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rainwatersparkContinuing from my earlier rant about Donatello.
Oddly enough, in the new TMNT, I find April's portrayal to be actually a step back from 2k3's April.
To be fair, 2k3 April generally had less of a role in the episodes than 2k12 April. But when she was around, she often played a crucial role in the Turtles' operations. She was only Damsel in Distress'ed twice (as far as I can remember: once during her introduction, when the Turtles saved her from the Mousers, and the other time when she and a bunch of other civilians were rounded up by the Triceratons during their invasion of Earth). She not only gets trained and becomes more and more capable of defending herself as the seasons went on, but she is also introduced and shown to be tech-savvy, something of a rarity for female characters in general. Not only that; she's said to have gotten a college degree in math, and she's the only character who's able to follow Donatello's science & math explanations (when his brothers are completely at a loss). She's crucial to the Turtles' success in a number of episodes. She's smart, but she's also caring; in other words, she doesn't have to sacrifice her femininity for intelligence (as another stereotype about female scientists/tech geeks is that they have to become more "masculine" and socially inept to excel in their chosen field). So in these ways, 2k3 April was a pretty progressive female character.
2k12 April, however, has been aged down, and while they could've had her remain as a tech geek (giving Donnie more of a legitimate reason to have a crush on her, other than just because she's hot), she's just an ordinary student here without any particular skills or interests. She does get trained in ninjutsu (although apparently her weapon of choice is a metal fan...again, not exactly problematic, but it is a weapon that's usually coded as distinctly feminine), and apparently has some kind of "empathy" skill, but she often gets in trouble in the process of trying to rescue her dad and figure out the Kraang's plans (and where is her mother, again?). Also, she's a MacGuffin Girl in this show, as the Kraang are specifically trying to capture her (for reasons yet unknown)...which, again, gives her a bigger role in the overall plot, but at the expense of her agency and making her seem like more of a Mysterious Waif.
TMNT 2012 April is far from disempowered or a horrible character (I've seen far, far worse when it comes to female characters), but compared to TMNT 2003, it does seem like she's something of a step back in terms of progressive female characters.
Oddly enough, in the new TMNT, I find April's portrayal to be actually a step back from 2k3's April.
To be fair, 2k3 April generally had less of a role in the episodes than 2k12 April. But when she was around, she often played a crucial role in the Turtles' operations. She was only Damsel in Distress'ed twice (as far as I can remember: once during her introduction, when the Turtles saved her from the Mousers, and the other time when she and a bunch of other civilians were rounded up by the Triceratons during their invasion of Earth). She not only gets trained and becomes more and more capable of defending herself as the seasons went on, but she is also introduced and shown to be tech-savvy, something of a rarity for female characters in general. Not only that; she's said to have gotten a college degree in math, and she's the only character who's able to follow Donatello's science & math explanations (when his brothers are completely at a loss). She's crucial to the Turtles' success in a number of episodes. She's smart, but she's also caring; in other words, she doesn't have to sacrifice her femininity for intelligence (as another stereotype about female scientists/tech geeks is that they have to become more "masculine" and socially inept to excel in their chosen field). So in these ways, 2k3 April was a pretty progressive female character.
2k12 April, however, has been aged down, and while they could've had her remain as a tech geek (giving Donnie more of a legitimate reason to have a crush on her, other than just because she's hot), she's just an ordinary student here without any particular skills or interests. She does get trained in ninjutsu (although apparently her weapon of choice is a metal fan...again, not exactly problematic, but it is a weapon that's usually coded as distinctly feminine), and apparently has some kind of "empathy" skill, but she often gets in trouble in the process of trying to rescue her dad and figure out the Kraang's plans (and where is her mother, again?). Also, she's a MacGuffin Girl in this show, as the Kraang are specifically trying to capture her (for reasons yet unknown)...which, again, gives her a bigger role in the overall plot, but at the expense of her agency and making her seem like more of a Mysterious Waif.
TMNT 2012 April is far from disempowered or a horrible character (I've seen far, far worse when it comes to female characters), but compared to TMNT 2003, it does seem like she's something of a step back in terms of progressive female characters.
