#i'm so happy my friend recognized chu and pulled me in to meet her!!!

[mukuharakazui]

Yesterday, I met Amy Chu, a comic writer who played a major hand in adapting Turning Red into a graphic novel (among plenty of other things). My friend spotted her and headed over to talk to her. I went along, met her, and also talked to her for a while. In that, I found out an interesting piece of information about the film.

Domee Shi has had plenty of interviews on Turning Red and its production, but one thing Chu let us in on was how Pixar "Disney-ified" the ending. Initially, Shi hadn't written a scene where Ming hugged Mei and apologized to her. Test audiences and editors noted that the story's ending didn't have closure as far as Ming and Mei's relationship went, and many regarded Ming as an abusive mother when asked about their impressions.

This struck me because I remember when Turning Red first came out. A big joke among me and my Asian friends as well as generally among Asian Canadians and Americans on Twitter was, "Turning Red was so real. The only unrealistic part was when Ming hugged and verbally apologized to Mei." Knowing now from an insider that Ming didn't originally have that scene with Mei and that the turn of their relationship was initially very implicit and reflective of a more plausible real experience gives me even more respect for Domee Shi—which I didn't think would be possible at this point.

Of course, I understand why Pixar heavily modified the scene. Even with the way Turning Red ultimately released, audiences who weren't Asian still held great disdain towards Ming as both a character and a mother. Plus, for diasporic Asian families, it gives us the ability to see a depiction of ourselves indulging in a sort of affection that we may regard as unnatural or taboo when applied to ourselves. In the end, though, I'm glad to know of another way in which Domee Shi prioritized telling a version of her own story that girls, people around her age, and Asian Canadians and Americans, could relate to (above pandering to audiences that may find the story boring or tasteless). She's certainly aware that she'd never be able to please everyone, especially with a film like that.

We also found out that Turning Red has a very steady balance of young girls and boys of all sorts of visible ethnicities who are still diehard fans of the movie! After noting upon some odd backlash from adults, Chu phrased this phenomenon as, "The kids are alright."