On 2021 I wrote an article called "Millstones in the Road: The Be Yourself Message". It has multiple views, and in that article I talked about the 1st Kung Fu Panda movie. I said the following:
"Kung Fu Panda. In the first movie, Po the panda discovers that the message of the "dragon scroll” (which gives power to those who possess it) is... nothing! He asks his adoptive father, a goose, what he thinks the message on the dragon scroll is, and the goose tells him that it does not matter if the scroll contains nothing, if he believes there is something special about him, he will thrive. At the end of the movie, Po shows that the dragon scroll is his reflection. You have your powers by yourself. You are cool just the way you are. How profound.
It is interesting to notice that, although his companions have trained hard all their life, Po is the one chosen as the “dragon warrior” - in my opinion, this is in part because he has more personality and is more unique than the others, (he is truly himself). He trusts in his own "inner strength" unlike the Five, who feel the need to prove their strength all the time."
However, upon further studying, I realised this paragraphs are not entirely accurate, and therefore, the movie does not teach the be-yourself message as hard as I previously thought.
The reason for this is that the movie is pretty much nuanced and subtle in many of the things it is trying to say. There is nothing wrong with correcting ourselves, so in this article we will take a detailed look to this movie and see the extent of the be yourself message (if this is one of the messages of the movie), as well as other interesting thoughts.
Oogway's Choice
The first issue we had is that Po had been chosen despite the fact that he is a soyboy, instead of the furious five who have trained hard for most of their lives. It seemed to work like a diversity hire.
However, later we learn Oogway actually had a reason to choose the panda. The 3rd movie explains that pandas have a special connection with chi energy (a pagan life-force energy the chinese believe in). Furthermore, his bodily fat protects him from a special punch Tai Lung had learned while in prison. Therefore, he is not exactly a diversity hire.
The be yourself message is not found on the fact that he is a diversity hire. However, Oogway should have explained this to the furious five to avoid problems and increase their patience for the panda. For this fact alone we should hesitate to call this tortoise "wise".
On the other hand, if Po uses his personality to do Kung Fu better, I can't accuse him of merely "being himself", like Disney princesses. Yes, Kung Fu panda is a pagan franchise, but just because you are a pagan does not mean you have the be yourself message.
Po and the Furious Five
Po is loud and extravagant so his personality is more noticeable than that of the others, but they do have a personality - it is just that it is subtler in its expression.
Tigress, for example, is a cold but kind, highly disciplined warrior who is deeply concerned about everyone. She is angry with Po because he is immature and acts like if everything is a joke.
However, the other furious five are rather childish and immature too. Monkey is a jokester, crane and mantis follow him along. Saying that Po is himself while the others deny themselves, is an understatement, because the only character with gravitas is Tigress.
The movie that did contrast a character who is herself against other (mostly) self-denying characters is Turning Red. Mei Lee the giant red panda girl learns that her mom wasn't allowed to be herself (pretty much like her right now) and that made her sad, so when the opportunity comes to let herself be seen, mommy transforms into pandazilla and nearly causes millions of deaths. This 2 movies were made with a different mindset.
Po's Immaturity and Obesity
The thing that does have a dose of the be yourself message is perhaps the fact that we never see Po overcome his tendency to gluttony. It would be nice to see him struggling with his nearly unstoppable binging urges and improve himself.
As regarding his immaturity: Yes, eventually the soyboyish behavior Po exhibits gets exhausting. However, it seems that this dumbness actually serves a purpose and is more than just Po "being himself". His annoying chatter distracts his enemies into thinking he can't defeat them, only to surprise them with his kung fu skills and smart battle strategies.
It would be nice for the writers to further improve his character in this respect too, perhaps by having him say smarter things when he is chatting with the antagonists. However, it seems that Dreamworks has prevented Po from growing further. KFP 2 was a sufficiently mature, gritty story, but with the next 2 sequels they tried to be more comedic and as such, Po will be permanently stuck into having an adolescent brain.
The Phrase that Made me Feel Sad.
The scene that has the least of the be yourself message is one where Po tries to escape the jade palace. Shifu asks him why he stayed for so long only to leave now. Po says the following:
"Every time you throw a brick into my head, or said I smelled, it hurt, but it hurted less than just being me".
This phrase already transcends most be yourself movies. Here we have a character that instead of just wanting to be accepted "as he is", wants to be something more than just a soyboy panda. He doesn't want to have self-esteem just because he exists; he actually wants to earn it by becoming a hero.
I had missed this phrase before, and this phrase alone motivated me to write this article. There may be some be-yourself message in the other Kung Fu Panda movies, but it does not seem anymore to me that the movie was written with this intention.
The Special Noodle Soup
The special noodle soup we referred to before may be more a rather clumsy analogy for self-confidence, kinda like the feather in Dumbo that makes the baby elephant think he can fly. Self-confidence is a feature of the be yourself message (being yourself means trusting yourself enough to do your own thing).
However, Po actually lacked confidence, which is necessary when one is capable of doing something. (1) His consciousness of being a soyboy panda allows him to practice some degree of humility, unlike Tai Lung, but his humility had been contaminated with pusillanimity, which means he stays static doing nothing because he is afraid of failure. Training and receiving an honorary title allows Po to overcome some part of this problem and defeat the enemy.
1) Just remember that confidence in God is necessary, confidence in oneself is not necessary.
The bad thing about this is that it teaches Po to source his confidence from phantasms. The secret ingredient doesn't exist, but it matters because people believe on it? This is some stupid fortune cookie lore.
Furthermore, Po had already trained when he talked to Mr. Ping, so he didn't need to bust his confidence by somehow convincing himself the dragon scroll had something on it that is very special but does not exist.
And there, there is the mirror thing. Po explains to Tai Lung that he didn't understood why the scroll was empty, but then he realized it was a mirror.
So, did Po need to train to improve himself or was he special all this time because reasons? Based on the seeming contradiction between this mirror and the phrase Po gifted us before, it seems that this movie focuses more on gaining confidence through honorary titles, training and the appreciation of a teacher. The message that you should be yourself is there but it weaker than initially thought.
Therefore, yes, I think I was too harsh with Kung Fu Panda. This does not mean I would recommend the movie, it merely means that I made a mistake and I have to repair it.
This is because if you want to condemn anything in popular culture, you need to know what you are talking about, or else your condemnations will be useless. I ask forgiveness if this failure harmed anyone, and let this stand as a reminder that correcting oneself is necessary, as well as treating other things fairly and avoid misrepresenting them-
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