Note: This thread documents archived material from a user blog. The title, content, and some comments of this thread were copied over from a user blog as part of a community archiving project. Some of its content may be outdated. **ORIGINALLY POSTED JUNE 26, 2013** There is sooo much to look at when it comes to cultures. As much as I'd like to continue spotlighting more that the Kung Fu Panda franchise has done to bring us a taste of Chinese culture, the event is soon coming to an end and we need to wrap up this theme. With that said, it's time to introduce our final spotlight for our event's culture theme: Chinese music! You didn't think I had forgotten this one, did you? ;) Of course I didn't. This has got to be one of the most important aspect of the franchise, and it's one a lot of you listed as why you love Kung Fu Panda! It's definitely one of my favorites, too. I'm sure you'd all agree (whether you're a fan or not) that there wouldn't be any true completion of the films or TV series or shorts or whatever else in the franchise without music. What better way to indulge oneself into an environment than with music, right? Especially today, it's become such a large part of our global culture to use music as a way to both translate and transmit emotion. I personally think it would be interesting to study the psychology of it—something that looks into how it is that music affects us like it does.
The franchise itself has gone to great lengths to accurately reflect the unique musical style the Chinese culture has. As I'm sure a lot of you know already (but I'm sharing it here so those unfamiliar with the franchise can hear about it), one of the films' soundtrack composers (the musical genius Hans Zimmer) had the opportunity to go to China and study its culture and musical style (via the Chinese National Symphony). Using what he gained from that trip (and with the aid of another musical genius, John Powell), he translated it into the franchise's primary musical themes, which you can catch by listening to both film soundtracks. As for the TV series, the Track Team also does a wonderful job at reflecting those same musical themes familiar to Asian cultures. I feel like I should give an entire music history lesson in order to properly represent it for our event's theme. But because I'm limited in my knowledge, I invite everyone instead to have a quick look through this Wikipedia article on Chinese music. I skimmed through it some, and I think it's really interesting to see how music has evolved since ancient times in China. So go ahead and educate yourselves! :) There isn't any excuse why we shouldn't have an open discussion on this. So, as usual, share anything you'd like on the subject. And here are today's featured discussion questions to help you get started: - Why is music important to a culture? Why is it important to the Chinese culture specifically? - What's your favorite track from the film soundtracks? Why? - What kind of music are hoping to hear for future installments in the franchise?