It's been said throughout the Sentai fandom that Disney portrays their Power Rangers characters who are Asian as idiots. To me, I don't see it, at all. I think it's just another bad excuse for people not to like the Disney seasons.
The Sentai fandom doesn't really like Ninja Storm. Mainly because they say they portray Ninjas and Asians as idiots. However, Power Rangers Ninja Storm was originally a parody of the actual Power Rangers franchise, to reintroduce people into Power Rangers, and it obviously was a success. I don't necessarily think they were making fun of Asians or Ninjas.
To add on, I didn't think Jason Chan's character (Cam/Green Samurai Ranger) was portrayed as an idiot. He is the most focused, disciplined, and skilled fighters of the Rangers. Cyber Cam on the other hand, he was kinda annoying.
Jeffrey Parazzo (Trent Fernandez/White Dino Ranger from Dino Thunder) is Filipino descent. And in NO WAY he was portrayed as an idiot! He's just an absolute bad ass, especially when he was evil.
Couldn't find anyone from SPD, but let's continue. Apparently, Angie Diaz (
Vida Rocca/Pink Mystic Ranger from Mystic Force) is Filipino, but I could not find any confirmation of that besides a category tag on Wikipedia. Either way, she wasn't portrayed as an idiot. She was more like a butch, tomboy like if you ask me.
Everyone says
Dax Lo/Blue Overdrive Ranger from Operation Overdrive is, and I'll agree. Moving on.
Rhoda Montemayer (
Rose Ortiz/Pink Overdrive Ranger from Operation Overdrive) is Filipino. Her character,
Rose, is a Mensa level genius who studied in Harvard and was working on robotics and other technologies in a British university when Andrew contacted her to become the
Pink Ranger. That doesn't sound idiotic to me now does it? She wasn't much of an annoyance like
Dax.
Aljin Abella (
Theo Martin/Jungle Fury Blue Ranger from Jungle Fury) is Filipino descent. His character,
Theo, is a confident, bossy and straight laced conservative who always want to be in charge.
Theo takes what he does very seriously and is a very skillful fighter. I'll be honest, I found him annoying at times, but not as annoying as
Dax. But he didn't seem idiotic to me.
And last but not least, here's everyones' favorite,
Gem and
Gemma from Power Rangers RPM. Personally, I like them more than
Hiroto and
Miu from Go-Onger.
Gem and
Gemma give a lot of energy throughout the show. They're goofy but scientists at the same time. I don't think they're meant to portray Asians as idiots, that's just who they are, crazy and goofy.
So, I don't really think Disney portrays their Asian rangers as idiots. Some are meant to be that way, because that's who their characters are. I've realized that
Genta/ShinkenGold from Shinkenger is JUST AS crazy and goofy as
Gem and
Gemma, and they're more hated because of it while
Genta isn't as hated. Once again, I think this reason is just another bad reason to hate the Disney season, people are just biased. Oh well.
I think you're over exaggerating the whole "sentai fandom thinks Disney makes Asian Power Rangers idiots." I've only seen this happen on Sean's blog. Not anywhere else. So this really isn't much of an issue at all. ;)
ReplyDeleteI've seen fans everywhere say this also. But I'm bringing up the issue because I recently read one of Sean's entries about it and just wanted to clarify. Lol
ReplyDeleteI understand. Well, I guess it's apparent, since people have found a lot of good examples as to why they believe Disney has no respect towards Japan. And that obviously made it's way into Power Rangers. Especially since Power Rangers originated from Japan. And like you said, yeah people are being biased. Though I wouldn't just accuse Sentai fans. Some Saban PR fans probably think the same way too. But anyway, people need to remember. These shows have something called "WRITERS." And for RPM, Judd Lynn wrote Gem and Gemma to be the way they are. And I know most fans don't accuse him of portraying Asians as idiots.
ReplyDeleteYES! Finally someone who gets what I'm saying! Thank you! Lol [=
ReplyDeleteHmmm thanks for writing this up. If you ask me, I spent too much time getting upset about my fellow orientals being looked down by white people when I was in elementary.
ReplyDeleteAnyway many scientists are crazy and goofy and I think it's because they need to relax so their brain can think better. :-P
Can't believe I bashed up Disney for the wrong reason. :-(
I think one common misconception some are having is that during the Disney era, a lot of Filipinos play as or are assumed to be Hispanic characters (like Trent and Vida). So when someone accusses Disney of "being racist towards Asians," they don't mention the Filipino actors/actresses.
ReplyDelete