Curate, connect, and discover
(THIS IS MY OPINION.)
Trini is heavily implied to be a lesbian or bi woman. When Zack asks her about boyfriend troubles and she says no, he pauses and asks “..girlfriend troubles?” She responds to this by looking away and remaining quiet.
(For context, Zack has been shown before this to be attracted to her. After this scene, and even DURING this scene, Zack respects her even without outright confirmation and immediately stops his advances, which is ALSO insane in a good way)
Billy is a black boy who is also autistic. He isn’t portrayed as particularly aggressive, stupid, or as any other common stereotype of black men. He’s also very much socially awkward, but his friends don’t mock him for it. The most they do is cut him off if the situation calls for it. They acknowledge his support needs and adhere to them! When Jason hugs Billy and Billy asks Jason to stop touching him, instead of the common “it’s just a hug dude”, Jason listens.
Zack is a complete subversion of Asian stereotypes in film. While he does take care of his mom (because they live ALONE in a trailer park and she’s heavily implied to have cancer) he’s not a studious kid. He skips school most days, he’s loud, he’s borderline eccentric.
Especially in the 2017, post 2016 Election political scene of the USA at the time of this film’s release, I feel like this probably had a MAJOR part to do in it’s failure at the box office.
(Another part might be the way they handled Rita Repulsa and the lack of morphing until the last 40-30 minutes of the movie, but that’s another story.)