What I like about pokemon

             Over the past couple years Pokemon has become an incredibley popular universe for children all around the world.  Kids from 3 to thirteen are drawn to the simple plot, colorful characters, and the fantastic idea of traveling without adult supervision in a world of strange and powerful animals at their beck and command.  They flock to purchase and own anything and everything Pokemon.  But as many fans as Pokemon has, it has enemies.  Critics find Pokemon dull, redundant, annoying, cutsey, and basically downright insulting to their intelligence.  Surely it is made for children.  So why would I, a twenty year old college student, an intelligent (I hope) scholar be so taken by such a simple, childish, plotless TV show?   potential.  
              I look at pokemon and I see the potential of a facinating story.  Their culture is dominated by the juxtaposed relationship of human beings (the dominant “advanced” species) and pokemon (the “uncivilized” cultures used for entertainment), and centered around a variable bloodsport.  Once one strips it to its essential elements, once one looks past the goofy, balloon-like character design, the poor plot development, and the stories built solely for children, the world of Pokemon offers a critique of our own societies, violence-driven, love-driven.  I once read that what makes a really good story is the employment of universal elements of human interest and behavior.  pokemon has those underlying elements but doesn’t use them in it’s various incarnations: games, shows, movies, ect..  However, once these essential elements are realized it can be as dark, disturbing, complex, and philosophically involved as one might want for it to be.
Imagine a world in which one society rules and dominates a myriad of so called “lesser societies”; so called simply due to a lack of communication between the two.  As someone concerned with animal rights I can see abundant similarities to our own relationship to “lesser” beings, but, that not being the focus of my rant I shall leave it as simply a parallel.  The pokemon, intelligent, cultured creatures in their own right, are captured, enslaved and forced to fight  each other until one faints.  A  real animal can take a hell of a beating before it loses conciousness.  pokemon are repeatedly scratched, bitten, burned, poisoned, and even attacked physchologically to a point that their bodies shut down to unconciousness.  And then they are healed and have to do it all over again.   The show dummies it down; it gives the impression that they would all be happy to fight for their respective trainers, but surely not all of them would be too keen on being taken from their homes to be brutalized by other pokemon.  Why would any of them even feel obligated to do so, being proven just as capable of critical thought as human beings?  Well that’s a good question.  Why not come up with our own answers?  The more questions one comes up with, the more interesting and multi-faceted the whole Pokemon universe becomes, and that was only one small fraction of the potential.  Each and every pokemon species would have it’s own myths, society, and culture.  Imagine the idea, the essentials, put into the hands of such an accomplished author and world-builder as Ursula K. LeGuin and then you’ll see what I see.  And that’s what I like about Pokemon.