Kung Fu Panda

Synopsis

A young panda’s dream of becoming a master kung fu comes true but not in the way he thinks.

Kung Fu Panda is an amazing example of the process of knowing oneself. We meet Po, a giant panda that works in a restaurant with his father who is a duck. From the very beginning, we see how much Po loves Kung Fu and has dreams about what it would be like being a Kung Fu master. One day, a call goes out throughout the land that the great Master Oogway is putting together a tournament in search of the Dragon Warrior, who is said to be the one to bring peace to the land. 

As Po starts to make his way to watch, he is met with a lot of resistances along the way. His father asks him to take a noodle cart to sell food, which makes him late and the doors close before he can enter. He tries many different ways of getting in until finally he gets in, only to find that Master Oogway is pointing at him, saying that he is the Dragon Warrior. Needless to say, everyone is very surprised. But nevertheless, Po starts to train.

All the other masters don’t believe that he is the Dragon Warrior and they make that known throughout po’s training. Even Po’s master, Shifu, does not believe that he is the Dragon Warrior, confronting Master Oogway multiple times saying Po is not the Dragon Warrior. But this does not stop Po from training, he persists until the others start to see his commitment and show respect. As he trains, he gets better and eventually gets as good as the other masters.

When it comes time for Po to read the Dragon Scroll, which is only meant for the Dragon Warrior to read, it turns out that the scroll is blank, no text, just a reflective surface. Everyone, including Master Shifu, does not understand. Po begins to seriously doubt everything he has done up until this point, wondering what it was all for. Po’s father sees this in him, so he decides to tell him the secret ingredient that makes his noodle soup so delicious. The secret is: nothing. His father explains that he doesn’t add anything to it, but the way he makes it and the intention of making it special is what makes it special. And just like that, Po understood.

You don’t need anything outside of yourself to know who you are. Just by believing in himself, Po truly becomes the Dragon Warrior. We all have this ability, we can and should become Dragon Warriors, we just need to truly believe it.