I went to see the second Kung Fu Panda movie when I was home to visit. During the course of the movie Po learns that he is adopted (being a panda whose father is a duck). He is an adult and is suddenly plagued with violent flashes of his childhood and his family and community being destroyed. This sets Po on a tortured journey to learn what happened to him and his family. At the end of the movie Po comes back to his (adoptive) father after learning about the destruction of his family and has a wonderful moment of fully accepting his father as such because he is the one who raised Po. The last scene shows the audience that Po's family is actually alive.
The whole time I was watching this movie I tried to just enjoy it and not start to analyze every part because it was an enjoyable movie. I laughed at the hilarity of Po not realizing that surly he could not have come from a duck. However another part of me could not help but examine my own situation of not knowing what has happened to my birth family. I ask myself if I were to have any kind of flashes of what my birth family was like, would I feel differently? Would I be able to continue about my life the way that it is now? Much like Po I wonder if I would suddenly be consumed in my quest to find answers.
In those fleeting moments when I would leave the reality of the movie to examine what it might be communicating about adoption I was saddened by the film's final scene in which we see that Po's birth family is truly alive. This suggests that there will be a third movie where Po will discover their existence and eventually go to be part of that family. This seems to be a prevailing narrative that many have about adoption. I have always said that "I like being adopted", meaning like that I was adopted as well as I like being adopted by people I consider family throughout my life. Family is not just something that happens through the production of a life form. That is procreation. Family comes when people care about you and do what is best for you over time. My parents are not my family because they signed a paper or gave birth to me or allowed me to live through the years. My family is my family because they have cared about me, watched and helped me grow, and done the hard things that have made me a better person and continue to do those things. That is family.
That is what makes many people who do not have the name of Pinnegar my family as well.
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