Sylvia Wynter's Dream

Xavier Thomas| Blog Prompt 7| November 20th, 2023 assigment

The ability to Remember things comes with its positives and its negatives. One can rmemeber some of the best moments of their life and look back to the past filled with glee. On the other hand, one can remember all the hardships they have faced, the pain that came with it, and look back with melancholy. But has there ever been a moment where a person completely forgets something that made them happy as a child, only to revisit it but react with a different emotion?

I always praised the movie Kung Fu Panda for its mature themes disguised through its cartoony charm and animation. But I forgot everything about the movie only remembering the names of the characters. When I rewatched it felt as if I watched it again for the first time ever but with a newfound perspective. I remember I liked this movie as a child because of the action and the goofiness surrounding it. Only as a I became an adult I realized the importance of this movie and its message. I relate so much to the main character, Po. Just as he, I also struggle with confidence and having the constant feeling that I am not good enough. His uncertainty in his abilities is reinforced by the people in his environment. Everyone constantly belittled him, the people he looked up to the most casted him off as a nuisance. The happy feeling I had as a child soon turned into a slight sadness never realizing how Po embodied how I felt as a teen turning into an adult.

The villain of the movie, Tai Lung was also relatable. He worked hard and did his best for the approval of someone else. That feeling of doing your best for somebody only for it your feelings to not be reciprocated caused a pain in my chest. This revisit really showed me how perspective matters, how your mind develops as you grow up. Only then, you start realizing the subtle mature messages in the movie rather than looking at everything from a surface level. The quote from the movie that will always stick with me comes from the character Master Oogway who says “Yesterday is a mystery, tomorrow is a mystery but today is a gift, that is why we call it the present”. As an adult I mainly focused on all the mistakes I made in the past and wish I could forget them or do something different, while also focusing on the uncertainty of the future, never actually enjoying the present.

This movie teaches you self love, it teaches a person to accept themselves for who they are, as at the end of the day, the person whose approval you must look forward to the most is your own.