For the most part, the movie going experience comes with a certain suspension of disbelief, because the audience knows that film is mainly an escape from reality. However, some genres are able to push that suspension exponentially further than others. Arguably, animation may be the most effective medium by which viewers can completely buy into fictional worlds or characters. This makes it the perfect means by which to stretch and bend physics and reality, while not drawing any attention to it Kung fu films, which are well known for pushing action beyond physical plausibility, can sometimes seem ridiculous, because as humans, we have reference for the bodies limitations. But when conveyed through animation, the audience is already buying into a fantastical tale, and willing to accept the impossible much more easily.
Kung Fu Panda, an animated film by Dreamworks, posits to us that not only can animals talk and quadrupeds stand upright, but they can also perform superhuman feats of acrobatics and martial arts. Po is a panda who finds himself lazily slacking through each day with no real purpose, other than to admire the martial artists that he loves so much. One day, it is revealed that Po is prophesied to be the fabled “dragon warrior,” and is swept from his dull life as a noodle boy, to train with his heroes. Kung Fu Panda gets away with so much just from the start, by setting the story in a world of anthropomorphized characters, or, characters that are anatomically inhuman, but with human like characteristics or behavior.
Po begins living at the dojo along with the other warriors, and starts training in the ways of martial arts. There he meets Tigress, Monkey, Mantis, Viper, Crane, and Shifu, the warriors he had always admired. They, however, are less than thrilled to have him among their numbers, and begin his training by mercilessly showing him the difference in their strengths. When Po refuses to give up, master Shifu himself spars with Po, easily exerting physical dominance over him. To put it into perspective, even if the characters were similar in age, an adult male red panda weighs usually between twelve to twenty pounds. An adult male panda’s average weight is often between two hundred thirty to two hundred fifty pounds, meaning that Shifu was tossing around a being that was likely over ten times his own weight, and many times his own size. Because this is an animated film, it is immediately accepted that this is a plausible course of events, whereas in reality, the sheer difference in mass would likely render the smaller individual physically incapable of moving the larger individual, regardless of technique, let alone spinning him about above his head, and throwing him a great distance away. In an even more extreme example, Mantis similarly bested Po, despite weighing less than a pound.
This turbulent relationship continues until Shifu witnesses Po exerting great will and effort when attempting to get food. Shifu decides that this will be the best way to teach him martial arts, and the training montage begins. The montage itself is full of events that stretch the laws of physics. In one scene, Po is hanging by his knees from a tree branch, and using it to perform hanging sit ups. Not only would the force of gravity make it extremely difficult for someone of his size to suddenly perform hanging sit-ups, but the branch he was using would almost certainly have snapped under the weight long before he could set himself up. In another scene, Po and Shifu are both doing one handed fingertip pushups. His weight has already been discussed, so to avoid being redundant, there is another inaccuracy in the scene. Despite pushing off the ground at pretty much the same time, Po is seen to reach the down position before Shifu every time. Though this is meant to show that Shifu is having an easier time, and is therefor at a more relaxed pace, physics tell us that larger objects at a greater height will take longer to land than smaller lighter objects.
After Po has been trained, he has his encounter with Tai Long, the main antagonist of the film. Tai is a tiger who has been expertly trained, and even surpasses Shifu himself in terms of martial arts prowess. This battle relies heavily on Po’s mass as a weapon. Many martial arts styles incorporate the idea of using the opponents strength against them, and Kung fu panda takes the idea that Po is fat and bouncy, and uses that as a fighting option. It is this battle where Po has the most rubber-like attributes. At the beginning of the film, Po would receive hard solid hits that would floor him, but in this fight it sends him flying and bouncing off walls, helping him gain speed and inertia, and sending him right back to Tai Long. Such a plot point may only be viable for animation, because it is so cartoonish that in live action format, it would break the suspension of disbelief. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the part of the fight which demonstrates both the greatest homage to the kung fu genre, as well as the largest affront to conventional physics. Po and Tai Lung are scaling a crumbling building while chasing after the scroll which is meant only for the dragon warrior. The scroll is sent flying, and as the building collapses, Po uses flying debris as jumping platforms to gain altitude. The tiny debris stays stationary in air long enough for Po to climb on top, and jump off of, only afterwards flying off screen.
In the final scene of the showdown, Po uses an ancient technique to vanquish Tai Lung called the “Wu-Shi finger hold” while the details of how the technique works are never explained, the result was a massive explosion of energy that swept over the entire city. Such a trope is not uncommon in martial arts movies. An eastern belief is that the body contains “ki” or “chi,” which can be explained as a beings life force. many similar films show characters being able to harness and control that inner energy and use it to create energy attacks, or explosions. While this could never truly happen, nor would one want it to, because an explosion likely can’t differentiate between friend and foe, not to mention the probable radiation or aftershocks, it is such an accepted part of Eastern style martial arts movies, that the audience takes it at face value.
Kung Fu Panda pays homage to the Martial Arts genre wonderfully, defying reality along the way to provide a fantastical journey for the viewers. Companies like Sony, Pixar, Disney, and in this case, Dreamworks continually prove that animation may just be the format in which filmmakers have the most freedom to break and bend the laws of physics at will, and yet still sell itself as believable.
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