Unlike most moviegoers this summer who got caught up in the hype of the The Dark Knight, I got all crazy about Kung Fu Panda. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed The Dark Knight just as much as everyone else, but Kung Fu Panda generated a lot of thought provoking conversation amongst me and my Chinese friends.
Here's how it started...
A bunch of us walk out of the threatre with an ear-to-ear smile. We are extremely proud of how great this "Chinese" movie was, but Ian, our white friend (We always bring at least one token white friend with us everywhere we go to make us feel more American), tells us Kung Fu Panda is a Hollywood movie. Made in America. Our smiles are immediately erased from our Asian faces. None of us believe him. Our real Chinese friend, Liu Bing Yuan (We always bring at least one token real Chinese friend with us everywhere we go to make us feel more Chinese), lets him know it in his thick Chinese accent, "Ai-Yah Ian!, rook at-ta me. You ah fulla sheet. You ah smoke-ka pot-ta again ah!" Ian just blinks unable to decipher what Liu Bing Yuan said. I step in to translate, "Dude, Ian, you are smokin' pot again, aren't you?" Ian replies, "Dude, don't believe me?" He heads towards his Volkswagen Jetta and get his iPhone from the glove compartment and says, "Let's Google it."We all huddle around Ian's iPhone as he pulls up the results. Sure enough, it's a Dreamworks movie. Made in America. We ABCs are vexed. We all silently get into our Honda Civics and drive back home to Google it ourselves because we really thought Ian was pulling our legs. How could a movie like this be made by Americans? They always butcher the Chinese elements, but Kung Fu Panda hit them quite accurately, or at least at accurately as this Chinese American can decipher.
At this point I realize that there were no subtitles. I was able to understand the whole movie without subtitles. (You see, my understanding of the Chinese language, like most ABCs, is about as good as a retarded 5 year old. This is not something I like to talk about because it is source of great uneasiness for me). I think back and realize there were many clues that should have gave it away - only Hollywood would name Dustin Hoffman's character Master Shifu. Shifu means master, so Master Shifu actually means Master Master - totally retarded, totally Hollywood. Furthermore, Po, the main character, played the loser-to-stud role - the Chinese would have never had the guts to portray the Panda this way. They have too much respect for their Panda. They would have made Po into a perfectly cute lovable character through the whole movie - No character transition. No internal character struggle. No imperfection. Boring. It would have tank the whole storyline.
Of course, all of us ABCs come to this "relevation" at about the same time so the discussions start via the phones, IM, forums, Friendster, MySpace, and Facebook: "Why couldn't the Chinese do a movie like this?", "This should have been a Chinese movie", et cetera et cetera...
The truth is this - Chinese artists and directors, just like most real Chinese people aren't interested in their past. They've beaten that to death. They are completely wrapped up in the Modernization (or Westernization) of their own country so all their work will reflect this. They could never have done Kung Fu Panda.
In contrast, Americans' appreciation of China is for the most part it's history, it's tradition, it's "old" culture, not it's modernization. As a result, Dreamworks made sure the traditional Chinese elements were accurate and believable enough not get in the way of this movie's very American attitude. They pulled off the blend of East meets West swimmingly - only America could have done this movie.
It's at this point that I realize there's nothing for me to get all up in arms about. In fact I should be supporting this movie with all my heart. Kung Fu Panda represents all Chinese Americans and ABCs - it's the perfect blend of East and West...Just like me.
Dude, I'm so buying the DVD...
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