Hi doodles!!
Saw you mention starting tmnt2003 and coincidentally im also watching the beginninng of it rn, ep9 left me speechless AND I NEED MORE PEOPLE TALKING ABOUT IT.
SPOILERS AHEAD THIS IS YOUR WARNING.
An episode centering homeless people and the unjust opression against them, showing a *concentration labour camp* as something inexcusable and blatantly evil and having the opressed rebel to fight against the opressors. This would not be aired today, it would be seen as too political. And that makes me absolutely insane. Also, the homeless people being represented by an educated black man who talks about physics with Donnie BECAUSE HE IS NOT LESS THAN JUST BECAUSE HE IS HOMELESS. It made me so so happy.
Can you tell i liked the episode. Yay. I would really love to hear your own thoughts on it!! Since you are/soon should be around ep9
Yes it was a very good episode!! I just finished watching it
I love how the tmnt frequently go to see and talk to the homeless people and give them some of the few resources they have; we seen the lair n they dont have That much stuff, they obviously sympathise with them and it was very sweet seeing their interactions. The general mesaging of the episode was also quite good, the handled the themes well
I do have one criticism, and its the character design of the main vilain of the episode, but thats a minor thing compared to the general good rest of the ep
Oh i agree with that, as much as i liked the ep, i very much disliked the villains design. Mainly because of the use of his body type to imply greed and/or evoke disgust, at least thats what it seemed like to me.
Him being disabled intrigued me, since he was a person in power, but it was framed as an effect of his push for improvement to the point of merging with the mechanichal. So it just made it into this extreme, "unnatural", display of his sick ideals, not a genuine potrayal of disability. One could argue his idea of "recycling" and making people useful is rooted in internalized ableism with his own body modifications being the result of self-hate and so on, like, this could be done well! Be fleshed out and all!! But thats a big stretch, that wasnt the point, the point was to have an evil villain, and pairing that with the fatphobia and visibly meaning him to be ugly or disgusting, "lazy" is next in line and not far. So just. Not it.
I did expect you to have some thoughts on him! Im interested in your views on that as someone who cherishes the theme of disability
Yes ok so i wanted to keep it simple in my response but now that ive been prompted i will go into more detail
Note that its late and im up cuz its hard to fall asleep with the current weather we having so thisll probably not be my best analysis but we persevere
The character design of 2003 is not the best overall. I am an animation student and character designer, but its not hard to see that some of the designs are not great, particularly with the purple dragons and their use of color, but thats a story for another day
Point is, their portrayal of the garbage man felt extremely dehumanizing, mostly fatphobic but also ableist
Its not just the fact he is fat and disabled, its how he is fat and disabled. He has very bright pure red eyes, almost glowwy, and stains on his clothes. The stains could be because of the garbage and general dirty enviroment, but they are particularly around his neck and collar area, implying theyre from eating (note that the homeless characters dont have noticeable stains in their clothing, further proof for my point). Aditionally, the Garbageman is almost constantly drooling, furthering the conection between fatness, eating and grossness
There arent many fat characters in 2003 from what ive seen (which admitedly its only 9 episodes). The turtkes arent skinny, but thats mostly their shell and the fact theyre muscular. Hun is very big, but again, mostly muscle. Theres one other purple dragon thats also on the fatter side, and its noticeable because most others share a similar bodytype. The professor (i forget his name) is not skinny either, but theres a big difference between how he is portrayed and how the Garbageman is protrayed
The Professor is a gentle, old, wise man; his fatnes is related to his age, and he is softer. Hun and the other dragon are big, intimidating, muscular and evil. The Garbageman is fat, greedy, dirty, abusive and disabled.
Theres an even bigger connection between fatness and greed, as one of the turtles says the dump site is the best one not because theyre good, but because theyre profiteable. Theres a criticism on capitalism and profit through exploitation over safe labour, and the Garbageman is design to symbolize that: his greed is represented through his fatness
Disability is also an interesting factor to explore. Garbageman obviously uses a mobility aid, his tank-like thing, however the design reminded me more of one of those scooters some fat people use because they struggle to walk long distances rather than a wheelchair. Theres no shame im usong those, a mobility aids a mobility aid and those are a net positive, plus a lot of fat people are disabled and viceversa, but its the way its framed thats important. Greed, lazinesd, exploitation and a percieved supeririority are big themes of this character, so its in the very least interesting he is a fat disabled man, seeing as those demographics tend to be opressed
The theme of homelessness also calls to me. In nazi germany, homeless people were considered asocials, persecuted and put in labour camps. This was also something done to disabled people, who were victims of eugenics, either exterminated or put into labor camps. Similarly, they targeted people who didnt fit the ideal beauty standard, which included fat people. This is a reocurring pattern with facism. I bring this up because when discusing homelessness they bring up labor camps and the horrid conditions of them, but they make the perpretator of this violence someone who would be a victim of it in other similar circumstances
Also, the technology of the mobility aid interests me. Its clearly greatly advanced technology, which could very easily be applied to the labor that needs performing. However, it isnt, and instead they chose to go through the trouble of kidnapping homeless people. A good old industrial work and patent wouldve probably turned our better for our friebd Garbageman here, but thats a separate topic
I want to conclude with the mesage that its not inherently ableist or fatphobic to include a disabled/fat vilain, but its more about the way its aproached and how the character is designed. Garbagemans evilness is portrayed BY his fatness and disability, they are part of whats meant to make him monstrous, and its made in a dehumanizing way. Other dehumanizing traits, such as the neon red eyes, make this worse. Aditionally, its a case of balance: how much of the cast falls into a certain demografic and how they are portrayed
This applies to other minorities, such as people of color, queer people and women. Out of all your fat characters, how many are greedy dirty and lazy? Out of all the disabled ones, how many are lazy, evil or flat? Are the darkskinned characters more masculine, violent and agry while the lightskinned ones are feminine, docile and soft? Etc etc
A lot of this stuff is about balance and proportion. Im only 9 episodes into tmnt 2003, and if they have more disabled and/or fat characters who are portrayed in a positive light, then i would be more understanding, but that doesnt errase the dehumanization of Garbagemans portrayal; itd just put it into context ig? Mend their mistakes, in a way
Yesyesyes i very much agree!! Maybe it wasnt as clear in my response but that is exactly what i meant - the issue isnt a fat disabled villain but a villain whose fatness and disability are potrayed as signs of his evilness. Something like that in an episode about opression of a marginalized group is particularly jarring.
Thank you so much for the thorough analysis!! Enjoyed it greatly, wonderful read, even if written late at night<3
