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In lugnet.general, Christopher L. Weeks writes:
> The cartoon basically simulates cockfighting, which is an image that I would
> prefer not to idealize for the kids.
>
> Chris
Well, I dunno.
I suppose that to some small extent the Pokemon show does embody
a bit of the cultural Japanese disdain towards animals (witness
whaling), but it doesn't really strike me as cockfighting.
The pokemon are uninjured in the battles. When they get tired,
they are released from the battle. It's more like a wrestling
match than anything else. On the rare occasions when a Pokemon
is actually shown in any danger (e.g. getting sick from neglect)
it's shown as a matter of considerable alarm.
I suppose that's a matter of degree rather than kind, but, at
least in the tv show, it is constantly reinforced that one must
be kind to the pokemon and care for them, or else the pokemon
may leave your care entirely. It's really pretty preachy in
that respect. Any trainers who treat their pokemon callously
wind up being shamed at the end of the episodes.
IMHO: what's going on when little kids watch it is that
they are identifying with the pokemon, much more so than
they identify with the trainers. That's what gets them
caught up in it - when Pikachu is fighting against some
superior scary pokemon, the kids are identifying with Pikachu,
not with his trainer Ash. (This is similar to the way that any
kid identifies with Godzilla rather than the humans he
terrorizes.)
I really can't imagine a kid being inspired to try to sic his
dog on another dog in imitation of a pokemon battle. The kids
would instead just pretend to be pokemon and start wrestling
themselves.
My comments are directed towards the cartoon, rather than
the video games. I haven't played the games, so I couldn't
comment, but I am a little uncomfortable with fighting
video games, particularly the "mortal combat" kind of games,
as I think they can easily way crank up the aggression level
in small kids who play them. I think that to some degree the
Pokemon television show can do the same thing, but I think it's a
much smaller influence, for reasons I could blather about if
anyone was interested in hearing more poke-blather.
The chief "danger" from Pokemon is not that kids will watch
it and then will try to get animals to commit violent acts
upon one another. There's a clearly defined channel for kids
to turn to if they felt the urge to try to enact Pokemon battles
in some way, and that's the card game. I don't think that the
pokemon card game is an unhealthy habit at all, other than
in terms of the spending and obsessiveness it can take to
acquire a collection of cards, which is the danger of introducing
a child to any "collecting" habit, including LEGO.
--
Jeff <jthompson@esker.com> "Float on a river, forever and ever, Emily"
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