For 13-year-old Mei, the protagonist of Pixar’s latest film Turning Red, coming of age is a major headache.
She wonders if her well-meaning mom, Ming, might actually be on a mission to destroy her life, having humiliated her in front of her classmates — and her crush Devon, the dreamy upperclassman and Daisy Mart clerk — on several occasions. If she’s not outing Mei’s steamy mermaid fan art to the world, then she’s following Mei to school and frantically waving menstrual pads at her through a classroom window. It’s all a bit mortifying. And it doesn’t help that Mei just discovered that, thanks to an ancestral tie to red pandas, she turns into a giant version of one when she gets emotional.
When Mei's friends Miriam, Priya, and Abby knock on her bedroom window before school one morning, they don't know about Mei's panda predicament. They just want to make sure she hasn't "died of embarrassment." More importantly, they want to be the first to tell her that their favorite boy band, 4*Town, is coming to Toronto.
The film's director, Domee Shi, calls 4*Town "the glue" that holds Mei's "dork squad" together, drawing them closer amid the anarchy of adolescence. In a documentary about the film, Shi credits fandoms for drawing her deeper into an obsession with anime and recently told Slate that, as a teen, "my 4*Town was Harry Potter." A personal blog she updated from 2007 to 2013 features fan art of everything from Wicked the musical to The Hunger Games franchise to Tony Stark, who she writes "is full of awesomesauce." An early animation of a hamster dancing to K-Pop group Shinee's "Ring Ding Dong" was a birthday present to two friends in 2010.
Belieber Billie Eilish, who co-wrote songs for the fictional band with her brother Finneas O'Connell, knows firsthand that fandom is a binding agent for friendship. "Mei and her friends' passion for 4*Town, it really resonated with me because I was the same," Eilish said in recent interview. "It's so accurate [to] how it feels when you're that kind of fan. There's like this bond when you have people that feel the same."
For Mei, that bond transforms fandom into freedom.
When we first meet Mei, she is artfully balancing two identities: an adorkable, freewheeling friend and a dutiful daughter. At school she is loud and brash. At home, she does her homework in a bedroom as perfect and pristine as her mothers expectations for her.
For Mei, that bond transforms fandom into freedom.
Mei adores her friends but tomboyish Miriam, in particular, represents "everything that’s contrary to Ming’s pride, beliefs, taste and hopes for Mei,” says Turning Red story supervisor Rosana Sullivan. “She’s disheveled, natural—she just is." 4*Town is similarly threatening. Ming doesn't want her daughter to have anything to do with those "glittery delinquents with their gyrations" and deems their innocuous pop music akin to "filth.”
When Mei's panda growing pains throw her balancing act into chaos, and her mother into a frenzy, it's Mei's squad and their shared identity as "4*Townies" that help her feel grounded. Today we are virtually bound to our besties 24/7, but Turning Red takes place in 2002. In the drudge of dial-up, Mei and her friends bond through passed notes and burned 4*Town CDs. Fandom becomes their unique language of care.
For example, when Mei curls into a furry, sobbing ball after turning into a panda for the first time in front of her friends, the girls beatbox a 4*Town hit to draw her out. "I've never met nobody like you!" Miriam croons into an imaginary microphone. Successfully distracted from her misery, Mei offers up the next lyric, and soon the quartet is belting in unison: "I'm never not by your side! I'm never gon' let you cry! I'll never not be your ride, or die, alright!"
It's then, towering over her friends as a giant, smelly panda, that Mei realizes they understand her in ways her family cannot. "Something about you guys, like, neutralizes the panda," she tells them, transforming back into human with a loud pop. It's a moment that many of us can relate to. Sometimes fandom is just fun, and sometimes it brings you to your found family.
Fandom becomes their unique language of care.
While her mom's love can feel conditional, Mei's friends "accept her no matter what," says Shi, "red panda or no panda." While Ming encourages Mei to stay inside and not be seen until the panda is gone for good, the dork squad embraces the beast inside, literally and figuratively.
They conspire to buy 4Town tickets by monetizing their classmate's obsessions with Mei's poofy panda. It's an ill-fated plan that ultimately puts Mei in a position to choose between her friends and her family obligations. In the moment, consumed by her love for 4Town and her friends, Mei puts her own happiness first. "This isn't just our first concert, this is our first step into womanhood, and we have to do it together," Mei tells Miriam, Abby, and Priya. The endeavor becomes the all-consuming focus of their friendship. And though the charms of 4Town are undeniable, you could replace the group with gaming or crocheting or Olivia Rodrigo. The band may bring the dork squad together, but they girls stay for each other. The point isn't to see 4Town, it’s to share that experience with one another.
On the night of the concert, in her final act of rebellion, Mei chooses to embrace the messy vibrance of her panda's spirit. It's a choice that breaks with family tradition while rejecting a cultural narrative of shame that has plagued young women — and their obsessions — for decades. At just 13, Mei commits to celebrating the most emotional and untamed parts of herself for the rest of her life. Gleefully liberated from self-doubt, she bounds across the rooftops of downtown Toronto, popping in and out of her panda.
Her mother, now a Godzilla-sized panda with a temper to match, follows Mei to the stadium and tears down the stage as her final act of control. "All I wanted was to go to a concert!" Mei screams at her. "I never went to concerts!" her mom roars back resentfully, "I put my family first, I tried to be a good daughter."
But Mei's journey to the 4*Town concert has already redefined what it means for her to be a good daughter and good friend. Just before the show starts, her squad spots school bully Tyler in the crowd, decked out in 4Town merch, and welcomes him with open arms. By the time 4Town take the stage, the teens are sobbing together in a huddled, hormonal mass — Mei and Miriam’s previous fight forgotten by the opening chords of “U Know What's Up.” There’s nothing that fangirling over your favorite group with your favorite people can’t fix.
"4Town forever?" Mei asks. Miriam's face softens with forgiveness, as Priya and Abby look on. "4Town forever!"
Turning Red is now streaming on Disney+.
