Is Wealth Really 'Turtle Power'? (Critique of Shell Shocked)

Is Wealth Really 'Turtle Power'? (a critique of 'Shell Shocked' by Juicy J, Wiz Khalifa and Ty Dolla $ign)
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The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have been a part of of contemporary mythological landscape since May 1984.  This year, Michael Bay (producer) and Jonathan Liebesman (director) are releasing a new TMNT movie.  The Michael Bay production is the first movie with the Turtles, since the intellectual property was sold by TMNT creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird.  The rights to TMNT were purchased from Mirage by Viacom subsidiary Nickelodeon in 2009.  Since Nickelodeon bought the property, there has been a cartoon series running from 2012, and new comic books continue to be published through IDW (Idea and Design Works).

There is no one continuity of the TMNT mythology.  TMNT started out as an independent comicbook reaching for an adult audience with violence and gritty tonality.  As the popularity of the series grew, a toned down version of the property was developed, more suitable for a cartoon show and action figure line.  TMNT started out as a parody of gritty comic book trends in the 1980s, so there always was an aspect of humor to the property.  To appeal to a mass market, the humor of the TMNT was played up, and the edge to the violence was softened with cartoon goofiness.  However, the original comic book series was continued alongside its pop-iteration, allowing fans of the original concept to continue reading.  The 1989 video game released by Ultra for NES and PC tried to reconcile the original iteration of the Turtles with the cartoon version; the original movies distributed by New Line Cinema tried to do so as well with varying degrees of success.

Every TMNT film and cartoon series is associated with a main theme song, usually based on basic themes of heroism while also describing the laid-back attitude of the Turtles.  The soundtrack to the 1990 film went platinum, and the soundtrack its sequel went gold.  The albums were just pop music, featuring pop-rap acts like Technotronic and Vanilla Ice, but do stay on the themes of heroism and projecting a positive attitude.  The 2014 film has a track called 'Shell Shocked' by Juicy J, Wiz Khalifa and Ty Dolla $ign.  In the track, money is presented an aspect of heroism; this is the first time in any iteration of the TMNT that such a premise has been presented.  Lyrics in 'Shell Shocked' include "Nobody do it better, all my brothers tryin' to get some cheddar. We all want our cut like the Shredder.  Me and my bros come together for the dough, bought the orange Lamborghini, call it Michelangelo."  There has never before been any version of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles which presented the pursuit of money as a heroic value.

The finances of the Turtles have never been a main concern.  The Turtles have always been presented as scroungers, recycling and reusing what they find.  It has always been implied that any purchasing power they have comes from change they find in the sewers.  The Turtles have never been concerned with money, other than having accumulated enough loose coins and bills to pay for pizza.  The theme song to this new Michael Bay produced film continues: "Check my Rolex, they say I'm the man of the hour.  All this green in my pocket, they call it Turtle Power".  Heroism in the TMNT has always been defined as having the courage to take on injustice.  'Turtle Power' has been a catch phrase of the TMNT since the 1990s, but has never been associated with the pursuit of wealth.  It has never before been implied in the Turtles mythos that having a status symbol like a Rolex, and having accumulated wealth are signs of heroism.  In the various iterations of the the Turtles, they have always been presented as living a counter-cultural, anti-authoritative, DIY lifestyle.  The new film has yet to be released, but from the trailers, it can be seen that the Turtles in the film do live in a dingy, below ground lair, and does not present the Turtles as being infatuated with economic status symbols.  It is unfortunate that one of the first introductions the public has to the new TMNT film is a track which tries to tie wealth with heroism.