I interpreted the "eating" thing as saying one of those horrible things you say when you’re angry and didn’t even mean, but you can never quite take back. And the mother and son don’t take it back, and that’s good. They move with it. Grow from it. They don’t hate each other forever, they both see they have work to do, but they clearly care about each other. And that’s nice.
I thought it represented the ultimate selfish act a parent can do to a child, or really any person can do to another: if I can't have you then no one else can. The mother eating him was showing how she'd strip away his choices and agency in an attempt to keep him all to herself.
I recall really enjoying this short in theaters and understanding its theme, but I was shocked by just how many people disliked it online - finding the premise too weird or foreign for their tastes. Domee Shi can’t seem to catch a break with audiences despite the critical praise, with “Turning Red” receiving a similar reaction for its themes and subject matter.
I mean I like the short’s animation, but it is pretty weird. Not saying it’s bad, just not my cup of tea. I didn’t like Turning Red but I’m also not the target audience for that movie. I really do like the animation for both of the films though.
@@professormadhattgaming583 Thats the thing, i think a lot of people have been saying both are bad, but basing that off of opinion of the story at face value rather than there being anything wrong with the animation/symbology or otherwise. Ive not seen either in entirety so i dont have a strong opinion besides thinking most of the bad reviews are based on cultural differences and not liking the way things were symbolized (especially for turning red, them reviews be harsh)
@@pugglebiscuit9600 same can be said for ‘Everything Everywhere all at Once’. The reviews are so divided, either they liked it or not, and it’s clearly about the cultural difference. I was the target audience, same with Joy I’m Asian, queer and an immigrant, really hits close to home and suffice to say its one of my favourite movies. I also loved Turning Red, these movies just hit so close to home
I remember seeing this on UA-cam before the Incredibles 2 movie came out and I loved it so much. And it was before I even started learning about Chinese culture. There is just so much emotion in a little eight minute short
Domee Shi really knocked it out of the park with this. A lot of critics rip into the art style and content of Turning Red but man, I think her direction and the way she grounds relationships into feeling very realistic is incredibly compelling
“Critics” are those white men and women so it’s worthless, if a grandma who hardly watches movies approves, it’s rightfully a masterpiece, and def both of these gained their title as the best in the eyes of my grandma, so this is funny
18:45, which is very similar to another saying around babies, "Oh, you're so precious i could just eat you up!" It also needs to be said that the absent father wasn't always absent. It's him that pushes them together in the same room and he who closes the door. As well the father is not at all surprised that his daughter-in-law can perfectly make bao.
I see it as everything about the Bao being a dream, and her waking up in her bed is when the dream ends. A few things point to this: - The fact that this is happening at all. - The fact that her husband isn't in the story at all between the beginning and when she wakes up. - The fact that her actual son looks so similar to a Bao bun, that she actually mistakes him for it at first. Now, that's not to say that everything that happened in the story was meaningless. Rather, I see it as her dealing with her son leaving through the lens of her other love of food. The dream is symbolic, as dreams sometimes are.
Stories in general are symbolic, and whether this is a dream or a metaphorical representation of her relationship with her son doesn't really change anything about how it affects the watcher.
Not to mention that after she eats the Bao, the next scene has her in bed. The first time we see this, we assume it is because she has gone to bed to cry herself to sleep, Even though this isn't logically consistent with the previous scene. (While we can imagine his fiancee' might stay outside during the row, to let mother and son sort out their argument, it's hard to imagine her just... leaving.) But of course it was a dream.
I always assumed Bao Boy and the Human Boy were the same person, that the switch was meant to be when she finally shocked herself into reality, not her recreating all the events with this new Bao Boy
I feel like another reason the bao boy was a dumpling the whole time and small was because moms see the children as “their babies” even after they grow up and so even after he’s an adult and engaged he’s viewed by her as still just her baby so he’s represented as still small
I like how despite how much the son disliked being coddled growing up, he didn’t hold any grudge for it as an adult and seemed even grateful that his mom cared so much. Something I’m sure a lot of us felt towards our parents when we grow up
I know that this short is about a mother and son of a distinct culture forging ahead between tradition and modernism, but I love the characterization of the dad. In Turning Red, too. They both have this quiet, caring, loving, supportive nature that you rarely seen played straight as part of a dynamic, rather than the more typical punchline of "Strong feminine personality and their weak male counterpart." It's okay if you're a male and a quiet type, as long as you're there for your family for however long you choose to be there for.
The Pixar shorts are really in a category of their own, and _Boa_ is no exception. It's my all-time favorite, and really does stand out and have more to say than the feature film it was paired with.
There’s also a small detail with the blonde girl when we first see her she’s wearing crazy clothing but the second time we see her she’s wearing more sensible clothing
@@Joy-zz8wz Yeah but the color palette is changed from black and red, a more agressive color palette, to a purple and blue color palette, which are more calming to look at.
I remember going to the cinema to see Incredibles 2 and everyone (including me) gasped at the scene where the mom eats the Bao. The most genuine reaction in that place, not even the movie had that
So your explanation of this short has actually hit me in a place I didn’t expect. I only saw this short once in theaters and just thought it was a sweet short. But as the years gone by there have been some realizations that I’ve discovered about my own father that has made me realize I can’t be in a healthy relationship with him as much as I wish I could. I wish I could have a Bao ending where coming back years later and offering some food would solve it. But sadly it won’t. Because he’s the type to never open up and so I’m stuck wishing for something that will never happen from a father who refuses to change.
This short came out when it was my big brother's senior year of high school. Both of my older siblings didn't have a great relationship with my mom (for entirely different reasons), but this really hit home for me because my brother was going to be leaving for college in what felt like no time at all. The whole of the last three minutes or so made me sob really hard. In all honesty I cry every single time I see this short. It holds a very special place in my heart.
I love this short. The bao bun reminds me a lot of my brother, who used to lock himself in his room all the time talking to his friends, but he never paid the rest of the family any attention. Even so, my parents were still very supportive in helping him get into university and paying for his flight there. They still keep in contact, and I think having a taste of reality, my brother is learning to appreciate my parents a little more, even if he doesn't outright say it. He even found himself a love interest like in Bao too.
Coming from a Chinese family, this short really hit young and modern me hard. Such a beautiful work deserved the praise it got. It grows even more beautiful once you start analyzing the metaphors that this short is built off of.
I watched this short in the theaters, and I don't usually cry from visual medias. However, when I watched it, and it got to the scene when we saw the human son, I finally understood what the short was saying, and the tears just streamed down my face. I thought it was just from the first time watching it, but I was tearing up watching this video. Testament to how emotional this short is.
Looking at the dynamic of the short as a whole, you can see things easily from both the mother and son's perspectives. The mother doesn't want to lose her son, especially if he never writes, calls or visits again and saying goodbye, as a whole, is very heart wrenching for everyone. On the other hand, if you love someone, you often have to let them go and live their life the way they need to live it; this is more so true as, at the end, we see that her son hasn't forgotten his family after all.
Bao was hands down my favorite short. I'm shocked so many people didn't like it or thought it was comedic. They just don't get it. Bao hits different. And you can tell Bao & Turning Red were the same creator.
The first time I saw bao, I thought that it was cute. I came back to it after a few years and immediately started crying my eyes out. Such an incredible film.
This short got audible gasps from the theater I was in. It was packed since everyone was so excited for the new Incredibles movie. But when the mother ate the bao was the only time the audience had any sort of reaction besides a few laughs during the actual movie. It's a pretty great short
I think the last short I really liked was Piper. First off, the animation was stunning, Pixar and beach/ocean scenes are a match made in heaven. And it's just a sweet, simple little story about a sandpiper chick learning about life.
I remember watching this short with my mother in the worst moment possible, 3 months after my brother moved to the Netherlands to be with his wive, and she started crying, and got angry with me because she thought that I brought her to the cinema to watch that short, and I was like I brought you to see the incredibles to cheer you up, how was I supposed to know about this short 😅
I’ve seen this short before and, while I appreciated it, I didn’t have any kind of emotional connection to it. Only now coming across this video and watching the short again, I nearly cried at the end. I’m having issues with my father, who I have been quite close to my entire life. My situation is almost completely different from the one depicted in the short, but the cause of it is still very similar to what caused my situation. My father is very overbearing and has very high expectations of me because he cares about me; But, kind of thanks to how/when he grew up, he doesn’t understand how a lot of my mental health struggles and neurodivergence works. That, plus his propensity to assume things are personal attacks against him and to refuse to accept when he is wrong, is breaking our relationship very quickly. It really only just happened last week and the day our fight happened he threatened to kick me out. And as much as I care about him, I have too much respect for myself to stick around when he does that. He is actively pushing me away, and I think the ending of Bao really got to me because of that. Though I do feel bad for the son in Bao- It’s not his responsibility to fix that relationship. His mom ruined it then continued to be upset when time had passed and he was trying to rekindle the relationship- then HE had to start the process of fixing it instead of her ever apologizing for her behavior, as if it was his fault that SHE pushed HIM away.
I remember seeing this short in theaters. My dad isn’t one to cry, but he actually was crying when the short finished. One of the very few times I ever saw him cry.
This short still made me cry, even with narration. I’m almost 16 now and cold towards my parents. It almost makes me feel bad about myself. But it’s such a relatable and cool short. Really the ONLY short I remember because of how good it was when I saw it as a 10 (or so) year old.
just hearing the music from bao makes me want to bawl my eyes out, it was the first time I ever cried in a theater and I still cherish it as a beautiful and heart warming short about life.
when i first saw the mom eat the son, my entire mood completely changed. it went from "aw cute story about mom not wanting to let go of her son" to "oh shit a murder just happened"
This short was BEAUTIFUL and honestly made me cry when I first saw it years ago. I had NO IDEA it was made by the same director of _Turning Red,_ (which I was NOT a fan of, btw.) I can see similarities in the "overbearing" mother figure who refuses to let go, except that in this case, I feel that _this_ mother felt more overprotective due to actual love and care, whereas the mother in _Turning Red_ just wanted to control by any means necessary.
I watched this in theaters. When she ate the dumpling and the screen went black, the theater was silent, except for one guy in the back. "What the heck did we just watch? This is terrible - why are they even showing it to us?" And it made my dad and I crack up. We own the short now, and I love it, but my Mom is weirded out by it (coincidence?).
i remember watching the short with my friends, they gasped and were shocked. I. also Chinese with immigrant parents, gasped and then started laughing, because I got it right away, the message, because my mom would say something very similar of how she didn't like how I was changing and show she wished and how she wished she could put me back and start over. But the whole translation involved something with eating or a word that sounds like eat, but being an illiterate kid I interpreted as eat. I dont really remember exactly how it translated now, but I remember explaining it to my friends and they were just like "Why", and I told him it sounds worse when you translate it.
At the end of this video I started crying, no joke. I don’t cry often either 😂 Bao is a true masterpiece. Also the son wrapping the food shot is me trying to make wontons. I can never get the wrapper to look right
you know, sometimes i think i cant get disappointed in society more. but cmon, the symbolism in this is so obvious, and it's a great short. as someone with a strained mom-son relationship myself this almost made me tear up. how are people really so dense that they can't get it? this is why animation gets no respect, the medium can tell fantastical stories with amazing symbolism in ways impossible and often more powerful than live action, but people just can't wrap their head around it if it doesnt look or behave realistic enough.
I personally love this short because although i am in the Philippines i can relate to being a child and my mom/grandmother goes to the city buying groceries, eating bread on the way home, and just slightly rebelling when they’ve become too protective
I like the bookending of the table, the opening shot of it, with just the mother and husband is cold, dark, cast in shadows of loneliness. The final shot is bright, warm and brimming with love. Even the husband is invested for at least a few moments before turning back to the tv.
The first time I watched this it low-key traumatized me, but the second time I watched it I was able to understand the symbolism better and I appreciate it a lot more now
Throughout the whole video I was trying to hold back the tears, I love this short so much! Seriously, even rewatching without the background music, just the visuals hit so hard
I am so happy that this short is finally getting more attention. no matter how many times I watch it I still cry every time. I think it is a work of art truly one of Pixar's best, not just of their shorts I mean out of EVREYTHING they have made. Bao still holds up way better then most of there movies
4:34 see this short is when having a female director is good, because they had her on the project not just for "diversity" but for a reason. It is interesting though, that whenever you seem to have a lot of women heading a project it does seem to get a lot more... personal, shall we say. Most films tend of have a broad appeal, I mean just look at *anything* from illumination. Women seem to *generally* take a more personal approach, and write *their* story, even if not all audiences will understand it. I think this short specifically had a good balance as it does get into some specific details of specific struggles for specific people, but has a message I feel anyone could relate to.
this is my most favourite pixar short ever. i love how you pointed out so many things as small as camera angles that i didn't notice until you pointed them out and explained. bao really connected with me as someone who's mom would always bring me food as a way to connect with me when we were at a disagreement. thanks for talking about bao! :)
honestly i didn't understand this short until i watched this video and slowly while listening to you explain some of the basic things that i ignore when i go to turn of brain and just watch something mode it made me realize that this is actually really good and beautiful short
I feel like for some reason, that the cooking scenes in turning red (made by Mei's father) were heavily inspired by this short film, (Edit: I feel like Turning red was based on Bao.)
Okay this just reminded me of how much I loved this short at the time and now. I was crying through your review too 😂😅😢. Now this is even more relevant cause I foster a preteen son. And man I can relate on both sides (parent & child).
I interpreted The mother eating her child as swallowing the idea that her child is no longer a baby, he is no longer her little boy. A “hard to swallow pill” and the realization of how she herself had acted. Even so containing frustration because accepting this is still difficult even after realizing.
If you are still doing that series where you review cutscenes from video games, I highly recommend the Sonic Frontiers Prologue: Divergence animation. It has incredible animation and story-telling. Even if you don't make a video about it, I'd still recommend checking it out.
I never watched bao watching this video just by a couple of minutes are honestly really pleasing and making me want to watch bao rn- but like he said the textures are beautiful and pleasing and he points out all the perfect shots that i’d never take note of just stands out now take what you want from this comment, i just wanted to state that
i love this short with all my heart. My parents were also asians who moved to canada for a different life, and food is definitely a love language as a whole
That's not a slow cooker, that's a rice cooker; a very important distinction cause 1) rice cookers only really make rice (some have steamer baskets, and some fancy ones have other buttons, but that one does not as you can see it just has the push button to start the rice) and 2) a rice cooker is a staple of baisically every Asian household, we all have one and I've rarely seen non Asian people have them. To the point that, as a mixed Asian person myself, I found out a friend of mine was mixed Asian (I noticed a couple other things but this like was the confirmation) was cause they were a new person that was moving in as a room mate with some friends of mine, and mentioned excitedly that they have a rice cooker while we were talking about appliances, and I was like "are you Asian?" "YES! OMG NO ONE NOTICES!" "BRUH SAME" and we talked for like an hour, later they were like "what tipped you off?" "The rice cooker" "lmao omg of course" Also my family had one that looked just like the one in Bao when I was growing up, my great grandma brought it back from a trip to Hawa'ii visiting some family and it lasted like 40 years before it died. TLDR; that's a rice cooker and is another visual que about them being an immigrant Asian family
If I had a nickel for everytime Disney made a film/short with Chinese people living in Canada I'd have two nickels which isn't a lot but it's weird it happened twice
I was a new mom of twins when I saw this short and the way I gasped when she ate him! This one made me cry so much all the way through, both happy and sad tears…always one of my favorites ❤
Another interesting thing is if you look at how the bao boys girlfriend is dressed versus her son's girlfriend, the imaginary version is dressed in very skimpy skirt and heavy makeup but the real version of her is much more conservative
I really have gotten softer, haven't I I saw Incredibles 2 in theaters, so I 100% would've seen this short. But I didn't even remember it. Meanwhile now just hearing someone talk about it has me in tears.
I broke down so hard at this short, even after it all turned out okay. Food is a huge love language for me, so having the bao kid reject it hurt me so bad.
I was fifteen when this short came out. Now I’m twenty, and about to move out of my parents’ house. Things aren’t quite as dramatic in my life as they are in this short, and yet… I’m crying watching this video. I feel like it all just came crashing down on me that I’m growing up, and that I’m never going to be a little girl again. I don’t know. All I can say for sure is that it hits a lot harder than when I was fifteen.
This Short now hits me differently now. My sister left me and my mother recently this month and instead of telling my mother she was leaving instead decided to leave a text explaining why she left.
I didn’t mind Incredibles 2. But this short stood out to me more than the actual movie for the most part.
Same. Me and my mum cried in the theatre when we watched it together lol.
@@MrMelonsz I’m speechless.
Incredibles 2 was not the best Pixar Sequel, but Bao made the trip to the theater worth every penny. 🥟 ❤
Same, I almost cried while watching bao.
Yo as a 8 year old when I saw this the short scarred the SHIT out of me I WAS HAVING FUCKING HEART PALPITATIONS WHEN SHE ATE HIM
I interpreted the "eating" thing as saying one of those horrible things you say when you’re angry and didn’t even mean, but you can never quite take back. And the mother and son don’t take it back, and that’s good. They move with it. Grow from it. They don’t hate each other forever, they both see they have work to do, but they clearly care about each other. And that’s nice.
there's definitely a Chinese proverb about "swallowing [a person's] head" meaning saying something you can't ever take back
@@kasagure. woah, seriously? Rad! I didn’t know that!
@@kasagure. oh i never knew. this short really makes you *Feel* that proverb tho
I thought it represented the ultimate selfish act a parent can do to a child, or really any person can do to another: if I can't have you then no one else can. The mother eating him was showing how she'd strip away his choices and agency in an attempt to keep him all to herself.
@riversgrace Truly a hallmark of good writing. Having so much meaning in one little action.
Fun Fact: The girlfriend looks different after the human boy is revealed, implying that the mother has exaggerated the events.
Gods that’s a nice catch
Ayo we got like a Greek demigod over here. Minotaur???
It's like the mother saw the son's new partner as a tramp, but in reality she's down to earth, and also a quick learner, not to mention pleasant
@@THAT1ZELDAFAN I'm glad you pointed this out. I was just about to point this out.
I just assumed it was a different woman
I recall really enjoying this short in theaters and understanding its theme, but I was shocked by just how many people disliked it online - finding the premise too weird or foreign for their tastes. Domee Shi can’t seem to catch a break with audiences despite the critical praise, with “Turning Red” receiving a similar reaction for its themes and subject matter.
I mean I like the short’s animation, but it is pretty weird. Not saying it’s bad, just not my cup of tea. I didn’t like Turning Red but I’m also not the target audience for that movie. I really do like the animation for both of the films though.
@@professormadhattgaming583 Thats the thing, i think a lot of people have been saying both are bad, but basing that off of opinion of the story at face value rather than there being anything wrong with the animation/symbology or otherwise. Ive not seen either in entirety so i dont have a strong opinion besides thinking most of the bad reviews are based on cultural differences and not liking the way things were symbolized (especially for turning red, them reviews be harsh)
@@pugglebiscuit9600 same can be said for ‘Everything Everywhere all at Once’. The reviews are so divided, either they liked it or not, and it’s clearly about the cultural difference. I was the target audience, same with Joy I’m Asian, queer and an immigrant, really hits close to home and suffice to say its one of my favourite movies. I also loved Turning Red, these movies just hit so close to home
I remember seeing this on UA-cam before the Incredibles 2 movie came out and I loved it so much. And it was before I even started learning about Chinese culture. There is just so much emotion in a little eight minute short
@@professormadhattgaming583 as someone who was once a cringe ass 13 year old girl, I loved Turning Red
I like how everyone praised this short more than the following movie after it
Not surprised
Lol
Wait what movie
@@I.do.edits- I think that’s case and point
@@I.do.edits- Incredibles 2
Domee Shi really knocked it out of the park with this. A lot of critics rip into the art style and content of Turning Red but man, I think her direction and the way she grounds relationships into feeling very realistic is incredibly compelling
“Critics” are those white men and women so it’s worthless, if a grandma who hardly watches movies approves, it’s rightfully a masterpiece, and def both of these gained their title as the best in the eyes of my grandma, so this is funny
More so as its meaning hits harder as an adult.
18:45, which is very similar to another saying around babies, "Oh, you're so precious i could just eat you up!"
It also needs to be said that the absent father wasn't always absent. It's him that pushes them together in the same room and he who closes the door. As well the father is not at all surprised that his daughter-in-law can perfectly make bao.
He is present but in a very calm way.
I see it as everything about the Bao being a dream, and her waking up in her bed is when the dream ends.
A few things point to this:
- The fact that this is happening at all.
- The fact that her husband isn't in the story at all between the beginning and when she wakes up.
- The fact that her actual son looks so similar to a Bao bun, that she actually mistakes him for it at first.
Now, that's not to say that everything that happened in the story was meaningless. Rather, I see it as her dealing with her son leaving through the lens of her other love of food. The dream is symbolic, as dreams sometimes are.
Stories in general are symbolic, and whether this is a dream or a metaphorical representation of her relationship with her son doesn't really change anything about how it affects the watcher.
@@undeniablySomeGuy Fair point.
Not to mention that after she eats the Bao, the next scene has her in bed. The first time we see this, we assume it is because she has gone to bed to cry herself to sleep, Even though this isn't logically consistent with the previous scene. (While we can imagine his fiancee' might stay outside during the row, to let mother and son sort out their argument, it's hard to imagine her just... leaving.) But of course it was a dream.
Your words are very wise and profound.
As someone who's a 1st generation Asian American, Bao hit really close to home for me
I feel it
Same. It still makes me so emotional years after I first saw it. I should give my mom a call tomorrow and catch up.
Just got a notification that someone liked my comment so I thought I'd give a small update that my mom is doing well ☺️
I always assumed Bao Boy and the Human Boy were the same person, that the switch was meant to be when she finally shocked herself into reality, not her recreating all the events with this new Bao Boy
I feel like another reason the bao boy was a dumpling the whole time and small was because moms see the children as “their babies” even after they grow up and so even after he’s an adult and engaged he’s viewed by her as still just her baby so he’s represented as still small
Lava was the first pixar short I ever saw, it's so good, it's genuenly a crime that it wasn't nominated.
Fr.
I agree
i used to cry to that short every time i saw it
My mom watches Lava every year. She adores it and has a tee shirt based on it.
I agree
I like how despite how much the son disliked being coddled growing up, he didn’t hold any grudge for it as an adult and seemed even grateful that his mom cared so much. Something I’m sure a lot of us felt towards our parents when we grow up
Indeed, which is all the more reason how one can see things through both the son and the mother's eyes easily.
I know that this short is about a mother and son of a distinct culture forging ahead between tradition and modernism, but I love the characterization of the dad. In Turning Red, too. They both have this quiet, caring, loving, supportive nature that you rarely seen played straight as part of a dynamic, rather than the more typical punchline of "Strong feminine personality and their weak male counterpart." It's okay if you're a male and a quiet type, as long as you're there for your family for however long you choose to be there for.
The Pixar shorts are really in a category of their own, and _Boa_ is no exception. It's my all-time favorite, and really does stand out and have more to say than the feature film it was paired with.
Boa is also one of the films of all time. Truly one of the pieces in cinema.
Bao*
I'm just glad that it got so much praise because we ended getting up Turning Red!
I love boa so much, truly a spectacular pexar short!
Happy to see _Boa_ snake its way up to an Oscar. A ssssssspectacular short!
There’s also a small detail with the blonde girl when we first see her she’s wearing crazy clothing but the second time we see her she’s wearing more sensible clothing
Because tony learns from his mistakes ;)
It’s most likely because the look of the blonde girl before was an exaggeration by the mother.
She's just wearing normal clothing in the first time, I though?
@@Joy-zz8wz Yeah but the color palette is changed from black and red, a more agressive color palette, to a purple and blue color palette, which are more calming to look at.
This seems to note on the notion mentioned in one of the comments above, tying in with how parents often worry that their children won't marry wisely.
this short made me feel more emotional than the actual movie, glade to see it get the appreciation it deserves.
like the stuff that smells good?
I remember going to the cinema to see Incredibles 2 and everyone (including me) gasped at the scene where the mom eats the Bao. The most genuine reaction in that place, not even the movie had that
Same
So your explanation of this short has actually hit me in a place I didn’t expect. I only saw this short once in theaters and just thought it was a sweet short. But as the years gone by there have been some realizations that I’ve discovered about my own father that has made me realize I can’t be in a healthy relationship with him as much as I wish I could.
I wish I could have a Bao ending where coming back years later and offering some food would solve it. But sadly it won’t. Because he’s the type to never open up and so I’m stuck wishing for something that will never happen from a father who refuses to change.
Honey I know that feeling. I think about my adoptive mom and wish it was this easy…
This short came out when it was my big brother's senior year of high school. Both of my older siblings didn't have a great relationship with my mom (for entirely different reasons), but this really hit home for me because my brother was going to be leaving for college in what felt like no time at all. The whole of the last three minutes or so made me sob really hard. In all honesty I cry every single time I see this short. It holds a very special place in my heart.
I love this short. The bao bun reminds me a lot of my brother, who used to lock himself in his room all the time talking to his friends, but he never paid the rest of the family any attention. Even so, my parents were still very supportive in helping him get into university and paying for his flight there. They still keep in contact, and I think having a taste of reality, my brother is learning to appreciate my parents a little more, even if he doesn't outright say it. He even found himself a love interest like in Bao too.
Coming from a Chinese family, this short really hit young and modern me hard. Such a beautiful work deserved the praise it got. It grows even more beautiful once you start analyzing the metaphors that this short is built off of.
I watched this short in the theaters, and I don't usually cry from visual medias. However, when I watched it, and it got to the scene when we saw the human son, I finally understood what the short was saying, and the tears just streamed down my face. I thought it was just from the first time watching it, but I was tearing up watching this video. Testament to how emotional this short is.
Looking at the dynamic of the short as a whole, you can see things easily from both the mother and son's perspectives. The mother doesn't want to lose her son, especially if he never writes, calls or visits again and saying goodbye, as a whole, is very heart wrenching for everyone. On the other hand, if you love someone, you often have to let them go and live their life the way they need to live it; this is more so true as, at the end, we see that her son hasn't forgotten his family after all.
I was 100% shocked when she ate him till I realized he was just a "stand in visualization" for her real son.
I think the girlfriend being able to make buns perfectly could also be a representation of them having kids
Bao was hands down my favorite short. I'm shocked so many people didn't like it or thought it was comedic. They just don't get it.
Bao hits different.
And you can tell Bao & Turning Red were the same creator.
Jeez, really? Bao was certainly a lot better than Turning Red.
@@dazedandconfused5711the turning red hate is such a trend lol watch it again but go in positively
@@dazedandconfused5711 no bro, you’re just coping to not be “childish”
The first time I saw bao, I thought that it was cute. I came back to it after a few years and immediately started crying my eyes out. Such an incredible film.
Seeing this short in the theaters is a core memory because I genuinely love this short
This short got audible gasps from the theater I was in. It was packed since everyone was so excited for the new Incredibles movie. But when the mother ate the bao was the only time the audience had any sort of reaction besides a few laughs during the actual movie. It's a pretty great short
This is one of the few shorts that actually made me cry even after years of not seeing it and maturing, ts still hits
I think the last short I really liked was Piper. First off, the animation was stunning, Pixar and beach/ocean scenes are a match made in heaven. And it's just a sweet, simple little story about a sandpiper chick learning about life.
Also the birds and crabs were really cute!
Now that I have the context behind the short, it makes me want to cry even more. I absolutely love this short.
I remember watching this short with my mother in the worst moment possible, 3 months after my brother moved to the Netherlands to be with his wive, and she started crying, and got angry with me because she thought that I brought her to the cinema to watch that short, and I was like I brought you to see the incredibles to cheer you up, how was I supposed to know about this short 😅
Lmaaaaaao talk about ironic. In the worst way possible 😂
I’ve seen this short before and, while I appreciated it, I didn’t have any kind of emotional connection to it. Only now coming across this video and watching the short again, I nearly cried at the end.
I’m having issues with my father, who I have been quite close to my entire life. My situation is almost completely different from the one depicted in the short, but the cause of it is still very similar to what caused my situation. My father is very overbearing and has very high expectations of me because he cares about me; But, kind of thanks to how/when he grew up, he doesn’t understand how a lot of my mental health struggles and neurodivergence works. That, plus his propensity to assume things are personal attacks against him and to refuse to accept when he is wrong, is breaking our relationship very quickly. It really only just happened last week and the day our fight happened he threatened to kick me out. And as much as I care about him, I have too much respect for myself to stick around when he does that. He is actively pushing me away, and I think the ending of Bao really got to me because of that.
Though I do feel bad for the son in Bao- It’s not his responsibility to fix that relationship. His mom ruined it then continued to be upset when time had passed and he was trying to rekindle the relationship- then HE had to start the process of fixing it instead of her ever apologizing for her behavior, as if it was his fault that SHE pushed HIM away.
I remember seeing this short in theaters. My dad isn’t one to cry, but he actually was crying when the short finished. One of the very few times I ever saw him cry.
Even the end credits were heartwarming, especially with using cute simple drawings that showed more of the family bonding.
Bao and La Luna are still my favorite Pixar Shorts. They’re both beautiful in every way…
This short still made me cry, even with narration. I’m almost 16 now and cold towards my parents. It almost makes me feel bad about myself. But it’s such a relatable and cool short. Really the ONLY short I remember because of how good it was when I saw it as a 10 (or so) year old.
just hearing the music from bao makes me want to bawl my eyes out, it was the first time I ever cried in a theater and I still cherish it as a beautiful and heart warming short about life.
Teachers use these shorts to summarize it all up like what’s happening breaking the story down and how the characters act
Bro this legit made me cry when I watched it for the first time-
This short film hit me in the feels. I remember watching this for the first time and it was a mix of emotions.
when i first saw the mom eat the son, my entire mood completely changed. it went from "aw cute story about mom not wanting to let go of her son" to "oh shit a murder just happened"
This short was BEAUTIFUL and honestly made me cry when I first saw it years ago. I had NO IDEA it was made by the same director of _Turning Red,_ (which I was NOT a fan of, btw.) I can see similarities in the "overbearing" mother figure who refuses to let go, except that in this case, I feel that _this_ mother felt more overprotective due to actual love and care, whereas the mother in _Turning Red_ just wanted to control by any means necessary.
cannot watch that eating scene without tearing up, shit hits too hard when you empathize with her regret
I watched this in theaters. When she ate the dumpling and the screen went black, the theater was silent, except for one guy in the back. "What the heck did we just watch? This is terrible - why are they even showing it to us?" And it made my dad and I crack up.
We own the short now, and I love it, but my Mom is weirded out by it (coincidence?).
😂
I’m sorry but that is just incredibly disrespectful-I don’t care if you didn’t get it you keep that to yourself 😡
i remember watching the short with my friends, they gasped and were shocked. I. also Chinese with immigrant parents, gasped and then started laughing, because I got it right away, the message, because my mom would say something very similar of how she didn't like how I was changing and show she wished and how she wished she could put me back and start over. But the whole translation involved something with eating or a word that sounds like eat, but being an illiterate kid I interpreted as eat. I dont really remember exactly how it translated now, but I remember explaining it to my friends and they were just like "Why", and I told him it sounds worse when you translate it.
At the end of this video I started crying, no joke. I don’t cry often either 😂 Bao is a true masterpiece. Also the son wrapping the food shot is me trying to make wontons. I can never get the wrapper to look right
it took me a while to wrap wontons and dumplings too x) i used to overfill and squeeze the excess out
I'm so sad that Lava didn't even get a nomination, it's my personal favorite and it genuinely makes me cry sometimes
dude wtf, i had watch the short before, but yout narrative is truly amazing, even made me cry 10/10 keep it going
you know, sometimes i think i cant get disappointed in society more.
but cmon, the symbolism in this is so obvious, and it's a great short. as someone with a strained mom-son relationship myself this almost made me tear up.
how are people really so dense that they can't get it? this is why animation gets no respect, the medium can tell fantastical stories with amazing symbolism in ways impossible and often more powerful than live action, but people just can't wrap their head around it if it doesnt look or behave realistic enough.
I personally love this short because although i am in the Philippines i can relate to being a child and my mom/grandmother goes to the city buying groceries, eating bread on the way home, and just slightly rebelling when they’ve become too protective
I like the bookending of the table, the opening shot of it, with just the mother and husband is cold, dark, cast in shadows of loneliness.
The final shot is bright, warm and brimming with love. Even the husband is invested for at least a few moments before turning back to the tv.
This short had me and most of the theater bawling.
The first time I watched this it low-key traumatized me, but the second time I watched it I was able to understand the symbolism better and I appreciate it a lot more now
Throughout the whole video I was trying to hold back the tears, I love this short so much! Seriously, even rewatching without the background music, just the visuals hit so hard
3:35screw you (*undoughes your dough*)
Not a slow cooker but a Rice cooker. Essential.
I am so happy that this short is finally getting more attention. no matter how many times I watch it I still cry every time. I think it is a work of art truly one of Pixar's best, not just of their shorts I mean out of EVREYTHING they have made. Bao still holds up way better then most of there movies
When I saw the scene of the son rejecting the food, I immediately said, "Bro if I did that with my ma I would've been aborted at the age of 20!"
Love getting a Pixar short ad from UA-cam on this video
I saw this short on the cinema and the fire alarm went off. Can't see it the same since
Dunno if its mentioned at all but even the super small details like the tin foil on the oven burner makes it feel so grounded i love this short lol
bao almost made me cry when i saw it in the theater
The Bao short made me cry when I first saw it in theater.
Do you guys think Turning Red and Bao could take place in the same universe?
I honestly think Bao could be Turning Red had Ming not learned to let loose on Mei and made her seal her panda
The actual short hit me good, but you diving into it, truely revealed its beauty. Thank you for another wonderful animation insight.
4:34 see this short is when having a female director is good, because they had her on the project not just for "diversity" but for a reason.
It is interesting though, that whenever you seem to have a lot of women heading a project it does seem to get a lot more... personal, shall we say. Most films tend of have a broad appeal, I mean just look at *anything* from illumination. Women seem to *generally* take a more personal approach, and write *their* story, even if not all audiences will understand it.
I think this short specifically had a good balance as it does get into some specific details of specific struggles for specific people, but has a message I feel anyone could relate to.
this is my most favourite pixar short ever. i love how you pointed out so many things as small as camera angles that i didn't notice until you pointed them out and explained. bao really connected with me as someone who's mom would always bring me food as a way to connect with me when we were at a disagreement. thanks for talking about bao! :)
honestly i didn't understand this short until i watched this video and slowly while listening to you explain some of the basic things that i ignore when i go to turn of brain and just watch something mode it made me realize that this is actually really good and beautiful short
My personal favorite short isn't even from a Pixar movie. It's "Inner Workings", the short that preceded Disney's "Moana".
I love that short! I didn't realize it played in front of Moana
I would have eaten it smiling titan style 6:38
Liked
Boy thats a rice cooker not a slow cooker.
I feel like for some reason, that the cooking scenes in turning red (made by Mei's father) were heavily inspired by this short film, (Edit: I feel like Turning red was based on Bao.)
Okay this just reminded me of how much I loved this short at the time and now. I was crying through your review too 😂😅😢. Now this is even more relevant cause I foster a preteen son. And man I can relate on both sides (parent & child).
Boa was the first Pixar short I ever watched. I was so confused through the whole thing but my mom was almost crying by the end.
I interpreted The mother eating her child as swallowing the idea that her child is no longer a baby, he is no longer her little boy. A “hard to swallow pill” and the realization of how she herself had acted. Even so containing frustration because accepting this is still difficult even after realizing.
If you are still doing that series where you review cutscenes from video games, I highly recommend the Sonic Frontiers Prologue: Divergence animation. It has incredible animation and story-telling. Even if you don't make a video about it, I'd still recommend checking it out.
I'm not crying. you're crying!
Bao had me thinking it was from Asia.
I never watched bao watching this video just by a couple of minutes are honestly really pleasing and making me want to watch bao rn- but like he said the textures are beautiful and pleasing and he points out all the perfect shots that i’d never take note of just stands out now
take what you want from this comment, i just wanted to state that
this short fucking freaked me out as a kid i'm gonna be honest. watching a mom vore her son scarred me forever
Haha, dude turned 8 minutes into 25.
Great video, loved it Dazz
Fun fact: the director of Bao later on made Turning Red.
i love this short with all my heart. My parents were also asians who moved to canada for a different life, and food is definitely a love language as a whole
1:28 digest
digest indeed
That's not a slow cooker, that's a rice cooker; a very important distinction cause 1) rice cookers only really make rice (some have steamer baskets, and some fancy ones have other buttons, but that one does not as you can see it just has the push button to start the rice) and 2) a rice cooker is a staple of baisically every Asian household, we all have one and I've rarely seen non Asian people have them. To the point that, as a mixed Asian person myself, I found out a friend of mine was mixed Asian (I noticed a couple other things but this like was the confirmation) was cause they were a new person that was moving in as a room mate with some friends of mine, and mentioned excitedly that they have a rice cooker while we were talking about appliances, and I was like "are you Asian?" "YES! OMG NO ONE NOTICES!" "BRUH SAME" and we talked for like an hour, later they were like "what tipped you off?" "The rice cooker" "lmao omg of course"
Also my family had one that looked just like the one in Bao when I was growing up, my great grandma brought it back from a trip to Hawa'ii visiting some family and it lasted like 40 years before it died.
TLDR; that's a rice cooker and is another visual que about them being an immigrant Asian family
If I had a nickel for everytime Disney made a film/short with Chinese people living in Canada I'd have two nickels which isn't a lot but it's weird it happened twice
I was a new mom of twins when I saw this short and the way I gasped when she ate him! This one made me cry so much all the way through, both happy and sad tears…always one of my favorites ❤
The man was away all the time, for years.
Another interesting thing is if you look at how the bao boys girlfriend is dressed versus her son's girlfriend, the imaginary version is dressed in very skimpy skirt and heavy makeup but the real version of her is much more conservative
I really have gotten softer, haven't I
I saw Incredibles 2 in theaters, so I 100% would've seen this short. But I didn't even remember it.
Meanwhile now just hearing someone talk about it has me in tears.
Despite the lack of overlap between me and the short, i knew it was something special when i first saw it.
I broke down so hard at this short, even after it all turned out okay. Food is a huge love language for me, so having the bao kid reject it hurt me so bad.
I was fifteen when this short came out.
Now I’m twenty, and about to move out of my parents’ house. Things aren’t quite as dramatic in my life as they are in this short, and yet…
I’m crying watching this video. I feel like it all just came crashing down on me that I’m growing up, and that I’m never going to be a little girl again.
I don’t know. All I can say for sure is that it hits a lot harder than when I was fifteen.
This Short now hits me differently now. My sister left me and my mother recently this month and instead of telling my mother she was leaving instead decided to leave a text explaining why she left.
Seeing this in theaters made me have a "I get it" Danny Devito movie, and then I had to watch Incredibles 2
What I love about this short is that only the mother was surprised that the food was alive
Bro I actually cried watching this