The fact is some Sentai fanboys as well as the general public have begun to accuse Haim Saban for "racism" in Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers which I don't think was true. The reason why I believe such an accusation exists? Well for a start, there are three white members and two non-whites. Zack Taylor was an African-American and Trini Kwan was an Asian-American. However the two members seem to overshadow their white teammates in fandom as well as the show for being "different".
Perhaps the most controversial has to be Zack Taylor the African guy hailing as an African-Aermican of the group being the black ranger which some Sentai fans criticized as "racist" which I find not to be true. I think it made more of a reference to Battle Kenya from Battle Fever J who was a black ranger because Kenya was an African nation.What do I think on behalf of Zack Taylor? Not at all. Zack Taylor was hardly portrayed as an idiot, he was a cool guy. In fact, he had rather cool moves combining dance and karate to win a fight. He was one of those who gave the team the morale or at times, overshadowed the rest with his original footage. He was in fact a favorite character by many PR fans because he was just so cool. I don't think the actor minded though if he saw Battle Fever J and was a fan of Battle Kenya but that's just hypothesis. In fact, I find him cooler than Adam Park too. If I get to interview him, I'd really ask him on what his favorite tokusatsu series were and why he left the set.
When the character was written off, I think it had to do with the pay issues that he voluntarily walked out.
Okay this is just way too far. Some Sentai fans probably non-oriental Asians also used Trini Kwan as reference to racism but again, in Super Sentai it's an ALL ASIAN group so ALL yellow rangers in Sentai are ASIANS get it?! It's just stupid to use her as a basis for racism in MMPR. Also, Trini Kwan at many instances overshadows the lovely Kimberly Hart with her rather kick-ass martial arts moves similar to how it happens with Sentai's female duos. In her case, her Zyuranger counterpart was really a man!In fact, the late Thuy Trang (RIP) was chosen to play this character because of her impressive fighting skills in karate (she could really stand a chance against Yukari Oshima) and many times, she did her own stunts in the show more than the others, which again she can overshadow the rest. When she left, MMPR lost some really good fighting scenes which I think as great as a martial artist Adam Park was, he just wasn't enough. She was considered an icon that I believe some MMPR fans departed when she departed too. If I'm not wrong she got fired out of salary disputes since she said she had enough and quit.
In fact, Kimberly Hart was portrayed to be somewhat a much weaker character than Trini Kwan was in the show for some time. She started off as a somewhat ditzy, materialistic girl who was usually prone to disasters most of the time. Also, a lot of times it took Trini Kwan to back her up in most of her battles when the show started.Overall these accusations are just so shallow, without realizing that Haim Saban himself is actually Asian in ethnicity.
Note: This was originally from my Sentai blog but I transferred it here. :-P
Neither Zack, nor Walter Jones (the man who plays Zack) is from Kenya. There's also a difference between being "African" and "African American."
ReplyDeleteThis is not a sentai fan criticism. It's a criticism that was created from the general public.
ReplyDeleteSince when is Zack from Kenya? And the correct term is African-American.
ReplyDeleteHmmmm I made a serious mistake in typing. Sorry! Must have spent too much time watching old Sentai. :-(
ReplyDeleteThis was actually a mistake made in casting but you know it is kind of stupid.
ReplyDeleteUmmmm, okay we're recently finding out the blue power ranger dude (who's HOT) was gay. So, I guess there's merit to the harassment and accusations. I believe it. I'm black and didn't find offense to the "Black" RANGER, but I could understand where people were coming from. I definitely could understand the "yellow" ranger being Asian. The nature of this comes from racism. Yellow is what racist folk would call Asians and it also represented being a "chicken" or scared. So I understand. They should have just changed costumes? Nah, I liked it and the scripts I think smashed all that racist talk. Yeah definite difference between African and African American. Sheesh, I guess that was a bit racist.
ReplyDeleteActually Tommy was Native American (which made him becoming the Red Ranger, interesting.)
ReplyDeleteI don't think so.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, Jewish is a following and not a nationality. Second of all, he's Israeli. And Israel (which is Greek for "Contender") is a country in Asia.
ReplyDelete