Outline for the First Term Paper

I. Introduction
     A. Short intro and synopsis of movie: Kung Fu Panda
     B. Thesis: The universe in which Kung Fu Panda takes place is based on the gravity of the world we all live in, but has contradicting physics.

II. Kung Fu Panda is based in a world where normal gravity constraints apply.
     A. Objects and people are weighed down by the force of normal gravity.
            i. When Po tries to flip himself up out of bed, he doesn't get more than a few inches off the ground before falling back down.
            ii. Po throws ninja stars at the wall and when they bounce off, they fall to the ground in a manner that indicates the gravity of our world.
            iii. When Po knocks over the Legendary Urn of Whispering Warriors, it falls and breaks on the floor due to gravity.

III. Larger objects have more mass, and weigh more than smaller objects with less mass.
     A. Po has a large mass and is heavy.
            i. When he attempts to get into the temple, the bamboo cannot spring back upwards with his weight on it.
            ii. Po has to struggle to hold his weight up when he's trying to peek through the hole in the wall of the temple.
     B. Viper has a small mass and is lighter.
            i. She can jump higher and further than heavier characters like Po, illustrated in scenes like the entrance of the Furious Five
            ii. Viper can move quickly because of her smaller mass.

IV. The force exerted on objects and characters during kung fu moves do not have an equal and opposite reaction.
     A. The Furious Five
            i. The entrance of the furious five has them falling from a ridiculous height, yet the landing on the ground does not kill them.
            ii. Tigress leaps from the temple atop the mountain and falls all the way down to the village houses and does not crash through the roof when she lands.
     B. Tai Lung's escape from prison
            i. Tai Lung's mass would not allow him to fly up as far as he does on each jump
            ii. In two instances during his escape, Tai Lung kicks or punches a rhino guard and they go flying much further than would be expected given the mass of the character and the gravity of the world in which they reside.
     C.  Fight scenes
            i. When the Furious Five face Tai Lung on the bridge, Tai Lung is able to kick Tigress back very far without much recoil at all.
            ii. During the final fight involving Tai Lung and Po, Tai Lung punches Po, who then flies back, hits a pole and is flung back towards Tai Lung.
            iii. When a metal wok is flung at Tai Lung's face, his head should recoil with hit, but it does not. Instead the impression of his face is indented into the wok.

V. There are scenes which contradict the rules on both mass and gravity throughout the movie.
     A. When Po ties a bunch of fireworks to a chair in an attempt to launch himself into the temple arena, despite his large mass, he is propelled into the air.
     B. In this same attempt, he is also launched much further into the air than would be expected, and he also hovers for a moment before beginning to fall back down to the ground.
     C. Mantis is able to hold up a long rope bridge in addition to the added weight of the rest of the Furious Five, and Tai Lung
     D. Tai Lung swings the rope bridge around, but there would be no way to gain enough momentum for him to leap all the way across the gap, even with the help of the rope.

VI. Conclusion
     A. Kung Fu Panda sets rules for gravity and mass, but bends those rules when it fits for the story, and to make it more entertaining.