So When Does ‘Turning Red’ Take Place?

Turning Red premiered on Disney+ on March 11, 2022, and provided viewers with a much-needed female-centric Pixar film. Turning Red made history by becoming Pixar’s first film to be led by an all-female creative leadership team. The film follows Meilin “Mei” Lee (Rosalie Chiang) a 13-year-old Chinese-Canadian student dealing with the perils of middle school. Oh, and she also happens to turn into a giant red panda anytime she is stressed or nervous.

Turning Red is a coming-of-age film that is unlike any other. Lee’s predicament comes from her ancestors’ mystic connections to the red panda species. It’s difficult to hide what she is going through from her friends. Meanwhile, it becomes another point of contention between her and her parents, who want her to be the perfect daughter. Furthermore, Lee has to understand the changes happening to her and how to balance who she really is with who her parents and friends want her to be.

The film is a bold, yet fun exploration of culture and girlhood. It tackles the female perspective in a positive way and radiates themes of embracing one’s self. Turning Red is also filled with fun throwbacks to boy bands and pop stars.

When does Turning Red take place?

Part of Turning Red’s appeal is that it is rife with nostalgia, particularly for all those ’90s kids out there. The film is giving major flashbacks to all those boy band-obsessed girls who hit their teenage years in the early 2000s—and that’s because it takes place in the year 2002!

The timeframe is given away early in the film and confirmed by various factors. The presence of boy band 4*Town, and Mei and her friends’ obsession with them, is the biggest giveaway. The boy band phase reached its height in the late ’90s to early 2000s, with the Backstreet Boys, NSYNC (notably sometimes styled *NSYNC), F4, the Jonas Brothers, and many more. To capture the essence of boy bands, the film tapped Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell to write real songs for 4*Town.

Director Domee Shi gave a little more insight on why Turning Red takes place in 2002. It’s because the Turning Red director remembers exactly what it was like being a dorky 13-year-old growing up in Toronto in the 2000s. Much of Turning Red’s poignancy comes from the fact that it’s being told from the perspective of people who have lived it. Shi knows, all too well, the experience of being 13 in the 2000s, being dorky and boy band obsessed, experiencing puberty, and having immigrant parents. Turning Red radiates the truth of many women’s and immigrants’ stories, and this is reflected even in the year it’s set in.

(Image: Disney)