I am still so salty about Power Rangers 2017.
People weep and moan for well written representation in film and I’m like “Power Rangers 2017 gave you a team with only one white member, a questioning queer girl, and an autistic hero that doesn’t have ‘magical autism’. He was just autistic and was just like, "Oh, I am autistic, so I’m not going to pick up on your sarcasm.”
They didn’t make autism into a superpower or some life ending tragedy, they had a character with autism who had that inform his character. Billy wasn’t ashamed of this. He was bullied and bad at social cues but the only shame he ever felt was guilt over his reaction to his dad’s death which makes perfect fucking sense.
Trini was in a questioning, confused state and her sexuality is just there and causing her some difficulty. Not because she might be gay, but because she is not sure and doesn’t know how to express this to her family.
Zack was the ultimate subversion of the model minority bullshit people assign to Asians and Asian characters. He was a tactless thrill junkie processing his own hardships.
Kimberly had a nuanced narrative regarding bullying. She was a VERY grey character who legitimately did something awful.
And Jason’s story is basically the ultimate disection of toxic masculinity.
Saban was even hinting that Tommy was going to be a girl in the planned sequel. WE MIGHT HAVE GOTTEN A FEMALE URBAN NATIVE GREEN RANGER. ANYONE who knows Power Rangers can tell you how huge that would be. Tommy was the fan favorite and one of the most interesting characters. Yeah, we might have gotten a superhero film with a female Urban Native lead.
And y'all just dismissed this movie and made Krispy Kreme jokes. Newsflash: the movie was making Krispy Kreme jokes that were better than your Krispy Kreme jokes. If you honestly think “Krispy Kreme… it is a magical place” was supposed to be taken seriously, you are lame and boring and probably like Air Supply.
And gaaaah! Do you know how bad this movie SHOULD have been? Take this from a girl who draped her room in Pink Ranger shit for two years: Power Rangers is pretty fucking dumb. I love it, but nuance, pathos, and realism WERE NEVER CARDS IN THIS FRANCHISE’S DECK. Then this fucking movie, which I went into expecting a lazy, stupid, nostalgia bait had like… real characters, and conflict, and a script written on empathy. People actually worked their ass off to not only make a good movie, but one that was genuinely diverse and respectful and EMPATHETIC.
The movie bombed and y'all wrote it off despite it being one of the most diverse, heartfelt, and nonstereotypical films in recent memory.
Now I’ll never get to watch Trini and LADY!Tommy flip back their helmets to make out with “Go Go Lesbo Rangers” playing in the background. I hope you’re happy with yourselves.
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