#thorn's meta: power rangers (2017)

[thornswithroses]

movie: Power Rangers #'s 1,7,8 movie: The Force Awakens 7,4,5

Power Rangers (2017)

1. My opinion of the movie in less than 5 words

A fun, dazzling, loving film.

7. My favorite romantic pairing

Trini x Kimberly is a delight. 

8. My favorite nonromantic pairing

Trini and Zack. They really have this cranky little sister--affectionate, goofy big brother potential between them. 

The Force Awakens

7. My favorite romantic pairing

I have a terrible soft spot for Finn and Poe. I want to look for more fic, but so far, it feels like most of fandom is fine with Finn doing a lot of the emotional labor for Poe and I’m 🙃

4. Who my favorite character is

FINN. FINN. FINN. FINN. FINN. FINN.

5. Who my least favorite character is

I want to say Kylo, but I mainly resent him because of fandom “shenanigans” and also because I am indifferent to Adam Driver, but I think I have come to despise Hux on so many levels.  I mean, Gleeson seems like an affable man, I won’t say no to watching any movies featuring him but, oh, Lord, do I hate his character. 

[anthonylabson]

Why Does a Rose Represent Love?

Why Does a Rose Represent Love?

“A rose is supposed to be the representation of love. If that’s true, then why does a rose have thorns that cut you and why does it have to die.” Amber, a friend of mine once asked me that a long time ago and it took me a long time to finally answer this question. It takes a long time because love is a very powerful marvel. I believe a simple “I love you” answers a lot of complicated questions.…

[thornswithroses]

How do you feel about Kim/Trini?

I think it’s cute, can be even fascinating based on both’s social status---Kim the ex-popular girl, Trini, the invisible student. 

A lot of their developing relationship I can see be with Trini just learning to trust Kim as she’s easily the most distrustful one of the Rangers. I’m really confident that Trini came out to her parents and it blew up badly enough that she lost trust in her parents, adults, and, well, anybody else. 

Trini and Kim can learn a lot from each other, and I think that is what is appealing about their relationship--they’re opposites in a lot of ways, but they can balance each other. 

[thornswithroses]

Why do you like movie!Trini?

I like seeing a sour teenage girl, that’s what is appealing partly. She isn't exactly witty, but she’s sharp, there’s something indescribably human about that, which is refreshing to see on any teenage character tbh. 

Trini seems to close up when feeling overwhelmed or isolated, which personally resonates with me. When Rita tells her to trick the Rangers into coming to her trap, Trini instead calls them up and tells them the truth immediately. It really shows how much trust and honesty she is willing to give to those that initiated a friendship with her, which is also hinting to me just how lonely she is. 

The way she interacts with her parents is heart-wrenching to me, seemingly her mom thinks the worst of her and comes up with all sort of wildly outlandish beliefs while her father is trying to be more civil but trying to navigate exactly how to interact with his daughter. Trini seems to not trust parent either. I’m pretty sure Trini comes from a military family and probably the sort where even her grandfathers served and made careers out it, so military service is a big deal to her relatives. Add that, Trini probably came out to them, and they probably reacted terribly, and we can see where Trini has her trust issues. 

She is the lone wolf of the group that ends up showing care and love in her own way. And I think it’s great that the brooding character of the team gets to be female. 

[thornswithroses]

Rewriting Kimberly’s Arc (or rather polish it more)

I have been mulling over Kimberly’s storyline in Power Rangers (2017), and I think it would have worked better if they had framed it this way:

Kimberly having this air that seems to attract popular kids into having her come into their fold. Like, let’s say she wasn’t a local, let’s say she came into Angel Grove in her middle school years. 

She gets in the popular crowd, and she’s unsure what to do and decides to keep up appearances and follow what they did, even if it causes her a lot inner conflict.

Kimberly doesn’t see herself as an active mean girl, she’s passive about it more anything, and while she doesn’t pick on any people outside her circle, she ends up coming off as aloof. Within her circle, however, she is used to talking smack about friends to other friends, she’s used to being the butt of a prank or the one that instigates it. 

She feels guilty, sure, but, hey, she’s not like them, she’s just following what they’re doing, it’s not like they’re not doing the same thing to her. She has to do it to keep up appearances after, she tells herself. After all, her worst fear is being left alone again as she was on her first day at Angel Grove. Loneliness scares her. The friendships in her circle are toxic, they’re passive-aggressive, but spending your formative years in that environment, you don’t realize just how bad it is.

And then one day, she crosses the line. Kimberly doesn’t even think twice about sending that nude photo to that girl’s father. She figures they would have done the same thing in her place. It’s only when Kimberly’s in the principal’s office that she realizes how badly she misjudged her actions. Her parents look at her like she’s a stranger, the girl and her father look at her as a monster, and the principal looking at her as if she is every single wrong about the high school, that she realizes, what is wrong with me?

Kimberly gets kicked off the squad, she loses her friends, and she is feeling so many emotions right now. Kimberly is angry that people think she was the Mean Queen Bee when she’d only been a follower, she feels like there is a double standard there. At the same time, Kimberly feels nauseous that as a girl, she would do that to another girl. The guilt burns on her like a white-hot brand. Kimberly feels bereft, lonely, vulnerable, bitter, angry, rageful, and so on. 

What’s worse: she is afraid of herself. She is afraid of what she is actually capable of as a human being. 

I think that she would serve as an interesting parallel to Rita, especially as Trini probably feels like she’s too similar to Rita (in regards to being both outsiders) to be comfortable about and have both girls share that fear with one another. 

Also, maybe humanize the girl that had her nudes sent to her father without her consent. Maybe have a scene where she and Kimberly talk about, and while the girl makes it clear that they can’t be friends again, she and Kimberly can move on and be courteous to each other in the future. 

Just a thought.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[thornswithroses]

Power Rangers (2017)

-It’s amazing. We finally have a franchise movie where nonwhite people outnumber the white people. The two female characters are both women of color and interact with each other plenty of times. We actually have an Asian character that gets to play the hero. Seriously, MCU and DC, fuck off. 

-Billy states outright that he is on the autism spectrum. I think it is great that they chose a black boy specifically to represent that. 

-Ok, ok, now let’s talk Trini’s sexuality. It did a better job of LGBT representation compared to the live-action BatB but only marginally. I’m not sure if it’s even clear that the writers have in mind for Trini to be queer. I’m expecting more outright statements and, god forbid, Trini actually crushing on and loving women in the sequels but we shall see.

-Rita being the former green ranger is just brilliant writing. Banks relished her role, you could tell, and while that is infectious, I think it is legitimate that some people have issues with her casting. White-washing is such a serious matter, and, I don’t know, even though the movie was diverse for the most part, it’s still a pain to see yet another role that was originally an Asian woman's now being given to a white one. 

-I feel we did not get much closure on Jason’s relationship with his dad. Sure, it seems they are on more equal footing when they are talking about Jason’s car. Sure, it was sweet to see a big, tough-looking man looking scared about his son’s safety when Angel Grove was getting wrecked. Sure, it was touching to see Jason saving his dad as the Red Ranger and his father now a fan of the Power Rangers, but I would not have minded another scene between the two of them.

-I also wish we delved deeper into why Jason self-sabotaged his football career. 

-Sure, I’m rolling my eyes that they make it that the Red Ranger is automatically the leader of the team when that’s a big debate amongst fans but Jason is likable and pretty empathetic to those around him. It also makes his dynamic with Zordon all the more interesting when they clash.

-I do like that Zordon is a bit flawed and I loved Alpha’s deadpan wit. I would like to see more Zordon angst in the next sequels, but we shall see.

-When they did the original theme in one scene, the audience, including myself, were screaming in utter joy.

-Zack and his mom make me tear up. Like the campfire scene was so sweet and well-done.

All in all, while there were some flaws, the movie is a good balance of good cheese, bright punchiness, and exhilarating grit. I already want to watch it again. 

[anthonylabson]

Why Does a Rose Represent Love?

Why Does a Rose Represent Love?

“A rose is supposed to be the representation of love. If that’s true, then why does a rose have thorns that cut you and why does it have to die.” Amber, a friend of mine once asked me that a long time ago and it took me a long time to finally answer this question. It takes a long time because love is a very powerful marvel. I believe a simple “I love you” answers a lot of complicated questions.…

[anthonylabson]

Why a Rose Represents Love

Why a Rose Represents Love. #love #relationships #rose #flowers #anthonylabson #wordpress

“A rose is supposed to be the representation of love. If that’s true then why does a rose have thorns that cut you and why does it have to die.” Amber, a friend of mine once asked me that a long time ago and it took me a long time to finally answer this question. It takes a long time because love is a very powerful marvel. I believe a simply “I love you” answers a lot of complicated questions.…

[anthonylabson]

Why a Rose Represents Love

Why a Rose Represents Love #poetry #Love #Roses #poetrycommunity #anthonylabson

“A rose is supposed to be the representation of love. If that’s true then why does a rose have thorns that cut you and why does it have to die.” Amber, a friend of mine once asked me that a long time ago and it took me a long time to finally answer this question. It takes a long time because love is a very powerful marvel. I believe a simply “I love you” answers a lot of complicated questions.…

[anthonylabson]

Why Does a Rose Represent Love?

Why Does a Rose Represent Love? #poetry #poetrycommuntiy #roses #relationships #love #flowers #anthonylabson #poetsofinstagram #publishers #writers

“A rose is supposed to be the representation of love. If that’s true, then why does a rose have thorns that cut you and why does it have to die.” Amber, a friend of mine once asked me that a long time ago and it took me a long time to finally answer this question. It takes a long time because love is a very powerful marvel. I believe a simple “I love you” answers a lot of complicated questions.…