The Rice Thresher

Location: http://the.ricethresher.org/ae/2007/03/23/ninja_turtle_generation

March 23, 2007 > Arts & Entertainment > A generation defined by pizza pie and Cowabunga

A generation defined by pizza pie and Cowabunga

By Evan Mintz | Thresher Editorial Staff

I suppose the Greatest Generation learned how to live from life on the street — saving every tea bag and pinching every penny during the Great Depression. But I would like to think that our generation also learned how to live from life on the street — specifically, jump-kicking Mousers on the streets of New York City in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade game at the local Chuck E. Cheese Pizza Time Theater.

These days, college students’ nostalgia for a past barely gone borders on megalomania and hints at severe issues any therapist could make a killing on. But the Turtles had a distinct effect on American youth, with resonances from the food industry to political values. And with the new TMNT movie coming out today, it is only proper that we reflect and realize this distinct importance.

Reptiles, ninjas, pizza — all these are assumed memes of mid-1990s youth culture. Through the decade of our youth, America saw the rise and fall of Creepy Crawlies, pogs and after-school Tae Kwan Do lessons, as well as the various progeny of chain pizza places. But these were all preceded by the Turtles, who I claim paved the way for these cultural powerhouses. If it were not for Michelangelo’s hang-ten attitude, the surfer-dude character and all his lingo may have died out long before any of us dudes would have the chance to describe anything as gnarly, bodacious or even bossanova. Or is it Chevy Nova? Anyway, these four reptilian brothers were the primary cultural force in our young lives, changing American society — for the better.

It all started Dec. 14, 1987, when the Turtles made the jump from comic books to cartoons and, yea verily, into our hearts.

The cartoon series was not as gritty as the original comics, replacing anime with pizza and cursing with Cowabunga. But despite the pure Saturday morning cartoonishness of it all, that show taught us valuable life lessons — such as the appreciation of other cultures. Think about it, without Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, would you have any idea what nunchacku, katanas, bo staffs or sais are? The cartoon took cultural integration even further as the lean, green fighting machines encountered beings from other dimensions who live just like us — even if they do have psychokinetic powers and are under attack from Colonel Gragg. Indeed, this family of four and their adoptive rat father Splinter prepared us for a world on the edge of globalization. But perhaps the fact that we can think of four mutant turtles and a mutant rat as a family is an even greater lesson.

In 1990, the Turtles hit the big screen in what was one of the highest-grossing independent films to date. Through battle and brotherhood, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello and Raphael fought to save New York City from the foot clan and Shredder. Shredder’s greatest crime was not stealing mid-range electronics — it was destroying the Turtle family by kidnapping Splinter. Shredder condemned these half-shelled “freaks,” but we knew that while they did not fit societal norms, their family was not any less real or any less loving than our own homes. Even before the pro- and anti-family rhetoric of the single mom and gay marriage debates, the Turtles taught us to recognize the validity of households that may look different than our own — no matter what slurs society’s Shredders may espouse. Indeed, they proved that home is where the heart is — even if that is in the sewers.

So, sure, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles may have started as just a one-shot satire of Ronin. It may have been capitalized on by Pizza Hut. It may have even given Vanilla Ice that horrid cameo in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Secret of the Ooze. But the lessons we learned and the show’s effects on American society cannot be traded for all the pizza in the world. So when the new movie comes out today, I just hope it instills the same values on today’s youth as the original Turtles cartoon and film did for us. And let me just close by saying: “I love being a turtle!”

Evan Mintz is a Hanszen College junior and executive editor.

End of article

Back to top