The image of youth rising up and succeeding where adults have failed them is like heroin to the justice-seeking and at times narcissistic juvenile mind, and like any good drug, it kept the audience coming back. There is something about the empowerment of youth to take charge and shape their own fates – to define their own identities, to make a difference, to matter – that resonates on a visceral level with some kid who’s constantly being sent the message that, at the end of the day, nothing he says or does really counts. Kids haven’t yet accepted that the world isn’t fair they demand justice. There’s a reason why “that’s not fair!” is a common cry of youthful outrage. Though the in-universe logic of it was never addressed, the fact remains that Zordon, the Power Rangers’ longtime mentor and guide, not only chose teenagers to be the agents of humanity’s salvation, but did so specifically for the very qualities for which adults tend to resent and dismiss them: their pride, their emotional volatility, and the passion and idealism that life hasn’t yet beaten out of them.
Power Rangers took this real world narrative and turned it right on its head. To be a teenager is to live a life of abject frustration. The insights of even the most knowledgeable and articulate minor are often summarily dismissed as ignorant nonsense by adults who (if they even acknowledge the legitimacy of what is said) are too threatened by the source to give him his due. Some kids are even bullied by their parents into certain career paths.
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They are told how to dress, how to speak, with whom they can socialize, what to eat, where to go and when and for how long. Their lives are still dictated by the beliefs and demands of adults, whether they’re reasonable or not. They’re finally old enough to really understand what they want and believe, yet lack the freedom to make their own choices. Teenagers are the paragon of disenfranchisement.
While certainly older than the intended audience, these characters were still part of the in-group of non-adults, and as the audience grew up, they came to associate even more closely with the protagonists whose journeys they were following. Several seasons of Power Rangers, most notably the first six, commonly referred to by fans as “The Zordon Era,” revolved around a cast of teenage heroes. It’s why superheroes have always been popular, but Power Rangers – much like the early years of X-Men – took it a step further: the heroes were kids. Whether it be to stand up to the bullies who pick on them, the adults who impose seemingly arbitrary limits, or even the very fears that hold them back, kids yearn for a version of themselves that can not only take on the challenges life throws at them, but win. There isn’t a single kid in this world who at one time or another hasn’t wished for more power than they actually had. Hell, it’s right there in the title and it’s a theme that hits pretty close to home with young people from all walks of life. We’ll start with “empowerment.” Kind of a no-brainer, this one. In this series, I’ll be taking a look at those themes and what it was about them that held our attention…for years. However flawed the execution, there were some underlying themes running throughout Power Rangers in all its various incarnations that resonated on a very fundamental level. We came for the brightly colored spandex and bad special effects, but we stayed for something else. Beyond all the lame excuses, however, there are legit reasons we kept tuning in. That was totally reason enough to sit through the other fifteen minutes of fully-helmeted content five times a week. – And, of course, the perennial classic: “Dude, the Pink Ranger was so hot.” Yeah.
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– I only saw the movie in theaters because I took my little brother. A lot of us, more than will ever admit it, not only kept watching the show but got really into it, and when we got caught, we came up with all kinds of bullshit to justify loyally following a show aimed at kids half our age, gems such as: – I watch it ironically.
Most just caught the odd episode here or there when they were babysitting or waiting for some other show to come on, but then something curious happened. Power Rangers has been an undeniable (if at times annoying) part of the pop cultural landscape for the past two decades, and in that time every single one of us has watched it.
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