To promote Turning Red's physical release this May, Pixar has been releasing a few deleted scenes to show how the story developed over time. Most of the clips are simple scenes that the studio felt didn't fit within the movie. One, however, shows Mei being forced into a very different dilemma, which paints her parents in a far worse light.
Throughout the film, Mei's mother borders on the edge between caring and narcissistic, something many fans found relatable to their own upbringing. There's a fine line between wanting what's best for her daughter and being overly intrusive and possessive -- a line she swaps between many times. Yet as shown in the deleted scene, titled "4*Town Dilemma," Mei's mother was far more one-sided.
In this early draft of the film, Director Domee Shi reveals that Mei was originally called Fei, and faced a much sadder decision than in the final release. As in the film, Mei has to figure out how to watch a 4*Town concert without her parents knowing, and so she spends her time raising money at school as a red panda. But in the original script, her parents were already using her panda ability to raise money for themselves.
In this version, their family temple is losing money and at risk of being taken away by the bank. And so, Mei's parents use her red panda transformation as a tourist attraction, and force her to raise money to save the temple. Meaning her dilemma wasn't just whether she can sneak off to the concert, as it also put the pressure on her to ignore her friends and focus on helping her parents.
Much like in the final release, a storyboard shows Mei sitting on the side of the sports court as her friends pitch to her the 4*Town concert. But being determined to help her parents, she's completely focused on signing autographs to raise money for her family. Domee Shi explains that Mei's original conflict was whether she should be a working panda at home or a panda enjoying life at school. But eventually she realized "her dilemma should be more like, should I be human, or should I be a magical panda girl?"
Mei's mother remains the antagonist in the final release, however, she does still have Mei's best interests at heart. However, this original version is far more selfish and is only concerned about the family image. What makes it worse is the fact Turning Red is a coming-of-age story and features a lot of allegory about puberty. And so, this original version would suggest Mei's mother is using her changing body as a tourist attraction, which is far more villainous.
Luckily, this original story was scrapped by the writers and director. Pixar movies have always excelled in creating complex and relatable characters, and Turing Red's final release continued the trend. While Mei's relatable traits are a little more specific than most, many fan's felt satisfied to finally feel represented in a light-hearted but real way.