Dean Israelite, director of the highly-anticipated sci-fi action flick Power Rangers, says the kid-friendly film features a short, but “pivotal” scene that reveals the Yellow Power Ranger is lesbian.
Audiences will see Trini (Becky G.), the Yellow Power Ranger, stressed over issues concerning her romantic relationship. Trini’s woes are assumed to be “boyfriend problems,” but are in fact revealed to be “girlfriend problems.”
“For Trini, really she’s questioning a lot about who she is,” Israelite told The Hollywood Reporter. “She hasn’t fully figured it out yet. I think what’s great about that scene and what that scene propels for the rest of the movie is, ‘That’s OK.’ The movie is saying, ‘That’s OK,’ and all of the kids have to own who they are and find their tribe.”
There has been a growing presence of LGBGT characters in print, but Power Rangers marks the first appearance of an openly gay character in a big-budget superhero movie.
The LGBGT storyline in the Lionsgate-produced reboot of the popular ’90s children’s TV show comes after Disney included its first-ever “exclusively gay moment” onscreen in the live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast.
The fantasy film, which was released in theaters on March 17, sees the character LeFou (Josh Gad) expressing romantic sentiments toward Gaston (Luke Evans).
The scene was described by Beauty and the Beast director Bill Condon as “a nice, exclusively gay moment in a Disney movie,” though the character of LeFou was not revealed to be openly gay.
Power Rangers stars Dacre Montgomery, Naomi Scott, RJ Cyler, Becky G., Ludi Lin, Bill Hader, Bryan Cranston and Elizabeth Banks. The film opens wide on March 24.
Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter @jeromeehudson
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