Mah essay
Course: UGEC 1217-E
Date: 13th July, 2013
Topical Essay: Racial Issues of Pokemon
Introduction
Pokemon, alike many other immensely popular franchises, often start to receive negative criticism during the peak of their popularity which was never previously discussed prior.
Among all sorts of possible controversies, Pokemon alongside with Dragonball Z was accused of racism by a self proclaimed cultural critic, Carole Boston Weatherford. [1]
(Note that Mrs Weatherford had not obtained a significant amount of book awards until many years later than her criticisms against Pokemon, and had not become an associate professor until recent years.)
Her articles “Politically Incorrect Pokemon” and “Japan’s Bigoted Imports for kids” [2] had immerged on a local newspaper and a Christian magazine respectively.
Ever since the publishing of her articles, the Jim Crow Museum, claimed to be a memorabilia for racism issues, had listed Jynx and Mr. Popo as two of the modern racial forms list for over a decade, but never publicly exhibited any items of these characters. [3]
Reasons of racial / political controversies
Most of the times, from the 1990’s onwards, racial controversies against the Japanese gaming industry are raised from non-aficionados who lack research, or even have already taken a side before any research.
The game Resident Evil (known as Biohazard in Japan) received a racial controversy due to one of its games featured a white main character firing at some decidedly Hispanic and black zombies. [4] In reality, Resident Evil features scenes from many different countries across the globe, as part of the globalization and accepting multicultural elements. Of course, it would involve scenes where white zombies were shot. Whilst the makers of Resident Evil obviously support the multicultural aim and breaking national barriers in order to make everyone enjoy the game, some people happened to cut a small part out of it and create a huge controversy whether for money, fame or not.
Sometimes, some political offenses cannot really be avoided under the globalized market—as it is difficult for one to please every single person.
The game Ace Combat had received one of these difficult situations, regarding to the embedded feature that allows the player to display the flag of their own country—people from Mainland China were offended that the Taiwanese flag was made an available option, and threatened a boycott. Ace Combat then removed the Taiwanese flag, only to upset more Taiwanese aficionados, claiming that they were immensely offended. This is a typical display of how two groups of people will not get together, yet had to share a same version of the game.
Pokemon modeled after specific persons
However, it is still possible that Pokemon modeled Jynx after someone of dark skin colour. Firstly, the original inspiration of Jynx’s design was never revealed, so nothing can be proven wrong. Secondly, it is apparently known that some human-like Pokemon were modeled after specific real life Japanese persons. Hitmonchan and Hitmonlee, was modeled after 2 different honourable Japanese people—Hiroyuki Ebihara, a Japanese lightweight boxer as Hitmonchan (Ebiwara- in Japanese), and kickboxer Tadashi Sawamura as Hitmonlee. [5]
In the English adaptation, Hitmonlee and Hitmonchan were specifically stated to be named after Jacky Chan and Bruce Lee. In Korean, Hitmonchan was also named after a Korean boxer. [5]
Both Hitmonchan and Hitmonlee are not necessarily aesthetically appealing Pokemon, and perhaps may scare little girls. This basically shows that such ugly designs are also applied onto the Japanese themselves, yet are meant to be treated as an honour instead of defamation or an offense. Even honourable historical figures can be redesigned into a manner in which foreigners would find absurd or even insulting, yet poses no problems in Japan. If a cultural insider has absolutely no problem with people drawing them in such manner, neither it should be regarded as an offense for cultural outsiders—just pure misconception that stemmed from ignorance. Other rather sensitive characters
[ There are apparently more species of Pokemon even in generation 1 that are suggestively human, contrary to Weatherford’s assumptions.
It seemed that more and more people in recent years begin to feel the similarities of Mr Mime with European clowns. There have been a few cases on forums associating Mr. Mime with European boys (guys), claiming that it shouldn’t be a Pokemon. [6], [7] However, no one of significance had been taking the offense in a serious manner.
It has long been suspected that Mr. Mime, a clown-looking Pokemon which first appeared in Generation 1, was Jynx’s male counterpart. The partial reasons are that both species are psychic and human-like. Also, similar Pokemon with similar or related origin tend to be grouped in adjacent numerical orders in the Pokedex. Since Mr. Mime is number 122, whilst Jynx being 124 in the Kanto Pokedex, hardcore gamers develop a strong belief that these two species are related.
Gardevoir
Gardevoir is described as the most aesthetically appealing Pokemon of all times by many netizens. [8], [9] It is primarily snow white in colour and bores a strong resemblance of a female human, yet does not belong to the human shaped breeding category, leading some to depict individuals of this species as guardian angels, ballroom dancers or ballerinas.
Gardevoir was first introduced in Generation 3 as a purely psychic Pokemon, and was not revealed to be partially fairy-typed until Generation 6. [10]
One may accuse the existence of Gardevoir implies beliefs in white supremacy, though one may also defend that with red eyes and real white skin, Gardevoir is more likely to be albino, a medical condition that occurs in all ethnic groups. [11][
Ludicolo
Ludicolo, despite being a non-human related Pokemon, is yet another commonly discussed Pokemon when it comes to racial issues. Some Mexican netizens had raised concerns that it looks rather like a pineapple wearing in traditional Mexican attire—a sombrero-like leaf and zig-zag patterned pineapple.
It is also notable that in the English version of the game Pokemon Mysterious Dungeon, this Pokemon refers the main character as “Amigo”, the Spanish word for “friend”. (Note that the official and most spoken language of Mexico is Spanish.) [12] However, many Mexican Pokemon fans stood out and said that they were not offended.
Due to the fact that there have never been any published articles of complaint against this Pokemon, no changes have ever been made.
The so-called “lawsuit” written on Pokemaster’s Net, “
Spanish American community sues NOA over the "racist" Ludicolo” was actually an April Fool’s hoax. [13]
Since there haven’t been any complaints against Ludicolo, changes are probably not that necessary, and we probably would not expect any changes in the future unless it is re-evaluated as potentially troublesome.What is Jynx and how Pokemon depicts Psychics
The origin of Jynx had never been officially revealed nor being leaked by any insiders known to be trustworthy.
It is therefore still possible that the makers of Pokemon really modeled Jynx after black people, yet it also could mean that they merely were trying to include multicultural elements in their works, and had never been intentionally racist. However, my personal opinion is that this possibility is very unlikely, for Jynx is a species of ice Pokemon (together with psychic) that prefers very cold climates, typically of subzero temperatures. According to the founder of Jynx Club, the origin is likely to be either Zwarte Piete (the Dutch equivalent of Christmas elf), or Yama-uba (a traditional Japanese youkai). [14] Other people, notably people from the UK, usually depict Jynx as Viking. [29]
Though Carole Boston Weatherford argued that the psychic ability of Jynx might suggest associations with voodoo, this is hardly a valid argument—most other psychic Pokemon and psychic humans in Pokemon, are more associated with high intelligence and / or other extraordinary talent caused by a medical condition of the brain or nervous systems, considered as paranormal in medical science. [1], [2], [15], [16] Mathematical capability and photographic memory are so far the most displayed in Pokemon. Most psychic humans in Pokemon are of immense wealth. Psychic humans are often seen wearing elaborate suits or other European clothing, or other lavish attire from other cultures. Many of them like to read books. [17], [18], [19], [20]
Psychic Pokemon are often being compared with computers and usually possesses intelligence that surpasses humans, together with abilities of telekinetic powers. This involves levitating objects, teleportation, creating illusions via psychological or psychiatric interceptions. They also are often said to experience headaches. Though Pokemon had never thoroughly explained the mechanisms of psychic Pokemon, it is assumed to be more related to psychiatric conditions due to their immense intelligence with a little bit of ESP spice in it, rather than voodoo or witchcraft. The element called psychic is known as Esper in Japanese. The psychic move called “Psychic” in English was originally known as Psychokinesis in Japanese, and the Chinese translation contained the word “mental”, literally “Mental ESP”. [21] There is also a psychic Pokemon species called Espeon, further consolidating the argument of Pokemon psychic stems from ESP. [22] Though many psychic humans are depicted as magicians, they are associated with real life performers instead of magick or witchcraft and should be treated as two very separate fields of interest.
Aftermath
The games department delivered a quick response by altering Jynx’s design from black faced to purple faced. This applies to localized American versions of Generation 2 games, and later also in 3D Japanese games. By Generation 3, all Jynx images are purple faced and looked significantly slimmer than the original design. [23]
On the other hand, the anime department seemed to be the most severely affected. Owing to Mrs. Weatherford claiming to be a major award winning cultural critic, and that she personally rang the franchiser for broadcasting Pokemon in USA at that time, the franchiser removed the episode from routine. Whilst other Pokemon episodes were re-broadcasted for a number of times, the very episode she watched, “Holiday Hi-Jynx” was never again broadcasted after her complaint, until a new franchiser took over.
3 years later, 4Kids (the original franchiser) had also been known to cut scenes that contain Jynx in other episodes, and had completely banned another episode, “The Ice Cave” where Jynx was given a major role. [24] In fact, “The Ice Cave” was never voiced in English at all. Despite Pokemon was broadcasted in 74 countries, only Taiwan, Hong Kong and Brazil had ever aired “The Ice Cave”, according to a staff member of
Encyclopædiæ Pokémonis. [25]
Approximately half a year later in December 2003, 13 seconds was removed from the episode “All Things Bright and Beautifly” for containing Jynx. The episode originally showed a Jynx dancing during a Pokemon contest. [26]
Fan Reception
Although Wikipedia’s passage was written as if hatred persisted amongst other gamers, the sources in which Wikipedia link to are primarily websites for entertainment—not sites that are considered informatics, and I personally conceive that the Wikipedia staff had misunderstood the people who wrote the seemingly hateful articles. The linked passages are rather written in a jokingly manner instead of supposing the reader to take it seriously. By shaming selected characters from different games, the main point is to trigger laughter from the reader, instead of spreading hatred.
However, the anger from most Pokemon aficionados, is considered to be genuine, and even applies to regular Pokemon aficionados who don’t personally like Jynx. Debates or even hate language from these people can be observed on Pokemon forums, Dragonball forums and apparently Weatherford’s Youtube videos. [27]
Many Pokemon fans have publicly stated their hopes that Jynx would evolve in Generation 6 (Pokemon XY).
A fake image of a Jynx evolution with style similar to the official Pokemon artwork has triggered very vivid discussions in numerous Pokemon sites and other gaming sites. The discussion of whether Jynx should be evolving, has apparently started back in Generation 4, in which many criticized that Jynx was meant to evolve back then. [28]
Possible xenophobism and/ or racism against Asians?
In the article Politically Incorrect Pokemon, Mrs. Weatherford had tried to use war history to support of why Asians would target African Americans. She had also, in the same article, further complained about the Cantonese name of Darlie Toothpaste. Firstly, the Cantonese name of Darlie Toothpaste is perfectly neutral without any significance of profanity. Secondly, combining Cantonese issues and Japanese issues is not an appropriate idea. Asians who live in Asia do not have to think the same, in fact, our cultures had always been very versatile and it can be difficult for us Cantonese to understand the Japanese people. Moreover, Asia has never been united in any form-- “Asian Union” had never existed in real life.
Several other parents from America had also freaked out after misrecognizing the Buddhism Manji as the Nazi symbol as observed from some Pokemon cards, and had jumped to quick conclusion that Pokemon must have promoted Nazism. [30] Despite the quality of the article and the amount of ignorance involved, the article still made it to significant newspapers, whilst any articles directed to American media of similar quality would not have. Some parents even made use of a Jewish community to accuse Nintendo over the Nazism issue.
My Opinion
If a franchise is purposefully racist, is usually would have multiple incidents of offense towards one or more ethnic groups, rather than just one or two unrelated incidents.
A purposefully racist group may try to defend themselves by either stating that it’s only a joke, or that it was no big deal, or to go even as far as responding with more racial insults as an answer. A good example would be the restaurant Eggrolls ETC which bluntly responded that all the racial slurs targeted towards Chinese immigrants were actually intentional, and that they will continue insulting people. [31]
When GB Glace, the biggest makers of ice cream in Sweden, was accused of being racist to Africans for their new ice cream name and the commercial, responded that it was “no big deal”. Patronella Warg even further defended the company by stating that the name “Nogger” (being different from the word “(BAN ME PLEASE)” by only one letter) had existed since 1979 in which no one complained. However, it is difficult to conceive that any ethnic minority rights group powerful enough to voice out would have existed back then. A more appropriate respond for a non-racist company would be, to at least state that they were concerned. [32]
Pokemon, however, responded by altering Jynx’s questioned design shortly after the incident. It was later revealed in an interview between Pokemon staff and members of Pokebeach.com that “the Pokemon Company does not want anyone to be offended by Pokemon and does not want any negative attention, so they just decided to change its color as a political move.” This implies that the initial offense was unintentional and rather unexpected from them.
[33]
It was not revealed whether the Pokemon Company had dealt with the Jim Crow Museum. However, it seems that most of the Americans have not heard about it, although being under the Ferris State University.
Despite Nintendo has changed Jynx’s appearance in all relative media, Jim Crow Museum apparently had not removed Jynx nor Mr. Popo from their list of new racist forms. [3] In 2008, Jynx was mentioned in a video from the official Jim Crow Museum’s channel, which was part of the proposal of an expansion. [34] They claimed that they “didn’t have place” to exhibit it. I assume that the museum was asking for donations.
Upon questioned as to why Jynx was racist, by a group of people from Hong Kong Pokemon Village (abbreviated as HKPNVE), towards the museum via E-mail, Jim Crow Museum has addressed the issue publicly on that month’s Question of the Month. They argued that although they do not portray Jynx as a drag queen, contrary to Weatherford, (in response to HKPNVE’s statement that all Jynx were female, defeating Weatherford’s drag queen assumption), stated that many African Americans or Europeans were offended. However, the museum itself has failed to present any formal statistics of surveys or interviews. Not even the estimated amount of these individuals was provided. There is currently no method to verify the credibility of the museum’s claims apart from trusting the museum as a trustworthy charity. [35]
Furthermore, both the Jim Crow Museum and Carole Boston Weatherford based almost their entire argument of what the character outer appearance, rather than thinking deeper, such as investigating into the cultural aspects. Given that what a character resembles or looks like is very subjective, and that Pokemon had not launched any other incidents against Africans, plus the fact that Pokemon adjusted the character design in response, it is highly unlikely that Pokemon was intentionally racist at all. I personally find it unacceptable for anyone to jump into such quick conclusions after a mildly sensitive image.
However, in terms of globalizing any franchise, special attention must be paid especially towards any possible offense that may occur in an area. The German versions of Pokemon are noted to edit images with hand signs that might remotely resemble the Nazi’s salutation sign. This is particularly clever and is actually essential. The department responsible for the localization of Pokemon in USA should have carried a certain amount of responsibility in this incident.
My opinion is that for any franchise wishing to be globalized, serious discussions need to be arranged before localization into any foreign country. This is greatly important, as not only it could avoid misunderstanding, appropriate localization may actually make more people accept a foreign franchise which is often positively correlated to economical income.
Total number of words: 2921
References:
[1] Carole Boston Weatherford: Politically Incorrect Pokemon
http://dogasu.bulbagarden.net/bashing/racist_jynx_01.html
[2] Carole Boston Weatherford: Japan’s Bigoted Export to kids
http://www.csmonitor.com/2000/0504/p9s1.html
[3] Jim Crow Museum new racist forms
http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/newforms/
[4] Resident Evil on Huffington Post
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/earl-ofari-hutchinson/resident-evil-racism_b_175010.html
][5] Hitmonchan, Hitmonlee
http://books.google.com.hk/books?id=U7hthImoc5AC&redir_esc=y [/SIZE]
- ^abcdPikachu's global adventure: The Rise and Fall of Pokémon - Google Books. Books.google.com. Retrieved 2011-02-21.
[6] Forum: Mr. Mime white clown depiction
http://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic/1098455
[7] Forum: Should Mr. Mime and Jynx evolve
http://www.neoseeker.com/forums/24412/t1275111-jynx-mr-mime-evolve-not/
[8] Smogon debate: Gardevoir or Alakazam
http://www.smogon.com/forums/thread...s-banana-exeggutor-vs-tropius.3482957/page-12
[9] Pokecommunity debate: Gardevoir or Alakazam
http://www.pokecommunity.com/archive/index.php/t-241758.html
[10] Official website announcing Gardevoir will be fairy type.
http://www.pokemonxy.com/en-us/whats_new/fairy_type/
[11] Albinism
http://www.albinism.org/publications/what_is_albinism.html
[12]Ludicolo refers “friends” as Amigo.
http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Ludicolo#Side_game_data
[13] Ludicolo “lawsuit” written on Pokemaster’s Net, “
Spanish American community sues NOA over the "racist" Ludicolo“ [/SIZE]
[14] Jynx Club Journal debating the origin of Jynx. (requires login)
http://jynxclub.deviantart.com/journal/Jynx-UNLIKELY-to-be-Ganguro-Yamanba-update-245999198
[15] Medical researches of savant.
Pring, Linda (2005). "Savant talent".
Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology47(7): 500.
doi:
10.1017/S0012162205000976.
[16] Medical journal on savant syndrome.
Mottron, L.; Dawson, M.; Soulieres, I. (2009).
"Enhanced perception in savant syndrome: Patterns, structure and creativity".
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences364(1522): 1385–1391.
doi:
10.1098/rstb.2008.0333.
PMC2677591.
[17], [18], [19], [20] Psychic trainers in Pokemon.
http://www.serebii.net/anime/characters/caitlin.shtml
http://www.serebii.net/anime/characters/sabrina.shtml
http://www.serebii.net/anime/characters/lucian.shtml
http://www.serebii.net/card/plasmagale/075.shtml
[21] Statistics and data sheet of Psychic on veekun.com
http://veekun.com/dex/moves/psychic
[22] Statistics and data sheet of Espeon on veekun.com
http://veekun.com/dex/pokemon/espeon
[23] List of Jynx sprites throughout generations in consecutive order.
http://veekun.com/dex/pokemon/jynx/flavor
[24] List of banned Pokemon episodes on Psypokes.com
http://www.psypokes.com/anime/censor.php
[25] Bulbapedia (now under
Encyclopædiæ Pokémonis) references on broadcasting “The Ice Cave”
http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/The_Ice_Cave#Banning
[26] Deleted scenes in the episode “All Things Bright and Beautifly”
http://dogasu.bulbagarden.net/comparisons/houen/ep013_deleted.html
[27] Carole Boston Weatherford’s video flooded with hateful comments.
[28] Fake Jynx evolution image.
http://www.nintendonerds.com/catego...-pokemon-y-jynx-evolution-revealed-rumor-r967
[29] Jynx Viking and debate on evo (PUK) http://pkmn.net/forums/index.php?topic=104478.15
(serebii)
http://www.serebiiforums.com/archive/index.php/t-77858.html
[30] Nazi news article
http://kotaku.com/5834611/when-pokemon-got-a-little-too-nazi-germany
[31] News article on Eggrolls ETC
http://azstarnet.com/news/local/egg...cle_951e231f-1075-5d31-8d7a-7bbcfeea47cf.html
[32] News article on Swedish Ice Cream
http://www.thelocal.se/1277/
[33] Pokebeach interview with Pokemon staff
http://pokebeach.com/2008/07/interview-with-masamitsu-hidaka-at-anime-expo
[34] Jim Crow expansion
[35] Jim Crow Muserum mammy/ question of the month
http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/question/sept09/
