Chroma Key by Brandon Dumas is the story of five teenagers with attitude that are chosen to save the world from an imminent alien invasion. Kim, April, Fuchsia, Parker, and Emily are all childhood friends with a shared love for the Super Fighting Mighty Fighters, a cheesy live-action television show featuring color-coded superheroes in spandex fighting rubber-suited monsters. After years of slowly drifting apart, the group finds themselves recruited by Luna, an alien refugee, who tasks them with defeating the bloodthirsty Uoari. The group must now defend the earth while reconciling their shattered friendship.
Where does the line between diversity and tokenism lie?
So we have a team of multicolored superheroes, and underneath their helmets their skin tones and races are also a wide spectrum. That’s great! …but do they actually acknowledge their differences and struggles? That’s a whole other question. As discussed so far, Chroma Key leans heavily on the tropes set by the source material it is building upon. One of the cornerstones of the Power Rangers franchise as a whole is how racially diverse the teams have always been. Aside from some faux pas in the early years — which have been addressed and apologized for long ago — credit should be given to their efforts to make sure their audience sees superheroes that look like them. The big question is whether that is an example of actual diversity because, besides being racially diverse, what else is there? Also, not that you would expect it or want it from a show like Power Rangers, but racial issues are never tackled. In a positive way, it does reinforce the idea that anyone can be a Ranger, but what it ultimately produces is tokenism, not diversity.
Credit: Brandon Dumas
A four-panel page.
First panel: April’s parents are looking at each other.
April’s mom: Great! That’s great. Though we, um… might need to do something about your hair first, if that’s okay?
Second panel: April is looking up at her parents with a questioning look.
April: What do you mean?
Third panel: April’s mom is holding up her hands beside her head to show the volume of April’s hair.
April’s mom: Oh, you know… it’s just getting a little… …much?
Fourth panel: April looks back down at her plate as she plays with her breakfast, hand holding up her head, looking glum. Her sibling is also at the table, also gloomy.
What is tokenism then? When a character exists to simply create the veneer of diversity, especially when the rest of the characters are all pretty homogenous among themselves, that is tokenism. Shows like Power Rangers are guilty of this practice because character development overall takes a backseat to the plot and action. Even then, it is generally the Red Ranger that gets the most development which, for the most part, revolves around self-discovery. For Red Rangers of color, their skin tone and race is never an issue. Here is where Chroma Key comes in as a transformative fan creation: the diversity of its team is genuine. It goes beyond the perfunctory by acknowledging and developing their personal circumstances and struggles, like those that stem from racial issues. For instance, in the panels above, April is depicted as having white parents and a sibling. At first glance, it is a good representation of racially diverse immediate families. However, it goes a step further by depicting that April has to deal with microaggressions even at home. Judging from her sibling’s also sullen look, it’s safe to say that their family might not be particularly ideal.
Credit: Brandon Dumas
A seven-panel page.
First panel: Fuchsia is looking down at her closed fist.
Fuchsia: I mean… I guess.
Second panel: Fuchsia shadowboxes in place.
Fuchsia: It did feel pretty good.
Third panel: Kim is eagerly looking up at April, who has her arms wrapped around herself, looking anxious.
Kim: April?
April: I did feel… safer. Like… I don’t know. Everything that usually holds me back was… quieter, somehow.
Kim: Right!
Fourth panel: A close-up of April as she looks down on her hand on her chest.
April: Like maybe we really had a chance to stop those things… to keep what I dreamed from happening.
Fifth panel: Kim, hands on her hips, looks at Parker who is leaning against a tree.
Kim: Parker, I’m not even going to ask you, but deep down I don’t think you hate all of this anywhere near as much as you want us to think you do.
Sixth panel: A close-up of Parker, looking cautious and doubtful at the ground, arms crossed
Parker: You don’t know anything about what I think.
Seventh panel: A profiled close-up of Kim as she excitedly talks to Parker off-panel.
Kim: You came back. Twice now. You could have run away, but you didn’t.
Credit: Brandon Dumas
A seven-panel page.
First panel: A profiled shot of Kim as she talks to Emily off-panel.
Kim: What do you think, Emily?
Second panel: Emily, hands behind her back, perks up.
Third panel: Emily signs to ask if Kim is talking to her.
Emily (signing): (Me?)
Fourth panel: Fuchsia signs her apology to Emily.
Fuchsia: Ahh, I’m Sorry, E… We should’ve been signing, or at least speaking louder…
Fifth panel: Emily kindly signs that she understands.
Emily (signing): (It’s fine. Know everyone’s stressed out)
Sixth panel: Emily sighs as she signs
Emily (signing): (Don’t know what to think. Everything is crazy)
Seventh panel: Emily is signing, looking concerned.
Emily (signing): (But… Monsters tried to kill us)
Having empathy and learning from each other’s reality is a main theme in the story, which is the greatest boon of having an actual diverse cast. At the beginning of the story, Fuchsia is depicted as being slightly estranged from her family due to her transitioning. In a flashback, it is revealed that she drifted away from Kim and the others even though they supported her and called her by her chosen name. After their first fight as a team, she comments on how the powers felt good, and April feels similarly as she was able to keep her own anxiety at bay. For both of them, the experience was empowering in the sense that it gave them control and agency. For Parker, the whole situation is a lot more dire. They are the natural skeptic of the group, which clashes directly with Kim’s blind optimism. Parker lives a very self-guarded life as they have been hurt before, particularly by Kim who had little to no patience for their coming out as non-binary and perceived pretentiousness. They have the most to learn from each other, which the group has a history of as in the past, they all learned ASL to make sure Emily felt included. In turn, Emily is depicted as an incredibly brave and resilient member of the team, matching if not surpassing Kim. She’s allowed to be a nuanced character characterized by her disability but not defined by it. Transformative fan creations allow these explorations in ways that source materials often refuse to do so.