Artists have been inspired by Turning Red’s celebration of fan art and crushes

polygon.com:

Turning Red is a fantastic coming-of-age story, largely because it’s unafraid to dive into the messier parts of being a young teen. Periods, peer pressure, and confusing, lustful feelings are all fair game, and the film handles them with aplomb. It’s a phase of life that doesn’t often get celebrated in film, and it’s a story that’s resonated with a number of fans. Since the film was released, artists of all ages have been learning from protagonist and occasional red panda Mei to indulge themselves in their work and embrace the cringe. Many of these artists have also reflected on how the art they created during their younger years inspired their art today.

“I knew something was up the moment my best friend from middle school texted me and said that Mei ‘reminded her of me,’ and that the movie had brought back a lot of really good memories about us as impossibly chaotic, confused teenagers,” said Devon Giehl, a producer and lead writer on Netflix’s The Dragon Prince, in a conversation with Polygon.

Turning Red is unapologetically invested in the messier aspects of its characters’ lives, taking things often seen as cringe or best hidden away, and pulling them right into the spotlight. This includes 13-year-old Mei’s doodles of her secret crush, a 17-year-old boy named Devon who is a cute clerk at the local Daisy Mart. In one of the film’s early scenes, she draws the two of them embracing; she also depicts Devon as a merman, and herself as an anime protagonist along with her friends. It all feels very genuine to a young teen girl’s notebook. And it has inspired conversations between people who deeply relate to moments like Mei sweating and scribbling out depictions of her teen lust. Folks have also celebrated these moments,