Quote:
Originally Posted by demonsweat
I have to slightly disagree here. I would love to see more shows feature females in lead or non-stereotypical roles, that's a no-brainer. But trying to force more of [insert underused gender/race/sexual orientation here] into a story just to appease certain people hurts the art of storytelling. This isn't the April show, it's about the turtles. The majority of fans don't want to see more focus on April over the turtles, obviously. She's just not as interesting they are and that's not a gender thing, it's just a difference in their characters. I want to watch a show about mutant ninjas, not teenage girls in high school (and there are plenty of shows about that).
See, in trying to make every PC, I feel that we're watering down potentially good stories. There's only one African-American in the show and he's kind of a bumbling fool. Is that wrong? Should we try to represent every race and creed in this show as well? I mean, don't get me wrong, it's great to have a diverse cast and I certainly appreciate the inclusion of characters with unique backgrounds.
I make the same argument for feminism that I do for racism in TV and movies. Instead of cramming in more token characters in order to appeal to a certain group, why not make new IPs instead? I'd be thrilled to have an action cartoon with a female lead or leads.
And since we're on the topic...
Easy on the "boy's show" talk!  Ladies also enjoy action shows, and ones with mainly male casts. Lemme tell you guys the same thing I told my daughter when my niece asked her why she played with "boy's" toys: there is no such thing as boy's and girl's toys/shows. Anyone who says otherwise has been brainwashed by advertisers.  |
Asking for more characters who aren't straight, white dudes is not the same as "cramming in more token characters." NYC is one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the world, and everyone has a story- so why should media portray only a small portion those stories: the ones that focus on straight white men? (The turtles are tricky to label with a race- we assume the last human they touched was Splinter, so we could say they are Japanese... yet they are all portrayed by white voice actors. We also don't know if race is something that even carries over through the mutation process.) But turtles aside, the race representation in this show is pretty good imo. I think we see a decent amount of POC in the background and as recurring characters. Unfortunately, as we've touched on before, so far it hasn't looked good for women's representation. Nick's TMNT is a new entity of it's own. So much of the show is entirely new or an interesting spin on an established idea. Why do you accept changes like the Kraang, or their origin story in general, yet oppose the idea of introducing a more diverse cast?
EDIT: Ideally there shouldn't be strictly boys' shows and girls' shows. But without female characters to identify with, a show that focuses on male characters may alienate female viewers.