Does US panda cartoon rip off China's icon?

Source: Xinhua  |   2008-6-27  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

Illustration by Zhou Tao More in cartoon gallery

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CHINESE moviegoers are hotly debating whether they were shamed by the new hit US cartoon comedy "Kung Fu Panda'' - despite most viewers admitting they laughed throughout the film.

The debate about the Dreamworks Animation release centered on who should have the right to promote the iconic animal identified with China. Pandas only live in Sichuan Province.

"All elements in the movie are distinctly Chinese but why was it presented by foreigners?'' a Netizen asked in an online posting.

One side of the debate was led by Chinese mainland pioneering artist Zhao Bandi who proposed a boycott, though he admitted he had not seen the film. He is known for using a toy panda in his social commentary art, attributing ironic and sometimes scathing comments to the panda.

He said the movie "had stolen China's national treasure and its martial arts to make up an old-fashioned encouragement piece and make money in a country having been hit hard by a massive quake.''

They "glare like tigers eyeing (Chinese) people's wallet.''

His supporters said the movie was a sheer cultural invasion.

Another Netizen wrote on tom.com that the clumsy panda, though funny enough, was an insult to the animal's original image that, he said, should be handsome and sentimental.

"That Hollywood-ugly bear cannot suit the name and status of the panda. Poor children! You are greatly amused by such a distorted image,'' he said.

Despite the controversy, "Kung Fu Panda,'' created by the bankable directing team of John Stevenson and Mark Osborne, was a box office hit in China.

The movie premiered last Thursday in Beijing and was released nationwide the following day, except in quake-hit southwestern Sichuan Province.

The postponement there was aimed to "appease the survivors'' of the May 12 quake that had killed nearly 70,000, officials said.