TMNT: Mutant Mayhem: A Weirdly Shining Beacon in the Battle Against Prejudice
I only just saw the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles a few nights ago; instead of going to the theater, my husband, foster son, and I streamed it on Amazon. I haven’t watched any TMNT cartoons or movies since the 90’s, but the boys in my life were keen to see the movie, and I was taken in enough by the cool animation style to be a little interested myself.
The film mostly didn’t disappoint. It was funny, well-animated, awesomely gross in true TMNT style and spoke to nostalgia while still feeling modern and different. I think the film went overboard with its pop culture references (to the point where the film openly admits it stole its monster’s weak spot from Attack on Titan? Uh?), but the film is still a good time.
The themes and messages in the film are also great: doing good things for the right reasons, not judging people before you know them or an entire group of people based on the actions of a few, fighting honorably, winning over your enemies with kindness when possible, etc. I also felt this film handled the idea of prejudice very intelligently and believably considering it’s a kid’s film. Splinter is prejudiced against humans because of multiple bad experiences with them and teaches the turtles to fear humans too. The viewer can definitely sympathize with Splinter based on his experiences. However, when the turtles befriend April O’Neal (who is also a teenager in this film) by recovering a stolen item for her, April admits that she could tell the turtles were kind because they helped her, but if she had just randomly run into them, she probably would have reacted with fear and revulsion too. At her suggestion, the turtles decide to try to be heroes so that humanity will accept them. Yes, they learn that heroism should be a selfless act in the end, but their reaction to the prejudice of humans is one that isn’t really explored as much anymore. Instead of avoiding humans like Splinter or victimizing themselves and demanding that humans “do better,” the turtles take matters into their own hands and battle prejudice by trying to show humans that they’re not so bad.
In today’s world, the constant message seems to be if someone has a problem with you or a group you belong to (or even just appears to), then you are a victim of oppression and what you should do is…um, well…feel like a victim and constantly whine about being one. Also, the onus is always entirely on the other person to get over their prejudice; the precious victims of prejudice are always perfect the way they are and don’t need to change.
Don’t get me wrong; I’m not saying that victims of prejudice are obligated to change people’s minds nor am I saying that the prejudice a giant mutated turtle might face is a comparable situation to prejudice toward a fellow human based on skin color. However, taking on the victim mentality in the face of prejudice is never the right way to go. It promotes helplessness in the guise of empowerment, leads people to perceive prejudice more often than it actually occurs, allows people to view prejudiced people as evil oppressors when they may not be in reality, and justifies behaviors in the victim’s mind that do nothing to change the minds of the prejudiced.
In summation, if you perceive that someone else has a problem with you, take a leaf from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ book and try doing something nice for that person. If that doesn’t work, try again. If you can’t seem to bridge the gap through kindness, don’t pull a Splinter and assume that everyone within that person’s group (whatever group that may be) is a terrible person, and don’t adopt a victim mentality. Just accept that not everybody is going to think you’re awesome. Their reasons may be valid or they may not be. But you don’t need to be their victim unless you choose to.