think there’s an appetite for stories of this nature,” said Dr. Roskin. “And I’m hoping that more films and TV shows will address these topics in similarly open ways.”

Don’t worry Mei, you’ll get through this.
Credit: 2022 Disney / Pixar

Turning Red is the kind of movie I wish I’d had when I was growing up, and I hope we see more films like it in the future. Scenes where Mei’s mother Ming (voiced by Sandra Oh) tells her about how her body is changing, or when her friend Priya (voiced by Maitreyi Ramakrishnan) casually offers her pads, would have eased my own anxieties about puberty. Seeing discussions of periods in a movie from a studio as influential as Pixar would have helped universalize a subject that I thought of at the time as being taboo.

Plus, being a Disney and Pixar film, Turning Red has the potential to reach a large audience, including young viewers who may have questions about puberty, but no resources with which to answer them. If studios make more coming-of-age films in the vein of Turning Red, they can validate the experiences of children and young adults and empower them to learn more about growing up and human sexuality.

“It’s important that people have access to quality sex education, which even today is not always available or accessible,” said Dr. Roskin. “I think that the absence of stories like Turning Red highlights the missed opportunity to use pop culture to engage in important conversations about puberty and sex, but I’m optimistic that Turning Red will be a turning point for films and shows to begin to tackle these issues head on.”

Turning Red is now on Disney+.