The Stereotype of Black American In Original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Series

Arwan Wisnu and Hanif Genang Seyaji

In the 90s, there were many TV series for kids. Mostly of them told about superhero. There were Kamen Rider, Ultraman, Jiban, Winspector, they are from Japan and the last comes from USA entitled Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Almost of Indonesian kids knew Power Rangers, and Power Ranger has become their superhero idol. Power Rangers, or fully titled as Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, told about six American teenagers who is given a superpower and have a responsibility to guard and save the earth. There are red, pink, blue, green, yellow and black rangers for the character. In Indonesia, it was an interesting TV film series that gave a new formula to the Indonesian Kids. A group of superhero is a new thing in that time. Because of that, Power Rangers TV series became one of the most favorite TV serials for kids. Beside, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers showed a lot of violence, at the same time its popularity had grown in USA or other countries; they received critique for showing a lot of violence.

It was a very interesting serial for my childhood that triggers me analyze it. Mighty Morphin Power Ranger also has multicultural character. When I was kid, I only watched Power Ranger as superhero with great powers and costume, and impressive robot, but now it is different. I can see many issues that can be analyzed from this serial, one of the issue are the emergence of the characters of minority in Power Rangers and the stereotype sticking with it. Beside the other, I interested in the black ranger. I will try to analyze one of the Power Rangers character which represent one of ethnic minority and the stereotypes that put on that character. Because of that, I choose the character of black ranger that was played by the black American and I will analyze how the character was stereotyped in the Power Ranger series.