4. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
In my first article at WhatCulture I talked about the Ninja Turtles and their home in New York, a city of immigrants. But I forgot to get into the immigrant background of the Turtles. As best as we can guess, the Turtles themselves were probably born in America, but they were adopted by Splinter, a rat who immigrated with a human couple from Japan. The Turtles are therefore like first-generation Americanstheyre kids who probably had a bilingual upbringing, and this combination of cultures, within their larger mishmash world, continues to be a part of their lives every day, as well as Splinters. The Shredder, on the other side of the coin, uses his original culture, his new home, and the family of American teens who live there for his business goals. The movies eclectic tone and setting certainly bring these ideas out. Intercultural family and larger interpersonal connection bring a lot to this movie and further enrich the other very cool ideas already in the movie, which in turn come from the mythology of the Turtles.