Pokemon Red and Blue1 were the first installments in the Pokemon series released in 1998 in North America. You play as the protagonist who is bestowed with a Pokemon and tasked with becoming the Champion of the Indigo League and completing the Pokedex. This is done by challenging the 8 Gyms scattered across the region, beating the Elite Four, and eventually the Champion. Along the way, the protagonist encounters Team Rocket, the antagonists who use Pokemon for evil. From the outside, Pokemon plays like a collection simulator and RPG, but a deep dive into the lore reveals interesting ethical questions.
Through speaking with NPCs, you encounter the different ways Pokemon are used in this society: some hold them as pets and family while others are committed to battle. There is a general appreciation for Pokemon as creatures that serve humans, especially during battles. Professor Oak comments after you defeat your rival now Champion Blue “Do you understand why you lost? You have forgotten to treat your Pokémon with trust and love! Without them, you will never become a champ again!” (Pokemon Red Text Dump)2. Team Rocket similarly does not respect Pokemon and is often stealing and exploiting them. A quote from a Rocket Grunt: “My POKéMON are my loyal soldiers!”2 reveals the mindset Team Rocket has towards Pokemon. Oak’s comment and the inclusion of Team Rocket allude to abuse towards Pokemon and a lack of respect towards them as living creatures. Oak tasks the player with exploring the region and filling out the Pokedex, but in order to do that, the player must engage in battles. Players do not get the choice to live peacefully alongside their Pokemon, and must instead force them into battles, dispose of weaker ones, and defeat the Pokemon of even stronger trainers. From the use of Pokemon by Team Rocket, it is derived that Pokemon really do not have a choice of what they get to do; they really do not know if they are battling for good or evil. Considering that fact, is it fair to subject these creatures to battles if they are unaware of why they are fighting?
Lt. Surge is one of the Gym leaders players battle to receive Badges, 8 of which are necessary to challenge the Elite Four. Lt. Surge makes one crucial remark before commencing battle, which is “I tell you kid, electric POKéMON saved me during the war! They zapped my enemies into paralysis!”2 Surge being a Lieutenant shows some military background, and his comment about being saved leads us to infer that Pokemon fought alongside people. There are heavily speculated theories about this one quote, called the Pokemon War Theory3, which is linked at the bottom. The origins of this war are unknown, alongside the extent to which Pokemon served in it. From the modern societal interactions the player gets to explore, it can be assumed that Pokemon were forced to aid people in this war. The atrocious treatment of Pokemon does not stop there, however. Mewtwo, as listed in its Pokedex entry, “…was created by scientists after years of horrific gene splicing and DNA engineering experiments” (Bulbapedia)4. Humans extracted DNA from a Pokemon and genetically engineered another. The “horrific gene splicing” exhibits how Pokemon were perceived as objects that scientists could abuse and experiment on.
The ethical treatment of Pokemon further encourages a comparison to our real-life treatment of animals. Similar to Pokemon in Red and Blue, we are unaware of how our actions make animals feel if anything at all. On a survival level, animals are responsive to actions that threaten their safety, but the same cannot be said of Pokemon. Pokemon do not die, but rather faint. Their health can be restored using items like revives or taking them to a Pokemon Center. This mechanic is very in line with RPGs and Action Adventures but is put onto Pokemon instead of the player themselves. The Pokemon then act as both the means through which the player interacts with the world as well as a controlled medium. When the player’s Pokemon faint and are unable to fight, the protagonist blacks out and hurries over to a Pokemon Center to revive them. This fail state shows the necessity of having Pokemon who are able to fight constantly. During battles, Pokemon are dependent on the commands given by their trainers, meaning if their trainer does not care about them fainting, then they simply will. There should be some consideration to preventing pain and death for both Pokemon and animals because they should be respected as the creatures who help us. It feels unethical to allow any creature to die or faint due to poor management on the part of their trainers. Even further and returning to the point about Mewtwo, humans continue to conduct experiments on animals by artificial insemination, product testing, and drug testing. Humans have spliced DNA before, which has resulted in mixed-species like the Liger. The Pokemon series is a social and political commentary on the ethical treatment of creatures and the respect we hold for them, in real life and in-game.
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