Z-Spaces: An Animorphs Psychochronography #5

[poparena.livejournal.com]

#5 - Which just goes to show you why you should never get involved in other people's problems (#5 The Predator)

It's December 1996. "Macarena" finally jumps off the top of the charts, making way for BLACKstreet and Dr. Dre's "No Diggity" in November and Toni Braxton's "Un-Break My Heart" in December. I completely forgot to mention in my last entry the death of rapper Tupac Shakur, who was killed in a drive-by shooting. This was just shortly before the release of what would be his final album, "The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory," in which Tupac had planned to change his stage name from 2Pac to Makaveli. The album, which is probably best to be taken tongue-in-cheek, portrays Tupac as the victim of an Illuminati-style organization within the rap scene consisting of all the artists Tupac had managed to piss off throughout his career. The parallels between Tupac's death and the content of the album continues to inspire conspiracy theorists. Meanwhile in the movie theaters, people went to see Romeo + Juliet, Space Jam, Star Trek: First Contact, the live action 101 Dalmations movie and Beavie and Butt-head do America. In the video game scene, "Tomb Raider" and "Diablo" are released.

In real news, Bill Clinton wins a second term in office, the biggest work protest in South Korean history begins, and six-year old beauty pageant contestant JonBenét Ramsey is murdered, a case which remains unsolved. Carl Sagan passes away. There will be an entry on Sagan and his influence on Animorphs, but not today. No, today we talk about the Power Rangers.

1996 marked the fourth season of Power Rangers, and marked the beginning of a tradition of regularly changing cast members, powers, enemies and titles every year. "Mighty Morphin' Power Ranges" transformed into "Power Rangers Zeo" and took a form that was arguably the closest the show would ever be to Animorphs, though that's not actually saying a lot. Whereas "Mighty Morphin'" was equal parts science fiction and fantasy, "Zeo" diminished the more magical elements of the show to focus on the sci-fi elements. The Power Rangers swapped out their dinosaur-themed "technology from another time" suits and weapons for a more modernized set-up, and the villains changed from dark sorcerers invading the Earth with gangs of golems to an entire robotic empire. The show was often proud of showing off the might of the invading fleets, always ready for attack but never actually doing it. In many ways, it was showing us what many readers imagined the Yeerk forces hovering in orbit might look like.

This is not to say that the fantasy elements were completely removed. The original series villains remained as secondary characters, and the new powers the Rangers possessed originated from crystals, tying it to New Age mysticism just like many of the elements of Animorphs. And really, the entire series premise from the beginning mirrors Animorphs in a lot of ways: five teenagers given powers by a mysterious alien to fight off invading forces, having to hide their identities while saving the world. However, this is not to imply that K.A. Applegate took any actual inspiration from Power Rangers. The show is not mentioned once throughout the series, and I have yet to come across an interview where Applegate brings it up. It's easy to believe Katherine and Michael, not yet parents, ignored the series completely. No, Animorphs is not so much influenced by Power Rangers so much as cut from the same cloth: children adventure stories.

That is to say, genre stories in which one or more of the protagonists are replaced with children or young adults. This goes way back and is usually reflective of the popular genres of the time. Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island" puts young Jim Hawkins in the place of other high-seas heroes like Robinson Crusoe or Emilio Roccanera. "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" saw Mark Twain dumping his young protagonists into a dangerous crime drama. The 1920s saw the premiere of "The Hardy Boys" and "Nancy Drew" as a teenage answer to mystery serials (Sherlock Holmes was only forty-years old at the time). Marvel Comics made a name for itself doing this, presenting the first teenage superheroes (not counting mascot sidekicks like Bucky or Robin) with Spider-Man and the original X-Men. Even the Ninja Turtles are teenage, it's right there in the name! The popularity for this kind of thing is obvious, as young readers would have an easier time relating to these main characters and therefor could imagine themselves having these adventures.

Not that I had any trouble imagining I was Indiana Jones or James Bond when I was a kid, but the appeal of imagining oneself as a young hero versus an adult hero is that one does not have to fundamentally change who they are when imagining themselves having an adventure. For example, one kid pretends he's a young Encyclopedia Brown-esque child detective while another kid pretends he's Sherlock Holmes. While the first kid's imagination might emphasize aspects like intelligence and skill, they are still basically playing themselves, while the second kid is playing someone who is completely NOT themselves. Both have fun, but the first kid would probably find his fun a bit more empowering. Power Rangers plays to this kind of imagination like a pro, emphasizing that anyone with any skill set can become a Power Ranger, be they athletic or nerdy.

Animorphs, on the other hands, uses this same approach, but almost as if it were a trap. Anyone can gain morphing powers, be they athletic or nerdy. Who doesn't want the ability to turn into animals and fly around as a hawk or swim about as a dolphin? It's a good hook that many young readers grabbed onto early, but as this series progressed, this fantasy was gradually perverted, revealing itself as a candy apple with razor blades inside. Book five is the more perverse yet, the Yeerks raising Marco's mother from the grave as a military zombie. Kids who came into the series wanting to turn into elephants and kicking alien butt, only for the series to reveal that the morphing powers were more of a curse than a gift, and that the aliens were so, well, alien that not even death is sacred to them. The Animorphs are completely incapable against them, they only survive this book thanks to bickering inner politics, their morphs only helpful in hiding their identities. In this book, our heroes, the people whom the readers imagine themselves as being, are in constant retreat. No battle, no taking a stand, nothing to make you feel better about yourself in the end.

This is not Power Rangers, kids.

Comments

[aubergine-pilot.livejournal.com]

I continue to adore these posts! Please, don't stop with them!

[box-life.livejournal.com]

Animorphs and Power Rangers both had that five person hero group going on (then there was Ax) and two chicks. And I think the same number of minorities? It's been a long time. Actually, these exact ratios seemed really, really common in the 90s. Captain Planet had a similar thing going on, anyway. I'm sure there were others.

[chiapetzukamori.livejournal.com]

Fascinating write-up! I love the discussion on child protagonists and how they influence play. Definitely food for thought!