Day 15 - Everybody Lives/no One Dies

Turning Red has surprised me a lot with its very real representation of afab puberty and coming-of-age experiences, but there is something needed to be said on the language and writing of the movie that gives the film such a massive respect for me.

Because this is Disney/Pixar, right?

Disney, as a conglomerate, can be very restrictive on how they want specific stories to go. For a lot of animated Disney films, one could even see the formulas and pacing that are iconic to the company, but one of the big things that they try to make sure on was how they word/show varied experiences to appease all forms of audiences.

This includes omitting talk of any very risque jokes, mature topics, and basically making sure that the Rated G stories within don’t get into topics that would anger specific demographics that watch the company. Of course, the older films may differ with today’s regulations, but with the present films, that idea of keeping things “kid-friendly” can be found somewhere.

Either by the creative/exec team fighting the pressure relating to Luisa’s body, LGBTQ+ content, or even serialized formatting, there has always been some resistance to creators pushing the boundaries of what could be seen on screen.

One of them being afab experiences.

For many, the topics that are indulged in and experienced by afab people are demonized. Look toward boy bands, early fandom, and even stuff that is considered “feminine” you would find people seeing female experiences and agency as inappropriate or unnecessary.

And even if a female story is written, one could get a mess like Brave, where instead of women being placed into a position of writing/directing, are then scrapped for male writers who believe they could write an afab story to its core.

So then you have Turning Red, and the way they portray the struggles of a middle-school afab tween, at how it doesn’t pull any punches on how awkward this period of life is.

And how much this portrayal means a lot to me and many others as individuals.

Because I had seen people draw these romantic fantasies before. I had seen the wonky anatomy, the anime eyes, everything about keeping these fantasies hidden away from parents who would make a big deal over these new feelings.

People have felt that. People have witnessed it.

I had seen people thirst over boys in any single way possible. I had talked with friends who played “Hot or Not” over the newest crush, at how they looked toward men and women on what their sexuality was, and if they really wanted to date someone or if they didn’t.

There’s the talk of periods. The yells of distress over new bodily changes. The extensive list of cleaning products that media and society would always try to ignore as something dirty and messy, even though it is such a massive ordeal that happens for an afab person for most of their life.

You then get the focus of female friendships, the feelings of connection, and how integral friends are as support systems to an ever-growing tween scared over the new transitions.

All to the amount of internalized shame over trying to understand and indulging in romantic/sexual fantasies. The wanting to explore one’s options but restrained by the idea of being the perfect, clean daughter in a family’s life.

That you ultimately feel defined by your family…

By the family before yours…

And how in the end, there comes this wanting for acceptance to change and grow from the mold.

To become the person that you choose to be.

All of these feelings are feelings I had witnessed and seen when I was in middle school and high school, and the writing doesn’t hesitate on showing what it means to be awkward, exploratory, and anxious to understand who you are as someone burgeoning to puberty and the real world.

A movie cannot represent every afab person on the planet, but the intent is clear, and it has turned the movie into one of the most realistic portrayals of afab tween coming-of-age I have ever seen.

Because people gush over the topics they love. People sing off-tune and do wacky poses. People get anxious over how they look to classmates, teachers, to adults. People feel tense and excited over new blossoming feelings to the sheer agony over changes in the body that they cannot control but can accept. People say comments (”stripper music”) and actions (twerking) just because they can!

Turning Red doesn’t hesitate to look at a teen/tween and tell them that the movie sees them through its medium.

And this is a Pixar movie mind you! These afab experiences were able to be seen, shown, and given credence, and everything about it blows my mind away.

Because by being directed and written by female crew members, every part of the movie screams out authenticity — that it understands the audience that it’s referring to. It tells its specific audience “I understand what you’ve struggled with, you shouldn’t be ashamed of these feelings, and you aren’t alone in feeling them.”

SORRY I MISSED YESTERDAY IT WAS THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL

anyways

day ten (yesterday): favorite cut character ship

frenchpassionrap? it’s the only one ik sort of well tbh

hehe

day 11: pre-canon ship

mischalia <33

love them tbh

ignore the weird pose for talia this was rushed

Sometimes a family is a genius old man with ugly clothes, an insomniac pencil lady, a short queen, a feral formerly amnesiac man, his also feral acrobatic daughter, her bucket, a bald boy with photographic memory, an especially average looking boy who’s good at riddles, his tutor turned mother, and a mean psychic toddler. And that’s beautiful.

OMG HERRRRRRRRRRRRR <333333 i love the monochromatic vs colored vibe and the different hands and the little jane cross and everything about this alkdfsjklcxjlkmk

My turn >:3c

ITS THE HER

PENNYYY 😭😭😭🙏🙏🙏

spoilers for encanto (obviously): So do yk that theory that Pedro is the house’s spirit blah blah iykyk bUT WHAT IF and i’m just putting this out there WHAT IF the mountains around the encanto are like his “body” or smth bc when he dies the candle rises from the ground, pushing away all the soldiers, and the mountains rise from the ground. SO what i’m saying is, what if his soul became the magic/spirit of the house and his body became the mountains protecting his family???

so what. what if- what if i accidentally changed my entire artstyle (idk how it happened)

i CAN NOT GET THAT ONE MOMENT OUT OF MY MIND AGHELWKJAFDSKLHDGSKLAJKL i am. losing my mind over this musical.

“🎉Happybirthday Diluc!!🎉🐦🎂🔥”

By えんぴつ01

assorted ml headcanons pt. 2

- there have been several instances of clothing with holes becoming a trend in paris after Gabriel lines feature them; in reality gabriel keeps accidentally letting the moths get into his walk-in closet

- rose likes to collect scented candles. she only burns them on special occasions 

- adrien has never owned a stuffed animal (not counting sock-plagg)

- kaalki likes to warp to go talk to max when marinette’s not looking

- nino and alix drink waaaay too much soda & energy drinks

- adrien used to have a special interest in stationary when he was like 8, hence why gabriel gets him pens every single year

- this is kind of a canon but: adrien really likes eurodance music (do they just call it dance music in europe??) because he used to listen to it with his mom

- nino’s mom and sabine are friends which is why nino and marinette knew eachother in origins despite nino sitting alone at the back

- adrien used to be more of a dog person because he thought they were cute, but so many dogs have chased him as chat noir that now he gets jumpy around them

- kim has literally no idea that marc and nathanael are dating. one time they kissed in front of him and he was like wow… ultimate bros

- markov knows chat noir and ladybug’s identities he just chooses not to say anything

- adrien is really good at seeing through magic tricks because felix used to practice on him

- the ladyblog used to just be a tumblr-style blog until it started getting big. max helped alya set up the new version

- marinette is pretty sure chat noir is homeless

- ivan is really awful at cooking

- manon wasn’t even supposed to be on Alternative Truth, she just wandered on set while nadja was on the air

- when nathalie gets sick of reading classic literature, she likes to check out cheesy crime novels

- kitty section is very obscure but still has a pretty dedicated cult following online

AHHHHHHH tsuchako rights 🙏 they’re so cute i love them <33 they’re gfs and they’re on an ice cream date at sunset bc i said so <333333