论文总字数：30941字

摘 要

2008年上映的好莱坞电影《功夫熊猫》在美国刮起了一阵中国风。这部电影制作精良的画面、幽默的对白以及生动的配音在短时间内就吸引了百万观众。有人认为影片表现的价值观与中国民族文化中的传统价值观有冲突；有人认为这是中美两国文化融合的一枚硕果。本论文详细分析了电影中的各种中国元素以及电影的文化背景，从中美两国的文化冲突与文化融合中探讨中美两国价值观的差异，从而促进我国民族文化的发展，并推动文化交流和世界文化的多元化发展。

关键词：《功夫熊猫》；中国元素；文化冲突；文化融合

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Literature Review 1

3. Cultural Conflicts in Kung Fu Panda 2

3.1 The Introduction of Kung Fu Panda 2

3.2 The Design of the Characters 3

3.3 Different Images of the Hero 4

3.4 Hierarchy and Equality 5

4. Cultural Convergence in Kung Fu Panda 7

4.1 Christianity and Confucianism 7

4.2 Individualism and Collectivism 8

4.3 The Image of Dragon 8

5. Enlightment to the Development of Chinese Culture 9

5.1 Developing National Culture 9

5.2 Improving Cultural Communication 9

6. Conclusion 10

Works Cited ……………………………………………………………12

1. Introduction

Kung Fu Panda is an animation directed by John Stevenson and Mark Osborne which uses Chinese kung fu and the panda as its major movie elements. Kung Fu Panda took 60 million dollars in the first week as it was released in America and won the weekend champion. The film was released in mainland China on June.28, 2008, and became the first animation whose gross box office income exceeded 100 million dollars. The film tells a story about a panda named Po who lived in the peace valley in ancient China accidentally became a dragon warrior from a lazy apprentice of a noodle shop and finally defeated Tai lung, the evil one, and realized his dream.

The animations of DreamWorks, like other Hollywood animated films, have the typical features of impressive characters, fanny plots and good music, such as Chicken Run, Shrek, Madagascar, Puss in Boots and so on. And other Hollywood animations like Beauty and the Bear, The Lion King, Happy Feet, Garfield, etc. That causes some doubts. “Are pandas the new penguins? Has animal adorability traded in its dinner jacket for two black eyes? The answer is yes, on the evidence of DreamWorks’ latest ani-movie, Kung Fu Panda. Taking as its source the same Hong Kong martial-arts films that inspired Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, the new picture provides a master course in cunning visual art and ultra-satisfying entertainment.” (Corliss 2008: 11)

Although the film was a great success at the box office for its Chinese elements, it was doubted by many people at the same time. Some people think it’s an invasion of traditional Chinese culture, while some people think that it is a new construct of the image of China. Anyway, Kung Fu Panda did win a great success and was an interesting animation.

In this thesis, the Chinese elements in the film, the cultural background of characters and the conflicts and convergence of two cultures are analyzed. And the connotation and the significance of different cultures in the film are excavated.

2. Literature Review

The New York Times said, “At once fuzzy-wuzzy and industrial strength, the tacky-sounding Kung Fu Panda is high concept with a heart. Even better, this animated feature from DreamWorks is so consistently diverting and visually arresting that it succeeds in transcending its storybook clichés.” (Bernstein 2008: 11) And another article said, “The main question being asked is: How could Western filmmakers have used Chinese themes to create such a brilliant animated movie with such widespread appeal to the Chinese themselves? Why, in other words, doesn’t China itself seem to be able to use its rich traditions to achieve such brilliant cinematic and commercial effect?” (Dargis 2008: 22)

Besides the comments from foreign magazines, there are also comments and analysis from Chinese magazines towards the film. In Fu Hong’s article about Kung Fu Panda, she analyzed the film as a colossal advertising film that propagates the American values. She mainly discussed two kinds of values in American culture: the individualism and individual heroism. She also advocated culture communication. “We should learn the merits and absorb fine achievements from other cultures, and dialogues between different cultures are beneficial to the integration of different cultures.” (Fu Hong, 2009: 14)

Another article written by Luo Tianyu and Zhong Yuanbo mentioned the Chinese elements and the culture background of the film. They inspired the Chinese cartoon industry to increase its creativity. “Despite the success of Kung Fu Panda, it reveals the narrow view of the Chinese film industry. The Chinese film industry lacks the ability of imagination and creativity, and is particularly short of deep comprehension of its native culture.” (Luo Tianyu amp; Zhong Yuanbo, 2008: 22)

3. Cultural Conflicts in Kung Fu Panda

Kung Fu Panda is an American film based on Chinese culture, so the values reflected in the film are doubted by some people. The following part will analyze the conflicts in Kung Fu Panda, including the design of characters, different images of the hero and hierarchy and equality.

3.1 The Introduction of Kung Fu Panda

Kung Fu Panda is a story that almost tells itself in its title. It is so hard to imagine that a big, fuzzy panda performs martial-arts and stars in an against-all-odds formula which dooms him to succeed. For the panda"s target audience, children and younger teens, it will be just fine, and the film presents his adventures in wonderfully drawn Cinemascope animation.

The film stars a panda named Po, who is so fat that can barely get out of bed. He works for his father Mr. Ping in a noodle shop which features Ping"s legendary Secret Ingredient. How Ping, apparently a stork or other billed member of the avian family, fathered a panda is a mystery, not least to Po, and then the movie is filled with a wide variety of creatures that don"t much seem to notice their differences.

They live in the beautiful Valley of Peace with an ancient temple towering overhead, up millions of steps, which the pudgy Po can barely climb. But climb them he does, dragging a noodle wagon, because all the people of the valley have gathered up there to witness the choosing of the Dragon Warrior, who will engage the dreaded Tai Lung in kung-fu combat. Five contenders have been selected, the "Furious Five": Monkey, Tigress, Mantis, Viper and Crane. Tigress looks like she might be able to do some serious damage, but the others are less than impressive. Mantis in particular seems to weigh about an ounce, tops. All five have been trained by the wise Shifu, who is one of the more dimensional characters in a story that doesn"t give the others a lot of depth. Anyway, it"s up to the temple master Oogway, an ancient turtle, to make the final selection, and he chooses the hapless and pudgy Po.

Po"s total lack of skill is quite funny——he"s such a flabby compendium of wrong moves that even his screwups have an amazing logic that is nearly balletic. But then Master Shifu figures out how to teach this hopeless case the art of kung fu. He uses a bowl of dumplings which Po is so eager to eat that he"ll scramble anywhere at any speed to get them.

Before all animals know it, the vengeful and treacherous snow leopard Tai Lung is headed their way, and it"s up to Po to defend everyone from the oncoming threat. Whether he can turn his dreams of becoming a Kung Fu master into reality becomes the most appealing thing. Po puts his heart and his girth into the task, and the unlikely hero ultimately finds that his greatest weaknesses turn out to be his greatest strengths.

3.2 The Design of the Characters

The main character in the film is Panda Po, the son of a noodle shop owner, who longs to be a legendary master of Kung Fu. As the rare animal unique to China, panda is a bright symbol to represent China. All long, panda impresses people with the charmingly naive figure. Panda Po, the main character of the film, is a clumsy gourmand and possesses no sport skill. These characteristics of Panda Po entirely accord with the nature of a panda. So to speak, the appropriate selection for the character individuality is one of DreamWorks Animation"s success recipes.

In addition, the bold and powerful five superiors in the film, the Master Tigress, Master Crane, Master Monkey, Master Viper, and Master Mantis, respectively correspond to the boxing arts of Chinese Kung Fu, namely, the Hu He Shuang Xing, Snake Kung Fu, Monkey Boxing, and Mantis Hands. This originality properly takes advantage of Chinese elements. Within the film, the eldest and brightest martial arts master in Peace Valley is a tortoise, the Shifu. In Chinese culture, the tortoise symbolizes longevity and propitiousness. The Chinese proverb, "the family has an old, a treasure", embodies the concept that the elder accumulates vast amounts of knowledge by right of rich life experiences. As a result, the characters of Shifu, the tortoise, conform precisely to such Chinese-style thinking. But in the final analysis, this is a film to reflect American values. From the setting for the two characters, Mr. Ping (Po"s father) and Shifu, we could feel so strongly the discrepancy between Chinese and American culture.

In the film, Mr. Ping, the father of Panda Po, is not the panda but a goose. Furthermore, Shifu is a raccoon. For the traditional Chinese society laying emphasis on pedigree and family status, this setting is beyond belief. Accepting the Confucian values of "three principles and five virtues", the traditional Chinese society pays great attention to the pedigree and family status of a person. The Liu Xuande in the Three Kingdoms Period, for instance, was born of a downfallen royal family. However, he began every conversation with the pride of Zhongshan Prince Jing"s progeny and considered himself to be the orthodox of Han Court. As for traditional martial arts novels in China, even though born of a poor family, a top martial artist will surely have the ancestor of epic reputation. In Chinese ancient saying, both "a tiger father will not beget a dog son" and "like father, like son" embody such ideology.

Within the traditional Chinese society, the faction is even more significant than family background. The imperial examination system which has risen since the Tang Dynasty breaks the situation that family background determines the lowliness and nobleness, which provides the grassroots intellectual with opportunity of entering the national authority center. Pedigree is no longer the single standard. Consequently, faction becomes the reference object for comparing and ganging. For example, the candidate who has passed the Imperial Examinations will be called the disciple of emperor, which means the emperor"s student. In this way, people under originally disparate family backgrounds are thus on the same page. This shows the significance of faction. Guo Jing, a martial artist who fights against the Jin Dynasty in Jin Yong"s novel, offers another example. It will be impossible that Guo Jing"s master is the ordinary being. We can observe from the novel that his enlightenment teacher is Seven Freaks of the South, the reputation of whom is not magnificent enough. Nevertheless, the master who imparts him Dragon-Strike and thus helps perpetuate him is the famous Hong Qi Gong who is mighty highly respected in martial arts circles.

Therefore, in accordance with Chinese culture, Panda Po"s father must also be a panda. Moreover, the Shifu, who trains Panda Po to be a top martial artist, should appear with brilliance and splendor but not come on stage as a lean and short raccoon.

3.3 Different Images of the Hero

“The individual heroes shaped in American films are usually fearless. They always achieve success with strong perseverance and indomitable spirit.” (Wang Haiyin, 2011: 21) In Kung Fu Panda, Po becomes a hero through defeating the demon Tai Lung. This is just the core spirit of American heroism. American heroism is about the binary opposition between good and evil. The good side will win finally win the success and the leader of them will become hero. Thus, it can be seen that the heroism in American films emphasizes individuality and personal value. Heroes in American films always experience failure before they succeed, thus the ability of fighting against failure is viewed as the fundamental ability of a hero. This shows that a person who lives smoothly all the time cannot be regarded as a qualified hero. Such personality makes heroes in American films more vivid and more acceptable to audience because whatever kind of hero one is, he must first be a human who is supposed to have some shortcomings, and what is valuable is the courage and perseverance he possesses when facing difficulties. In American films, the special ability of a hero is usually confined to some aspects instead of being a versatile person. It is a prominent characteristic of American films. Such characteristic makes “American heroes” more real for they are closer to common people.

The soul of Chinese swordplay films lies on the virtues of loyalty, filialness, benevolence, righteousness, courtesy and faith. In traditional Chinese culture, people’s worship towards Chinese swordsmen derives from their moral excellence. The swordsmen in Chinese films usually have perfect personality and do not care about earthly life. It is different from what is shown in Kung Fu Panda that people adore the hero for his super strength. The perfect image of hero in Chinese films lengthens the distance between heroes and common people. Compared to the heroes in American films, how to present a real hero is a difficult task for Chinese movies.

Moreover, heroes in Chinese films always sacrifice themselves for the main values of the country and the society. Can Jian in the film Hero directed by Zhang Yimou is one of the examples. The hero finally sacrificed his life for the country which is different from heroes in American films, ( e.g. Po in Kung Fu Panda), who lived well after saving the country and the people or even the world.

Individual heroism of America today that is shown in international politics, economy and military is that America always performs like a boss and interferes with affaires of other countries. An American official said: “We (America) provide the leadership needed to put all nations on a cleaner, more sustainable path to prosperity.” (Yang Junfeng, 2008: 229)

3.4 Hierarchy and Equality

As for the orientation mode of cultural value, Geert Hofstede presents the concept of power distance, which means the acceptance level of weak members for power distribution inequality existing in the organization or institution of a society. In general, high degree of power distance corresponds to the society where the hierarchy dominates. For a long time, China has been in the situation of high power distance. In such society, obsession of hierarchy is deep-rooted. Accordingly, the people accept the existence of inequality and believe that a person of greater status should enjoy the privilege. It stands to reason that the subordinates obey their superiors without a question. Having been influenced by the Confucianism for ages, Chinese people are conditioned to make interpersonal communication under the strict chains of social etiquette and criterion. Social status and authority limits often depend on family background, education level, and even the age condition. By contrast, a society of low power distance will emphasize the egalitarian values. America is exactly such a society. Underlining the theme that all men are created equal, most Americans consider the power and prominence are available under the personal ability and effort. On the contrary, they should not be based on the family background, social relation, age and seniority. Therefore, everyone has the opportunity to achieve success through the struggle and thus improve their social status. In addition, there is equality among the people of different status and power. Accordingly, it makes no account of rigid formality, status, title, and age difference.

The interpersonal communication thus shows up the feature of informality. Nevertheless, one character acts out the strange speech and behavior which is seemingly incompatible with the Chinese culture background of high power distance. It is exactly the leading character, Panda Po. Other characters all perform the respectful attitude to Oogway and the raccoon Shifu. In comparison, the Panda Po seems to know nothing about seniority or etiquette. Not simply addressing the two masters without an honorific title, Panda Po also dares to joke with the raccoon Shifu. Moreover, Po unceremoniously and loudly interrogates the raccoon Shifu when discovering the Dragon Scroll is empty. Even, Po is irreverent enough to say that Oogway is nothing but an old lunatic. Panda Po doesn"t stand on ceremony. This character daring to challenge authority embodies exactly the egalitarian values of America.

The cultural informality features of low power distance have also been reflected by Po’s lines, such as “Hey, how’s it going”, “Hey, guys…”, “Come on…”, “No way…”, “Oh, man…”, “wanna…”, “gonna…”, “awesome…”, “suck”, “kidding”, and so on. Besides, though being the seniority, Mr. Ping and the raccoon Shifu would still talk to Po with “Thank you…” and “Sorry…”, which also reflects the egalitarian values. This situation rarely occurs to traditional Chinese father-child relationship and master-apprentice relationship. Even the stubborn and obstreperous Monkey King, the apprentice, should still be extremely deferential to the confused and woozy Tang Monk, the master.

4. Cultural Convergence in Kung Fu Panda

Despite the cultural conflicts in the film, this film skillfully combined Chinese culture with American culture. The cultural convergence in the film includes the integration of Christianity and Confucianism, individualism and collectivism and the image of the dragon.

4.1 Christianity and Confucianism

“Culture is a shared behavior which is transmitted from one generation to another for purposes of promoting individual and social survival adaptation，and growth and development. Culture, has both external (e.g., artifacts, roles, institutions) and internal representation (e.g., value, attitudes, beliefs, cognitive/affective/sensory styles, consciousness patterns, and epistemologies).” (Samovar amp; Porter 2005: 147) In the western culture, the ancient king of Israel was poured with oil on the head to represent the God selected savior to save the world, and the will of the God to select the savior was always delivered by the prophet, so one of the important features of Christianity is “Prophetic Religion”. Panda Po in Kung Fu Panda was the laziest animal in Peace Valley, but when he broke into the tournament of Dragon Warrior, and accidentally stood under the finger of master oogway symbolizing the prophet, all the present masters were shocked to find that: This panda looking useless was unexpectedly the destined panda to save the whole Peace Valley. Then the panda generated by God did the practice in a short time of “being apprenticed” to succeed only because he was “the chosen one”.

Kung Fu Panda does not only embody the God thought of Western Christian but is also the combination of traditional culture of Chinese Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism. The eastern culture has a profound understanding of the delicate relationships between “nothing” and “being”, just as Lao-tzu says, “Everything in the world comes for being, and being comes from nothing.” For example, Daddy Duck of Po says the ordinary truth “The secret ingredient of my secret ingredient soup is ... nothing”, namely, no secret recipe is the best recipe; Po learned about the deepest dragon scroll from the wordless dragon scroll——no secret is the strongest secret. The benevolence of Confucian idea was perfectly interpreted by the raccoon master and the Furious Five. In order to defend the Peace Valley, the raccoon master is righteous to face the disaster alone, while the Furious Five took the negative mission to welcome the difficulties and tried to prevent the cruel leopard. The chivalrous spirit of their disregard for personal safety was just the embodiment of Confucius’ benevolent love. In addition, the fatal thought of Chinese Buddhism believes that “everything is predestined”. The cruel leopard in the film was destined to escape from the prison, no matter how fortified the guard was; Panda Po, the outsider of Kung Fu, was destined to become the Dragon Warrior and finally defeat the cruel leopard.

Kung Fu Panda embodies the fusion of Chinese and American cultural thoughts. “In fact, due to the existence of differences, it is possible for the cultural systems to absorb and refer to each other, and find themselves in the mutual reference.” (Le Daiyun, 1995: 109)

4.2 Individualism and Collectivism

In western culture, people emphasize the independent status of an individual as a rational and dignified person with free will due to the democratic and legal system in western world. People are asked to take charge of their destiny, and one of the most important parts of American culture is emphasis on the individual value. “In American culture, individualism is mainly commendatory. The content of individualism includes self-reliance, self-improvement and self-realization. It is strength for social enhancement and individual success.” (Zhu Yongtao, 2002: 115) Americans deeply believe that God helps those who help themselves. The main character Po in Kung Fu Panda defeated the evil leopard through steadfast and persevering will and all-conquering courage, and finally became the dragon warrior.

The value orientation is different between two cultures due to their different historical origins. Chinese culture emphasizes one’s responsibility to others and the community, and the value of a person is realized through the realization of the value of the community. Thus, only by committing himself unconditionally to the community can one realize his value. When facing the threat from the evil leopard, the master raccoon and his five disciples all came out boldly to fight against the evil one and defended the peace valley with the pledge of their lives. This collective spirit had a great impact on Po. Although it was hard to practice the skills of martial arts, Po didn’t forget the responsibility as a dragon warrior. Therefore, the perfect ending of Kung Fu Panda is also the victory of collectivism.

4.3 The Image of Dragon

In addition, the director of Kung Fu Panda tactfully handled the image of dragon. In ancient China, the dragon was viewed as the god of water because China was a developed agricultural country. Chinese people worship dragon since ancient time, and Chinese people always view themselves as descendents of the dragon. Therefore, the image of dragon is inevitable in Kung Fu Panda as it is a film based on Chinese culture. However, due to the culture differences between China and America, dragons in western culture are always monsters with fat and swollen body, wings, and a mouth that can spit fire; they are always the symbol of evil. DreamWorks had weakened the image of dragon in the film Kung Fu Panda. There are two key words being mentioned repeatedly: “the dragon warrior” and “the dragon esoterica”. For example, Tai Lung, the bastard, became an evil one because master Ooway didn’t choose him as the dragon warrior that made him lose the opportunity of getting the dragon esoterica. Another example is that Po finally knew the secret of the dragon esoterica and became a real dragon warrior, and defended the peace valley by defeating Tai Lung. In this film, the word “dragon” appeared everywhere, while audience sould seldom see the real entity of the dragon. The way of using the abstract word to substitute the real entity weakened the image of dragon. Using the image of dragon as the background of the film appeared to audiences of different cultures.

5. Enlightment to the Development of Chinese Culture

Analyzing the cultural conflicts and cultural convergence is helpful for developing Chinese culture. If we want to catch up with the advanced culture in the word and improve the development of our culture industry, we need to develop our national culture and enhance cultural communication.

5.1 Developing National Culture

As a spiritual power of a nation, national culture can turn into material strength in the process of people’s learning and working and has a profound impact on the development of the society. The historical development of human society proves that a nation can stand firmly, proudly and independently in the world only by being both materially and spiritually rich. In the process of social development, the content of traditional culture should adjust itself to the development of social productivity, economy and politics. Only with adjustment can traditional culture meet the constantly increasing spiritual needs of people and play a positive role in the development of the society. If not, traditional culture can also hinder the development of the society and impede the advancement of human civilization. Culture nationalization is not just a slogan that is laggard, conservative and old-fashioned. Culture nationalization is closely related to culture globalization, and they are mutually supplemented and promoted. We ought to consciously protect and preserve our culture heritages, and make the treasure of the world.

5.2 Improving Cultural Communication

“The problems facing mankind are solvabl.  The key is for all of us to escape from the prisons of our respective cultures.” (Hall 1976: 56) After entering the 21 century, the process of globalization is proceeding faster and faster, and we can see clearly that culture globalization has become an objective existence that cannot be denied. Culture globalization has become an irreversible trend whether you admit it or not. Culture globalization is a dynamic process that full of all sorts of dialogues and communications. As China is integrating into the tide of the advancement of human civilization, accepting common values of different cultures is the premise for China to integrate with the rest of the world. Culture development cannot be separated from culture globalization; therefore, we should fully comprehend and modestly learn outstanding culture traditions of developed countries and nations. Besides, we ought to bravely absorb all brilliant achievements of human civilization, pursue common values of nations, and adhere to the principle of culture coexistence and common development. Only in this way can we develop our national culture in a wider context.

6. Conclusion

From the analysis above, the conflicts and convergence in Kung Fu Panda are studied. The cultural conflicts in Kung Fu Panda include the conflicts in the design of characters, different images of the hero, hierarchy and equality. The cultural convergences in the film are also analyzed. They are integration of Christianity and Confucianism, individualism and collectivism, and the image of the dragon. While bringing us fun, Kung Fu Panda has also given us opportunity to think about the inheritance of our national culture. Why was this movie based on Chinese culture made by Americans? Why cannot Chinese people make such a successful film with our outstanding culture? That’s because we didn’t pay enough attention to our own culture resources when foreigners were attracted by our extensive and profound culture heritages. China owns various kinds of cultural resources and culture heritages, if we cannot produce large amount of practical and original ideas, our culture industry will finally lag behind the advanced culture of the world. Besides, we should keep our national culture vigorous by advancing with the time and absorbing quintessence of other cultures.

Works Cited

[1] Bernstein, Richard. “The Panda that Roared.” New York Times, 2008(34): 11-12

[2] Corliss, Richard. “Kung Fu Panda: Wise Heart, Sweet Art.” Time, 2008(88): 11-13

[3] Hall T, Edward. Culture and Social Behavior. New York: Anchor Doubleday, 1976.

[4] Samovar A, Larry, and Richard E. Porter. Communication between Cultures. Beijing: Peking University Press, 2005.

[5] Dargis, Manohla. “Fuzz Outsider, Kicking His Way towards His Dream.” New York Times, 2008(34): 22-23

[6] 付 翃. 一部宣扬美国思想价值观的巨型广告片——《功夫熊猫》的认知同构解读. 电影文学，2009（7）：14-15

[7] 乐黛云. 《独角兽与龙——在寻找中西文化普遍性中的误读》. 北京：北京大学出版社, 1995.

[8] 罗天昱，钟远波. 解析好莱坞《功夫熊猫》对中国元素的多方位演绎. 电影评价，2008（19）：22-23

[9] 王海莺. 《美国灾难片中的个人英雄主义》. 电影文学，2011（18）：21-23

[10] 杨俊峰. 《口译与听力》. 沈阳：辽宁出版社，2008.

[11] 朱永涛．《美国价值观》．北京：外语教学与研究出版社，2002.

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