Super-Ultra-Hyper-Megazord, Activate!- Mighty Morphin' Power Racists

Valeria Niell

Go, go Power Rangers! How to forget that group of five "overbearing and overemotional teenagers with attitude” , who were endowed with the duty of protecting Earth (actually, just California) from Rita Repulsa,  with the help of mysterious dinosaur forces (Dinozords).

The team was a multicultural mixture of adolescents. The leader, the Red Ranger (Jason), a strong weight-lifting native American; with the power of the T-Rex. The Pink Ranger (Kimberly), a beautiful and healthy American girl; with the power of the Pterodactyl. The Blue Ranger (Billy), the wisest, with power of the Triceratops. The Yellow Ranger (Trini), a Martial Arts expert Asian girl; with the power of the Sabre-toothed Tiger. And the Black Ranger (Zack), an Afro-American break-dancer; with the power of the Mastodon...

Why? Why the colours that they were assigned by sage Zordon are not related to their inner power, but to their skin “colour”? Why couldn't they wear the same colour? Why the black boy has break-dance fighting style? Is it because he is a gangster, like all “black people”? Why, Alpha 5? Why?!

This TV series is stereotypically racist, even though it tries to provide moral values, like Martial Arts are not meant to hurt people, but to defend yourself and the importance of team working to solve problems...But why the black youngster has to control an elephant?  Is it because he comes from Africa, where people are used to see elephants? (In fact, in one episode, he was the only one who could defeat a Lion, one of Rita's minions).

Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers is full of racist epitomes. Let's take Rita Repulsa. Her name has a Latin hint. Why couldn't she be named “Michelle Phillips” or “Mean Lady”? Is it because calling her “Rita”, like my neighbour, gives her an extra-disgusting evilness?... And her brother's name was Rito Revolto...

Another example is the first leader of the team, Jason. Why was he given the Red Power? Probably because he is a native American...and his red skin matches perfectly the Red Power Suit... And sadly he didn't last much as the leader because he was replaced by the White Tommy, I mean, the White Ranger.

“Yo, Alpha, “wassup”!” … Yes, that is Zack, the Black Ranger, who sounds like a rapper gangster, and he was given a gun. Along with the Dinozord Powers, the Rangers were given weapons like swords, axes, crossbows...but the Black Ranger was given a gun. Because black people like guns.

Why this TV programme had to be so mean to their characters? Didn't Zack feel offended when he read the plot and his lines? What did the other members think about the heavy amount of stereotypes?

Maybe it is not appropriate for an Afro-American to be a White Ranger, because he would feel funny by wearing white or maybe because he would not look as good as “Tommy”, the last Ranger to join the team...At first he was the Green Ranger because he was the bad guy, but when he left the Dark Side, he was given the Power of the White Ranger, to control a Dragon...And as I said before,  he became the leader until the end of the three seasons. 

Maybe Billy had to be the Blue Ranger because wearing a brown suit wouldn't match his blue eyes. 

And maybe Trina has Yellow Powers because she is always wearing yellow shorts. And she doesn't need to wear a skirt because it is too feminine for a martial artist (?)

Who knows, maybe Kimberly is allergic to orange or grey. That is why she had to wear the Girly Pink Skirt Power Suit...

There are too many questions and too many doubts that the universe may never answer... Maybe because the truth is too much for our brains to handle, or maybe because the creator of the Power Rangers thought that if they wore their “typical racial skin colours”, they would be easier to identify. For example, I remember that the black guy was the Black Ranger, and I also remember that he looked good wearing black shirts.