Psychological Development of Po from Kung Fu Panda - Essay Example

“Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present” (Internet Movie Database). The aforementioned is a famous quote from the renowned movie, Kung Fu Panda, which revolves around the life of a giant Panda in China named Po and the story to his ladder of fame. Po is an adopted child of a goose who owns a noodle shop and believes that dedication and love form a perfect mix, which can contribute to a major change. At the beginning of the movie, Po is shown as an under confident and an unwanted giant panda, who because of his immense size, careless attitude and a fat belly cannot accomplish anything perfectly and ends up messing whatever that is assigned to him.

Po, then accidentally lands in a temple and passes the test which chooses him to be a savior of his village and is expected to fight an evil tiger, a master at the art of Kung Fu. Po’s Kung Fu instructor, Master Shi Fu, a badger, makes him realize that deep inside Po, there exists a will to do anything he pleases and after hundreds of futile attempts at learning Kung Fu, Master Shi Fu uses food as a medium to train Po. Po making use of his heavy weight and carelessness uses conventional techniques against the much feared Tai Lung, the evil tiger and remains successful.

Applying the psychoanalysis theory of Sigmund Freud to “the conscious mind is what you are aware of at any particular moment, your present perceptions, memories, thoughts, fantasies, feelings, what have you. The largest part by far is the unconscious. According to Freud, the unconscious is the source of our motivations, whether they be simple desires for food or sex, neurotic compulsions, or the motives of an artist or scientist. And yet, we are often driven to deny or resist becoming conscious of these motives, and they are often available to us only in disguised form” (Sigmond Freud).

Freud’s theory suggests that the conscious of Po refrained him from taking an initiative but in his unconscious, he was as talented and capable as any other fighter on the team. According the theories of psychoanalysis, Po was brought up his father in an environment where he was not made to do anything at all except selling noodles, which initially established in Po’s identity a trait which made him unwanted and careless but after getting trained he was made to realize that the will must be stronger than the skill, in order to succeed which awakened the panda’s super ego, hence resulting in him beating the evil tiger, Tai Lung.

Stating the theory of John Bowlby, a development psychologist by profession; “the Attachment Theory describes the dynamics of long-term relationships between humans. Its most important tenet is that an infant needs to develop a relationship with at least one primary caregiver for social and emotional development to occur normally. Attachment theory is an interdisciplinary study encompassing the fields of psychological, evolutionary, and ethological theory” (Cassidy). The application of this theory to the character in discourse, Po’s life is as simple and not intricate at all.

Despite his physical size and structure, Po’s father has always treated and pampered him to the limits and because of a lack of exposure to the real, physical world out there, his father makes him retain the psychological level of that of a small, immature child. In context with the theory of John Bowlby, Po establishes a sense of attachment with his father, which is visible from his reactions when he is made to stay in the temple for the Kung Fu training. The same can also be seen as he develops an as equal attachment as he did, with Master Shi Fu after his Successful fight with Tai Lung, with the main crux of discussion of both the principles of psychological science that all other issues and negatives in Po are linked with the lack of proper exposure for Po and the limits defined by his father.

The personality development process for Po is streamlined and each action or event in his life is linked with his development from a zero to a hero. As stated earlier, the major issues or obstacles to which can be categorized broadly into food and the cocoon in which the panda was made to live by his father. Food however does not remain an issue when Master Shi Fu uses food as a medium to motivate and train him. Works Cited Cassidy, J. Nature of a Child's Ties. New York: Guilford Press, 1999.

Internet Movie Database. n.d. 11 May 2012 . Sigmond Freud. n.d. 12 May 2012 .