Turning Red is a newly released Pixar animated film about a teenage girl's unconventional coming of age. It follows her struggle to balance the changes that come with adolescence, her passions and friendships, and honoring the obligations she has to her family- all with a supernatural twist. The film was ultimately a touching insight into how inter-generational trauma can be broken with understanding and acceptance, a theme with which many young people, but especially young people of colour, will deeply resonate. Don't be mistaken though: this is still a Pixar film, so it is just as lighthearted and full of adventure as it is moving. Since its release, it has received some negative attention from critics, in and among the praise. The criticism included discomfort surrounding the mere mentioning of sanitary pads and periods. The main gripe from those who raised this critique, is that menstruation is an inappropriate topic for children around the same age as the characters in the...
Where current affairs meet mindful analysis. The author, Ocean Postman, is a political analyst based in Cape Town.