Controversial review of movie 'Turning Red' ignites outcries of racism and sexism

Mei Lee in Pixar's newest film 'Turning Red.'

OPINION

A review that pooh-poohed the Pixar animated film Turning Red as being directed at too narrow an audience has generated a lot of reaction and raises the broader question of "Who is American?"  

At first, I thought I'd just add an addendum to my original article about Turning Red, but the heated outcry that followed the CinemaBlend review was on point on so many levels that I thought it deserved a deeper discussion.

Although the movie takes place in Toronto, Canada, and its creator is from Canada, in this article I use the term "American" to refer to residents of the U.S. and Canada, who share a similar edited Euro-centric history, or point of view.

CinemaBlend's managing director Sean O'Connell who authored the questionable review wrote that he  relate to the movie., which focuses on Mei Lee, a 13-year old Chinese Canadian girl experiencing her first menstrual period, discovering boys and enjoying her diverse clique of girlfriends. She also cursed with turning into a giant red panda whenever she gets too emotional.

The white, male reviewer called the film, "limiting." although he admitted that tween-age Asian American girls will no doubt celebrate the movie.

He wrote: "By rooting 'Turning Red' very specifically in the Asian community of Toronto, the film legitimately feels like it was made for Domee Shi's friends and immediate family members. Which is fine — but also, a tad limiting in its scope."

As the review began to generate criticism of its own, O'Connell tweeted back: “Some Pixar films are made for a universal audience. Turning Red is not. The target audience for this one feels very specific, very narrow. If you are in it, this might work for you. I am not in it. This was exhausting.”

“God, this is terrible criticism,” Backstage Senior Editor Vinnie Mancuso tweeted. “Writing about art requires empathy. ‘This wasn’t made for me’ is a starting point, not THE point.”

"This is what happens when white males are presented as the default," tweets POC Culture. "Audiences have empathized w/ white make protagonists forever but you get one Asian girl in animation & these people question their existence.

The outcry of protest apparently had its effect. CinemaBlend deleted the review from its website. CinemaBlend Editor-In-Chief Mack Rawden issued the following statement: “We failed to properly edit this review, and it never should have gone up. We have unpublished it and assigned to someone else. We have also added new levels of editorial oversight. Thank you to everyone who spoke up.”

O'Connell also released his own apology: “I’m genuinely sorry for my ‘Turning Red’ review. Thank you to everyone who has reached out with criticism, no matter how harsh. It is clear that I didn’t engage nearly enough with the movie, nor did I explain my point of view well, at all. I really appreciate your feedback.”

O'Connell has every right to his opinion. But writers and their editors need to be careful when writing about people of color or, in this case, writing about a film that presents a worldview outside of the white male perspective.

O'Connell fell into the same trap that other white male journalists encountered when reporting on the Ukraine war when some reporters called the conflict was about a country more "civilized" than other war-torn regions; or the tragedy that has befallen on the war's refugees was more shocking and garnered more sympathy because they were "blonde, blue-eyed" Europeans.

Even though he is writing about cartoon characters and not the bloody violence of war, O'Connell still viewed Turning Red as a foreign story, about strange "others" even though it took place in Toronto and even though Pixar and its artists are based in Berkeley, California. 

The white male narrative is too often seen as the "norm" and all other perspectives as lesser than or foreign. That viewpoint has guided and misguided U.S. and Canadian histories and culture for too long to the point of erasing the stories of Native Americans (Canada uses First Nations when referring to indigenous peoples) immigrants, Blacks, Latinos and Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders.

It has become evident that this long-held perspective that placed the white male on a pedestal to the exclusion of a more diverse lens has harmed our countries and is responsible for much of the race problems we are still struggling with. This narrow view dehumanizes everybody who is not white and is the basis of the white supremacist movement, radical rightwing Christians and followers of Donald Trump.

It still irks me when immigrants call white people "the Americans" because they have been brainwashed into that colonial mindset.

Turning Red could be a turning point in journalism and art criticism as critics and editors start to question their own biases. For some people, it easier to accept a giant red panda than to talk or write about real people.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news, views and tips from an AAPI perspective, follow me on Twitter @DioknoEd..