One of the absolute best moments in Turning Red (a film full of incredible moments) is that part during the climax where Mei, her grandmother and aunties are pulling Ming into the chalk circle and chanting but Mr. Gao and Jin know that it’s not loud enough- presumably, the volume of the chanting is proportional to the size of the spirit being contained? And Mei once again looks so small and helpless next to her family, because we know from her own failed ritual that she can’t understand or speak Cantonese. She can’t participate, and remains unable to help her mother when the clock is ticking fast and they may soon run out of time. Mei is desperate.
And then we hear that familiar beatboxing. Miriam is ever quick to pick up on what’s going on and she, Priya, Abby and even Tyler are singing into a stolen mic near the destroyed stage. It’s not old school Cantonese chanting, but the time signature is the same, and at the very least, the four of them know all the lyrics. What really matters is that they sing from the heart. It could be anything, even Tony Bennet, and the Panda Gang are going to do whatever they can to help their friend save her mother. They’re not exactly perfect singers, and Tyler is keeping beat with a pair of drumsticks and very unsure of whatever the hell is going on, but Mei knows the gauntlet like the back of her paw.
And then we hear 4*Town join in. Because just a minute ago they nearly died because an enormous giant red panda monster destroyed the entire SkyDome in a fit of maternal rage and ruined their concert, but them some gang of thirteen-year-old children told them that their #1 biggest fan has an ancestral curse and that they need to perform an ancient ritual in order to seal the angry panda spirit and turn the monster back into a regular human woman, and they absolutely do it. Because they may be international pop star sensations but they’re genuinely good guys too. We know that because the ritual only works if you sing from the heart and all five guys absolutely gave it their all. Their harmony is angelic and pitch-perfect. (Robaire even sheds a single tear!!)
And because Mei knows that she has her friends (her emotional rock) and her favorite boy band supporting her, and because the song is now one that she knows, she is able to join in even while crying and gasping for breath. Finally she is given the power to actually play her part.
It’s Robaire’s extreme high note that makes the chalk circle go Full Panda Shape!! It unifies and globalizes every discrete part!! The aunties chanting, the teenagers beatboxing, the boy band harmonizing, even the remaining crowd singing along as they realize what’s happening, the orchestral climax swelling!! The drums and violins!! The howling sound of the magic coursing through the air and the beam of light shooting into the darkened sky, opening the gateway through to the spirit realm!! It all turns into one song!!
And each part represents disparate and initially incompatible parts of Mei that caused her to experience the emotional turmoil that started this whole mess!!!! Her ethnic culture and heritage, which she was never given total privy to, and alienated from in a well-meaning but misguided attempt to protect her, a reflection of generational trauma!! The passion that she shares with her friends and allies, her chosen family, an active symbol of her growth and change, a secret that in keeping was threatening to destabilize an unhealthy norm that Mei was trying to cling to!! And her home, a place full of people that you could not separate from Mei’s personal sense of identity no matter what!! The kids of Toronto that reacted in all myriad ways to the panda- with excitement, adoration, objectification, alienation, fear, revulsion, and ultimately acceptance and support!!!!
All of those parts can absolutely exist in harmony even if the life of a child of any Eastern diaspora in the West may be rocky and filled with challenges and rejection!! Mei is made of her roots, her interests, her own decisions, her own burdens, and the people around her. Even if it might not feel like these parts can be compatible, within oneself and within one life, and even if one feels pulled in several directions at once because of the many intersectional identities that make up who you are, you can absolutely find a balance in between it all. No part of Mei has to be sacrificed or set aside in the end. The Cantonese chanting that she does not understand, the English pop song she does, her friends and family and idols and peers, they can all fit into one life. It can all harmonize, even if you don’t think it can at first. It can all be one song.
And that song can be a fucking banger.
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