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| “ | I'm telling your mothers! | „ |
| ~ Ming Lee while kicking intruders out. |
| “ | How could she? How could she do this to her own MOTHER?!?! MEI-MEI!!!! | „ |
| ~ Ming's mental breakdown, as she began to transform into a giant red panda. |
| “ | Mei-Mei, please. Just come with me. (Mei: I'm changing, mom. I'm finally figuring out who I am. But, I'm scare it will take me away from you). Me, too. I see you, Mei-Mei. You try to make everyone happy, but are so hard on yourself. And if I taught you that, I'm sorry. So don't hold back for anyone. The farther you go, the prouder I'll be. | „ |
| ~ Ming realising her own mistakes, and convincing Mei to be her true self. |
Ming Lee is the main antagonist of Pixar's 25th full-length animated feature film Turning Red. She is a rigid Chinese-Canadian woman who is Mei Lee's overprotective yet caring mother. Ming wants what's best for her daughter, but struggles with generational trauma.
She is voiced by Sandra Oh, who also voiced Ting-Ting in Mulan 2.
Biography[]
In Toronto, Canada in 2002, Ming lives with her husband, Jin, and her 13-year-old daughter, Mei. Ming and Mei tend to their family's Chinese temple, which is next to their home. Ming disapproves of Mei's interests (e.g. her love for a boyband is 4*Town) and her choice of friends.
One day, Ming and Jin hear Mei panicking in the bathroom and believe that she is experiencing her first period, though it turns out that Mei has experienced her first transformation as a large red panda.
Later, Ming goes to Mei's school in an attempt to give her menstrual pads, but gets into a fight with a security guard at the school, which is witnessed by Mei and her classmates. Mei becomes embarrassed by this and suddenly transforms into her red panda form, much to the surprise of Ming and the others. Mei then flees the school with a pursuing Ming, who finally learns the truth of what is going on.
After getting home, Ming reveals to Mei that every female member of their family has been granted with the red panda transformation on account of an ancestor named Sun Yee, and it can only be sealed by a ritual on the night of the Red Moon, where the Red Panda spirit will be placed in a talisman. Ming wishes to keep Mei at home until that day, but changes her mind after Mei tells her that she can control her transformation when she concentrates on her friends (who accept her transformations), but Ming keeps a close eye on her, much to Mei's annoyance. She also refuses to allow Mei to attend a 4*Town concert at the SkyDome, much to Mei's anger.
Later, Ming witnesses Mei using her red panda powers to attack a bully named Tyler at his birthday party, resulting Tyler's parents to angrily berate Ming while declaring Mei an animal. Embarrassed by the entire ordeal, Ming furiously accuses Mei's friends of corrupting and taking advantage of Mei, though they tried to assure that they weren't doing such things. However, Ming refuses to listen, and Mei is unable to defend her friends due to being desperate to retain her mother's approval and is afraid to stand up to her.
On the night of the Red Moon, Ming, and Mei go to the family reunion where they prepare to carry out the ritual with Ming's mother Wu, sisters Chen and Ping, cousin Helen and niece Lily. However just as Mei's red panda form is about to be put in a talisman, Mei decides to keep her panda and leaves to attend the 4*Town concert so that she can reconcile with her friends.
Ming tries to object over this, but Mei has had enough of her mother's perfectionist attitude and defies her before leaving for the concert, accidentally damaging Ming's talisman in the process. Ming breaks down into tears as she ends up being blames by her family for her inability to control Mei, though Jin tried to comfort her. However, feeling rising anger within her, Ming violently loses her temper, causing her talisman to break and unleashing her red panda form (which is much larger than Mei's), much to the shock of her relatives as they realize that they push Ming too far.
Infuriated, Ming travels to the SkyDome, where she thrashes the concert caused by her rage and Mei's disobedience and grabs Mei for Disobeying Her while ordering everyone else to leave. Ming angrily declares to Mei that she's in big trouble for defying her, which finally drove Mei to free herself (by biting Ming's finger) and stand up to Ming by admitting that it was her choice to use her panda form for the concert and Tyler's party, and that Ming herself has to deal with it, whether she likes it or not. Unfortunately, this revelation drove Ming more angrier than usual, as she intends to punish Mei for her actions.
Eventually, Jin, Wu, Chen, Ping, Helen, and Lily arrive at the stadium with their elderly neighbor Mr. Gao, and they get Mei to keep Ming busy. Eventually, Mei manages to defeat Ming by head-butting her in the face, causing Ming to fall down unconscious. Wu, Chen, Ping, Helen, and Lily then break their talismans to reclaim their red panda forms and help Mei in bringing Ming into a new ritual circle formed by Jin. Mei's friends and 4*Town then provide the signing to send Ming and her family into a celestial plane.
Inside the celestial plane, Mei learns that Ming herself had a tragic past due to trouble controlling of her transformations as a teenager at several occasions: the first occasion was when she had an argument with Wu over the fact that she could never be perfect enough for her, which led to Ming triggering her first outburst that caused her to accidentally scar Wu's face, an act that left Ming shattered. The second occasion was when Wu refused to give her approval for Ming's relationship with Jin before they were married, which drove an angry Ming to destroy half of the temple, forcing a terrified Wu to reluctantly consent to the relationship and wedding.
Finally realizing why Ming became a perfectionist in the first place and seeing how much she went through, Mei reconciles with Ming, who tearfully apologizes for her actions against Mei and her friends; she even does the same to Wu, though Wu tells her that she doesn't have to apologize since she's her mother. Ming, along with her mother, sisters, cousin, and niece conceal their red panda forms in new talismans whilst Mei decides to keep her red panda form. Return to her normal self, Ming becomes remorseful for actions and promise to be a better person.
In the end, Ming was given a $100,000,000 fine to pay the city back for the damages that she caused in the SkyDome, so her family helps her raise the money through charity. This was possibly her well-deserved punishment for her uncontrollable obsession with perfectionism, her reckless overprotectiveness towards Meilin, and her destructive behavior to Protect Mei, which she humbly accepted. But despite everything that happened, Ming's relationship with Mei has improved immensely as she balances her temple duties with spending time with her friends.
Quotes[]
| “ | I saw that look. Where does she get that from, treating her own mother like that? (Jin: “Ming, it’s your mother.) I’M NOT HERE!!! | „ |
| ~ Ming when Jin says that Wu is on the phone. |
| “ | MEI-MEI, WHERE ARE YOU?!?! (Spots Mei Lee) MEI-MEI!!!! YOU ARE IN BIG TROUBLE, YOUNG LADY!! I'M SHUTTING THIS DOWN RIGHT NOW!! EVERYONE, GO HOME!! WHERE ARE YOUR PARENTS?! PUT SOME CLOTHES ON!! THIS ISN’T YOU!! WHAT?!?! (ROARS) GET BACK HERE!! YOU THINK YOU'RE SO MATURE?!?! LYING TO ME!! BLAMING ME!! HOW COULD YOU BE SO... SO... CRAAAAAAASSSS?!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING? STOP MOVING LIKE THAT! STOP IT! I NEVER WENT TO CONCERTS!! I PUT MY FAMILY FIRST!! I TRIED TO BE A GOOD DAUGHTER!! |
„ |
| ~ Red Panda Ming |
| “ | I'm sorry. It's... It's all my fault. I-I hurt her. My mom. I-I got so angry and I lost control. I'm just so sick of being perfect. I'm never gonna be good enough for her, or anyone! |
„ |
| ~ Teen Ming apologizing to Mei, deeply regretting her actions. |
Trivia[]
- Ming can be seen as a dark parallel to her daughter, as she and Mei are both forced to be a perfect daughter by their respective mothers. However, Mei had a lot of supports from her friends who tell her that the panda was part of her, because of this, Mei is able to have a chance to go to the 4*Town concert and, while Ming didn't, stating that she never went to any concerts, because she have to put her family first. Ming serves as an example of what Mei might have become if she didn't have the courage to stand up to her mother or keep her panda.
- Deep down, Ming is secretly jealous of Mei for having friends who support and love her for the way she is.
- Ming, along with Dean Hardscrabble and Philip Sherman, to be one of the antagonistic characters of a Pixar film to not be a villain.
- The reason why Ming (in her red panda form) destroyed the SkyDome was because she thought 4*Town was a bad influence of Mei.
- The number: "Four" is considered an unlucky number in Chinese and Japanese culture.
External Links[]
- Ming Lee on the Disney Wiki
- Ming Lee on the Pixar Wiki
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