Turning Red (2022)
Rosalie Chiang: Meilin, Panda Meilin
Photos
Quotes
-
Ming : Did... the 'red peony' bloom?
[Ming's husband cringes and backs away from the bathroom]
Meilin Lee : NO!
-
[running through the streets of Toronto, Mei as a giant red panda stops in front of the convenience store run by Deavon, a teen Mei's attracted to]
Meilin Lee : AWOOGA!
-
Meilin Lee : [closing lines, narration, to the audience] We've all got an inner beast. We've all got a messy, loud, weird part of ourselves hidden away. And a lot of us never let it out. But I did. How about you?
-
Meilin Lee : I like boys! I like loud music! I like gyrating! I'M 13, DEAL WITH IT!
-
[first lines]
Meilin Lee : The number one rule in my family? Honor your parents. They're the supreme beings who gave you life who sweated and sacrificed so much to put a roof over your head, food on your plate, an epic amount of food. The least you can do in return is every single thing they ask. 'Course some people are like, Be careful. Honoring your parents sounds great, but if you take it too far, well, you might forget to honor yourself. Luckily, I don't have that problem. I'm Meilin Lee. And ever since I turned 13, I've been doin' my own thing, makin' my own moves; 24/7/365. I wear what I want, say what I want, and I will not hesitate to do a spontaneous cartwheel if I feel so moved!
[Mei attempts to do a cartwheel but falls flat on the street]
Meilin Lee : Oh, crap.
-
[attempting to trigger Mei's transformation]
Meilin Lee : [pointing to her arm] Abby, hit me.
[Abby instead knocks Mei to the ground. She smiles gleefully]
-
[Mei's running home to help her mother with the temple at the expense of hanging out with her friends]
Meilin Lee : Okay. I know what it looks like. I am my own person. But that doesn't mean doing whatever I want. Like most adults, I have responsibilities. It's not all about me, you know? I do make my own moves, it's just that... some of my moves are also hers.
-
Jin : Mei, we have to do the ritual again!
Meilin Lee : What happened? She's huge!
Jin : I told you she was big!
Meilin Lee : That big?
-
Meilin Lee : My panda, my CHOICE!
-
[her first transformation into a red panda]
Meilin Lee : [crying] I'm a gross red monster!
-
Meilin Lee : [about an older boy] He looks like a hobo!
Abby : A HOT hobo!
-
[after having been publicly embarrassed over her private drawings]
Meilin Lee : You sicko! What were you thinking? Why would you draw those things? Those horrible, awful, sexy things?
-
Ming : [Holding Meilin in her hand as a colossal red panda] How could you be so... so... CRASS?
Meilin Lee : [squeezing her way out as a red panda] Oh that's nothing, you wanna see crass?
[starts dancing suggestively and shakes her butt at her]
Ming : [covers her eyes] What are you doing? Stop moving like that!
Meilin Lee : [laughs and continues shaking her butt] What's wrong, is this bothering you?
-
Priya : [after Meilin gets sent to the girls' bathroom from dodgeball] Dude, keep it together.
Meilin Lee : I can't. We need to see this concert. Why doesn't my mom get that? I never ask for anything. My whole life, I've been her perfect little Mei Mei. Temple duties, grades...
Abby : Violin!
Priya : Tap dancing.
Meilin Lee : Yeah. We've been so good. If they don't trust us anyway, then what's the point?
Miriam : Wow, who are you? I love it.
Abby : Fight the power!
Meilin Lee : Yeah. Yeah. This isn't just our first concert. This is our first step into womanhood. And we have to do it together.
Miriam : I'm in, girl. We'll say it's a sleepover at my house.
Abby : The perfect crime.
Meilin Lee : Yes. My mom will never know. Now we just to raise the money for tickets.
[sighs]
Meilin Lee : Come on, girls, think!
[They all put into their minds to think]
-
Meilin Lee : [to the red panda statues outside the temple] Hey Bart, hey Lisa.
-
DJ : [On radio] All right, homies, next up is 4-Town. The boys are coming to Toronto on the 25th! So get your tickets now. And check it, they'll be cranking open the SkyDome and performing under a red lunar eclipse.
Meilin Lee : Abby, you said the concert was on the 18th.
Abby : It is! He's wrong! Look! The 18th, Toronto!
[shows the tour date flyer]
Priya : Uh... This says Toledo.
Abby : What?
[looks at flyer to see that it does, indeed, say Toledo and aggravated Korean, whilst tearing up the flyer]
Abby : Huh? What's this? Toledo? Isn't this crazy? Where is this?
[in English, yells]
Abby : What the heck is Toledo?
-
Meilin Lee : I've always had to be
[mockingly]
Meilin Lee : "perfect little Mei-Mei", but maybe I *like* this new me.
-
Ming : [finds red panda Meilin crying in her bedroom] Mei-Mei?
Meilin Lee : Don't look at me! Stay back!
Ming : Sweetie, it's okay. Mommy is here.
Meilin Lee : What's happening to me?
[crying]
Jin : [enters the scene] What is it? What... What...
[gasps]
Jin : It's happened already?
Meilin Lee : [stops crying, then looks at Ming and Jin] What did you say?
Jin : Ming, it's time.
-
Meilin Lee : Crap, no! Guys, what are you doing? Go away!
-
Meilin Lee : [sees her red panda reflection in the bathroom mirror; screams] This isn't happening. This isn't happening!
[squishes her cheeks; jiggles her belly fat; sniffs her left armpit; winces]
Meilin Lee : Ugh!
-
Meilin Lee : I'm not your little "Mei-Mei" anymore! I *lied*, Mom!
Ming : *What*?
Meilin Lee : It was *my* idea to hustle the panda! *My* idea to go to Tyler's party! It was *all me*! I like boys, I like loud music, I like gyrating! I'm *thirteen*! *Deal with it*!
-
[Ming is now a giant red panda]
Meilin Lee : What happened? She's *huge*!
Jin : I told you she was big!
Meilin Lee : *That* big?
