The message is clear. If you are not part of an approved immutable attribute listing, you are not allowed to criticize Pixar’s latest straight-to-DVD offering, Turning Red. To make easier to understand, honest opinions beware… the mob is looking for an opportunity to take you down should you have an opinion about a children’s movie that disagrees with said mob.
That’s how we get an echo chamber of critics spewing the same old unbelievable garbage about movies time after time. Anybody who dares stray from the official propaganda is ostracized and cancelled. It’s only too bad that Twitter and movie critiquing isn’t part of much of the real word… so all that happens is that the access media opininators are sent spiraling so far away from normal people that nobody cares to read them anymore.
Take the case of one Sean O’Connell of Cinema Blend (for how long is anyone’s guess). If you’d like to read Sean’s review of Turning Red by Pixar, you’ll have to resort a web archive because Cinema Blend pulled it down. Did they pull it down for being obscene or racist or vulgar or false? No. They pulled it down because it was a review that was unacceptably honest. You see, Sean O’Connell — a critic who sits on the prestigious Critics Choice Board no less — happens to be a male and not, in fact, a teenage girl. His critique is that Turning Red is so specific to teenage girls that the movie fails to land with other audiences, which then limits its appeal. That’s it. He’s not saying the movie is bad, he’s just saying it has limited appeal due to the way it is written. So, that resulted in a mob coming after him, a blubbering apology from O’Connell, and… you guess it… the mob not relenting anyways. There is no grace written into the scriptures of the Church of Wokeness. And they eat their own happily.
There’s an audience out there for Turning Red. And when that audience finds the movie, I’ve no doubt they will celebrate it for the unique animal that it is. In my opinion, however, that audience is relatively small, and I’m not part of it.
— Sean O’Connell
Just check out these unhinged Twitter posts about a person who dared say a children’s movie might not appeal to everyone:
This dude sits on the board of @CriticsChoice? I am so ashamed that I share a group with him. He must be removed as he has done this before. We do not want or need racist critics on the board.
Other members need to speak up. Non-members should send an email.
— Yolanda Machado (@SassyMamainLA) March 8, 2022
No, you made your point loud and clear. This review should have been assigned to a writer who can speak to the nuances in this film—or at least someone who is willing to engage with the subject matter. There is no excuse for this level of ignorance in the first place. https://t.co/K2GfAfyz8F
— Max Gao (@MaxJGao) March 8, 2022
https://twitter.com/LaceyBanis/status/1501318413183963138
So that’s what happens when you give an honest review with your honest opinion about a children’s movie. Nutjob adults in a nutjob industry of non-producing careers will attack you until you make the mistake of submitting to them. Then they’ll castigate you further for being a sniveling little wimp on top of every pejorative they can think up, all while your company abandons you to the wolves. I suppose Disney doesn’t always have to punish negative reviews if only their simps will do it for them.
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. – Mack Rawden, Editor-In-Chief https://t.co/kfkfwlf4q8
— CinemaBlend (@CinemaBlend) March 8, 2022
Maybe “turning red” isn’t some sort of coming-of-age euphemism for young women. Maybe it’s instead a reference to totalitarianism… that would better explain why a critique of a children’s movie would result in the level of censorship and hatred we’re seeing. Or perhaps we should just let Sandra Oh talk about her straight-to-DVD movie that she directed. Let the director speak about what this movie’s purpose is.
I really think [the realistic and mystical elements find a] great balance to the film. Not only the absolute straight talk of when you’re thirteen, you’re most likely going to get your period and we don’t need to be shy or shameful about menstruation because all women go through that. I love the way that Ming is a little nervous that it’s happening to her daughter and she’s completely ready and prepared for everything and then also the mystical, fantastical elements about the panda.
That scene [with feminine products] was in the movie from the very beginning. It was the first sequence that we approved and that went into production. It just felt like if we were going to tell an authentic story about a girl going through puberty, we had to talk about getting her period. We had to show these products and these objects that are so common in every household with women and girls and normalize this phenomenon.
We always had [those moments] in there. I think we showed it really early to Pixar audiences and they loved it. The reaction of that scene was so gratifying. I don’t think there was any question about having that in there. You know, we put a lot in and a few things, little tiny jokes or something came out, but we kind of won every battle we fought. And we didn’t even fight that hard. They we’re kind of like ‘Alright.’ And we certainly had plenty of women on the show that were ready to go ‘Oh no, that’s really what happens. That is true to that time in girls’ lives.
Umm… so it’s a movie that is so much about menstruation that the first scene to be approved and created was about feminine hygiene products? Well, I suppose I could see how that would limit the audience in the same way that a movie about nocturnal emissions might have less audience opportunity than say a Moana or a Tangled. But then again, I’m not Sean O’Connell, so I have no fear in just saying what I think.
We’ll have our review up later this evening for Turning Red. You’ll be glad to know it will be reviewed by a woman who has Asian ancestry. After all, we’d hate to start another scandal.
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below, and feel free to check out That Park Place for all the latest news that turns you red from all the fun we get to report on each and every day!
