s his destiny as the hero who saves his people during their darkest hour.
It is not difficult to find that instead of applying the Chinese elements simply to film-making, the producers of Kung Fu Panda take some typical oriental philosophical themes, such as life, destiny, living and death into thorough consideration. The producers made great efforts to maximize the compatibility of American values and Chinese traditional culture and minimize the conflicts. If what Mulan presents can be generalize as Chinese form and American theme, Kung Fu Panda is more like a combination of Chinese essence and American spirit.
II the Compatibility of American Values and Chinese Elements
2.1 The characters
The title says it all with Mulan, a famous Chinese classic which tells a story about how an ordinary girl manages to be an honorable heroine. Since the plot background is set to be in ancient China, no wonder the characters closely resemble the Asian in terms of appearance.
Besides those black-eyed, yellow-skinned characters, there is also a little dragon which attracts much attention from the audience. Dragon used to be the symbol of Chinese royalty in feudal period. It stands for nobility, power and endless fortune. Even in today’s communist society, dragon continues to serve as the mascot of the Chinese nation. Even if Muxu( the name of the dragon) is nothing like the noble and fierce dragon which represents the temperament of the Chinese nation，the adorable little dragon successfully bring about laughter and make the whole film much interesting.
The panda Po in Kung Fu Panda is another Chinese symbol which is probably even more popular than dragon in western world. While the dragon has historically served as China's national emblem, in recent decades the Giant Panda has also served as an emblem for the country. Its image appears on a large number of modern Chinese commemorative silver, gold, and platinum coins.
However, unlike a real black-eyed panda, the American panda Po has a pair of green eyes which resemble the Caucasian. In Kung Fu Panda Po is not a docile panda that everyone loves. On the contrary, he is chatty, obese, slothful, gluttonous, and has interpersonal relationship issue. Undoubtedly, the film aims to tell another typical “American Dream” story of how an extremely ordinary character manages to succeed in achieving a great accomplishment. All these seem to be reminding the audience that, this is, after all, an animated film made in the United States. No matter how much Chineseness the producers have attached in the film, it is impossible to get rid of American spirit.
2.2 Scenery, Architecture and other Details
The first scene of Mulan is when the invaders are about to invade China, the messenger takes the message to his commander. Here comes the significant Chinese symbol—the Great Wall.
The construction of the Great Wall started in the 7th century B.C. when the vassal states under the Zhou Dynasty in the northern parts of the country built their own walls for self-defense. After the states of Qin unified China in 221 B.C., the separate walls were interconnected and extended to more than 10000 miles. Constructed of masonry, rocks and packed-earth, the Great Wall is landmark of the earth. The Great Wall has long been incorporated into Chinese mytholo
