Daily Dialogue — February 18, 2016
TAI LUNG: I have come home, Master.
SHIFU: This is no longer your home, and I am no longer your master.
TAI LUNG: Oh, yes, you have a new favorite. So, where is this “Po”? Did I scare him off?
SHIFU: This battle is between you and me.
TAI LUNG: So, that is how it’s going to be.
SHIFU: That is how it must be.
Tai Lung launches his attack against Shifu.
TAI LUNG: I rotted in jail for twenty years because of your weakness.
SHIFU: Obeying your master is not weakness.
TAI LUNG: You knew I was the Dragon Warrior. You always knew. But, when Oogway said otherwise, what did you do? What did you do? Nothing!
SHIFU: You were not meant to be the Dragon Warrior. That was not my fault.
TAI LUNG: Not your fault? Who filled my head with dreams? Who drove me to train until my bones cracked? Who denied me my destiny?
SHIFU: It was never my decision to make.
Tai Lung discovers Oogway’s walking stick, and holds it toward Shifu.
TAI LUNG: It is now. (The battle resumes until Tai Lung pins Shifu to the floor.) Give me the scroll.
SHIFU: I would rather die.
As they struggle, Oogway’s stick shatters, and the battle resumes.
TAI LUNG: (In a rage) What I ever did, I did to make you proud! Tell how proud you are, Shifu! Tell me! TELL ME!!
SHIFU: I…I have always been proud of you. From the first moment I’ve been proud of you, and it was my pride that blinded me. I loved you too much to see what you were becoming, what I was turning you into. I’m s — I’m sorry.
TAI LUNG: I don’t want your apology. I want my scroll. (Notices the scroll is missing.) What? Where is it?
SHIFU: Dragon Warrior has taken scroll half way across China by now. Oh. You will never see that scroll, Tai Lung. Never. Nev…never.
— Kung Fu Panda (2008), screenplay by Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger; story by Ethan Reiff and Cyrus Voris
The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Obsession, suggested by Angie Soliman. Today’s recommendation by Will King.
Trivia: The film was originally going to be a spoof of the kung-fu genre, but John Stevenson wanted to have a blend of comedy and action to make the film more epic: “I wasn’t interested in making fun of martial arts movies, because I really think they can be great films, they can be as good as any genre movie when they’re done properly.”
Dialogue On Dialogue: Commentary by Will: “Tai Lung lived under the delusion that he was destined to become the fabled Dragon Warrior, whose power came from possessing the Dragon Scroll. After escaping from prison he returns to his home obsessed both with revenge against those he feels abandoned him to prison, and to gain possession of the scroll. In this sequence he faces down his teacher, Shifu, who now sees the mistake he made by training Tai Lung, and feels he must face Tai Lung to atone for his mistake.”