My Rant on Kung Fu Panda

After watching a preview for Kung Fu Panda, I wasn’t sure it was going to be a movie that I was going to like. And after seeing the movie Wednesday night, my assumptions of what the jokes were going to be were correct.

So, here’s what your kids (and I) learned from Kung Fu Panda:

Fat people are clumsy and fun to laugh at:
The size of Po’s belly is the punch line of the majority of the movie jokes

Being fat is something a person can be judged on:
"That flabby panda can't possibly be the dragon warrior. You were about to appoint the tigress and that "thing" fell in front of her"

"One would think master Ugway would at least choose someone who could touch his toes...or at least see his toes"

It's disgusting to watch a fat person eat:
When Shifu walks in to find Po eating in the pantry, Po says, “Yeah, I know, I disgust you.”

Fat people will do anything for food and get
angry when you take food away from them:
Shifu trains Po with food by having him try to catch and defend his dumplings culminating in a "fight" with Shifu over the last dumpling.


Sure, it’s true that in the end Po ends up believing in himself…blah blah blah…What a shame that arriving at that conclusion comes at the expense of the gross perpetuation of the last socially acceptable form of stereotyping.