If I had a nickel for every Pixar movie that depicted a mother-daughter story where at least one of the characters turns into a bear, I'd have two nickels, which is not a lot, but it is weird that it has happened twice.

Pixar’s 2012 feature Brave told the tale of a rebellious young woman vying to change her fate and the mind of her over-controlling mother through magical means. Ten years later, 2022’s Turning Red built itself on a similar premise, but held a greater focus on its core mother-daughter relationship, and presented it in a more nuanced and identifiable way.

At face value, both films are about how magically transforming into a bear presents a problem that the mother and daughter must overcome. In Brave, Merida, voiced by Kelly Macdonald, inadvertently casts a botched spell on her mother, Queen Elinor (Emma Thompson), turning her into a bear. Turning Red tells the story of Meilin Lee (Rosalie Chang) as she learns from her mom, Ming (Sandra Oh), of her family’s ancestral “inconvenience” of transforming into a giant red panda whenever she gets too emotional. Each film presents the magical bear element as the story’s inciting incident that propels the characters into conflict, resolved only by the strength of their mother-daughter bond.

turning red image pixar
Image via Disney

Thematically, both films use the literal transformative aspect of changing into a bear as a story device to explore their relationships and core theme of change. Queen Elinor's grizzly transformation gave her the opportunity to better understand Merida, while the “inner panda” of Mei’s family is analogous to the natural changes of maturity and emotional awareness that Mei learns to live with. Through a fancifully drastic physical change, the films each posit change as an integral aspect of their core relationships’ need to grow.

Brave-wispy

Brave and Turning Red show how change is an inescapable necessity for growth in a family dynamic. Merida and Mei’s relationships with their mothers changed as they grew into young adulthood and are newly changed by the events of their stories. Merida grew up from being the proud apple of her parents’ eye to carrying the never-ending burden of her mother’s royal expectations, while Mei grew into her own identity away from a lifetime of being smothered by her mother’s protective heart and watchful eye. By the end of both films, the mother and daughter have a better understanding of each other and a healthier rapport.

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What makes Turning Red a stronger take on the mother-daughter story is in where the emotional conflict in the relationship is rooted and how the change is necessitated.

In Brave, Merida’s motivation is rooted in the Disney princess tradition that precedes her. Similar to characters like Belle, Jasmine or Mulan, Merida wanted freedom from the expectations pushed upon her by not only her mother, but by the traditions and societal pressure of her environment and era. In a time and culture where a princess was expected to show decorum and perfection, the fiercely independent Merida sought to fight for her own hand and not be tied down by any man or sense of royal duty. Like most of the Disney princesses, she wanted more than what a life of royalty could grant her. The change Merida wanted for her own life and the struggle to achieve it manifested in her mother, who held the most power and influence over her fate. In short, Merida’s relationship with her mother was a vessel for the greater adversity of her environment and status. The conflict between Merida and Elinor is rooted in how each of them feels about their culture’s customs and responsibility to the crown. Merida sought to change her position in life through her mom.

Merida and her mum in Brave

The dilemma Mei faced with her mother is a more universally recognizable one than Merida’s. Metaphorical to the advent of puberty, the changes Mei faced at her age, panda or otherwise, were not ones that she actively wanted like Merida or even expected. Mei’s changes were a surprise to her and would happen whether she was in control of them. The arrival of Mei’s “inner panda” unveiled a tension between her and her mother as Mei begins to act more on her own decisions on how to live with the panda that go against her mother’s wishes. Mei seeks independence like Merida, but inside of wanting to be free of royal responsibility and societal expectations, she just wants to be free to be the person she was becoming, to like boys, listen to loud music and gyrate along with her friends. Merida wanted her mom to change, Mei needed her mom to accept that she was changing.

Turning Red also humanizes the overprotective mother archetype and fleshes out the kind of mother Ming is. While Elinor was a largely traditionalist product of her times, dehumanized by turning into a literal bear with no dialogue only as an ironic plot device, Ming was a more believably controlling parent with identifiable reasoning behind the kind of parent she was. An idealistic working mom, Ming had an opinion on everything Mei enjoyed and saw her growth into young adulthood as a cause for alarm, fixing blame on anyone that threatened her innocent perception of her daughter. Elinor wanted Merida to achieve her own perception of success as a royal while Ming was protective of her “little Mei Mei” for what she had seen the panda spirit do to the rest of the women in her family, including herself.

Mei from Turning Red

The dissonance of Turning Red’s relationship puts greater focus on the mother and daughter as individuals over the ideals they represent. The strain Merida was put under was by societal expectations and gender norms, personified by her mother. Merida fought the patriarchy for her freedom, while Mei was explicitly fighting her mother for her newfound identity. Mei developed from wanting nothing more than to please her mother to wanting to be her own person, growing up under the belief that to love and honor your parents is to do everything they ask and meet all their expectations.

Both films end with the mother and daughter having reached a new understanding, but Turning Red shows that there is still a fundamental disagreement that is not resolved happily like in Brave. Ming does not want for Mei to live with the panda spirit unleashed and Mei is afraid of what it might do to their relationship. Despite this, there is still a mutual love and support from each of them that respects their characters and perspective. Not much is shown in Brave to indicate how Merida and Elinor’s relationship has changed from their story, other than a new sense of camaraderie. But Mei and Ming show that while they are still at odds, they are open to meeting each other halfway. They are still in disagreement, but are willing to accept each other.