• Sinistar@hexbear.net
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    6 months ago

    PoKeMoN iS aBoUt CoCk FiGhTiNg is baby’s first edgy media interpretation. There are multiple storylines over the decades of the franchises existence that deal with Pokemon not wanting to fight and they all conclude with the message that you shouldn’t force them to fight - and in the games it’s stated that when they “attack” you, it’s because they want to test you to see if you’re good enough to be their trainer.

    • RION [she/her]@hexbear.net
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      6 months ago

      “The author wrote the text so the victims are happy with their lot, so criticism of their treatment is invalid” is also an immature media interpretation, and worth about as much as “All characters depicted in this work are 18 or older even if stated otherwise”.

      As I’ve mentioned elsewhere in this thread, the house elves in Harry Potter are explicitly written as content with enslavement, but everybody sees that as transparently problematic. What’s the difference?

      It’s fine to like pokemon (I liked/still kinda like it) but that doesn’t mean I’m blind to the iffy nature of the premise

      • Sinistar@hexbear.net
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        6 months ago

        Look, if it were actual dogs or roosters fighting then you would be right, but we’re talking about magical sprites that breathe fire and create snowstorms here. It’s far enough removed from reality that I think the argument that it’s fucked up is just incorrect on its face.

    • Frank [he/him, he/him]@hexbear.net
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      6 months ago

      Technically pokemon is about Japense kids catching goliath beetles and making them fight, which afaik mostly involves them flipping each other over.

      Like this is what inspired pokemon. Japanese kids catch beetles and make them fight. There’s no “the curtains are blue” here. It’s a pastime to catch beetles, carry them around in little containers, and have them fight each other.

    • BovineUniversity@hexbear.net
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      6 months ago

      The small bugs, birds, and mammals that I obliterate with my god-dragons after I stomp through their homes are just testing me and are actually having a really good time!

    • iridaniotter [she/her, they/them]@hexbear.net
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      6 months ago

      Actually, Pokémon is about cock fighting. The original sprites even had whips. The problem is, it became so popular that they started writing actual storylines, so they had to come up with bullshit to cover for this completely unserious world they’ve built.