"The Philosophy Of Pokemon" or "Why Is There More Altruism In Kids Movies?"

[Seil]

Or philosophy, for that matter. Seriously - The Dao Of Pooh is an interesting read. Go check it out.

Anyways, we're talkin' 'bout Pokemon here. Sure, you can talk about "poke-slavery" here, (Thanks, Arcanum) but 'M talking about the movies. The ones where Ash Ketchum is an actually decent dude. In the first movie - I don't know if anyone remembers the last time they saw it - it begins with Mewtwo literally asking "Who am I? What am I?" He "wakes up" in the laboratory where he's created in among the scientists who created him - with a mighty fine intelligence, by the way - and communes with his creators. He is brought by Giovanni - the leader of Team Rocket - into a world of pretty much constant fighting, and told by the man that he was created for this life. Mewtwo rebels and the entire movie is the most powerful Pokemon in the world try to find his place in the cosmos the only way he knows how. It's only when some punk kid steps in the way of a fight that he discovers himself.

And in that Pokemon flick what with the Unknown, Pokemon 3, there is a little girl whose father... well, he doesn't abandon her for his research, but she feels pretty alone. Her mother is gone - because of why I cannae remember - but the movie is trying to pull our heartstrings over this little chick. And then the apocalypse happens inside her house and Entei comes to her rescue. She wishes for a father figure and gets this (totally rad) fire type Pokemon. In the climax of the flick, where the Unknown are going to destroy everything (inside the house) as every (inside the house) apocalypse demands, Entei leaps into action and tells her that 'Hey, you're a pretty rad chick. I was happy with you. Be happy.' and saves the day.

Originally Posted by Kids Movie

Molly - I was happy... and proud to be your father. The last thing I can do for you is to take you out of here.

"But how?"

I was born of your dreams. Believe in me, and there is nothing I cannot do!

Then there's Pokemon Whatsits, the one with Lugia. Now in that flick - you've probably stopped reading past the first paragraph, so I won't talk about how long it's been since the flick was released - the world is gonna end (again) so they get Ash Ketchum to save it. (Again.) Anyway, the great scene in that flick - aside from watchin' Moltres, Articuno and Zapdos (If you've continued past the first paragraph I think you're a bigger nerd than I am, just so ya'know) blow by in the final scenes is the huge number of Pokemon gather at the blowing. See, prophecy, yadda, yadda, blah, and all the Pokemon in the world know that there's gonna be a battle of literally Earth-shaking proportions going down, so they show up to see if they can help. Literally (in this fictional movie) hundreds of Pokemon travel thousands of miles to try and help in some infinitesimally small way to save the world.

So let's see: in the first flick we've got this Pokemon literally looking for meaning and purpose. In another movie we've got a group of Pokemon hoping to be part of a whole, hoping to achieve something for the greater good, to help those that they've never known. In yet another flick, we've got this little girl hoping for a parent, literally wishing for love personified, and she gets to hear it (honestly) say "You're pretty awesome." So what's this doin' in a kids flick? Isn't Pokemon some anime mumbo jumbo kids thing?

(I literally just thought of BHS' over-analyzing thread, but I dun wanna resurrect that thing when I can talk about my pokemans.)

[PCD]

Pokemon has always had a good story at its heart. One of friendship and sacrifice for one another. It gets lost, often, under all the super kiddy values and makin' guys fight each other. But it's there. I've always remembered, shortly after I fell out of my Pokemon phase, my dad told me he happened to see an episode on TV; one where Ash and his Pokemon were stuck in a frozen cavern and at risk of freezing to death in a blizzard. Ash actually put his body in front of a hole in the cave so the others wouldn't freeze, and the Pokemon then insisted on gathering around him for warmth. My dad said, "It was weird, I was surprised at how..."

"Cheesy it was?" I said, trying to be more mature and cool by not liking Pokemon anymore.

"No. It was actually kind of touching. Like these guys really totally care about each other. That's really deep friendship."

For my dad to admit that a cartoon like that actually was touching is a big deal. It really startled me. That was like nine years ago, but I still feel kind of embarrassed over brushing it off, after he said that.

[Aerozord]

problem with pokemon isn't that its story is bad, its just the same story every single episode for 10 years.