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‘Power Rangers’ Movie Features A Gay Yellow Ranger Named Trini

By Stacey Cole
Published on: 05:03 PST, Mar 24, 2017

The new Power Rangers movie tackles quite a few issues, but homophobia stands at the forefront. Ever since Lionsgate announced that the yellow Power Ranger, Trini, is gay, the 2017 film has been getting both praise and criticism from fans.

While the five Power Ranger characters deal with their own issues – which many 21st-century teens can relate to – through the storyline of Trini, the reboot of the popular 90s TV series addresses one of the most pressing issues of this decade: sexuality.

While no one can argue that the issue of sexuality is one of the most pressing issues of our time, it’s also one of the most controversial ones. The new Power Rangers movie – just like Beauty and the Beast this month – is facing criticism from some Power Ranger fans for featuring quite a few gay moments.

But this is exactly why the new Power Rangers movie was made in the first place: to tackle homophobia. David Yost, the actor who played in the original TV show, was forced into quitting the 90s TV series after fellow actors made him the target of homophobic slurs on set.

In one of his 2010 interviews, Yost opened up about “continually” being told that “because I am a gay person and I am not supposed to an actor and you can’t be a superhero.” And through yellow Power Ranger Trini, the 2017 film is trying to prove that gay people can just as easily be superheroes, too.

But Becky G, who plays the yellow Power Ranger in the new Power Rangers movie, is taking up her superhero duties with an absolutely different mindset. If in the 90s being gay was something of a taboo, today – in the world where film studios are now commonly featuring one or two gay characters in their storylines – representing diversity has become a lot easier.

In her interview with People magazine, Becky G, who sang the 2014 pop hit “Shower,” said she was “really proud” to be playing “such a strong character” as the yellow Power Ranger.

And while negative comments from some social media users are still there – complaining that movie studios are trying to “shove” the theme of the LGBTQIA+ community down their throats – the new Power Rangers movie has the ultimate mission to convince Power Ranger fans and the world as a whole that being gay is just as “normal” as being straight.

In the new Power Rangers movie, which features such prominent supporting actors as Bryan Cranston and Elizabeth Banks, a diverse group of five high school students happens to find the mystique artifacts that give them superhero powers.

Not knowing that being a Power Ranger means protecting the universe, the characters – Yellow, Red, Pink, Blue, and Black – have to go through a hilarious process of getting used to their powers – something Marvel fans witnessed in multiple Spider Man films.

At one point of the Power Rangers movie, the Black Ranger, Zack (played by Ludi Lin), asks Trini if she’s having any “boyfriend problems” in her life. And that’s where Trini opens up to the group of her Power Ranger friends that she’s having difficulty with her family accepting her being gay.

In her interview with People magazine, Becky G says she can relate to her yellow Power Ranger character’s struggles as she knows “what it is like to be alone.”

“It is very easy to be in a room with thousands of people and still feel like no one can see you. She is a human being who should be acknowledged.”

The new Power Rangers movie hit theaters on March 24, 2017.

[Featured Image by Rich Polk/Getty Images]

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