Power Rangers |
  • USA / Hong Kong / Japan / Mexico • 2017 • 124m •   • Directed by: Dean Israelite. • Starring: Dacre Montgomery, Naomi Scott, RJ Cyler, Ludi Lin, Becky G, Elizabeth Banks, Bryan Cranston, Bill Hader, Matt Shively, Cody Kearsley, David Denman, Robert Moloney, Anjali Jay. • Music by: Brian Tyler.      Five high school kids who must become something extraordinary when they learn that their small town of Angel Grove -' and the world -' is on the verge of being obliterated by an alien threat. Chosen by destiny, they discover that they are the only ones who can save the planet. But to do so they will have to overcome their real-life issues and band together as the Power Rangers before it is too late.
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Billy is excellent with gadgets, and when he mentioned that he is on the autism spectrum, I in the audience said, "DUH!! Of course you are!" We are treated to a view of Billy's sanctuary in the basement of his house. It looks like a dream come true for an intellectual individual. There are tons of gadgets, often cobbled together by Billy's own invention from items that he has salvaged from various locations. The thing is that in real life, as opposed to the stereotype, autistic individuals do not tend to be absolute wunderkind savants. This results in a number of hilarious moments throughout the film when Billy accidentally makes things blow up, slip, trip, sproing, fladap, shtoink, and just about every other word invented by Don Martin. (Look him up. One of the greatest cartoonists of all time!)
All of the five are somewhat hesitant to explore being a Ranger, except for Billy. He is extremely excited about the entire thing. During the whole film, he talks a lot, and he sometimes divulges inappropriate information. That is par for the course with autistic individuals, including myself. Luckily, Jason will sometimes politely remind him that his cup runneth over. I would like to reiterate at this point that friends are amazing, and that autistic individuals should never be afraid of socializing. Billy is also sometimes hesitant to engage in physical stunts, and in real life many autistic people are more involved in the intellectual than in physical activity.
When most of the team is unable to generate their armor, suddenly, one of them does. Billy becomes the first one able to do so. They later discovered that, because the unit is a team, their ability to generate armor depends on their ability to know each other. This is actually tremendous news for Billy, and the autistic community. It is frequently said that we autistics do not get the rest of humanity. However, Billy clearly gets the others better than they get each other. Many autistic individuals are incredibly observant of everything and anything, including other people.
At one point, Rita instigates a fight, and the team gets thoroughly thrashed. In fact, Billy ends up getting killed. They take him to Zordon, who was planning on using the Rangers' power to regenerate his life. Before he plans to do so, the rest of the Rangers speak of how they would all give their life for Billy. For autistic people to find real, tangible friendship, the kind which involves self-sacrifice, is a gigantic triumph. As mentioned before, autistic people are not always the best at interpersonal relations. However, with proper time and effort, we can form wonderful friendships. In the end of this scene, Zordon decides to regenerate Billy's life instead of his own, and they go off to fight Rita.
Billy is the first definitively autistic superhero in an A-list Hollywood film. Based on criticism of The Accountant, various members of the autistic activist community may point out that it is not realistic to portray an autistic person as a superhero because we autistics are not special, but rather a naturally occurring subset of society. To this I say, "WTF!?" This film has dinosaurs, ancient aliens, giant robots, a humongous golden monster, and a woman who comes back to life after 65 million years at the bottom of the sea! I think we can learn to suspend our disbelief a little bit.
In addition, it is noteworthy that the Blue Ranger is autistic, as the color blue is symbolic of autism awareness. Although many autism activists do not like the color blue standing for autism, they should recall that the color predates any of the harmful efforts by Autism Speaks. The autism activists would point out that the color blue was chosen because it was initially thought that was prevalent mostly in males. Once again, may I point out that perceptions and symbols can change and adapt. What was once thought of as mostly male is now known to be spread more or less evenly between genders, although autism sometimes manifests slightly differently in each gender. Although the blue color was initially meant to reflect the male gender, the intent was not sexist, and the color can be perceived as applying to both genders.
A word about Trini. There is a wonderful scene where they are all getting to know each other better, and someone mentions boyfriend troubles, and she hesitates a bit. Person that mentions girlfriend troubles, and she also hesitates about that. You see, Trini identifies as a female in terms of pronouns, but she makes it clear that she does not let conventional definitions apply to her. Trini is queer, and may be the first big-budget superhero in the Hollywood film to definitively have that identity.
As an autistic person with autistic friends and acquaintances all across the autism spectrum, I do not think I have seen a more accurate depiction of autism in popular culture, except for possibly the character I review in my first book, Without Fear: The FirstAutistic Superhero. Both myself and my firm, Autistic Reality, would like to fully endorse this film. We will attempt to get in touch with Lionsgate Entertainment and Saban, to make that endorsement official. Both myself and my firm give this amazing wonderful film ten out of ten stars, or five out of five. It is very rare to see a good, high profile film that so flawlessly embodies diversity.
Review by Alec Frazier from the Internet Movie Database.
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