The Tao of Jack Black
"600 Words" by Esther J. Cepeda
He's fat. He's jiggly. He can belt out a tune and makes me laugh. He is my sage.
Jack Black, in his cinematic tromp through the wisdom of the ages, has done it once more. He is, again, the protagonist in a film whose undercurrent is the power of positive belief in your grandest dreams.
This time he scatters Lao Tzu and Taoism's "10,000 things" of inner love and outer peace across the silver screen in Kung Fu Panda, where he "stars" as "Po," the fat panda who emerges as the unlikely Dragon Warrior who will save the animal populace of the Chinese Valley of Peace from the evil Tai Lung who himself is bent on snatching the powerful Dragon Scroll from the temple of wisdom.
This is not the first time the jelly-bellied comic actor has contorted himself within a story-line featuring a sweet underdog who sees beyond the practicalities of those who tell him it can't be – when he knows it can – then makes it so.
From his debut in one of my favorite movies, Bob Roberts, as a true-believing devotee of the eponymous questionable senatorial candidate (Tim Robbins) to the bumbling and Shallow Hal who falls in love with a big, fat blonde but only sees her true inner beauty, Black has mostly picked projects with undeniably uplifting themes.
Who can forget Black's turn in School of Rock as Dewey Finn who literally manifests a rock band out of a pack of spoiled rich kids? Or Nacho Libre where the once-orphaned brother Nacho realizes his dream of becoming the greatest Lucha Libre "luchador" in the world? Long before he triumphs in a dusty Mexican ring against such prize-fighters as "Silencio" and "Ramses," he tells himself: "I am the gatekeeper of my own destiny, and I will have my glory days." He sure does.
Kung Fu Panda pushes major tenets of Taoism to a mainstream audience in a way that that Mike Myers' new film The Love Guru, replete with penis jokes and other entendres, couldn't, though I think it half-heartedly wanted to.
Take Oogway: "There are no accidents." And "Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present."
Also: "One often meets his destiny on the road he takes to avoid it." And my very favorite: "There is no good news, there is no bad news, there is only news."
Shifu, the kung fu teacher, tells us: "I ask you to trust in your master as I have come to trust in mine." Beautiful.
Po, in his opening dream – before he begins to fulfill his destiny as the true Dragon Warrior – says of his kung fu prowess: "It is said that his enemies would go blind from over-exposure to pure awesomeness!" (That's so "hard core!") If that isn't the power of positive thinking to manifest your own destiny, then I'm Deepak Chopra.
Obviously, I'm not Deepak, and Jack Black is no Lao Tzu. But sitting in a darkened room with popcorn and JB's jiggling inspiration, I call him "teacher."
Esther J. Cepeda writes the "600 Words" & "Pregunta del Dia" columns, and is also a Director at the Chicago-based United Neighborhood Organization. Her reporting and opinions do not necessarily reflect those of UNO. "600 words" is a registered trademark of EeJayCee, Inc., Copyright 2008. May be reprinted with permission, contact
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