The New TMNT & Nice-Guyism
May. 18th, 2013 04:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rainwatersparkCheesy teen romance. Where would we be without it? I'd argue we'd be better off, but I guess most people would disagree with me. Apparently it's a must in any show aimed at kids/teens...including the 2012 TMNT.
Let's, for the moment, ignore the fact that the Turtles are...well...mutant turtles and by their very nature can't really fall in love with humans without major Squick implications. Let's focus on the way it's executed in TMNT 2012, especially on how problematic it is in the show.
From the start, Donnie has a crush on April because she's hot. Insta-Love strikes again, sadly. But it doesn't stop there. His dogged Nice Guyism verges on creepiness--he makes an entire flow chart planning out how to hang out with her, and he even spies on her in a scene. All of this is played for laughs, even though this plays into the problematic real-life narrative that guys who are nice to girls are "owed" the girl's affections. Probably the only thing keeping this from becoming a full-blown part of rape culture is the implication (I think) that April can't return Donnie's affections because of, you know, the turtle thing, and also the fact that April and Casey have always been the official couple.
(Now that I think about it...God, I'd really hate it if there's a whole love triangle set up in Season Two with April/Casey/Donnie.)
There's also the fact that Donnie is generally portrayed as pretty socially awkward, which I already ranted about before. Let's look at Donnie from TMNT 2003 for a comparison. Funnily enough, 2003 Donnie was always the one jumping in to help the various girls that the Turtles met, and as I said before, this is really important because it shatters the stereotype that geeks are socially inept or always somewhat autistic, and portrays the most intelligent Turtle as also among the most empathic and caring. It's also important because it's clear that Donnie isn't being nice because he expects a relationship or anything in return; he's genuinely doing it out of the goodness of his own heart.
tl;dr version: I don't like the "romance" between 2012 Donnie and April because the way Donnie is made to go about it is terrible and problematic.
Let's, for the moment, ignore the fact that the Turtles are...well...mutant turtles and by their very nature can't really fall in love with humans without major Squick implications. Let's focus on the way it's executed in TMNT 2012, especially on how problematic it is in the show.
From the start, Donnie has a crush on April because she's hot. Insta-Love strikes again, sadly. But it doesn't stop there. His dogged Nice Guyism verges on creepiness--he makes an entire flow chart planning out how to hang out with her, and he even spies on her in a scene. All of this is played for laughs, even though this plays into the problematic real-life narrative that guys who are nice to girls are "owed" the girl's affections. Probably the only thing keeping this from becoming a full-blown part of rape culture is the implication (I think) that April can't return Donnie's affections because of, you know, the turtle thing, and also the fact that April and Casey have always been the official couple.
(Now that I think about it...God, I'd really hate it if there's a whole love triangle set up in Season Two with April/Casey/Donnie.)
There's also the fact that Donnie is generally portrayed as pretty socially awkward, which I already ranted about before. Let's look at Donnie from TMNT 2003 for a comparison. Funnily enough, 2003 Donnie was always the one jumping in to help the various girls that the Turtles met, and as I said before, this is really important because it shatters the stereotype that geeks are socially inept or always somewhat autistic, and portrays the most intelligent Turtle as also among the most empathic and caring. It's also important because it's clear that Donnie isn't being nice because he expects a relationship or anything in return; he's genuinely doing it out of the goodness of his own heart.
tl;dr version: I don't like the "romance" between 2012 Donnie and April because the way Donnie is made to go about it is terrible and problematic.
