Bao is an animated short film by Pixar that was released in cinemas along with the film Incredibles 2 (2018). Its creator, Domee Shi, wanted to reflect her love of food, family and Chinese culture in a story for children.
When Shi was a 2-year-old baby, her family emigrated from China to Canada, and this is where the short film is set. She wanted the story to focus on a dumpling as it represents the relationship between food and family in China: it is a typical food that you prepare with your mother or father for holidays.
In the short film, a woman makes dumplings for herself and her husband. He eats his own in a hurry to get to work, and the moment she puts the last dumpling in her mouth, it comes to life and it starts to cry. The woman, frightened, looks at him in shock, but immediately takes a fond interest in him and raises him as her son.
The little dumpling and his mother spend many happy moments together where she spoils him, and they stroll, eat together and play; she is overprotective of him because his dough body is delicate and any blow can alter its shape.
Everything begins to change as the little dumpling grows. He becomes rebellious and doesn't like his mother coming into his room, and listens to loud music.
This attitude begins to sadden the mother. Things get worse when her grown-up son brings home his fiancée (who is obviously not Asian) to introduce her. The moment he tries to leave the house, his mother despairs and eats him!
After crying for a long time, her real son of flesh and blood (physically very much like the little dumpling) comes home and talks to her. At the end of the film, the two of them share as a family with his wife and learn how to prepare dumplings.
The twist of the dumpling being eaten by the mother was inspired by a personal experience of Shi. She says that on one occasion her mother hugged her very tightly and said, "I wish you would come back to my stomach so that I could always know where you are." That is, in her own words, "something sweet and creepy," which reflects very well the feelings of parents (and especially mothers) when their children leave home. This is called empty nest syndrome.
Psychology indicates that empty nest syndrome is a transitional state that parents go through once their children leave home to become independent. It is characterized by a great feeling of loneliness, helplessness, irritability, caused by the feeling of abandonment after the departure of their children, to whom they have dedicated many years of their lives. In this situation, parents no longer know what to do without their children present at home as usual. According to the director, this situation can happen in a very recurrent way in Asian families (as was her own case), so she decided to capture this feeling in the short film.
The woman devouring the dumpling becomes a metaphor for the mother trying to keep her child with her at any cost, and immediately after doing so, she regrets it. Fortunately, the son eventually returns home to his parents and shares with them and his wife, implying that changes are not easy and the transitions can be complex, especially when it comes to the relationship between parents and children; however, children can continue their relationship with their parents even if they make an independent living.
The animated short also shows us the subject of interracial relations and how some parents often resist it, especially when they come from a culture that does not welcome a mix of races. This may be another common theme for children of Asian parents in other countries, where they will probably make their own family with people from the country to which they migrated.
Bao (which means dumpling, but also means "treasure") is a story full of symbolism, based on a personal anecdote and being adapted in a wonderful (and fortunately uncensored) way by Pixar.
