yo i found some thematic similarities between Teenage Mutant

MODERN UNDERGROUND: SELF-REFLECTION

I used to be a massive fan of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Still am, to be honest. What’s not to love about four mutated humanoid turtles, named after famous renaissance artists, living in a sewer, acting like teenagers, and being ninja’s on the side? The sheer improbability of the whole thing has always fascinated me. Little did I know, however, that my love for the adventures of the four shell-wearing brothers would ever gain any literary relevance. Until last month, when I downloaded ‘Notes from the Underground’ by Dostoyevsky as an audiobook. Halfway through, I remembered a story arc from the 2003 TMNT series, which is also named ‘Notes from the Underground’. I first thought it was merely a coincidence, but when I watched the episodes again I found quite a lot of thematic similarities between them and the book.

To begin with, a parallel can already be draw between the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the main character in Dostoyevsky’s ‘Notes from the Underground’. Both live underground. Where the Turtles quite literally live in underground abandoned metro tunnels, the man from Notes from the Underground lives his life alienated from society, in a state of self-inflicted exile that he calls the Underground. Even though the Turtles also live their lives hidden from the society, they have in no way inflicted this exile upon themselves, and are actually very active and optimistic beings. If it were not for the lack of tolerance towards large mutated humanoid turtles, that also happen to be ninjas, they would probably lead very social lives. In this sense, the Turtles are the opposite of the Underground Man.

But let’s get to the actual story arc:

>Donatello is experimenting with two mysterious crystals he found
>At some point Michelangelo starts to pester Donatello and accidentally holds the crystals together
>they start making this strange humming noise, waking up the other Turtles
>the perimeter alarm of the Turtle Lair goes off
>some strange creature has tunneled right through the cement of the sewer, and then vanished
>the Turtles follow the creature underground, taking the crystals with them
>Michelangelo is scared because he sees similarities between the unfolding events and certain monster movie plot-cliché’s, to the great annoyance of Raphael

Dostoyevsky criticizes the idea of utilitarianism, stating that humans above all desire to exercise their free will, and thus will sometimes knowingly do things that will lead them to disaster. Humans, and perhaps Turtles also, can willfully act against their own interest. In relation to this, we can interpret the character of Michelangelo in this episode as a mockery of the ‘rational utilitarian man’ who only follows his own interest. A cliché in monster movies is, after all, that the protagonist makes certain irrational decisions, like going into the basement unarmed while it is clear that the monster is lurking there. Michelangelo is conscious of this, and tries to convince the others that they should not follow this course of action, which sets him apart from the rest.

>in an old metro tunnel the come across a bigger monster that makes the tunnel collapse on them
>they survive and go deeper into the earth, finding a whole underground world

>they come across a Foot genetics lab, where they find out a team of scientists has been working for the Shredder, the arch-enemy of the Turtles, and have been have been experimenting with mutating ordinary humans into outlandish subterranean monsters, designed to track down the Turtles
>the creatures were more intelligent than the scientists thought them to be, and they rebel against their makers
>in a video log, the leading scientist states that ‘perhaps there are things man was never supposed to temper with’
>even when brought under control to some extend using electroshocks, the creatures are, of course, hardly cooperative and do not execute their mission to find the Turtles
>the experiment is shut down and the Shredder ordered the creatures to be destroyed

A skeptical attitude regarding modern science and rationalism is a leading theme in Notes from the Underground, which, as said before, is very critical towards the idea that everything can be brought under control by rationality.

>while being in the lab, the Turtles accidentally activate an energy field that repels living tissue
>to avoid being crushed by it, Raphael destroys it by throwing his sai at the crystal that powers it
>mistaking the Turtles for Foot soldiers, three creatures attack the Turtles
>the Turtles fight the creatures, assuming them to be savages, but Leonardo soon finds out the creatures are actually intelligent and attacking them by mistake and actually saves one from a collapsing vat of mutagen

The theme of one being saved by the thing he fights plays a role in Notes from the Underground. The underground Man desires friendship, even though he writes that he loathes others. He mentions an event when he invited himself on a dinner hosted by three old school-mates of his to celebrate a friend of theirs having been promoted. They do not want him to be there, but he shows up anyway, determined to make an impression on them. He ends up insulting the main guest of the evening, and ruining any favorable relationships he still had with them. Of course, the opposite happens to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and a sense of understanding and friendship grows instead of being destroyed.

>the ‘leader’ of the creatures, an acid-spitting being named Quarry, explains that the Foot abducted them and mutated them into their current form, stripping them of all memories of their former lives
>they have been living underground ever since
>they were made to fight against the enemies of the Shredder, but they refused this purpose
>then, the Turtles and the creatures are attacked by more creatures, not friendly ones this time
>Quarry explains that some of the ‘test subjects’ had gone mad as a result of the extreme genetic mutation
>he says madness also looms in their own future

Another leading theme in Notes from the Underground is existentialism and the exercise of free will. The creatures have refused their intended purpose, were therefore considered a ‘failed experiment’. Since they also lost all their ties to their former lives, they are now completely without aim or purpose, simply surviving until they lose even their sense of consciousness and go mad like their brethren. Of course the Underground Man is also subject to slowly going insane and disappearing in the darkness of his own mind.

>since they are no match for their mad siblings, they keep them out using the energy shield the Turtles encountered before

The Underground Man in the book makes the point that an intelligent man cannot possibly take action, for he can oversee all possible arguments against all courses of action, and will therefore never make a decision. This renders the intelligent man a lot weaker than the ‘man of nature and truth’ that Rousseau mentions. In line with this, the creatures that have not yet succumbed to madness and purely instinctive behavior, and that still retain their sense of self-awareness, are no match for their ‘mad’ brethren, even though they share the same origin, and are physically equally strong. They can only survive by, quite literally, shielding themselves off from the others, like the Underground Man does in a figurative sense.

>since the Turtles broke the crystal that was powering it, they can only get it to function by using a the crystals the Turtles brought, which is much smaller
>the shield holds up just long enough for the mad creatures to give up and go away, but the crystal is burned out
>Quarry says there are more crystals like it in a very dark place, even deeper than were they live
>he absolutely does not want to go there, but they must do so to find a new crystal, and the Turtles go along since they broke the old crystal
>on the way, Quarry eats a sort of blueish screeching worm, which Leonardo finds rather gross
>In response, Quarry says they ‘learned to live off the land, before the land lives off them’.
>after a rough journey the find a crystal, but are attacked by the mad creatures, and driven deeper
>Quarry says a strange entity dwells here, which he fears greatly
>shortly after, Donatello is captured by this entity
>The Turtles go deeper underground to find Donatello, and enter an ancient underground city that is enlightened by a huge crystal hanging on the ceiling of the enormous cave the city is located in
>the friendly creatures are very anxious of the city, saying it is a ‘city of the dead’, but the mad creatures do not seem to fear it at all, being driven by feral instincts alone
>one by one, the turtles and the creatures, both mad and friendly, are captured
>Michelangelo and Quarry remain
>Quarry is very prone to hiding, saying that it is in his nature
>eventually Quarry gets captured

>Michelangelo overcomes his fear, and enters the tower in the middle of the city, only to find out the ‘mysterious entity’, the Mage as he is called, is actually good-natured and has captured the creatures in order to turn them back into humans, using the power of the big crystal
>The Mage explains he has been living alone in the city for centuries, being the sole survivor of the ancient race that built it, but that has now almost died out
>he says he wants the creatures and the Turtles to stay in the city to be able to pass on the heritage
>the Turtles refuse, and a fight breaks out
>the Turtles imprison the Mage, but do feel sorry for him

The character of the Mage is very close to that of the Underground Man, the Mage being quite literally and underground man who lives in total isolation, but the parallel goes even further. An important theme in Notes from the Underground is, since Dostoyevsky is of course a Russian writer, the replacement of the traditional Russian values with more western European ones. The Underground Man very much despises the fact that he is forced to live by this foreign set of values, and sees it as the primary cause for his alienation from society. The Mage is the remaining survivor of an ancient race, and is therefore the only one who upholds the way of living of his people. This leads to frustration and misunderstanding when he encounters others, much like the Underground Man. It should also be noted that the Mage looks somewhat Russian.

>in the meantime, the creatures have been turned back into humans
>Quarry turns out to be a girl actually

The theme of the ‘redeemed prostitute’ plays a large role in Notes from the Underground. The Underground Man visits a brothel after his fight with his former schoolmates, and there has a conversation with a young prostitute. He tries to convince her that a horrible fate awaits her if she continues to sell her body, and invites her to his house. When she shows up there, though, he is ashamed of his poor living conditions and tries to chase her away by insulting her. While trying to ‘save’ this prostitute, he revels in this role, while at the same time knowing that he himself is not much better off than she is, and in no position to save her. In the end, she comes closer to saving him actually.

This theme of the protagonist posing as an ‘heroic savior’ while actually having quite a lot of troubles himself can also be recognized in the Turtles. They try to save the creatures from a life underground, while they themselves, being regarded as monsters also, have similar problems, and might even be worse off. They cannot be turned back into humans, since they never were humans. The relationship between the Mage and the creatures he turned back into humans also follows this pattern even more. The Mage acts as a savior while actually needing to be saved by the one he is trying to save. Because of his situation, he ends up chasing away the people that whose friendship he craved so badly.

>they find out however, that when they leave the city, and are no longer under the regenerative light of the big crystal, they turn back into monsters,
>they cannot leave the city
>the Turtles do go back, but promise to try and find a way to turn them back permanently
end

I'll save this read for later. Thanks.

>>90659842
its my favourite book anon, also i'm just finishing season one right now!

>>90661275
cool, hope you enjoy it