Pokemon and Philosophy

The new Pokemon game came out last week, and once again, I am very impressed. The games continue to mature and evolve and raise philosophical questions about the Pokeworld. The release of Black and White 2 has led to a lot of attention from the animal rights group PETA. They say that the game promotes animal fighting and teaches kids that animals are ours to use. These are claims that I find ridiculous because I grew up with the games, yet still somehow became a vegetarian at 9, a vegan at 15, and even briefly interned at PETA itself. I personally think that the franchise teaches love and compassion toward animals, because that's certainly the effect that it has had on me. In the first black and white games, the morally ambiguous teen plasma are traveling around telling everybody that they should release their Pokemon. They say that catching Pokemon is wrong, and that Pokemon should be free. In this world, everything revolves around Pokemon. Pokemon are people's only form of defense and people's best friends. Yet the people of this world still listen to Team Plasma and reevaluate their lives, and some even do release their Pokémon. Just the sheer open-mindedness of these people really impresses me. Their willingness to even consider a standpoint that goes against everything they've ever known. By the end of the first game and into the second game, it becomes apparent that Team Plasma are indeed the bad guys. They don't want people to release their Pokémon for the good of the Pokémon, but because they want to take over the world. Still, as you wander the streets and the towns of the newest games, you encounter people who have been influenced by the message of Team Plasma. One guy says he wants a Pokeball as big as a basketball because he thinks his Pokemon would be more comfortable in it. Another guy says he just refuses to even put his Pokemon in Pokeballs anymore. People are concerned about Pokemon, and I think feel a communal sense of guilt because of how Team Plasma's message has forced them to rethink their prior assumptions. This guilt is maybe most apparent in Pokewood Studios, a new feature in the game where your character can star in movies. I think a lot can be said about a society from its movies, and a lot of these movies address the human and Pokémon relationship. In one movie, you play a scientist who is transported to the future where evil bug Pokémon rule and put humans into Pokéballs. In another, your sister is sucked into a Pokéball and becomes a giant monster. It's reinforced throughout the game and all the games, that the Pokemon and human relationship must be one that's loving and kind. But the trainer is still the one who is in control. Losing that control is a terrifying idea for humans in the Pokeworld, but also one that they feel immense guilt about. Trainers want to feel that their Pokemon are happy in their Pokeballs, but Team Plasma forced them to rethink this. The movies are just one way that this guilt is manifested in the game. PETA assumes that a game has to be black and white, good or evil. But Pokemon manages to be wonderfully complex, combating the question of whether or not catching and battling Pokemon is right, with the emphasis on loving and trusting relationships between Pokemon and people. Characters throughout the game have diverse opinions, and it's not always pointed out whether their opinions are right or wrong, good or bad, and so the player is encouraged to be open-minded about the thoughts of other people and non-judgmental, taking in information and drawing individual conclusions. At one point in the game, a trainer exclaims, All people should think for themselves about the nature of the relationship between people and Pokemon. It's not something Team Plasma gets to decide for everyone. It's an important sentiment, and one that is relevant to many things other than just Pokemon.