When it comes to historical casting of certain roles on TV and in movies, there are always moments that are later reflected on as being done insensitively, or sometimes just plain wrong. Recently, Tony Oliver, head writer on the original Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers
series, shared his belief that the casting of a Black actor and an Asian actress as the Black and Yellow Power Rangers, respectively, was something that was “such a mistake.” However, the comments, made as part of Investigation Discovery’s Hollywood Demons series, have gained a response from Walter Emanuel Jones, the original Black Ranger in the series.
While there has been a lot of agreement with Oliver that the casting was colorblind and a little ignorant, that is not how Jones sees it at all, and he is much more inclined to remember the positive impact his character had as one of the first Black superheros ever to appear on TV. Writing on his Instagram account, Jones said:
“Incredible how many media outlets picked this up… However while some choose to seek out the negative, I’ve always believed in focusing on the positive. I understand the impulse to address what might be seen as cultural insensitivity, but calling it a ‘mistake’ would dismiss the impact it had on countless people around the world who found inspiration and representation in TV’s first Black superhero — morphin’ into none other than the Black Power Ranger! It wasn’t a mistake; it was a milestone. It was an honor.”
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‘Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers’ Delivered a Diverse Cast
While many complaints around the lack of representation on TV and in movies stem from online one-liners on X/Twitter, which don’t fully look into how diverse casting has evolved over the generations. Previously, Jones recalled that he never thought about being a Black actor in a black suit – it was just a cool suit. In a podcast snippet he shared in his post, he said:
“The idea of me being in a black suit never bothered me. In fact, I was happy about it when I first saw the suit. I thought I looked cool as well…the black was what I wanted to wear.”
Although Power Rangers certainly pushed boundaries with its inclusive casting, Jones did note that the casting of Thuy Trang as Yellow Ranger Trini Kwan, was “a little odd.” However, at the time, as Oliver recalled, no one “was thinking stereotypes.” While it was his assistant that suggested the casting of Trang could be seen as offensive, the bigger play is that this is a show that was going out in the early 1990s to children on a Saturday morning. For many Asian children seeing Power Rangers in the U.S., this was, similar to what Jones said, one of the first times they had seen someone from their race taking a prominent superhero role on a Saturday morning. For all its faults, in its own way, it was still a huge step forward for an industry that still struggles to please everyone when it comes to diversity over 30 years later.
Source: Instagram
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