Comments on: Kung Fu Panda Open Thread

By: Amber

Amber — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 04:29:23 +0000

I’ve seen it and not only is it funny but its cute. Its a children’s film and not a political statement. There are quite a few fat jokes but nothing truly negative. Its actually a very funny film, go see it with some children they’ll love it.

By: GGJeffy

GGJeffy — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 04:44:05 +0000

I saw this movie today. I live in San Francisco. I’m a big guy. There aren’t a lot of big guys in San Francisco. I felt a little uncomfortable and embarrassed several times during the movie. They made the fat panda seem stupid during most of the movie. There we also many put downs and jokes made about the fat panda by other characters in the movie.
While watching the movie I thought I may have been too sensitive or critical. I used the test of ‘Would they have made similar racial jokes?’. The answer is no. This movie pretty much perpetuates stereotypes of fat people regardless of the “happy ending”.

By: DimeSpin

DimeSpin — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 13:01:12 +0000

Hey, I’m just a lurker who reads, and I love all your comments, they really make me think about concerns that I don’t know if I’d consider on my own. I personally don’t know what I think about Kung Fu Panda, as I haven’t seen it, but I wanted to just quickly bring up that the film is made by Dreamworks Animation and not Pixar/Disney. Sorry, sorry, I’m a total geek about that sort of thing, I’ll go back to lurking now.

By: redblossom

redblossom — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 22:11:28 +0000

Well, I was hoping that the whole moral would be more teamwork-oriented, like the Fab Six in the end, Po accepted into the group, adding his strengths, and all of them defeating Tai Lung at the end. I perceived Po as a white dude because he’s voiced by Jack Black, a white dude, and I’ve been noticing the ‘white dude without discernible skill passes up woman with actual expertise to save grateful people of color’ theme more often since seeing Forbidden Kingdom.

By: Tangerine

Tangerine — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 20:51:08 +0000

“I suppose what really burned my cookies was shifu’s complete neglect of Tigress and his other pupils in favor of Po”

There was a part where Master Shifu says to the Fab 5 “If he doesn’t quit, I will have failed you.” He works Po hard because he expects and wants Po to give up, and thus force the turtle to pick one of his beloved Fab 5 as the real warrior.

Redblossom, why do you call Po “a white dude”? He’s a panda, colored as pandas are. Could you please explain?

By: redblossom

redblossom — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 20:14:56 +0000

I went to see Kung Fu Panda with the hubby over the weekend, and am still feeling a bit ambivalent about it. On the one hand, I was absolutely ecstatic that Po’s fat wound up being a boon (and really fantastically animated as well) and that it was ultimately all about the self-acceptance. On the other hand, I got cranky about the continual references to fat and did not feel that they were at all ameliorated by the eventual acceptance of Po by the other character. I suppose what really burned my cookies was shifu’s complete neglect of Tigress and his other pupils in favor of Po. It’s like, “By the way, those years of honing your art under a harsh master whom you love, respect, and try to make proud don’t mean shit. We found a white dude with no training who will save us all! And I will invest more personal feeling into his montage scene than I have in your entire life’s work!” I know he was hurt and betrayed by teh Bad Guy, but that was resolved whereas this wasn’t…I suppose the film pissed me off more from a feminism and antiracism perspective than from an FA standpoint, although the fat shit was there too. Meh.

By: Jackie

Jackie — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 07:23:07 +0000

Filljonk, I saw the youtube you linked to. Jack Black was really good looking when he had the long hair. I also thought he looked so cute in the farmer’s outfit.

By: Liza

Liza — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 02:18:15 +0000

Hmmm…I’m probably not going to spend $10.75 to see this. When it gets to Netflix I’ll get back to you. :)

By: Alyce

Alyce — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 00:02:13 +0000

Someone on another thread (shakesville, prob) mentioned what an excellent wasted opportunity it was not to make this movie a little fat positive – and “green”, too. Pandas eat bamboo. They are fat on purpose – nature likes ‘em that way. See? Fat can be healthy. Aaaaand, please note that a diet of salad/bamboo may not make you thinner.

Not that I have anything against dumplings. I love me some siu mai and har gow (sorry for my westernized spelling misstakes).

And they could have tossed in a line or two about bamboo deforestation and flooring and fast regrowth and blah blah blah drive a prius.

By: Joie

Joie — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 23:34:42 +0000

I should clarify because here I’m looking like I’m calling all Chinese-y cultures “Asian” which I’m not (and I really can’t stand it when people do it to my face). Of the culture I am familiar with (SE Asian Chinese), fat males are a good thing. Food is something to be greatly celebrated.

Of course with increased Westernization this is becoming less true, but not to the extent that we see in American media.