Wow I wasn't aware those were mutually exclusive, here I thought you could focus on the character's thoughts and feelings, which includes who they love, while also having them fight monsters.
Thanks for opening up my eyes.

I wonder what reactions would be if they made a Northstar or Batwoman film now...

On a side note, my brother went to a special school called Northstar Academy. Just wanted to mention that because of the funny name.

To the person who said monkeys cannot give consent. Technically speaking humans are monkeys.

Holy taxonomies, Batman.

I have negative interest in getting involved in this discussion, but this is, technically speaking, and even not technically speaking, completely incorrect. Humans are not monkeys. Methinks you were thinking of apes, if anything.

It's also a completely irrelevant point to make. But, you know.

Oh, come on now. Considering how that's been news for a bit, no one in their right mind would touch that subject in this film with a 100 foot pole, let alone a 10 foot one.

There's trying to homage and then there's outright offensive without intent and that would be the latter.

Here's the thing, this is a reboot in a new universe with a new take on everything. Since that's the fact that's in place ahead of time before this news hit, so be it. So, Trini's a Lesbian this time 'round? Plenty of people are, there's nothing new or shocking under the sun these days.

Now, if it had been done differently like they did with Star Trek Beyond, then people would have a legit complaint. While it was an alternate time line, it was the same universe and it started from the same universe, it only deviated on a time level. Because of this, Sulu shouldn't have been made a Gay character, even George Takei said as much.

THAT'S pandering. THAT'S exploitation. Let's reverse it for a moment. Let's say you took a previously Gay character, rebooted their universe ...sorta (ala Star Trek) and made them Straight. People would LOSE their minds. That's really what they did with Star Trek, but they're not doing it with Power Rangers.

I think people will worry too much about it and it'll affect ticket sales and cause some problems, but I think we'll watch the movie, the scene will come along and be pretty much ineffective fluff in which she comes out and moves on.

Do they need to make it the focus of the film? No. It also doesn't sound like it IS the focus of the film, so it is what it is, just let it roll.

So... I'm gonna go ahead and assume you didn't read a single one of the articles I linked to?

:thumbdown

I'm gonna sidestep the old "some of my best friends are gay" chestnut and I'm not gonna dwell on how insulting it is to have my love life compared to monkey fucking.

Who is being taken advantage of by Power Rangers featuring a lesbian ranger? This makes no sense.

Where was your anti-romance outrage when Tommy and Kimberly were in a relationship? Where is your indignation for the yellow and white Ninja Steel rangers being in a relationship? Where is your long internet diatribe about Time Force's various romances being so inappropriate? Face it man, romance is part of Power Ranger's DNA, and if hetero romance can be depicted for 800+ episodes of TV, I think you can chill out for a minute regarding a minor gay subplot in one movie.

Kenshiro's gay? I mean, I know there's homoerotic subtext in Shonen Fighting anime but... :lol

I live in the North Star State.

Actually we are classified as great apes, not monkeys. Any zoologist worth their snuff will confirm this. :p

I often see this "I'm not a homophobe but gay romance is cynical gimmickry" argument bandied about by straight people when criticizing gay romances in media. And I don't buy it. Unless you're going to decry all romances as gimmicks, this argument holds no water. And why are you even concerned with so called gimmickry when gay people embrace these characters and cry out for more like them?

Look, even if the romance is poorly handled and the characters are thinly drawn, we need to live in a world where gay romances are allowed to be as bad and hamfisted as many straight romances in film and tv. THAT would be true equality.

Besides, gay characters have historically been BOX OFFICE POISON, so if it's a "gimmick," it's a really dumb and counterproductive one. Having a gay character means that you can't exhibit your film in Russia, China, and countless other nations with backwards, antiquated views about sexuality -- and that means a significant loss of potential revenue for the studio. If a gay character shows up in a piece of big budget mainstream media, you can bet your ass that the creators fought tooth and nail against risk averse studio execs for his/her inclusion. They did it in spite of the financial risk of alienating conservative moviegoers with cash to spend.

I appreciate your open mindedness when it comes to gay characters in media, I just don't think the gimmick argument makes any sense.

You know, I've always got to wonder about that. Seems like there's less actual subtext and more people with rainbow-tinted lenses and wishful thinking.

I dunno, it just seems like two unrelated, hell, it applies even to blood siblings it seems, guys can't have a meaningful relationship with each other without people questioning their sexuality. It... actually is part of why I don't like the changes in Beauty and the Beast. Not so much that he's gay, personally stopped giving a shit back when Gobber got Word of Gayed, but the reasoning behind it... that and... dang it, I don't know how to do spoilers on this forum...

Well, it's not Shonen Anime, but Lou Scheimer's gay daughter Erika has been noted saying that Filmation "was one of the gayest places in town." And if you recall, Filmation made this:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-7akjeomUck

And I've noticed that too. Hell, platonic intimacy as a whole has gotten oversexualized, regardless of coupling (though with men it seems more prominent for some reason). Not that I personally care much, intimacy is already a shitshow with how my brain is wired.

Also you do it like this.

Ah, thanks. Anyway,La Fou makes Heel-Face Turn at the end of the film, and we all know why... La Fou's a little psycho gremlin of a man in the original, but now that he's gay, we can't have that...

Just annoys the crap out of me.

You maybe are a great ape but I am classified as something one person told me a "AAAAAAAAAH WHAT THE FUCKING HELL ARE YOU!!!". I think there was more but they passed out from screaming.

"It's pandering!"
If you use this argument you can suck a salty sausage at McDonald's because you don't realize the risks. Russia is anti LGBT so the movie is all but guaranteed to flop there and a theatre in Alabama outright BANNED Beauty and the Beast just because there was a gay character. Christ, next they'll be people in the Marvel thread whining how that in Spidey's school there's a lot of ethnical diversity like a real school and call it pandering

Which was still weird because that was a drive-in theater, not many of those around. So you would think he would want as much money as he can get. Its even dumber because from what I heard the gay character that I can not remember the name of, does not do much.

Humans are monkeys because humans are apes and apes evolved from monkeys and you never stop being what you evolved from.

The only way for humans not to be monkeys is if you discount new world monkeys as monkeys and state that monkeys first began after the split between apes and old world monkeys.

Le Fou. Gaston's fat stupid little sycophantic gremlin lackey.

Amen, brother!

I also love how straight people think they get to decide what's pandering to gay people and what's not. They have no idea what our lived experiences are, and thus do not get to qualify our (paltry, infrequent) representation.

And as we've both pointed out -- pandering to what end??? So that a movie can alienate large portions of the global audience and risk making significantly less money? If the almighty gay dollar was so important, you'd see all sorts of gay characters in every Marvel, DC, Transformers, Fast and the Furious, etc etc etc movie. But reality check: there have been two "blink and you miss it" gay characters in modern blockbusters, confirmed by one half-second shot in Beauty and the Beast and one campfire scene in Power Rangers where Trini doesn't even say she's gay.

The people making these ludicrous pandering claims are living in some bizarre alternate reality where gay people are apparently so powerful that movies must pander to them in order to be successful. Please, open a portal to this alternate universe and I will gladly join you in this, apparently horrifying, gay dystopia. :rolleyes

Last I checked, this is an American made movie for America first, and anyone else second. Who gives a damn what Russia is or is not. Russia can get buried in a snow storm for all I care. The only thing we lose is architecture.

Also, the theater in Alabama was one drive in. Who the hell goes to a drive in these days anyway? I guess if you need a private spot to spank your cousin you do... :lol

Anyway, hopefully the movie will be good. Anyone else seeing it Thursday night?

Say that to any movie banned in China. I dare you. Also, Malaysia banned said movie too. "Who cares?" The people who make the movid care, as it means less money to get. Not to mention people in America can be VERY nasty (See what happened when Blizzard confirmed Tracer was a lesbian)

Okay now, I take offense to that. I happen to love Drive In movies. It's a crime that they aren't in use as much as they used to be. And by you saying that last part you're making it sound like only people in Kentuky (which is where I live I might add) or the Appalachian area go to them. And that the people in these area are backwards, incestuous, hillbillies. Well, let me inform you sir, not all of us are. Think before you speak!

You're so wrong here, it's hard to know where to even start. International box office is where movies make most of they money these days. Between Russia and China, we're talking about hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenue, just for incorporating gay characters.

Let's break down foreign box office number for a similar movie based on a toy-driven nostalgia property, Transformers: Age of Extinction. (This is just for reference, I'm not saying Power Rangers will make anywhere near this amount of money domestically or abroad.)

Russian Box office for that movie was appx $45,000,000.
Chinese box office for that movie was appx $320,000,000.

That's $365,000,000 in lost revenue had they decided not to exhibit that film in China and Russia alone due to gay content (purely hypothetical, as that movie did not have any gay content, surprise surprise).

Compare that to the film's US domestic box office, which was appx $245,000,000, a paltry sum in comparison. Now tell me again that American movies are made for America first. :rolleyes

You have all these strong opinions about stuff that is verifiably, factually incorrect, and you're clearly not interested in educating yourself before running your mouth off.

It's very difficult to have a conversation with you when you consistently misunderstand, and at times flat-out reject, reality.

The fact that TV shows, films, books, video games, et cetera are banned or censored in some places for including characters of the LGBT community is just stupid.

:lol :thumb:

Actually, this is pretty bullshit, Deadpool is pansexual in the comics and in his movie, he hit on the pizza guy from the beginning of the movie

Also this notion that more LGBT characters in movies and TV shouldn't be celebrated because the same isn't done for straight characters is just silly. Those characters are noted and celebrated precisely because they AREN'T the norm in movies, and even when they do appear, they're often treated like stereotypes.

It's the same reason nobody makes a big deal when a film has an all-white cast but they do when it has an all black or Asian cast. There's nothing wrong with having an all-white cast, but it's not really all that special since that describes roughly 80-90% of American made movies.

Saw it. Harmless fluff like I thought, but they handled it with respect.

Worth your time and money.