Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 22, 1991 TAG: 9103220136
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Chris Gladden
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"The second-graders pronounced it `awesome' and the 3-year-old kicked and slugged away at his older brother until he managed to fall down and bump his head so hard that it threw him into a crying fit in a mall bookstore."
This week, 73 educators from 19 states concluded in a survey that the Turtles have had a similar effect on children across the country.
I was gratified to learn that my youngest is not any more susceptible to Ni nja Turtle influence than other children.
A member of the board of the National Association for the Education of Young Children said:
"The way the Ninja Turtles work out their difficulties is by socking each other and knocking each other."
As the father of two rambunctious boys, I think I can safely say that knocking and socking each other is precisely how they would work out their difficulties had they never heard of a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.
Not that I am rushing to the defense of the four freaks of nature who subsist on pizza and know more karate than Chuck Norris and Jean Claude Van Damme put together.
In fact, I observed that last year's movie included way too much violence for its target audience. The sequel - "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze" - opens today. I hope the filmmakers this time around have exercised more responsibility and toned down the violence. I somehow doubt it, though. Vanilla Ice, a performer of dubious talent who is now a hit on the kiddie circuit, appears in the movie.
Vanilla Ice may not contribute to the violence level but his presence indicates that the gloves are off when it comes to youth-market exploitation.
I have decided to try to co-exist with the adolescent reptiles because they're not going away anytime soon. A Turtles rock show is coming to the Salem Civic Center in April and a book titled "The Official Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Treasury" has just been published. It's a collector's guide to Turtle memorabilia and it includes such items as Turtles pork rinds and boxer shorts. Clearly, the Ninja Turtles' influence on pop culture has been profound.
And it has not necessarily been all bad, at least at our household. Ninja Turtles books have made it into our house and I welcome any encouragement to reading. The Turtles' album does not trash some great blues oldies like Bart Simpson does. The Turtles action figures aren't quite as grotesque as some of the He-Man figures.
If at this point, you're thinking that I have the backbone of a nightcrawler and am rationalizing my complete submission to the pleas of my children for Turtle stuff, you're right.
But we have weathered He-Man's sword play and G.I. Joe's high-tech weapons of destruction. We'll probably be able to survive the Ninja Turtles martial arts shenanigans as well.
by CNB