Should Chinese Boycott Kung Fu Panda 2?

Westfield London hosted the UK Kung Fu Panda 2 Premiere with  the  top stars failing to show, except Jack Black. 

ITN reports  "We found the perfect recipe for a great Kung Fu Panda 2 Premiere - a Chinese dragon and some Chinese drummers." Chinese drummers? @ 0:15 - 0:22, the drummers are all Caucasian, no 'Chinese' Kung Fu martial arts troupe were hired for the premiere, in fact there does not appear to be any Chinese at the premiere bar  the cycle rickshaw cyclist. A cycle rickshaw? How original, mislaid the matching coolie hat perchance?

Whilst Kung Fu Panda 2 in the USA is under selling the original 2008 movie, Kung Fu Panda 2  broke box office records for an international release in Mainland China last weekend. The film has courted controversy with dissenting Chinese critics and scholars voicing their criticism of Kung Fu Panda 2 as akin to a 'cultural invasion.' Hollywood is culturally appropriating, skewing Chinese symbolic icons and fables and reselling it back to the Chinese market.

Zhao Bandi, an avant garde artist, previously attempted to sue the original Kung Fu Panda (2008), is urging fans to boycott Kung Fu Panda 2 the sequel. Kong Qingdong, a language professor at Beijing University, argues Chinese elements have become advertising products to advocate American culture.

Central character 'Po Panda' is an American creation (a representation of Jack Black), in many respects resembling the typical behaviour of  a laowai in China, regurgitating the theme of a White Knight saving the helpless Chinese, but this time stealthily disguised in the form of an animated Panda.

Indeed, Kung Fu Panda (2008) arguably was an animated rehash of the 'Karate Kid' - an   American sought authentic martial arts training by an East Asian master, it used Carl Douglas 'Kung Fu Fighting' as the soundtrack, do Chinese need reminding of Simon Ledger's arrest for  racial harassment?

Cast and crew of Kung Fu Panda 2

Not content with purloining  Asian babies from Vietnam, Angelina Jolie purloins Asian roles from Asian actors too. For live action films, non-Asians (Jack Black, Angelina Jolie etc) would not be permitted to play Asian roles, yet the principle is not applied to animated films. There are ethnic representational disparities, of the 32 main characters in Kung Fu Panda 2, only 6 are voiced by Chinese actors, is this example any different from Yellowface in denying roles to Chinese actors when the animated characters are supposedly  Chinese?

Six Chinese voice overs include...

Lucy Liu - White man's favourite Chinese American doll, James Hong - best remembered for the racially stereotypical  - 'Big Trouble in Little China,' perhaps both only surpassed by Lauren Tom, ex - Joy Luck Club, if there's one defining  film that single handedly turned an entire generation of Chinese American women against Chinese American men, it would be Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club.

Kung Fu Panda 2 Crew
The 4 producers are non-Chinese, the music writers are non-Chinese, the 6 senior production managers are non-Chinese, 10 senior art department artists are non-Chinese, 19 members of the sound department are non-Chinese, the director is non-Chinese etc etc. The few Chinese associated with the making of Kung Fu Panda 2 are largely limited to visual effects.

That aside, whilst Kung Fu Panda (2008) was arguably a monstrosity manufactured from  non-Chinese spectacles for a non-Chinese audience, the sequel Kung Fu Panda 2, does at least have more of an aesthetic Chinese feel to it.

Kung Fu Panda 2 release date UK - 10 June 2011. Should Chinese boycott Kung Fu Panda 2?  Watch the Kung Fu Panda 2 Full Movie free below - and decide for yourselves.