Animated films are where our strict adherance to science and
physics can be allowed to stretch and imagination takes priority. This freedom
to suspend our knowledge and perception of the realistc is often neccessary to
create and provide entertainment and more than an extra dose of amazement. This
is especially true in Dreamworks Animation's Kung Fu Panda, where we remember
how we fell in love with Kung Fu as children. Not the realistic Kung Fu we know
of as a martial art that is only about as powerful and exciting as our own
pathetic human bodies are; this is the Kung Fu of anybody's most epic
fantasies, and that means warriors are flying from rooftops to cliffs, punching
boulders and mountainsides into pieces, and demonstrating physical coordination
that bring circus tricks and magicians to shame. This is the Kung Fu where
everything and everyone is light, fast, powerful, and hopefully without any
wires visibly seen swinging characters across the screen!
But do these characters truly stretch beyond the laws of
physics through Kung Fu? And just how far can Kung Fu take these characters?
While there is a journey of levels from the physical plane to the spiritual,
the practices of physics in this film can be highly debatable. Surely the
characters are demonstrating physical abilities very unrealistic in the real
world, but even in the context of the film, it's debatable whether their
abilities are feats of "big muscles", or abilities we can actually
call "super powers", the kind truly beyond the stuff of physics.
The film takes place in a fictionalized and fantastical
version of Ancient China, and its denizens are all anthropomorhic animals.
However, it's not the lack of human presence that is the major source of
suspended logic. Especially since the characters confirm their awareness of
their own species; a tigress, a monkey, and Po, the titular giant panda. In
fact, there is enough practicality of their self-awareness that they
incorporate their animal physiology into their fighting styles: usage of tails,
wings and claws as weapons. But borrowing elements from real life Chinese
philosophy, the film also displays supernatural and spiritual elements, and
much of the grandeur of this universe is the relationship and distinction
between the spiritual and their version of the physical, and how its characters
interact between each.
When we think to ourselves the image of fighting and martial
arts combat in the most exciting and adventurous way we can imagine, with
enough likelihood, we imagine feats of superhuman ability. We imagine breaking
and destroying solid objects far beyond any existing muscle's ability to even
crack, lifting objects dozens of times heavier and larger than the lifter,
jumping great distances, from the ground to the rooftop of a temple, and
running up walls and cliffs. In Kung Fu Panda, such feats are apparently
possible with Kung Fu, as many characters are seen demonstrating superhuman
strength. In an early training scene, the heroic Furious Five train with Po,
showing that the Kung Fu masters as small as a red panda, a viper snake, and
even a praying mantis, each as small as their real life counterparts, are
capable of lifting and flipping the titular giant panda with ease. The praying
mantis even, later in the film, holds an entire rope bridge as several
characters are fighting on it. And probably the biggest display of a
character's power comes from the main antagonist, as he is seen escaping a
heavily secured prison in a mountain, running up miles of walls, battling
through armies, and jumping from boulders to stalactites as they fall from the ceiling.
However, these instances of questionable physics can be
rather debatable, as it is arguable that the attention to realistic solid mass
and gravity in this film is actually rather convincing for the most part. The
laws of physics around the characters remain mostly intact and consistent
relative to real life, but instead, perhaps the real stretch in physics lies in
the unrealistic muscle power of the main characters. e.g. The gravity is not
weak nor changing, but the character is just strong enough to jump that high
into the air.
But like any complete display of Kung Fu, there is more than
just a vulgar demonstration of body and muscle, as any martial art has a strong
discipline in precision, coordination, and equilibrium. And in this film, the
characters also take these to questionable limits in the way they interact with
the physics around them. The deuteragonist and small red panda, Master Shifu, can
be seen effortlessly balancing himself while standing at the top of a bamboo
stick that's not attached to the ground; something that's likely possible but
far less likely with his instant balance adaptation. He is also seen blowing
out an entire room of lit candles with a single wave of his hand, which may or
may not be a calculable result of any sort of hand technique, even on a
superhuman level.
The glorious demonstrations of Kung Fu continue to evolve
and reveal more capabilities, from exaggerations of simple concepts of strength,
to more extraordinary techniques and interactions with surrounding physics, to
being so extremely unlikely, it is borderline magical. In one early scene, as
Master Oogway and Po converse under a peach tree, the friendly Oogway lightly
taps the tree with his walking cane, causing a peach to fall right into Po's
hand. This is clearly a demonstration of his ability, being so coordinate and
precise that he is apparently able to using indirect interaction with extremely
limited physical contact of any kind to produce a highly improbable, yet very
specifically designed, result. Even Master Shifu later demonstrates unrealistic
control of his surroundings to accomplish something precise and extremely
unlikely to succeed. With a swing of his hand and spins of a cane, Shifu waves
a collection of flower pedals high into the air, allowing one pedal to land on
a scroll suspended on a temple ceiling, adding just enough weight to tilt it
and slide it down from its high resting place. It would appear that Kung Fu can
do that kind of thing.
In addition to the exaggerated uses of Kung Fu, and its
assumptions of allowable physics, this film also incorporates elements of
Chinese mythology, mysticism, spirituality, divinity, philosophy and
predeterminism. There is evidence of supernatural elements existing in this
universe, some more faith-based and controversial, and at least a few very
explicit. The entire plot of the film was set off by Master Oogway's vision of
the main antagonist's coming, which turns out to be accurate, and his belief in
his favorite proverb, "there are no accidents". Firmly believing that
some things were always meant to happen, Oogway thoroughly embraces Po's
accidental and unwelcome introduction as part of his journey to become the
Dragon Warrior. And indeed, Po does become this anticipated hero that was
spoken of, but not without being propelled by physical assistance from other characters.
In fact, much of the legend of the Dragon Warrior is left for interpretation
and belief rather than explicit divine will and design, and the resolution of
the film a result of destiny or physical intervention.
But the characters actually do demonstrate spiritual powers
that defy the laws of physics. Master Oogway passes on to the afterlife and
ascends to Nirvana by literally disappearing in the midst of floating flower
pedals. And Po defeats the main antagonist after a long fight by using the
"Wuxi Finger Hold", which is explained to send the opponent directly
to the afterlife in the spirit realm.
The context of the film appears to describe and demonstrate
that Kung Fu is the ability to go beyond physics, from the more realistic
limited stage, to a stage that's beyond physics altogether. In the film, Kung
Fu is described to be the unraveling of the mysteries of harmony and focus. It
starts with the complete mastery of one's own body and mind, which accesses a
level of strength, coordination, and balance as far as physics might allow. It
then ascends to control, interaction and relationship with the world and one's
own surroundings, allowing them to actually control the physics around them to
accomplish likely impossible feats. And finally, it allows access to spiritual
abilities and properties, with the highest possible level appearing to be dying
in complete peace and ascending to a spiritual plane of existence.
But as long as the characters remain beneath the clouds of
Nirvana, can Kung Fu truly allow them to break the laws of physics? For the
most part, the laws of physics in Kung Fu Panda are actually realistic and
consistent, despite the characters constantly challenging the gravity of their
limits and accomplishing things beyond what any animal body can do. So even
with the laws of physics in this film real enough for audiences to step on, in
this film, it won't stop the characters from accomplishing superhuman feats,
because in this movie, Kung Fu is just too AWESOME for real world limitations!
I just attended the 18th Annual Animation Show of Shows, hosted by Ron Diamond. Unlike previous years, this event wasn't taking place at the theater on campus, but instead was at the Camera 3 in downtown San Jose, which was fortunately in walking distance from the school, and unfortunately the last side quest for extra credits that is local.
The choice of animated shorts this time were very outside of the norm. They were, in fact, more artistic, intellectual, and open to interpretation, and so they were more fascinating than they were entertaining. Simply put, they were very "avant garde", and so their creativity were very experimental. Some of them were also quite sexual, which included full nudity of stop-motion and 3D characters. But if you're the type who has a lot of appreciation of fine art, such as Cubism and the sort, you might find a lot of these quite fascinating. Especially since one of the short films, called Boyg, quite literally looks like a motion graphics work of Cubism in my opinion.
But it's fair to warn anybody considering attending that the content has a lot of adult themes and imagery and not quite for the faint of heart. I don't want to offend and criticize the films that were put into a lot of time and effort to be produced by students and chosen by Mr. Diamond, but considering how highly experimental and risqué a number of the films were, I'm sure it's understandable if someone as simple-minded as myself would finish watching some of the films wondering what did they just watch.
