This page contains my work from a Level III course, Asian Studies 333: What is a Hero? In this course, we explored "the timeless concept of the hero from both Asian and Western traditions." We looked at the portrayal of classical heroes and also heroes in contemporary films, books, etc.  This was one of my favorite courses that I've taken at St. Olaf.

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The paper below, Everybody is Kung Fu Fighting: 
An analysis of Po the Panda’s heroic journey and visual representation in the original Kung Fu Panda movie, is the final paper I submitted for the course. The paper is about the first Kung Fu Panda movie. It measures Po the Panda's journey as the movie's hero against Professor Joseph Campbell's narrative for a hero. The conclusion I reached is that although Po does not fit the archetype of a hero from a physical standpoint, against Campbell's criteria, Po is still a hero.  

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I also have some of my favorite clips from the movie/scenes that I reference in my paper linked below!