DEMONIC, SATANIC, AND JUST PLAIN EVIL...Or not...
A little background about myself might be in order here: so let's start with the fact that I was raised in Alabama, caught right in the Bible Belt, by a non-denominational mother, and a southern baptist father. That said, my childhood was dominated by...anything but the popular "garbage" of my generation. May I, just, list a few things that might have been considered evil, and I'll even agree to some extent on some notions. This list is in no way a complete list of the restrictions on my childhood, just some of the most notable!
Legend of Zelda: main character associates with fairies and uses magic. Sure, you can argue that fairies are representative of supernatural spirits, they lead people astray from the truth of God or whatever, but...it's a bloody child's video game! I mean, Disney was okay, but not Zelda. Come now.
Dragonball Z: Frankly, as a child I couldn't find anything wrong with Dragonball, and as an adult I've gone back and watched it, and I see my father's opposition keypoints, but they're based in ignorance. The key problems being characters with the title "demon" and the later introduced character "Mr. Satan," or "Hercule." Let me be clear, I understand my father's opposition to all things "demonic" but it's ridiculous when it comes down to other cultures' entertainment. Most anime assign the keyterm "demon" to powerful fighters and spirits, because that's what they're called. Plus, Piccolo, the first Demon King (the one my father saw and took issue with) isn't even a demon, heck, he's just a foreign creature that everyone called a demon (hmm...sounds familiar.) I wasn't praying to a statue of the Demon King Piccolo, heck, I was cheering for someone to kick his tail. Which happened, the Demon King was defeated, and his son overcame his father's evil and became a hero. If anything the story might be seen as having some semblance to the story of Christ, Goku being this Christ figure who promises everyone, even his greatest enemies, a second chance. Well, except for the Demon King, who...died. Fitting, I suppose.
Yu-Gi-Oh: Oh yeah, there's one I can actually stand behind. I really REALLY enjoyed that card game. Still do. I can recognize the evil seen in it too, the game is about summoning demons to destroy your opposition. For the most part, as long as you assume the interpretation that all things unnatural and magical are demons. So yeah, I can't necessarily disagree, but at the same time I argue that, again, it originates from a difference of culture and a simple desire for entertainment. No one is worshipping the Dark Magician as a savior of the universe, just playing him to win the game. The concept of "sacrificing" to summon more powerful creatures or to cast more powerful spells is akin in game logic to sacrificing a pawn to the enemy to setup a powerful gambit in chess.
Saturday Morning Cartoons: This one's different. Everything above I've been able to pin on Japanese culture and legitimacy due to different beliefs...but then you have American cartoons, such as Johnny Bravo, Ed Edd 'n' Eddy, and Cat-Dog. The best I can figure, my father took issue with these due to his opposition toward Johnny's womanizing, and just the sheer stupidity present in the other two. Which isn't unfounded, but, again, it's a children's cartoon. There's not a lot of deep philosophical thought in them, except at the end of a handful of episodes where it's like "Oh, and this is the moral objecting Johnny learned about womanizing," and then no further improvement on character. So yeah, okay, take issue with it, make sure it doesn't rot the mind, but forbid it as a sleight against God?
Pokémon: Here's the big one, for whatever reason. I suppose it's because it was just so easy to pick apart and it was the first BIG one. I mean, Dragonball was big, but it was a different kind of big. Pokémon was a video game, a card game and a tv series. In truth, I had minimal experience with the card game and video game. I was only really exposed to the anime for the longest time. Even that I had limited exposure to, and why? I honestly don't know except that someone in a church somewhere said "Hmm...Pokémon...Pokeymon...Pok-eymon...demon." That broke it, then came the logic: "Pokémon stands for Pocket Monster, monster is synonymous with demon." Yes...well it's also synonymous with rascal, does that mean everytime I was called a rascal I was secretly being called a demon? What about when we call dogs and cats little monsters, are they also demons? The idea that Pokémon are demons is probably the largest stretch in anything else I was forbidden from viewing.
I guess there is some sort of foundation for these things. What are they though? Is it that Ash is abnormally resilient, so he have demonic powers? I would argue that Ash was resilient because it was a children's cartoon, like Tom and Jerry, and you can't show him get killed by the first bolt of lightning that hits him. Maybe because Pokémon trainers are empathic with their Pokémon? Surely that shows some intervention of dark powers! Well...no. Pokémon trainers don't "understand" their Pokémon. It's not like communing with beasts, the evil power of witchcraft. It's like when I "understand" that my dog wants to play, or that my cat caught another mole and left it on the back porch as a gift. I don't have to speak to the spirit of the animal to know why she's meowing frantically and leading me around the house, I just have to be familiar with the my pets, which is what Pokémon trainers are, familiar. No...Pokémon aren't "familiars," stop it.
On the other hand, what would the series be without a bit of supernatural content? There is definitely a gym leader who "has psychic power" and another (maybe the same, I don't recall perfectly) who is "possessed by a ghost" and yes, that totally happens, and I'll agree that it's "satanic" or whatever. But let's glance at something real quick. The idea that these things happen isn't evil. I mean, the story of "Legion" speaks of the demonic possession of a man in the bible. These events in Pokémon aren't portrayed as good, glorious things that we should be excited about. In fact, our protagonist overcomes the psychic powers of his adversaries, and the possession of ghosts, through his own strength, determination, and trust in his comrades. Yeah sure, he didn't do it through "God" but...it's a children's cartoon, that's not Veggie-Tales, so yeah, no Divine Intervention.
There's also the ever present issue of "Evilution" in Pokémon, and yes, Pokémon does present "Evolution" in the very first game. But evolution in Pokémon, is actually metamorphosis. But, Pokémon also presents "the theory of evolution" as a scientific theory. No, that's not the "Man came from monkeys" theory, though I consent that Pokémon has that too, sort of, but instead it presents a series of bird Pokémon from different regions who have different traits based on where they're found. This is sort of the origin of "The Origin of Species" as written by Darwin, in that he studied birds from across a series of islands and found that they all came from the same root, but had adapted to their locations. Although I will concede that Pokémon does go directly against most ideologies by introducing the idea of both a "great creator" and a "root of all cellular life," the Pokémon mythos is a bit broken. They also expressly state in every instance that this is only how some scientists have perceived these Pokémon (Mew "may" be the first Pokémon and the origin of Pokémon, Arceus "may" be the God-like creator of the Pokéverse). Yeah, that's bending space a lot, again though, fictional universe, at no point does the Pokémon universe claim to be ours. Well...until Pokémon Go, and even then, it's just one more mythos out of thousands, like the one where ancient Egyptian Gods looked like Transformers and lived amongst humanity.
Anyways...
To the point that Pokémon is evil and is being used to corrupt our children, no, it's not. If anything Pokémon, and other RPG style games directed at children, help to do more than just entertain. Games in general have benefits to the function of the brain, benefits that I didn't go to college to study, but can recognize in my day to day life nonetheless. Of course these benefits also differ from person to person.
Due to Pokémon, I know the importance of organization, because I had to teach myself how important organization was, or I'd get rid of some pretty good catches. Sure, you learn this in school or from parental lecturing, but it sticks so much better when you don't realize you're learning it. Similarly Pokémon forces mathematical skills and logical reasoning on children. My level 20 Bellsprout doesn't stand a chance against a level 18 Charmeleon, but my level 17 Staryu can probably put up a good fight, only because of type advantages; at the same time, my level 30 Ivysaur will probably still wreck that level 18 Charmeleon, despite his elemental weakness, due to his excessive level.
Puzzle solving is required throughout the game, a necessity to revisit old information to better yourself, optimization to save time and space while getting the job done to the best of your abilities, all of these, lessons I learned from Pokémon. There's also intrinsic moral values I suppose, but I choose not to draw my moral values from the kid who says "even if my Pikachu isn't stronger than your Onix, even if I'm at a terrible disadvantage, I can still power through and win!" I'm more of the opinion that if Pikachu isn't a good match, maybe I should cut my losses and go catch a Mankey, there'll be time to improve my Pikachu later.
What was I saying? Oh yeah, Pokémon rocks, and is in no way satanic! At least, in as far as the Holy Bible isn't considered satanic. And, no, that's not me calling Pokémon the equivalent to the Holy Bible. It's me pointing out that evil existing doesn't make the content evil, the very presence of evil is the only reason for good to exist.
Is that it for my rant today? Yeah, I think so. I love my parents and I wouldn't be where I am without them, and frankly having these things cut from my childhood just adds value to them and my conversation, so I'm not mad. I'm just saying, these are the things I've witnessed, and my opinion on them. I can't blame anyone for what they believe or how they show it. Well, I mean, on common ground terms. But that's a debate not intended for this blog! As a side note:
Oh my gosh! I'm level 13 and I have a 1000+ Flareon! Yay!
#PokémonGo
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