Jayden and Lauren should've been Asians, to be honest. It doesn't make sense that two people who are completely detached from being culturally significant are supposedly portraying individuals in a long line of samurai warriors. I'm not saying that white-skinned Asians don't exist, they clearly do. But the fact that the two happen to be your average caucasian protagonists seems to be whitewashing what could've been a good season, and instead, reducing it to "Oh, look. The next leader is taking on the mantle of a racially distinct character whilst not being apart of that minority!" This is why I respect SPD, there was no intention to whitewash Jack, or even Tyler from Dino Charge. So why Jayden? I don't hate his actor, I think with good writing, both him and Lauren's actors could've been allies. But I'm probably stepping too far down the rabbit hole at this point. Also, I think some people are missing the point of the video entirely. He's not trying to force his opinions down your throat or earn brownie points from Hasbro. DB is just giving critiques where certain seasons fell from grace and how to avoid future issues like that in the newer shows. (He's allowed to have a voice, even if others don't wanna hear it. Sure it's controversial but you can't force him not to make comments when almost every other reviewer, including the likes of Linkara and beyond, also make comments regarding how poorly Power Rangers in later seasons have made blips that can impact their stories. Is it really politic rhetoric if a robot is being taught rap by a black kid, whose also gesticulating like a stereotypical black character would? Or, in the case of mutants, if having them cleansed of what makes them unique is the right answer? Because in most cultures, that would be cause for alarm.
I think you should venture further into that rabbit hole cuz you spittin right now! Couldn't have said it better myself. Really, the way you expanded on some of these points was very nice to read. Also, it's always amusing to me that people sometimes assume I want brownie points from Hasbro when I'm CONSANTLY calling them out for these matters, Dino Fury especially. I'd assume most on their production team wouldn't take kindly to my critiques, assuming they even see them, let alone care about them(though Campbell Cooley really likes my videos, which is awesome of him).
@@RealEvilLordExdeath I'm not American, I'm British. Also, everyone has a right to discuss their thoughts. It's not like we're trying to deface what made the franchise what it is today. It's just that certain seasons from a writing perspective would've benefitted better from consideration being taken into account. If people are riled up when it comes to well-constructed thoughts being shared around the Internet, then I've got nothing else to say.
@@TheDisneyBrain Thanks! Whilst I'm aware of the show's demographic being primarily aimed at children. I don't think it's an excuse to push serious topics without taking into consideration the target audience, and how they'll respond to the message the show is trying to promote. For example, whilst I'm glad the show isn't afraid to discuss heavy subject matter, It has to be done gracefully. Otherwise, it can have the opposite effect of undermining the severity of certain distinctive actions, like Viera's Family being enslavers and how quickly her worldview changes, rather than allowing her to show remorse and make that decision on her own accord. Instead, it's a change of heart because she was rescued, which feels disingenuous to the sufferers, imo, and she feels less like she changed for the betterment of the future, and more because the writers demanded that direction.
@@wadeyhyena1657 Couldn't have said it better myself. Me personally I'd prefer PR just not dig into those topics at all because it's usually better when it doesn't feel the need to. And for your service here today, you get to be pinned! Embrace the uh, honor, I guess, lol.
Samurai borrowed WAY too much from Shinkengers, they could have kept the Samurai theme without making it a carbon copy of Shinkenger. Name the team Power Rangers Sword Strike or something similar and have the show be themed around sword fighting in general, with the main style being Samurai swordplay.
Pretty sure Zack's actor chose to be the black ranger lmao. IIRC he was originally cast as the blue ranger but asked to be the black ranger because he thought that would be more iconic.
@@nerotoxin0661 Chadwick Boseman (R.I.P.) becomes Black Panther, no one bats an eye. But when Walter Emmanuel Jones becomes the Black Ranger, everyone loses their minds.
I'm not sure if I understood your comment about Sarah, but yes, there are white Brazilians as well, specially in the southern states - Santa Catarina, Paraná and Rio Grande do Sul - which are places with most German/Italian immigrants and descendants. São Paulo state has the largest Japanese community outside of Japan, while Bahia has a large community of African descendants and Amazon has a large community of indigenous and their descendants. Not to mention all the mixed race groups here as well, interracial relationships are not a taboo in Brazil (thank God). Summarizing the purpose of providing all that information: our country does not have one race only, we have all of them 😺
I appreciate you bring up these points about Brazil. My point there was not to imply that there are no such thing as white Brazilians, which is inherently different from the white American she was written to be. What I was getting at it is how the very multiculturalism that you speak of that exists isn't made to matter, in this case because the writing on the show would not change if Sarah wasn't Brazilian. I'm not even saying that there should be some type of deep exploration into that, though I certainly wouldn't mind. What I am saying is that there's hardly been any exploration of that, or most cultures, ethnic, racial, or otherwise, in a franchise that claims to have diversity as one of its calling cards, but really only on the surface. Hopefully this clarifies what I was trying to get at. Admittedly, it was a bit of a rushed, blink and you miss it type of point which probably demanded in-video clarity.
I'd also add the reveal of Tommy being Native American despite not being played by a Native American actor. In fact, I think the actor who played Sam Trueheart is the only Native American actor associated with this franchise.
I don't think it was amusing if the staff have been called out for racist behavior before. at that point, it's on purpose. Robo knight listening to rap was cute, without the hand jesters at least. Bobbing your head is good enough xD Also, the Samurai Rangers made me cringe too effing hard, I had to skip that one in its entirety. :)))) Sadly with the way consumerism is run, and how budget cuts work. They didn't want to put in more work. They could have EASILY found Japanese/Japanese American Actors who can speak both English and Japanese! And Fight if they needed to. Also, it's easy to make one cast, white, the other black, The other Mexican, the other east Asian, the other islander, and another indigenous. it's the writers who don't want to, especially the producers.
@Kristopher Prime That sounds like a cool idea of the Shibas to recruit new blood in America out of desperation and pragmatism. Also in Super Sentai counterpart of Dino Charge, they have an American actor who can speak Japanese and was portrayed as an ancient Viking warrior being immortal due to being bonded with Energem.
@broken AudioReact well said! And yeah, I'm not even sure changing that aspect would change how oddly inhuman a lot of Samurai's dialogue comes across as, funny as that can sometimes be, but it would have been one less out of place thing they did.
Latino/Hispanic is not a race it is an ethnicity! In the Latino community you have native American, European and African ab f mix race people that make up the majority of the group. Most people with a lighter skin tone refer to themselves as whites and unless if they have an native background not a lot are gonna claim their native roots
Okay, right off the bat, the SPD example is not a racial one. Sky wanted to be the Red Ranger. He trained hard for it for years and earned his position. And here came a guy who was quite literally taken off the street and given the position of the Leader (which in this series meant the Red Ranger, even though, technically the Shadow Ranger outranked Red). It literally had nothing to do with race. You can replace him just as much as the other examples you rapidly put out there and it would be the exact same (colorblind) story. Heck, you could replace Jack with Z (who was SPD Yellow) and Sky would feel the same way. Given he'd probably be a bit more sexist, but he did treat Syd the same way as he did Bridge... which is ironic considering people normally looked down on Bridge. That's not just "unintentional" that's literally not the point of Sky and Jack's rivalry. Just like how Trini and Zack weren't "oversights", because race didn't matter. Heck, if you saw the Pilot Episode, you'd know that the ORIGINAL yellow ranger was also a black woman. Meaning it was never a factor to begin with. It's just people looking for something that was never there to begin with.
Whether intentional or not, the story between Sky and Jake resonates with explicitly racial narratives. Jack and Z are the Black and latina of the group and are also the underprivileged of the group. That resonates with real-world and for some audiences, its obvious and palpable.
@@MitchYouCantScratch Look, you can interoperate things however you want, but my point it was never the intention in the first place. Just like how Zootopia was never about Sexism or any specific Racism, but discrimination in general. Heck, I know some people who interoperated the "nighthowlers" in that film as "false rape accusations against men". That was certainly never the intention, but that's what resonated to them. The audience themselves put that message in there, not the showrunners themselves. That's my point. Also, I never saw Z as "Latina". Why would I? It doesn't matter what your race is, everyone faces hard times at one point or another. In TimeForce (even further in the future of the Saban/Disney timeline) people were discriminated for being Mutants. This included Trip (Green Ranger). Even had several episodes directly addressing that. Does one have to be Asian (or whatever race Trip was) in order to understand what that's like? I sure as heck didn't. Heck, most of the Mutants looked like the Aliens of SPD. Not "latino people" or "immigrants", but literal aliens. If the person's Race is the only way for you to feel a connection with that character, that's a problem with you, not the showrunners.
@@mayowajoshua9806 Okay 1) Obviously, that wasn't the point of my entire comment. As I really was just addressing the SPD thing. The only part where I mentioned it, was when I was tying it back to the earlier point where he called the Zach&Trini thing an "oversight". Because both scenarios were equally unintentional. 2) Yeah, I know, but I couldn't help but mention it since he brought it up, but didn't go into more details as to why it was, what he calls an "oversight". As if doing so, shouldn't have happened or they should have been more aware of how it could have been interpreted. Sorry, but sometimes people really are colorblind. Unlike today when people have to constantly be aware of race-race-race-race. I was literally 5 when Power Rangers first aired. My first favorite fictional character was Dr. Harte from VR Troopers and even then it was because I thought people who wore glasses were cool, but especially him. 3) I can't help but ramble. Literally, it's a mental thing. Once I get started explaining my point, I have to get everything running my head out there. My mother claims it's Aspergers, but... I don't really see it. I think it's moreso because I spent a lifetime of constantly being interrupted, thus when using a format like text, nobody can tell me "dude, less is more." Anyway, I can understand why "normal people" can find it overwhelming as if I'm super obsessed about something, despite the fact that the thing you're pointing out as me "needing to calm down" about was literally only two sentences used to help re-illustrate my main point. Not that you've read this far down, but yes, I did just purposefully ramble on about this third point just for the sake of both purposefully overexplaining something that is really quite simple AND because being patronizing is rather fun. I see why you did it.
@@MitchYouCantScratch It's also not the intended narrative to be compared with the likes of that Time Force graphic novel garbage actually making a(n albeit poor) discussion on social issues. Fine enough to have people resonate with an unintended bit, but the point remains it wasn't actual commentary and can only be looked at as the unintended consequence as it is.
I kind of get where you're coming from but you have to kind of elaborate as to why these things are bad. It seems like you are still working through the general ideas of this video. like a prime example is that you say they "learn some calligraphy" but calligraphy isn't anything to do with Japanese culture. The word you are looking for is Shodo or Katakana. Calligraphy is just the art of handwriting and it's a Greek word. Like the dissonance between getting something like that wrong while talking about how they didn't fully utilize the Japanese influence in the show seems like it's not a fully fleshed-out thought.
That's a fair point. There are some aspects here that can be elaborated on, and some of the things you bring up, as well as some other comments here, they aren't all braindead thankfully, is more or less what I hoped for. But yes, Calligraphy is most definitely a part of Japanese culture, simply one of several aspects that originated from a different area of the world, just like the Rangers. It's a touch semantical to call it Shodo, or Shuji while we're here, when that simply means... Japanese calligraphy. While I'll grant you that the proper, in-country term could have been used while that is the topic at hand, you knew exactly what I meant there so it's not wrong for the reasons you might be implying. Now you might say, well why wasn't all this in the video, then? And that too would be a fair point. To address your other point about why this is bad, well, I called it more dismissive than an outright affront (the other two examples are very bad though, yes). It's more of a missed chance to do something more meaningful with the locale that isn't as possible in other settings, save the space settings that PR tend to do pretty alright with, lol. So the actual dissonance here is how the show presents that juxtaposed against the cast.
@@TheDisneyBrain Fair points. You are flipping the meaning about the Calligraphy part tho. You are right when you say calligraphy is important in Japanese culture but calligraphy itself doesn't have anything to do with Japanese culture. That's why when you said they learned calligraphy it doesn't make sense because you haven't specified what form of calligraphy. I am very good a calligraphy but I have never touched a Ink brush. I use a fountain pen and it is called "Blackletter". The type they do in the show is called Shodo or "Japanese calligraphy". This would have been a very interesting jumping-off point to demonstrate how to properly integrate Japanese culture or in the show's case a lack thereof. If you want to call this arguing of semantics I understand but I would disagree since I'm pointing out a instance of lack of information rather than difference in the meaning. You use the word correctly in the context of the situation it just wasn't specific enough. My point was how that there's a disconnect from the level of specificity that you wish the show would go into while also not going to that level. Now for UA-cam video I do understand why you didn't go to that granular of a level but it would have helped your points. As an animator I do understand deadlines and not allowing you to dedicate enough time to get things perfect. So no harm no foul.
The topics discussed here aren't that controversial in comparison to what some of the comments might say. These adaptations are a product of their time, and when looking back in hindsight, we can see how the full potential of these settings haven't been utilized. Time Force and the ethics of eugenics is a topic that's becoming more relevant in the modern age. The adaptation of Shinkenger not embracing the Japanese cultural influences with at least one Japanese actor seems like a missed opportunity. There's not much to say about the Slave Traders, but you don't need to delve too deep into it for the show for the audience to know it's bad without getting preachy.
The Samurai team should've been 3/7th Asian minimum. Jayden could've been White. However make the twist that he is adopted and his sister is Japanese. How could would that have been for kids who are in the foster system. An adopted role model super hero would have been amazing to them.
Dont really know the point of such woke nitpicking. I dont believe any of the issues you mentioned, particularly the plot issues and racial stuff, were ever done maliciously or ever even offended anyone genuinely upon release. Intention matters, and applying the standards forced diversity and inclusion protocols that currently plague corporate america as well as the entertainment industry onto a production retroactively and then deriding the thing for not meeting some weird modern standard as if this was a creative and moral failure of the show itself is silly. I dont mean to question your sincerity, but PR fans love your content. The virtue signal isnt necessary DB.
I'm sorry but I think you're surprising topics that you're actually making up when Power Rangers was never characterized by delving into this type of subjects.
I enjoy most your videos I just don’t understand what this video is about. But everyone is entitled to their opinion and feelings I just don’t get what race has to do with power rangers. But that’s just me. Their all human actors playing fictional characters and if race was that important humans wouldn’t be able to reproduce with other “races”. The ideology of “mixed” is false to me because how can someone be different from your parents the answer then is because there’s only one race and it’s human. They all bleed red. If we’re going to talk vain things like appearance in skin color we might as well talk about their weight and heights too.
My question from this is video is that who cares what the race of the power ranger is. Except maybe samurai, no other power rangers that i have seen need to have the race of the character be the defining feature of their personality or even worth mentioning
Uhhh, lots of people do. Granted, lots of people don't, as is their right, but the over generalization here is wild, lol. But even then, you'd be missing out on how the optics of Jack's character arc changes completely if he wasn't black, and also makes SPD both awkward and interesting to look at for a number of related reasons. "Need" is also a strong word, because the real point here is that how little it happens raises an understandable eyebrow to how much diversity PR actually pushes. This shouldn't be dismissed out of hand of course, because just having those acting jobs at all for underrepresented populations is very important, perhaps even more so in the 90's, but PR's faux post-racial leanings have usually hamstrung them, sometimes in very funny ways, and other times in really dumb ways. But to have that as a slightly larger part of who some of them are, not THE defining feature as you hyperbolically claim because we aren't monoliths, wouldn't be the worst thing. In fact, it'd probably be pretty neat.
@@TheDisneyBrain The long and short of what I take away from this, from as best a viewpoint as I can manage, is that race exists whether it's an intentional part of the story or not. Details like that can have an impact on the end product, and pretending that it doesn't exist at all is foolish at best, and gives potentially damaging messaging at worst. People bring up intent a lot, but intent doesn't erase effect.
@@TheDisneyBrain ehh as a black person plz tell me why jack race matters i was just happy to see a good red ranger but being told it matters in what way i feel adults often lie about how much kids will actually care about this stuff and this a prime example i didnt care about the races of the rangers i cared they was rangers and fought the bad guys but i feel like everyone constantly want to throw race in everything power rangers is a great show well before samurai but the reason i feel that is because they kinda regressed in target demographics in a way with rangers age etc
Most of the commenters are missing the point. Diving more into ethnic backgrounds and upbringing’s help make the characters have a shit ton of depth. Too many characters are just a generic ball of emotions and characteristic stereotypes.
A quick rant about what you say on 5:13: First, i'm brazilian, so i hope that informs you that my rant here comes from my heart: Brazilian is a Nationality, not a race. Unlike other Latin American countries, the natives were not a huge part of the "gene pool", so we're not "latino" like you'd think of a mexican person, for example, . The majority of our population is white (48%), followed by pardo (43%, in which i'm included), then black at 7%, asian at 1.2%, with indigenous at 0.8% Saying that a brazilian shouldn't be "white coded" when the majority of our population is white (or identify as white like some pardos do) is a very sad stereotype. Brazilians can be white, black, brown, we even have the biggest japanese and japanese descendent population outside of Japan itself. the fact Chrystiane Lopes is white or plays a "white coded" character doesn't make her any less of a brazilian.
@@BlackWingedSeraphX Having all rangers be Japanese would be a bold departure from the show's identity with diversity. And casting all mixed Asian talent would have been a strain. Both might see ratings drop due to racist parents. Rather, the red rangers should have been the only rangers to have descended from a line of Samurai. His role in teaching the others and the focus on the Shiba clan is already in the plot.
Canonically the samurai rangers don’t even live or fight in Japan,we know from Mia’s Wallet(seen in”The Strange case of the Munchies)That they live and fight in LA
A lot of the criticisms directed towards Power Rangers' representation falls flat because they expect it to represent an urban United States when that may not always be the locale of the story. But, Dino Fury Pink does become Cosmic Fury Red, so there will be another Female Red Ranger and this time likely part of the main cast. Focusing on just the fact that the Red Ranger isn't female completely undermines female mentors like Dr. K or Pink Time Force Ranger Jen was pretty much the leader of the group. Japan also had MomoHero a few years ago, a ranger that was written as a transgender character. Even that series left a lot to be desired, but it was a parody series, so expecting it to be taken seriously is a bit ridiculous. The writing definitely leaves a lot to be desired. Even for a kids show, Power Rangers can be awful at times. The nuances of discrimination were handled quite well in Time Force, but most of it was not addressed due to the limitations of what they had to work with. The larger problem is that Power Rangers isn't the type of show where something like this happens very often. The nuances of identity is something that usually happens once a season, but their reliance on stock footage also limits what can be done as well. Even with the upcoming Cosmic Fury where they will be relying on less stock footage is not very promising because neither of the writers (Alywn Dale and Becca Barnes) have done anything that shows significant depth. They're more on the daily moral lesson at the end of the day type of writers.
@@TheBleachj16 Yep, but that's also why it's hard to have deeper character development. RPM was probably the biggest break from that formula with longer story arcs.
‘I’m sorry I know yellow is your favorite color but your Asian and that’s “problematic” we’ll have you play pink ranger instead, can’t have Twitter people getting angry’
@hitmonkey I don't think you get what I'm saying. Kids don't appeal to characters because they look like them. Kids love Spiderman because of his story, not because he's white. People love superman because he symbolizes freedom, not because he's a white alien.
You know what really baffles me regarding Samurai? If we look at the basic concept... Samurai clans are supposed to be generational and exclusive to entire families, aka parent to child. Yet... This entire clan of Japanese samurais... Is made up entirely of non-Japanese Samurais... Meanwhile... Back in 2003, Ninja Storm gave us the Green Samurai Ranger, who not only is portrayed by an Asian actor, his mother before him also happened to be a Samurai AND was portrayed by an asian actress, same for younger Sensei and Lothor! How is it the comedy-oriented Ninja season did a Samurai better than the ACTUAL season about Samurais?!!? EDIT: I forgot the biggest detail... The Green Samurai Ranger IS NOT EVEN A SAMURAI, he was actually the most ninja character in Hurricanger with its user being always in disguise!
@@curesanada That could've been interesting. But alas, they turned into what it has become, just like Dino Fury, where it could've been a good referential series about medieval history, but instead it ended up as what Simon Bennett conjured up.
Be careful, there's going to be a lot of "apolitical" nerds that'll pop up and attack this one. I really appreciate you bringing this up though as it's something that's been in the back of my head for a while.
I can't speak on the original yellow ranger but I've always viewed Zack as the Black ranger as an empowering thing, growing up he was the first black superhero I ever saw so I never understood why some fans took it as racist when Zack was honestly the opposite of a racial stereotype, I mean I get that the optics didn't look great but I feel like it would have been way more problematic if they had made Zack some type of stereotypical gangster character. I don't know but for me it it meant a lot seeing someone like him on screen when I was a kid
I honestly agree. It's why I wanted to present that as ONLY just a weird look and not some outright slight or fully ingrained weirdness in the way my actual examples are.
There are definitely problematic aspects of this series, and I love your conversation on this. Keep in mind that it didn't have an interracial couple in the ranger team with a black character until dino charge, and I'm not going to count Adam and Tanya because that was never confirmed. The most problematic aspect to me on the show is the handling of Billy's love interests in the first four seasons: to this day I still believe they purposely gave him the lion's share due to the writer's compensating for the actor being gay. Heck, they even wrote him off because he found a female love interest: they could have just wrote it off as him needing to spend more time in Aquitar to resolve a bigger threat, but he left specifically because of a female. I think that sends a terrible message to kids when you have arguably the most useful member on the team leave to pursue somebody he literally just met.
Well said! And yeah, David Yost is an absolute champion for dealing with everything he did behind the scenes, which as you note had weird implications for Billy on screen. The fact that he's not just a People's Ranger in so far as his continued passion for the fans goes on top of finally agreeing to come back is more than we deserve.
Interesting video! In particular I liked the parts on how removing the familial connections in samurai severely affected the story and showcased the cultural gap between the two series. Also can i ask what it is u were referring to with the trio of mike/jake/ravi? it was hard for me to understand what connection you were making between the three?
You can ask! That was a bit of a rushed point on my end but that was basically eluding to how all three show awkwardly placed, sexist tendencies of varying degrees. Mike trying to show up Lauren with that creepy look on his face feels like it comes straight out of a bad 90's movie, Jake stares at Gia's backside in basically the first scene we see of him (I do kind of like him otherwise though), and Ravi's is the most overt, as his bouts of anger lead him to viscerally beating up robotic replications of his girlfriend. But the Goin Ape episode in particular was the most egregious avenue to that end, because his immediate distrust and anger management issues were framed as something Roxy had to be more apologetic about than him. Needless to say, nooot a fan of that episode.
@@TheDisneyBrain thank you for clarifying! that is a fair assessment i just wish those 3 weren’t the poster boys for sexism in power rangers while fan favorites like wes (leers at jen the same way jake does at gia + consistently hitting on her despite her resistance) or ziggy and his casual sexist comments played for comedic effect, or chase manipulating his girlfriend to continue to dating her. i know it wasn’t your intention and those three definitely deserve criticism but it does say something that this fandom only ever mentions the men of color and their sexist antics (popular targets are zack, jake, joel) while conveniently forgetting all the white men that partake in the same behavior.
@@thunderpunks That is a very good point that I had not considered before now. Honestly you could even take a harder look at a few choice moments in Lost Galaxy to that end, much as I love and praise it. Thanks for adding that!
@@GuyWhoConquersMain Shoving them into kid shows to groom them/make kids gay is cringe indoctrination. Stop trying to program children with bleeding heart liberalism please.
@@GuyWhoConquersMain This is why I can't stand too many Ranger fans. They sound very right wing and like living in their bubble where they want to be color blind.
Too true! It's always been funny to me that PR has tried to create this faux post-racial society about all their seasons (except sexism is still a thing even if full frontal racism isn't) and it lends itself to some odd moments.
Slightly off topic, but why are you using clips from sources like KissCartoon and old Jetix airings? Like, even if you don't want to buy the DVDs, seasons like Time Force are available in full from the official Power Rangers UA-cam channel.
I would bet it's a ContentID thing. Use the official clips, you'd get tagged instantly. Use the fuzzy old clips, it might not get you. And I know Saban doesn't have much influence anymore, but he *did* bully an indie game called Chroma Squad into putting a tagline of being inspired by *him* as if he straight up owned all Sentai imagery even if it's not using the IP, so I'd believe Power Ranger footage is really strict about this stuff. Wouldn't surprise me if Linkara needs to reupload his new Dino Fury video a million times because of it.
Okay? So? One of the things PR does is connect with their audience by teaching them lessons and stuff. But they should also connect their fan base through their race. But they don’t want to. Or at least they don’t want to do it in a right way
In the most generous reading, Princess Viera can be seen as the new generation questioning the old ways of Might Makes Right and seeking to reform the toxic environment her kingdom instilled. Key word being: generous. However, she could've been more of a reoccurring character with a later episode touching up on her maybe helping Mic relocate and help his people after Galvanax is destroyed. Touch on how the process is long but will be worth it.
PR has a bad habit of limiting it's diversity quota to the team. All the other people of color that get introduced outside of the main cast are almost always related to a ranger or is being coded as whited people. Or vaguely brown people playin vaguely brown characters. Daggeron's whole mystic lamp motif screams genie mythology and he's played by a polynesian man, who i love ofc, which is akin to the Antonio thing clearly without all the vapid rhetoric problems. it's kinda the Black Adam/scorpion king thing with the rock. It can look good and ultimately still feel misguided
Representation matters. Even if it’s just a single person, it matters. No one should feel left out or discouraged, be they a creator or as a viewer. There's tons of good and bad discourse to be had as to how much representation means but no one knows with absolute certainty its outcomes or how it'll stand with the passage of time as societies the world over continue to evolve. Shame how earnest attempts to bring everyone to the table is often poisoned due to how quick to judge we are, some based on narrowed exception samples that reinforces one's views and how strongly one believes it to be the rule when it isn't.
I don’t understand this concept of feeling left out or discouraged as if these fictional universes have actual baring on someone’s existence. Humans are humans and existed way before the media we use today. If they could die thousands of years ago why then today do people assume they need to be represented by media. It’s such a vain and insecure thing to worry about imo. “Because power rangers doesn’t have someone look like me I don’t belong in the world” yeah that sounds like craziness
@@kittiexxworm We as humans evolved to be a social animal but different pressures and population growth created tons of malfunctions and now we isolate ourselves by groups and nations. Media is a reflection of life, what we do, how we create and share ideas. A lot of media frequently creates spaces that, intentional or not, will leave many people out. Call it whatever you like but it is a function that is with us for many successful transitions to modern man for a reason. Between people dismissing this as a problem or hyper-fixating on the frequency in which the efforts are perceived to be rampant in bringing in different views and life experiences is a complete disservice. Off hand dismissal of the efforts leads to a fantasy world that those left out don't matter as much as those included or even don't exist. Biased exaggeration of the efforts only reinforce existing divisions and maintain the malfunctions we engage with at present and to our collective detriment. Media isn't by default some egalitarian concept. We can and will shape the media we'll engage with, with various degrees of personal biases to however we wish to create whatever world, discussions and divisions we so choose. The means will change along with society until such a time when we make it to some perfect egalitarian concept and these conversations are the building blocks towards that day.
@@Chrome-Hero yeah I don’t understand any of that. But when people die they won’t be thinking about rather or not some show had “representation.” Or whatever vain thing that won’t matter when everyone dies anyway. Who cares what you look like or if some show had people who look like you. I can’t even understand what your trying to say but there’s only one race of humans so the idea that differences need to be showcased is odd. Because the differences already exist and rather or not media shows them shouldn’t make people feel excluded but whatever we cleary don’t get each other. To each thier own
I have no complaints that he made the video. Just as he is analyzing the series he is a fan of, people can analyze, agree, or disagree with his vid. Whats the point of any of this if it only stops conversation
This now leads me to wonder is if Time Force has all of that uncomfortable implications what did it’s Sentai counterpart Timeranger did with it’s implications since it basically copies it’s Sentai counterpart to a T.
Spoilers for Timeranger I have not seen Timeranger myself, but I don't believe it ever wen't into detail on that plot either, the Timeranger's were fighting a mafia who wen't into the past. So I don't think it would be as much of an issue in Timeranger. Also the head of the Time Protection Force was evil so take that as you will.
Tzachor was pretty adamant about replicating many of TimeRanger's elements, but to bounce off of Plumfadoole's point, the day to day conflict did not contain that same vibe to it because the enemies are all aliens and robots. I haven't seen most of TimeRanger myself either, but the fact that it doesn't have Ransik and everything he brings to proceedings for good or for ill to me makes a decent amount of difference.
In some cases like Viera, there can be a sort of... "White's Eye View" so to speak at play. That is, certain writers of... privileged walks of life often recognize things like "Slavery Bad" or "Prejudice Bad" but rarely the finer details like the trauma one might experience from being dehumanized like such. There's a good story to be had with a Princess and a subject her family has wronged. I don't doubt Ninja Steel's pure intentions but it should've been at least followed up on or expanded to explore Mic's side in a touch more detail.
That's a really good add on. I think trauma and consequences is something several areas of PR, but specifically modern PR, struggle a lot with. It can recognize things as being bad, as you point out, but rarely do we see it pushed further, especially with Hasbro.
That's probably one reason of why Time Force itself doing this to a minor extent was more like "well the rest of the season is good enough it's fine that they kinda fumbled this one part and hey Nadira proved what the better message was anyway and we can assume it got better from there" and why a graphic novel free of the TV/Sentai restrictions has absolutely no excuse to shit the bed as hard as it did when it jumps right into that argument and makes the absolute worst case possible of its developed protagonist.
Just gotta laugh at the folks getting mad at this even though these are like, the most non-confrontational takes possible on this topic. Go touch grass ya loonies. Also 69k subscribers, nice.
I think this is a good discussion to be had. Some in the comments are going to dismiss this topic, but it needs to happen. It doesn't mean any of these shows are bad. Disney Brain has mentioned Dino Fury's later stuff, but I still love it. Time Force is still great etc. It just needs to be said that PR can do better to truly reflect the diversity mantra it has always talked about. It's gotten better, but there is still room for improvements.
I can tell you this thing! She worked on Digital Deception, S1E4, as well as well as Cruisin' For a Bruisin' and Finders Keepers in season 2, episodes 5 and 12 respectively.
I haven't even watched the video yet but judging by how many people are crying about wokeness, liberals, and people supposedly being "too sensitive" in the comments it's safe to say you pissed off the right people.
Shout out to Time Force for turning Nadira good by having her see a baby, because women love children. Also Jungle Fury, a series based on martial arts, having a bunch of white sensei's, and Master Mao
Right, because it had nothing to do with the miracle of childbirth, and realizing that she had way more in common with humans than her father made her believe, and you’re so correct! There are TOTALLY not any dojos anywhere in America where the sense is are white. Nope! Everyone knows white people don’t practice martial arts! Your parents must be so proud of you!
so I'm white as hell so I don't have much insight to add to the race conversation but I am an extremely gay trans woman so I do feel like I can throw my two cents vis a vis gender and queer issues. - I think Samurai is probably the worst in terms of gender politics. the treatment of Lauren is easily the most notable but with Mia, even as someone whose not against traditionally feminine rangers, I do have to note how much of a doormat she felt like. Dayu's subplot also feels unnecessarily cruel for no real reason but I'll admit that's a more abstract complaint. - obviously there's gender stuff you can criticise in other seasons too (the objectification of Gia is a big sticking point with me vis a vis Megaforce). You mentioned SPD vis a vis gender and, while I can see the issues you mentioned, really I'm more bothered by how Z and Syd don't get promoted at the SPD season finale along with Sky and Bridge, it's such a weird note for a series that seems to be going for "anyone can be any colour" and it baffles me the Expanded Universe has stuck to it even if Lina Song's existence makes it less explicitly gendered - vis a vis queer and trans stuff, obviously PR has been a very heteronormative and cisnormative for a majority of its history and, while there's specific examples you can point to in the show itself (a line in Andros & the Stoaway from Cassie which implies that an extremely "traditional" and straight-coded ideal of love is universal in all cultures, Dome Dolls explicitly tying gender to Chromosomes) really more then those kinda tenuous examples I think the reported BTS bullying and homophobia directed at David Yost is a much bigger black mark on the show wrt queer issues and it's part of why I can't really enjoy Billy's exit in Zeo (though if you can enjoy said exit then that's fine and I wouldn't wanna take that away from you). I am glad we're finally getting queer rangers in the main show and, more importantly, that they've got David Yost back for a special cause both feel long overdue. Anyways, that's my two cents. I was worried about posting this cause usually youtube comments aren't friendly with these kinda criticisms but given this whole video was about criticising these aspects I imagine things'll go smoother here.
Hopefully folks are receptive to this because there's a lot of amazing stuff here! These are the kind of comments/dialogue I was hoping to get out of a video like this, topics that go beyond the reach of just the general ideas I bring up and extend into further areas, some of which I can't even comfortably speak on.
Is there a reason you call mia a doormat despite her entire character being that she is there to challenge her teammates? She is the only one to stand up to jayden, she challenges kevin, she stands up to dayu and calls out master xandred, she tells the entire team to give lauren a chance. Mia is anything but a doormat. Although if you said you meant Emily i would understand since her entire character is being meek and damseled.
@@thunderpunks you make a fair point, "doormat" maybe isn't the right word but I do still have issues with her characterisation. Linkara did do a good job of summarising some of my issues with her and, admittedly it's been a few years since I last watched Samurai, but long story short I guess I feel she was written kinda regressively wrt gender norms and it's exacerbated by her often feeling like a stick-in-the-mud, particularly in the episode with her brother. Emily is probably the best female character in Samurai but I feel like even she has problems, mainly with how her confidence issues were handled. My issue with how Samurai writes women is kinda made worse that both Mia & Emily feel p understated and traditionally femme, which kinda takes away the contrast in personality and energy you'd usually see with other female leads in PR such as Kimberly & Aisha, Z & Syd or Amelia & Izzy. Though I'll admit I also don't like how Samurai tends to write characters in general so I may be biased here.
@@jessicamumford7876 Mia and Emily are very stereotypically gendered which for me isn't a problem given that Lauren and in the next season, Gia, provide counter examples. I wouldn't talk about queer things in PR without mentioning Izzy and Fern. Groundbreaking, incredibly handled especially given that PR shies away from teenage romance. How many times has the L word (love, that is) been seriously used on this show?
This video confused me… I feel like you’re all over the place… first it was about racism, then xenophobia, then sexism… so I’m slightly confused on what you’re message in this video… Here’s the problem… we know there’s problems with certain things in this show and we know there’s should be fixed in the near future… it’s cool that we had a Black Writer on the show, but here’s the problem… ITS ONE BLACK WRITER ON THE SHOW… and she only written ONE episode based on Devon… so that’s still a problem… we need more writers that look like us and can understand what we go through… I’m not settling for one black writer who wrote three episodes… if we wanna move forward, we need representation all around cuz ppl assume it by looking at the internet or tv, not in real life… and half of those writers are not in America… this video wasn’t good and you had me lost on your points
There's a lot of bad faith criticism of this video going around but this is certainly not among them. I appreciate what you're trying to say, so I'll try to clarify some things. My intention was to cover a broader spectrum of blindspots so that it wouldn't be exclusively about one area or another, since at the end of the day, I believe the root cause of all three examples fall into similar territory, especially since most of these issues aren't just systemic, but intersectional. Could I have organized all those thoughts a bit better? Absolutely. But, for... *some* of the comments... the goal I had in mind was accomplished, including the great point you just made, which I agree with since I in no way think that a single black writer makes up for anything, as the video itself points out. But I wanted to at least give Denise her due mention because my previous video essentially implied that she doesn't exist at all, lol.
People like you are the reason to keep PR reliable, as long as they don't branch out, as in not linked to the Morphin' Grid bullshit, to make standalone adaptations of ToqGer, ZyuOhger and LuPat, because they were too ballsy for them to handle.
I think that, for Power Rangers blade force, the Korean adaptation of Power Ranger samurai, they should’ve flown Mia‘s actress to Korea, and there you go. just like how an Asian actor would’ve helped samurai.
Yea i thought she’d be the Green Ninja Steel Ranger at least I would love a book that touch’s on the PowerRangers lore and universe then comic books about Evil rangers.
Jayden and Lauren should've been Asians, to be honest. It doesn't make sense that two people who are completely detached from being culturally significant are supposedly portraying individuals in a long line of samurai warriors. I'm not saying that white-skinned Asians don't exist, they clearly do. But the fact that the two happen to be your average caucasian protagonists seems to be whitewashing what could've been a good season, and instead, reducing it to "Oh, look. The next leader is taking on the mantle of a racially distinct character whilst not being apart of that minority!" This is why I respect SPD, there was no intention to whitewash Jack, or even Tyler from Dino Charge. So why Jayden? I don't hate his actor, I think with good writing, both him and Lauren's actors could've been allies. But I'm probably stepping too far down the rabbit hole at this point.
Also, I think some people are missing the point of the video entirely. He's not trying to force his opinions down your throat or earn brownie points from Hasbro. DB is just giving critiques where certain seasons fell from grace and how to avoid future issues like that in the newer shows. (He's allowed to have a voice, even if others don't wanna hear it. Sure it's controversial but you can't force him not to make comments when almost every other reviewer, including the likes of Linkara and beyond, also make comments regarding how poorly Power Rangers in later seasons have made blips that can impact their stories. Is it really politic rhetoric if a robot is being taught rap by a black kid, whose also gesticulating like a stereotypical black character would? Or, in the case of mutants, if having them cleansed of what makes them unique is the right answer? Because in most cultures, that would be cause for alarm.
I think you should venture further into that rabbit hole cuz you spittin right now! Couldn't have said it better myself. Really, the way you expanded on some of these points was very nice to read.
Also, it's always amusing to me that people sometimes assume I want brownie points from Hasbro when I'm CONSANTLY calling them out for these matters, Dino Fury especially. I'd assume most on their production team wouldn't take kindly to my critiques, assuming they even see them, let alone care about them(though Campbell Cooley really likes my videos, which is awesome of him).
@@RealEvilLordExdeath I'm not American, I'm British. Also, everyone has a right to discuss their thoughts. It's not like we're trying to deface what made the franchise what it is today. It's just that certain seasons from a writing perspective would've benefitted better from consideration being taken into account. If people are riled up when it comes to well-constructed thoughts being shared around the Internet, then I've got nothing else to say.
@@TheDisneyBrain Thanks! Whilst I'm aware of the show's demographic being primarily aimed at children. I don't think it's an excuse to push serious topics without taking into consideration the target audience, and how they'll respond to the message the show is trying to promote. For example, whilst I'm glad the show isn't afraid to discuss heavy subject matter, It has to be done gracefully. Otherwise, it can have the opposite effect of undermining the severity of certain distinctive actions, like Viera's Family being enslavers and how quickly her worldview changes, rather than allowing her to show remorse and make that decision on her own accord. Instead, it's a change of heart because she was rescued, which feels disingenuous to the sufferers, imo, and she feels less like she changed for the betterment of the future, and more because the writers demanded that direction.
@@wadeyhyena1657 Couldn't have said it better myself. Me personally I'd prefer PR just not dig into those topics at all because it's usually better when it doesn't feel the need to. And for your service here today, you get to be pinned! Embrace the uh, honor, I guess, lol.
Samurai borrowed WAY too much from Shinkengers, they could have kept the Samurai theme without making it a carbon copy of Shinkenger.
Name the team Power Rangers Sword Strike or something similar and have the show be themed around sword fighting in general, with the main style being Samurai swordplay.
Pretty sure Zack's actor chose to be the black ranger lmao. IIRC he was originally cast as the blue ranger but asked to be the black ranger because he thought that would be more iconic.
Based Ichigou avatar
@@jaythashounen6643 based spelling Ichigou with a U and not calling him a strawberry 👍
@@nerotoxin0661 Chadwick Boseman (R.I.P.) becomes Black Panther, no one bats an eye.
But when Walter Emmanuel Jones becomes the Black Ranger, everyone loses their minds.
@@rexlumontad5644 ...huh, I didn't know that Chadwick boseman was the black panther before Walter emmanuel Jones was the black power ranger.
@@keelanbarron928 James C. Matthis III, the voice actor of Black Panther in Avengers EMH show, is also black.
I'm not sure if I understood your comment about Sarah, but yes, there are white Brazilians as well, specially in the southern states - Santa Catarina, Paraná and Rio Grande do Sul - which are places with most German/Italian immigrants and descendants. São Paulo state has the largest Japanese community outside of Japan, while Bahia has a large community of African descendants and Amazon has a large community of indigenous and their descendants. Not to mention all the mixed race groups here as well, interracial relationships are not a taboo in Brazil (thank God). Summarizing the purpose of providing all that information: our country does not have one race only, we have all of them 😺
I appreciate you bring up these points about Brazil. My point there was not to imply that there are no such thing as white Brazilians, which is inherently different from the white American she was written to be. What I was getting at it is how the very multiculturalism that you speak of that exists isn't made to matter, in this case because the writing on the show would not change if Sarah wasn't Brazilian. I'm not even saying that there should be some type of deep exploration into that, though I certainly wouldn't mind. What I am saying is that there's hardly been any exploration of that, or most cultures, ethnic, racial, or otherwise, in a franchise that claims to have diversity as one of its calling cards, but really only on the surface.
Hopefully this clarifies what I was trying to get at. Admittedly, it was a bit of a rushed, blink and you miss it type of point which probably demanded in-video clarity.
Latinos are all a shade of tan to these gringoes 🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄
@@TheDisneyBrain yeah but Sarah sexy AF and got a BFA
It sucks that Power Rangers opening music nowadays is just remixing "Go Go Power Rangers" instead of trying make new songs to stand out and be unique.
I mean, if it ain’t broke don’t fox it.
agreed this era has been trying to dip into the pass but failed to respect it plus its laziness too
@@michaelnally2841 if it ain't broke then butcher it. Megaforce was understandable for their opening but the rest dosent do it justice
It requires a good song writer and they've REALLY been skipping on the talent in recent years.
@@michaelnally2841 actually judging by history they should "fox" it, from now on. Fox had a great run with Power Rangers
I'd also add the reveal of Tommy being Native American despite not being played by a Native American actor. In fact, I think the actor who played Sam Trueheart is the only Native American actor associated with this franchise.
That's a good add on!
Sam was played by JDF's twin brother IRL. JDF was native
@@vandykegirl1 no, DAVID was Tommy's brother. Not Sam
Also didn't they reveal this after he became Zeo Red? Another accidental color coding?
I don't think it was amusing if the staff have been called out for racist behavior before.
at that point, it's on purpose.
Robo knight listening to rap was cute, without the hand jesters at least. Bobbing your head is good enough xD
Also, the Samurai Rangers made me cringe too effing hard, I had to skip that one in its entirety. :))))
Sadly with the way consumerism is run, and how budget cuts work. They didn't want to put in more work.
They could have EASILY found Japanese/Japanese American Actors who can speak both English and Japanese! And Fight if they needed to.
Also, it's easy to make one cast, white, the other black, The other Mexican, the other east Asian, the other islander, and another indigenous.
it's the writers who don't want to, especially the producers.
@Kristopher Prime That sounds like a cool idea of the Shibas to recruit new blood in America out of desperation and pragmatism.
Also in Super Sentai counterpart of Dino Charge, they have an American actor who can speak Japanese and was portrayed as an ancient Viking warrior being immortal due to being bonded with Energem.
@broken AudioReact well said! And yeah, I'm not even sure changing that aspect would change how oddly inhuman a lot of Samurai's dialogue comes across as, funny as that can sometimes be, but it would have been one less out of place thing they did.
I can forgive the rap, it's not that big of a deal, people like rap.
My problem with Samurai is that it tried to be Shinkenger with American actors.
Latino/Hispanic is not a race it is an ethnicity! In the Latino community you have native American, European and African ab f mix race people that make up the majority of the group. Most people with a lighter skin tone refer to themselves as whites and unless if they have an native background not a lot are gonna claim their native roots
Okay, right off the bat, the SPD example is not a racial one. Sky wanted to be the Red Ranger. He trained hard for it for years and earned his position. And here came a guy who was quite literally taken off the street and given the position of the Leader (which in this series meant the Red Ranger, even though, technically the Shadow Ranger outranked Red). It literally had nothing to do with race. You can replace him just as much as the other examples you rapidly put out there and it would be the exact same (colorblind) story. Heck, you could replace Jack with Z (who was SPD Yellow) and Sky would feel the same way. Given he'd probably be a bit more sexist, but he did treat Syd the same way as he did Bridge... which is ironic considering people normally looked down on Bridge.
That's not just "unintentional" that's literally not the point of Sky and Jack's rivalry. Just like how Trini and Zack weren't "oversights", because race didn't matter. Heck, if you saw the Pilot Episode, you'd know that the ORIGINAL yellow ranger was also a black woman. Meaning it was never a factor to begin with. It's just people looking for something that was never there to begin with.
Calm down omg. He literally address the og black and yellow p at the beginning of the video
Whether intentional or not, the story between Sky and Jake resonates with explicitly racial narratives. Jack and Z are the Black and latina of the group and are also the underprivileged of the group. That resonates with real-world and for some audiences, its obvious and palpable.
@@MitchYouCantScratch Look, you can interoperate things however you want, but my point it was never the intention in the first place. Just like how Zootopia was never about Sexism or any specific Racism, but discrimination in general. Heck, I know some people who interoperated the "nighthowlers" in that film as "false rape accusations against men". That was certainly never the intention, but that's what resonated to them. The audience themselves put that message in there, not the showrunners themselves. That's my point.
Also, I never saw Z as "Latina". Why would I? It doesn't matter what your race is, everyone faces hard times at one point or another. In TimeForce (even further in the future of the Saban/Disney timeline) people were discriminated for being Mutants. This included Trip (Green Ranger). Even had several episodes directly addressing that. Does one have to be Asian (or whatever race Trip was) in order to understand what that's like? I sure as heck didn't.
Heck, most of the Mutants looked like the Aliens of SPD. Not "latino people" or "immigrants", but literal aliens. If the person's Race is the only way for you to feel a connection with that character, that's a problem with you, not the showrunners.
@@mayowajoshua9806 Okay 1) Obviously, that wasn't the point of my entire comment. As I really was just addressing the SPD thing. The only part where I mentioned it, was when I was tying it back to the earlier point where he called the Zach&Trini thing an "oversight". Because both scenarios were equally unintentional.
2) Yeah, I know, but I couldn't help but mention it since he brought it up, but didn't go into more details as to why it was, what he calls an "oversight". As if doing so, shouldn't have happened or they should have been more aware of how it could have been interpreted. Sorry, but sometimes people really are colorblind. Unlike today when people have to constantly be aware of race-race-race-race. I was literally 5 when Power Rangers first aired. My first favorite fictional character was Dr. Harte from VR Troopers and even then it was because I thought people who wore glasses were cool, but especially him.
3) I can't help but ramble. Literally, it's a mental thing. Once I get started explaining my point, I have to get everything running my head out there. My mother claims it's Aspergers, but... I don't really see it. I think it's moreso because I spent a lifetime of constantly being interrupted, thus when using a format like text, nobody can tell me "dude, less is more." Anyway, I can understand why "normal people" can find it overwhelming as if I'm super obsessed about something, despite the fact that the thing you're pointing out as me "needing to calm down" about was literally only two sentences used to help re-illustrate my main point. Not that you've read this far down, but yes, I did just purposefully ramble on about this third point just for the sake of both purposefully overexplaining something that is really quite simple AND because being patronizing is rather fun. I see why you did it.
@@MitchYouCantScratch It's also not the intended narrative to be compared with the likes of that Time Force graphic novel garbage actually making a(n albeit poor) discussion on social issues.
Fine enough to have people resonate with an unintended bit, but the point remains it wasn't actual commentary and can only be looked at as the unintended consequence as it is.
I kind of get where you're coming from but you have to kind of elaborate as to why these things are bad. It seems like you are still working through the general ideas of this video. like a prime example is that you say they "learn some calligraphy" but calligraphy isn't anything to do with Japanese culture. The word you are looking for is Shodo or Katakana. Calligraphy is just the art of handwriting and it's a Greek word. Like the dissonance between getting something like that wrong while talking about how they didn't fully utilize the Japanese influence in the show seems like it's not a fully fleshed-out thought.
That's a fair point. There are some aspects here that can be elaborated on, and some of the things you bring up, as well as some other comments here, they aren't all braindead thankfully, is more or less what I hoped for. But yes, Calligraphy is most definitely a part of Japanese culture, simply one of several aspects that originated from a different area of the world, just like the Rangers. It's a touch semantical to call it Shodo, or Shuji while we're here, when that simply means... Japanese calligraphy. While I'll grant you that the proper, in-country term could have been used while that is the topic at hand, you knew exactly what I meant there so it's not wrong for the reasons you might be implying. Now you might say, well why wasn't all this in the video, then? And that too would be a fair point.
To address your other point about why this is bad, well, I called it more dismissive than an outright affront (the other two examples are very bad though, yes). It's more of a missed chance to do something more meaningful with the locale that isn't as possible in other settings, save the space settings that PR tend to do pretty alright with, lol. So the actual dissonance here is how the show presents that juxtaposed against the cast.
@@TheDisneyBrain Fair points. You are flipping the meaning about the Calligraphy part tho. You are right when you say calligraphy is important in Japanese culture but calligraphy itself doesn't have anything to do with Japanese culture. That's why when you said they learned calligraphy it doesn't make sense because you haven't specified what form of calligraphy. I am very good a calligraphy but I have never touched a Ink brush. I use a fountain pen and it is called "Blackletter". The type they do in the show is called Shodo or "Japanese calligraphy". This would have been a very interesting jumping-off point to demonstrate how to properly integrate Japanese culture or in the show's case a lack thereof. If you want to call this arguing of semantics I understand but I would disagree since I'm pointing out a instance of lack of information rather than difference in the meaning. You use the word correctly in the context of the situation it just wasn't specific enough.
My point was how that there's a disconnect from the level of specificity that you wish the show would go into while also not going to that level. Now for UA-cam video I do understand why you didn't go to that granular of a level but it would have helped your points. As an animator I do understand deadlines and not allowing you to dedicate enough time to get things perfect. So no harm no foul.
@@DrakeDoe That is more than a fair response as well. I appreciate your insight!
The topics discussed here aren't that controversial in comparison to what some of the comments might say. These adaptations are a product of their time, and when looking back in hindsight, we can see how the full potential of these settings haven't been utilized.
Time Force and the ethics of eugenics is a topic that's becoming more relevant in the modern age.
The adaptation of Shinkenger not embracing the Japanese cultural influences with at least one Japanese actor seems like a missed opportunity.
There's not much to say about the Slave Traders, but you don't need to delve too deep into it for the show for the audience to know it's bad without getting preachy.
The Samurai team should've been 3/7th Asian minimum.
Jayden could've been White. However make the twist that he is adopted and his sister is Japanese. How could would that have been for kids who are in the foster system. An adopted role model super hero would have been amazing to them.
Sarah on PRNS can be White and Brazilian at the same time.
Dont really know the point of such woke nitpicking. I dont believe any of the issues you mentioned, particularly the plot issues and racial stuff, were ever done maliciously or ever even offended anyone genuinely upon release. Intention matters, and applying the standards forced diversity and inclusion protocols that currently plague corporate america as well as the entertainment industry onto a production retroactively and then deriding the thing for not meeting some weird modern standard as if this was a creative and moral failure of the show itself is silly.
I dont mean to question your sincerity, but PR fans love your content. The virtue signal isnt necessary DB.
I'm sorry but I think you're surprising topics that you're actually making up when Power Rangers was never characterized by delving into this type of subjects.
I enjoy most your videos I just don’t understand what this video is about. But everyone is entitled to their opinion and feelings I just don’t get what race has to do with power rangers. But that’s just me. Their all human actors playing fictional characters and if race was that important humans wouldn’t be able to reproduce with other “races”. The ideology of “mixed” is false to me because how can someone be different from your parents the answer then is because there’s only one race and it’s human. They all bleed red. If we’re going to talk vain things like appearance in skin color we might as well talk about their weight and heights too.
I've never thought about it this way, thank you! This will change the way I perceive the franchise
My question from this is video is that who cares what the race of the power ranger is. Except maybe samurai, no other power rangers that i have seen need to have the race of the character be the defining feature of their personality or even worth mentioning
Uhhh, lots of people do. Granted, lots of people don't, as is their right, but the over generalization here is wild, lol. But even then, you'd be missing out on how the optics of Jack's character arc changes completely if he wasn't black, and also makes SPD both awkward and interesting to look at for a number of related reasons. "Need" is also a strong word, because the real point here is that how little it happens raises an understandable eyebrow to how much diversity PR actually pushes. This shouldn't be dismissed out of hand of course, because just having those acting jobs at all for underrepresented populations is very important, perhaps even more so in the 90's, but PR's faux post-racial leanings have usually hamstrung them, sometimes in very funny ways, and other times in really dumb ways. But to have that as a slightly larger part of who some of them are, not THE defining feature as you hyperbolically claim because we aren't monoliths, wouldn't be the worst thing. In fact, it'd probably be pretty neat.
@@TheDisneyBrain The long and short of what I take away from this, from as best a viewpoint as I can manage, is that race exists whether it's an intentional part of the story or not. Details like that can have an impact on the end product, and pretending that it doesn't exist at all is foolish at best, and gives potentially damaging messaging at worst.
People bring up intent a lot, but intent doesn't erase effect.
@@DragonRaiderX9 That's a pretty good take away!
@@TheDisneyBrain ehh as a black person plz tell me why jack race matters i was just happy to see a good red ranger but being told it matters in what way i feel adults often lie about how much kids will actually care about this stuff and this a prime example i didnt care about the races of the rangers i cared they was rangers and fought the bad guys but i feel like everyone constantly want to throw race in everything power rangers is a great show well before samurai but the reason i feel that is because they kinda regressed in target demographics in a way with rangers age etc
@@TheDisneyBrain good on you for not taking the troll bait from that jerk who commented calling you racist
Out of season April's Fools?
Most of the commenters are missing the point. Diving more into ethnic backgrounds and upbringing’s help make the characters have a shit ton of depth. Too many characters are just a generic ball of emotions and characteristic stereotypes.
That's spot on!
A quick rant about what you say on 5:13:
First, i'm brazilian, so i hope that informs you that my rant here comes from my heart: Brazilian is a Nationality, not a race. Unlike other Latin American countries, the natives were not a huge part of the "gene pool", so we're not "latino" like you'd think of a mexican person, for example, . The majority of our population is white (48%), followed by pardo (43%, in which i'm included), then black at 7%, asian at 1.2%, with indigenous at 0.8%
Saying that a brazilian shouldn't be "white coded" when the majority of our population is white (or identify as white like some pardos do) is a very sad stereotype. Brazilians can be white, black, brown, we even have the biggest japanese and japanese descendent population outside of Japan itself. the fact Chrystiane Lopes is white or plays a "white coded" character doesn't make her any less of a brazilian.
Your second point on Samurai Rangers having a Japanese Red Ranger I'm onboard with. I agree he should have been for that story.
What about the other rangers?
They should’ve been Japanese
@@christianescandon9145 Jaden for sure should have been Japanese. The others should have been at least part.
@@BlackWingedSeraphX Having all rangers be Japanese would be a bold departure from the show's identity with diversity. And casting all mixed Asian talent would have been a strain. Both might see ratings drop due to racist parents. Rather, the red rangers should have been the only rangers to have descended from a line of Samurai. His role in teaching the others and the focus on the Shiba clan is already in the plot.
@@MitchYouCantScratchwouldn’t that be slightly redundant?
Like at that point what reason would their be to not just dub over the Sentai
the roboknight rap was awesome
i cannot understand why you made this video
I cannot understand why you made this comment
@Kristopher Prime define woke
You sound like my dad who abandoned me when I was young
Fantastic video!
Hello, I’m about to make a video on my channel for power rangers, how do you use footage without getting copyright strikes?
5:59 THIS! For a series that SO heavily based around Japanese culture & tradition, to not have ANY Japanese/Japanese American actors is just absurd.
Can you talk about the downfall of PR music? Like not just the theme songs but also the background music
They can't afford to hire another "Ron Wasserman"
Nah the background music in dino fury is fire but FUCK the Theme Songs
It is all about spamming "Go Go Power Rangers!" with lazy remixing
Canonically the samurai rangers don’t even live or fight in Japan,we know from Mia’s Wallet(seen in”The Strange case of the Munchies)That they live and fight in LA
Kendrick Lamar is Nighlocke confirmed?!?!?
@@kaledogg_68NO WAYYY😱😱
A lot of the criticisms directed towards Power Rangers' representation falls flat because they expect it to represent an urban United States when that may not always be the locale of the story. But, Dino Fury Pink does become Cosmic Fury Red, so there will be another Female Red Ranger and this time likely part of the main cast. Focusing on just the fact that the Red Ranger isn't female completely undermines female mentors like Dr. K or Pink Time Force Ranger Jen was pretty much the leader of the group. Japan also had MomoHero a few years ago, a ranger that was written as a transgender character. Even that series left a lot to be desired, but it was a parody series, so expecting it to be taken seriously is a bit ridiculous.
The writing definitely leaves a lot to be desired. Even for a kids show, Power Rangers can be awful at times. The nuances of discrimination were handled quite well in Time Force, but most of it was not addressed due to the limitations of what they had to work with. The larger problem is that Power Rangers isn't the type of show where something like this happens very often. The nuances of identity is something that usually happens once a season, but their reliance on stock footage also limits what can be done as well. Even with the upcoming Cosmic Fury where they will be relying on less stock footage is not very promising because neither of the writers (Alywn Dale and Becca Barnes) have done anything that shows significant depth. They're more on the daily moral lesson at the end of the day type of writers.
Most power rangers writers are "lesson of the week" types. That's how 98% of the TV show had been structured.
@@TheBleachj16 Yep, but that's also why it's hard to have deeper character development. RPM was probably the biggest break from that formula with longer story arcs.
‘I’m sorry I know yellow is your favorite color but your Asian and that’s “problematic” we’ll have you play pink ranger instead, can’t have Twitter people getting angry’
Dude it's a kids show meant to sell toys.
You're right, which is why they should be trying to appeal to as many kids as possible, glad you agree with video
@@hitmonkey3602 kids appeal to characters, not people who are caricatures.
@@WGPhil-uw5cs yes exactly
@hitmonkey I don't think you get what I'm saying. Kids don't appeal to characters because they look like them. Kids love Spiderman because of his story, not because he's white. People love superman because he symbolizes freedom, not because he's a white alien.
@@WGPhil-uw5cs yeah but kids like to see that people like them can be heroes too. That's why representation in heroic media for kids is important
You know what really baffles me regarding Samurai?
If we look at the basic concept... Samurai clans are supposed to be generational and exclusive to entire families, aka parent to child.
Yet... This entire clan of Japanese samurais... Is made up entirely of non-Japanese Samurais...
Meanwhile... Back in 2003, Ninja Storm gave us the Green Samurai Ranger, who not only is portrayed by an Asian actor, his mother before him also happened to be a Samurai AND was portrayed by an asian actress, same for younger Sensei and Lothor!
How is it the comedy-oriented Ninja season did a Samurai better than the ACTUAL season about Samurais?!!?
EDIT: I forgot the biggest detail... The Green Samurai Ranger IS NOT EVEN A SAMURAI, he was actually the most ninja character in Hurricanger with its user being always in disguise!
Both Samurai and Ninja Steel are prime examples of why whitewashing Japanese culture is a sin.
That is genuinely baffling, I agree!
Ninja Storm was my childhood and I feel nostalgic.
They could just take notes from foreign samurais like William Adams and Yasuke
@@curesanada That could've been interesting. But alas, they turned into what it has become, just like Dino Fury, where it could've been a good referential series about medieval history, but instead it ended up as what Simon Bennett conjured up.
Be careful, there's going to be a lot of "apolitical" nerds that'll pop up and attack this one. I really appreciate you bringing this up though as it's something that's been in the back of my head for a while.
They're already here lol
they’re already here and they’re the top comments
@@Eddyriderfan I never trust anyone who uses the word "identity politics"
@@Eddyriderfan define identity "politics"
@@tyde4610 Not for long! The alt right weirdos are getting hosed.
10:40 yeah the comics aren't canon, i don't care how muc the writers try to frame it. it's lore break, fan-fic garbage
1000% agree and I've even had to unsub from a few channels because they keep using the comics as show canon sources.
@@kyleellis1825 THANK YOU
I can't speak on the original yellow ranger but I've always viewed Zack as the Black ranger as an empowering thing, growing up he was the first black superhero I ever saw so I never understood why some fans took it as racist when Zack was honestly the opposite of a racial stereotype, I mean I get that the optics didn't look great but I feel like it would have been way more problematic if they had made Zack some type of stereotypical gangster character. I don't know but for me it it meant a lot seeing someone like him on screen when I was a kid
I honestly agree. It's why I wanted to present that as ONLY just a weird look and not some outright slight or fully ingrained weirdness in the way my actual examples are.
There are definitely problematic aspects of this series, and I love your conversation on this. Keep in mind that it didn't have an interracial couple in the ranger team with a black character until dino charge, and I'm not going to count Adam and Tanya because that was never confirmed.
The most problematic aspect to me on the show is the handling of Billy's love interests in the first four seasons: to this day I still believe they purposely gave him the lion's share due to the writer's compensating for the actor being gay. Heck, they even wrote him off because he found a female love interest: they could have just wrote it off as him needing to spend more time in Aquitar to resolve a bigger threat, but he left specifically because of a female. I think that sends a terrible message to kids when you have arguably the most useful member on the team leave to pursue somebody he literally just met.
Well said! And yeah, David Yost is an absolute champion for dealing with everything he did behind the scenes, which as you note had weird implications for Billy on screen. The fact that he's not just a People's Ranger in so far as his continued passion for the fans goes on top of finally agreeing to come back is more than we deserve.
Eh 90s.different time
Interesting video! In particular I liked the parts on how removing the familial connections in samurai severely affected the story and showcased the cultural gap between the two series. Also can i ask what it is u were referring to with the trio of mike/jake/ravi? it was hard for me to understand what connection you were making between the three?
You can ask! That was a bit of a rushed point on my end but that was basically eluding to how all three show awkwardly placed, sexist tendencies of varying degrees. Mike trying to show up Lauren with that creepy look on his face feels like it comes straight out of a bad 90's movie, Jake stares at Gia's backside in basically the first scene we see of him (I do kind of like him otherwise though), and Ravi's is the most overt, as his bouts of anger lead him to viscerally beating up robotic replications of his girlfriend. But the Goin Ape episode in particular was the most egregious avenue to that end, because his immediate distrust and anger management issues were framed as something Roxy had to be more apologetic about than him. Needless to say, nooot a fan of that episode.
@@TheDisneyBrain thank you for clarifying! that is a fair assessment i just wish those 3 weren’t the poster boys for sexism in power rangers while fan favorites like wes (leers at jen the same way jake does at gia + consistently hitting on her despite her resistance) or ziggy and his casual sexist comments played for comedic effect, or chase manipulating his girlfriend to continue to dating her. i know it wasn’t your intention and those three definitely deserve criticism but it does say something that this fandom only ever mentions the men of color and their sexist antics (popular targets are zack, jake, joel) while conveniently forgetting all the white men that partake in the same behavior.
@@thunderpunks That is a very good point that I had not considered before now. Honestly you could even take a harder look at a few choice moments in Lost Galaxy to that end, much as I love and praise it. Thanks for adding that!
People these days are simply too sensitive.
Sensitive? How? The way PR is not connecting with their audience in a cultural way isn’t right. They need to do better
"Power Rangers should be better written" yeah such an overly sensitive take (???)
@@Eddyriderfanpolitics? I don’t get how PR is political? Because it features a gay couple? Gay people exist. Just deal with it
@@GuyWhoConquersMain Shoving them into kid shows to groom them/make kids gay is cringe indoctrination. Stop trying to program children with bleeding heart liberalism please.
@@GuyWhoConquersMain This is why I can't stand too many Ranger fans. They sound very right wing and like living in their bubble where they want to be color blind.
The link to the Denise Downer interview I utilized here is in the description! It's really interesting content.
@@jsmooth2022 and? let people watch whatever you want and CNN is way better the fox fake news
Great video, we need to have a conversation about race and racism in this show and you showed why.
Too true! It's always been funny to me that PR has tried to create this faux post-racial society about all their seasons (except sexism is still a thing even if full frontal racism isn't) and it lends itself to some odd moments.
Slightly off topic, but why are you using clips from sources like KissCartoon and old Jetix airings? Like, even if you don't want to buy the DVDs, seasons like Time Force are available in full from the official Power Rangers UA-cam channel.
I would bet it's a ContentID thing. Use the official clips, you'd get tagged instantly. Use the fuzzy old clips, it might not get you.
And I know Saban doesn't have much influence anymore, but he *did* bully an indie game called Chroma Squad into putting a tagline of being inspired by *him* as if he straight up owned all Sentai imagery even if it's not using the IP, so I'd believe Power Ranger footage is really strict about this stuff.
Wouldn't surprise me if Linkara needs to reupload his new Dino Fury video a million times because of it.
I cannot for the life of me figure why people would click on a critical analysis video and then get mad that it has critical analysis in it lmao
@Kristopher Prime you are mad
Bro, Its A Kids Show, It’s Not This Deep
Okay? So? One of the things PR does is connect with their audience by teaching them lessons and stuff. But they should also connect their fan base through their race. But they don’t want to. Or at least they don’t want to do it in a right way
@@GuyWhoConquersMain This is why we need to teach all of US history so people don't randomly comment that it's just a show.
it always that deep
? His argument in the Time Force part is basically "They shouldn't have tried to be as deep as they tried to be"
Exactly!
In the most generous reading, Princess Viera can be seen as the new generation questioning the old ways of Might Makes Right and seeking to reform the toxic environment her kingdom instilled.
Key word being: generous.
However, she could've been more of a reoccurring character with a later episode touching up on her maybe helping Mic relocate and help his people after Galvanax is destroyed. Touch on how the process is long but will be worth it.
PR has a bad habit of limiting it's diversity quota to the team. All the other people of color that get introduced outside of the main cast are almost always related to a ranger or is being coded as whited people. Or vaguely brown people playin vaguely brown characters. Daggeron's whole mystic lamp motif screams genie mythology and he's played by a polynesian man, who i love ofc, which is akin to the Antonio thing clearly without all the vapid rhetoric problems. it's kinda the Black Adam/scorpion king thing with the rock. It can look good and ultimately still feel misguided
5:42 honestly I wanted her to become a ranger later on. I know the Sentai version had a green ranger she could have been l
Representation matters. Even if it’s just a single person, it matters.
No one should feel left out or discouraged, be they a creator or as a viewer. There's tons of good and bad discourse to be had as to how much representation means but no one knows with absolute certainty its outcomes or how it'll stand with the passage of time as societies the world over continue to evolve.
Shame how earnest attempts to bring everyone to the table is often poisoned due to how quick to judge we are, some based on narrowed exception samples that reinforces one's views and how strongly one believes it to be the rule when it isn't.
I don’t understand this concept of feeling left out or discouraged as if these fictional universes have actual baring on someone’s existence. Humans are humans and existed way before the media we use today. If they could die thousands of years ago why then today do people assume they need to be represented by media. It’s such a vain and insecure thing to worry about imo. “Because power rangers doesn’t have someone look like me I don’t belong in the world” yeah that sounds like craziness
@@kittiexxworm We as humans evolved to be a social animal but different pressures and population growth created tons of malfunctions and now we isolate ourselves by groups and nations. Media is a reflection of life, what we do, how we create and share ideas. A lot of media frequently creates spaces that, intentional or not, will leave many people out. Call it whatever you like but it is a function that is with us for many successful transitions to modern man for a reason.
Between people dismissing this as a problem or hyper-fixating on the frequency in which the efforts are perceived to be rampant in bringing in different views and life experiences is a complete disservice. Off hand dismissal of the efforts leads to a fantasy world that those left out don't matter as much as those included or even don't exist. Biased exaggeration of the efforts only reinforce existing divisions and maintain the malfunctions we engage with at present and to our collective detriment.
Media isn't by default some egalitarian concept. We can and will shape the media we'll engage with, with various degrees of personal biases to however we wish to create whatever world, discussions and divisions we so choose. The means will change along with society until such a time when we make it to some perfect egalitarian concept and these conversations are the building blocks towards that day.
@@Chrome-Hero yeah I don’t understand any of that. But when people die they won’t be thinking about rather or not some show had “representation.” Or whatever vain thing that won’t matter when everyone dies anyway. Who cares what you look like or if some show had people who look like you. I can’t even understand what your trying to say but there’s only one race of humans so the idea that differences need to be showcased is odd. Because the differences already exist and rather or not media shows them shouldn’t make people feel excluded but whatever we cleary don’t get each other. To each thier own
People complaining about the fact you made this video are honestly sad.
@Kristopher Prime it wasn't you just don't agree with it and you got offended
@Kristopher Prime The video is definetly flawed. But what about "Bro it's not that deep" or "People are just too sensitive" is refreshing???
I have no complaints that he made the video. Just as he is analyzing the series he is a fan of, people can analyze, agree, or disagree with his vid. Whats the point of any of this if it only stops conversation
*Woooooooooke* 😄
Lucas........ no words 🤣🤣🤣
That was genuinely pretty funny.
@@Pikatwig16 with the stuff the actor did last year (or whatever year it happened) I wouldn't have much to say either
@@enigmadas5 Wait, his actor did something bad? I thought he was just speaking in reference to the character.
@@Pikatwig16 oh it probably was just for the character but yeah I think he was accused of sexual assault
@@enigmadas5 I... actually wasn't aware of the sexual assault matter. Yikes...
The Disney Brain, lol. More like The Disney Snowflake.
Why? Because your not wiling to have conversation about topics you don't like? Or engage with opinions you don't like?
sweet comeback bro, you really got him there huh
This now leads me to wonder is if Time Force has all of that uncomfortable implications what did it’s Sentai counterpart Timeranger did with it’s implications since it basically copies it’s Sentai counterpart to a T.
Spoilers for Timeranger
I have not seen Timeranger myself, but I don't believe it ever wen't into detail on that plot either, the Timeranger's were fighting a mafia who wen't into the past. So I don't think it would be as much of an issue in Timeranger. Also the head of the Time Protection Force was evil so take that as you will.
Tzachor was pretty adamant about replicating many of TimeRanger's elements, but to bounce off of Plumfadoole's point, the day to day conflict did not contain that same vibe to it because the enemies are all aliens and robots. I haven't seen most of TimeRanger myself either, but the fact that it doesn't have Ransik and everything he brings to proceedings for good or for ill to me makes a decent amount of difference.
@@TheDisneyBrain strange that Tzachor didn’t want to replicate Timeranger yet years later he wanted to replicate Shinkenger, Goseiger, and Gokaiger.
Ransik didnt exist in Timeranger, he was an entirely western invention
@@andrewstokka3662 …..people change in 10 plus years a bit.how is that foreign you?
The Lucas shade :) at 9:36
Please go a video solely on Sarah
In some cases like Viera, there can be a sort of... "White's Eye View" so to speak at play. That is, certain writers of... privileged walks of life often recognize things like "Slavery Bad" or "Prejudice Bad" but rarely the finer details like the trauma one might experience from being dehumanized like such.
There's a good story to be had with a Princess and a subject her family has wronged. I don't doubt Ninja Steel's pure intentions but it should've been at least followed up on or expanded to explore Mic's side in a touch more detail.
That's a really good add on. I think trauma and consequences is something several areas of PR, but specifically modern PR, struggle a lot with. It can recognize things as being bad, as you point out, but rarely do we see it pushed further, especially with Hasbro.
That's probably one reason of why Time Force itself doing this to a minor extent was more like "well the rest of the season is good enough it's fine that they kinda fumbled this one part and hey Nadira proved what the better message was anyway and we can assume it got better from there" and why a graphic novel free of the TV/Sentai restrictions has absolutely no excuse to shit the bed as hard as it did when it jumps right into that argument and makes the absolute worst case possible of its developed protagonist.
Just gotta laugh at the folks getting mad at this even though these are like, the most non-confrontational takes possible on this topic. Go touch grass ya loonies.
Also 69k subscribers, nice.
Great video as usual
I think this is a good discussion to be had. Some in the comments are going to dismiss this topic, but it needs to happen. It doesn't mean any of these shows are bad. Disney Brain has mentioned Dino Fury's later stuff, but I still love it. Time Force is still great etc.
It just needs to be said that PR can do better to truly reflect the diversity mantra it has always talked about. It's gotten better, but there is still room for improvements.
beast morphers is my favorite season
it seems like denise downer has done good work
though i dont know which episodes she worked on
I can tell you this thing! She worked on Digital Deception, S1E4, as well as well as Cruisin' For a Bruisin' and Finders Keepers in season 2, episodes 5 and 12 respectively.
@@TheDisneyBrain those are great episodes!
I haven't even watched the video yet but judging by how many people are crying about wokeness, liberals, and people supposedly being "too sensitive" in the comments it's safe to say you pissed off the right people.
Samurai needed a different red ranger for 2 big reasons. The ones you mentioned PLUS the actor they had was awful. The drizzling shits.
Shout out to Time Force for turning Nadira good by having her see a baby, because women love children. Also Jungle Fury, a series based on martial arts, having a bunch of white sensei's, and Master Mao
Right, because it had nothing to do with the miracle of childbirth, and realizing that she had way more in common with humans than her father made her believe, and you’re so correct! There are TOTALLY not any dojos anywhere in America where the sense is are white. Nope! Everyone knows white people don’t practice martial arts!
Your parents must be so proud of you!
so I'm white as hell so I don't have much insight to add to the race conversation but I am an extremely gay trans woman so I do feel like I can throw my two cents vis a vis gender and queer issues.
- I think Samurai is probably the worst in terms of gender politics. the treatment of Lauren is easily the most notable but with Mia, even as someone whose not against traditionally feminine rangers, I do have to note how much of a doormat she felt like. Dayu's subplot also feels unnecessarily cruel for no real reason but I'll admit that's a more abstract complaint.
- obviously there's gender stuff you can criticise in other seasons too (the objectification of Gia is a big sticking point with me vis a vis Megaforce). You mentioned SPD vis a vis gender and, while I can see the issues you mentioned, really I'm more bothered by how Z and Syd don't get promoted at the SPD season finale along with Sky and Bridge, it's such a weird note for a series that seems to be going for "anyone can be any colour" and it baffles me the Expanded Universe has stuck to it even if Lina Song's existence makes it less explicitly gendered
- vis a vis queer and trans stuff, obviously PR has been a very heteronormative and cisnormative for a majority of its history and, while there's specific examples you can point to in the show itself (a line in Andros & the Stoaway from Cassie which implies that an extremely "traditional" and straight-coded ideal of love is universal in all cultures, Dome Dolls explicitly tying gender to Chromosomes) really more then those kinda tenuous examples I think the reported BTS bullying and homophobia directed at David Yost is a much bigger black mark on the show wrt queer issues and it's part of why I can't really enjoy Billy's exit in Zeo (though if you can enjoy said exit then that's fine and I wouldn't wanna take that away from you). I am glad we're finally getting queer rangers in the main show and, more importantly, that they've got David Yost back for a special cause both feel long overdue.
Anyways, that's my two cents. I was worried about posting this cause usually youtube comments aren't friendly with these kinda criticisms but given this whole video was about criticising these aspects I imagine things'll go smoother here.
Hopefully folks are receptive to this because there's a lot of amazing stuff here! These are the kind of comments/dialogue I was hoping to get out of a video like this, topics that go beyond the reach of just the general ideas I bring up and extend into further areas, some of which I can't even comfortably speak on.
Is there a reason you call mia a doormat despite her entire character being that she is there to challenge her teammates? She is the only one to stand up to jayden, she challenges kevin, she stands up to dayu and calls out master xandred, she tells the entire team to give lauren a chance. Mia is anything but a doormat. Although if you said you meant Emily i would understand since her entire character is being meek and damseled.
@@thunderpunks you make a fair point, "doormat" maybe isn't the right word but I do still have issues with her characterisation. Linkara did do a good job of summarising some of my issues with her and, admittedly it's been a few years since I last watched Samurai, but long story short I guess I feel she was written kinda regressively wrt gender norms and it's exacerbated by her often feeling like a stick-in-the-mud, particularly in the episode with her brother. Emily is probably the best female character in Samurai but I feel like even she has problems, mainly with how her confidence issues were handled. My issue with how Samurai writes women is kinda made worse that both Mia & Emily feel p understated and traditionally femme, which kinda takes away the contrast in personality and energy you'd usually see with other female leads in PR such as Kimberly & Aisha, Z & Syd or Amelia & Izzy. Though I'll admit I also don't like how Samurai tends to write characters in general so I may be biased here.
@@jessicamumford7876 Mia and Emily are very stereotypically gendered which for me isn't a problem given that Lauren and in the next season, Gia, provide counter examples. I wouldn't talk about queer things in PR without mentioning Izzy and Fern. Groundbreaking, incredibly handled especially given that PR shies away from teenage romance. How many times has the L word (love, that is) been seriously used on this show?
@@MitchYouCantScratch oh yeah don't get me wrong, I really love Fern & Izzy.
This video confused me… I feel like you’re all over the place… first it was about racism, then xenophobia, then sexism… so I’m slightly confused on what you’re message in this video…
Here’s the problem… we know there’s problems with certain things in this show and we know there’s should be fixed in the near future… it’s cool that we had a Black Writer on the show, but here’s the problem… ITS ONE BLACK WRITER ON THE SHOW… and she only written ONE episode based on Devon… so that’s still a problem… we need more writers that look like us and can understand what we go through… I’m not settling for one black writer who wrote three episodes… if we wanna move forward, we need representation all around cuz ppl assume it by looking at the internet or tv, not in real life… and half of those writers are not in America… this video wasn’t good and you had me lost on your points
There's a lot of bad faith criticism of this video going around but this is certainly not among them. I appreciate what you're trying to say, so I'll try to clarify some things.
My intention was to cover a broader spectrum of blindspots so that it wouldn't be exclusively about one area or another, since at the end of the day, I believe the root cause of all three examples fall into similar territory, especially since most of these issues aren't just systemic, but intersectional. Could I have organized all those thoughts a bit better? Absolutely. But, for... *some* of the comments... the goal I had in mind was accomplished, including the great point you just made, which I agree with since I in no way think that a single black writer makes up for anything, as the video itself points out. But I wanted to at least give Denise her due mention because my previous video essentially implied that she doesn't exist at all, lol.
Power rangers forever
yay this channel is back
I applaud this
Great video
Lucas.... And Eric-. lol
I hope the only good part of megaforce isn't gonna be on here. Robo cop rapping was the only reason I could finish it
based
That's something I've always critizise Samurai/Super Samurai.
Go watch Samurai Sentai Shinkenger and just pretend it power ranger season.
Power Rangers Samurai is a prime example of why whitewashing Japanese culture is a sin.
And I'm sure that he didn't watch a Kurosawa samurai movie.
People like you are the reason to keep PR reliable, as long as they don't branch out, as in not linked to the Morphin' Grid bullshit, to make standalone adaptations of ToqGer, ZyuOhger and LuPat, because they were too ballsy for them to handle.
I think that, for Power Rangers blade force, the Korean adaptation of Power Ranger samurai, they should’ve flown Mia‘s actress to Korea, and there you go. just like how an Asian actor would’ve helped samurai.
1st.
Also amazing video topic 👌🏿
First thought was no one in America's trying to erase history
I agree nice video
Yea i thought she’d be the Green Ninja Steel Ranger at least I would love a book that touch’s on the PowerRangers lore and universe then comic books about Evil rangers.
Omg
Please respond you should watch super sentai time ranger Lucas counterpart has a good story so does Kati and trips that ties the season better