so, nothing is pure.
nintendo shapes children and children appropriate pokemon.
i have three sons: 12, 14, and 17. they all have participated in all the
pokemon activities over the course of the past year. they also have (and
still do) play Magic, The Gathering, and D&D, as well as all sorts of RPGs
(role playing games). the older two were heavily involved in teenage ninja
turtles a few years ago.
but the pokemon phenomena does seem different.
these monsters can be cute like pikachu or fierce like charizard (i know,
i should be embarrassed to know this stuff, but i sat with my 12-year old
through the movie and i am always interested in what my kids are doing.)
the variety of creatures encourages all kinds and ages of kids to
participate.
my boys disparage the cute and cuddly ones, and the tv show portrays the
main female trainer as only training cute or cuddly pokemon.
girls do play pokemon at the local pokemon league, and collect the cards
and toys.
there are kids who only collect the cards and never play the card game.
for them, the japanese cards are the most desired.
for kids who play, the foreign language cards are useless.
but collectors or players, toddlers with stuffed pikachus or teenagers
with cigarettes hanging from their mouths, they can all talk knowledgebly
about pokemon.
they seem to primarily fantasize about controlling their own favorite
fighting monsters who love them and love to fight for them. this curious
message about the melding of love and war is certainly not new. one of the
big messages in the movie was the quest for identity: the humans create a
powerful, new pokemon and it struggles with its purpose in life.
it will be fascinating to see how kids take up the messages, which ones
they embellish, which ones get discarded.
kathie
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
start all over.
start all over.
we need to make new symbols,
make new signs,
make a new language,
with these we'll redefine the world
and start all over.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^tracy chapman:new beginning
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Katherine_Goff who-is-at ceo.cudenver.edu
http://ceo.cudenver.edu/~katherine_goff/index.html