Communication Analysis of Kung Fu Panda

杜汝涵

Ruhan Du（University of Business and Economics）

Kung Fu Panda is an American action comedy movie with mysterious Chinese Kungfu as its theme. It tells the stories of an awkward panda who aspires to be a martial artist. These stories are of Chinese style but generally happen under the system of American values. The cultural elements or cultural signs in this film are encoded by the filmmaker and decoded by the audience. This paper will take this famous animated film as a particular case study in order to discuss its application of Semiotics and the Frame Theory.

A lot of Chinese cultural symbols have been applied in this film. The landscapes，costumes and even food are all full of Chinese characteristics. For instance，there are all are recognizable elements of Chinese culture，like the landscapes of the stone arch bridge，the peach tree and the bamboo forest，and the behaviors of the characters in the film like meditating，writing calligraphy，fighting with chopsticks and walking on the stilts. Those usages of Chinese elements are based on the symbols that have been widely spread and understood all over the world. Stabilized meanings have been attached to these concepts for a long time because people are able to think of Chinese culture as soon as they saw those elements. Therefore，the audience can immediately understand that Kung Fu Panda is a movie based on Chinese obscure concepts about life and death. Using those recognizable elements is to avoid ambiguity in comprehension because uncertain symbol of the interpretant may cause slippage of understanding.

However，it is the main point that suitable signs help audience who speak different languages understand the meaning correctly. According to Saussure，a sign is the unity of the signifier and the signified. In this film，the concepts in Chinese traditional culture refer to the signified，and the certain words or images describing those concepts are the signifier. First，those background pictures and details like Chinese landscape painting，Calligraphy and Acupuncture are the recognizable icons of Chinese culture that people can clearly understand. Second，eating habits like noodles，Baozi and using chopsticks and the Furious Five—Tigress，Viper，Monkey，Mantis and Crane，all are the representative indexes that people can figure out. For instance，Pos adoptive father Mr. Ping wears a hat with the decorations of noodles and chopsticks which shows that he runs a noodle restaurant. Moreover，when Master Oogway catches the fallen scroll with his stick，the stick touches the water gently and ripples it. The action of skimming the water surface is a symbol that represents the meaning depending on conventions of use and agreement. The denotative meaning of rippling the water seems like that it is just an inertial action caused by a previous action of catching the scroll. But the connotative meaning is the pursuit of “inner peace”，based on the combination of dynamics and statics in Taoism culture. There are many similar examples，like there are two panda babies，one is called “dim”，and the other is called “sum”. It sounds like two arbitrary names，but people who know Cantonese can figure out that “dim sum” means dessert. These witty signs have not only promoted the development of the plot but also deepened the audiences understanding and curiosity of Chinese culture.

These stories，filled with strips of Chinese characteristics，happened under the frames of American values. According to the Chinese characteristics，the Valley of Peace where the story happened in the film is an ideal country built up according to Taoists ideas and wisdom. The background music in the film uses traditional Chinese musical instruments，like Bamboo flute and erhu. And the characters appellations such as Shifu come from the Mandarin as well. Even the characters of the Furious Five are on behalf of the styles of fist positions in Chinese Kong Fu. Moreover，the characteristics of the characters like Mr. Ping，who is a happy-go-lucky Chinese goose，all embody the mode of Chinese thinking. The concept of becoming immortal is a very significant idea in Taoism. Besides，Chinese super stars Jackie Chan and Lucy Liu also dub the characters in the film. Thus，it looks completely a Chinese film due to the distinct packets of information about China.

Indeed，if people only watch some fragments of the film，they may think this is totally a Chinese style. But the theme of this series of film that evil can never overcome justice shows American core values in general. After connecting the whole series of films，it shows the protagonists initiating journey of stepping into maturity through adventures and ordeals. A fanciful mediocrity，who was accidentally chosen as the legendary Dragon Warrior by Master Oogway，has spared no efforts to become a hero that people all admired. In the end，he has gradually realized his self-worth. The organizing principles of those information about Chinese culture are to define them under the framework of American traditional values.

In conclusion，Kung Fu Panda is a successful film series，telling the story with the appearance of Chinese elements and the core of American values. The filmmaker uses the appropriate signs，enabling the audience to understand his purpose successfully. The application of Semiotics and the Frame Theory in this series of film is worth learning.

（作者單位：對外經濟貿易大學英語學院）