Fan Fiction, Fun Facts, and More

The dark side of Kung Fu Panda

I was thinking today about the characters in Kung Fu Panda and I'm realizing just how depressing all of them really are:

Master Oogway has a somewhat questionable past after moving far from home to China, and then lost his closest friend/practically brother because they had different choices in life.

The closest to a dad Shifu has is Master Oogway who is also his closest friend, and he dies in the first movie after they've had years of friendships, pains, and optimism. He's also traumatized because his own son became obsessed with power and became violent after not receiving proper discipline on his behavior. So he closes himself off because he's scared he'll repeat that mistake and winds up isolating himself and becoming the most cynical person by the time the first movie rolls around, to the point where everything in life needs criticism and he can't relax for even a second. And then after twenty years of this constant cycle, he learns his son is going to break out of prison, and is then nearly killed at every turn upon his arrival because all the jerk cares about is ultimate power!

Tigress grew up in an orphanage for years with no loving parental guidance, often being criticized for asking "stupid questions" and being made-fun of and mocked. She's then subjected to even more verbal abuse after she becomes too strong for everyone to handle and is locked away without any loving care. The only person who gives her a chance is Shifu, but he's too isolated and broken to love her the way a father should, so she grows up almost exactly the same: cynical, isolated, unwilling to be open and honest about how she's feeling with others. She punched iron wood trees for twenty years, the exact length of time (I'm presuming) that Tai Lung was in prison, most likely as a way to block out her pain. She constantly feels that she's never strong enough and trains constantly, devoting herself only to kung fu. It isn't until Po arrives and she's given a cold splash of reality that she finally begins to be a little more open with the comrades that she now considers to be her friends.

Viper was born with a deformity and felt that she wasn't capable of doing anything great as a result. She took up a different hobby just to get around the sadness, only to eventually find out that she can do great things even with her limitations.

Monkey's family history is dark, with pranks being taken too far, childhood trauma affecting his actions for the future, brothers going off to prison, the death of his mother by a broken heart, and vows being made just to hold the family together. The only reason he even started down the honorable path was because Oogway took pity on him and gave him the encouragement he needed.

Crane's mother was overprotective and terrified for his safety, leaving Crane to take easy paths in life in order to protect her sanity. He was bullied while working a low-paying job and told he would never be as amazing as the other masters at the academy he worked at, but eventually found a friend to confide in and got the confidence to prove them all wrong.

Mantis' dad was eaten by his mother (which I guess means cannibals exist in this universe) and Mantis has such low patience that he always got himself stuck in bad situations. It wasn't until his life was threatened that he finally learned to slow down.

Po's family and people were attacked by a psychopathic tyrant-wannabe, during which his father helped several people escape and Po and his mother were separated from them. His mother left him behind and led the murderers away so that Po wouldn't be killed, and these memories were suppressed in his mind for 20/30 years until the genocidal psycho comes back to claim Gongmen City and take over all of China and began to emotionally manipualte him into death traps. He was raised by a kind hearted goose and came to adore the Furious Five, making them his idols, only to be emotionally and physically crushed and bullied after being announced as the Dragon Warrior and inducted into the Jade Palace. Thankfully things worked out for Po by the end of those movies, but my goodness!