Forum - View topicINTEREST: Japanese Fans Revisit Pokemon: The First Movie's Alleged Christian Morals
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FloozyGod
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And to think, some people believe pokemon is satanic
Last edited by FloozyGod on Wed Jan 13, 2016 4:25 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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ikari22
Posts: 48 |
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Nice to see someone outside the community not picking on anime for a change.
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EricJ2
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Although when right-wing US churches pick on Pokemon as "Satanic", it's usually just for the stunt of picking on some mainstream trend for attention. When the C of E does it, it's more likely "Interesting new interpretations", for academics' sake. (Certainly when it took them fifteen years to analyze Mewtwo, it wasn't a hot trend or burning grudge for them.) |
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Sarukah
 Posts: 160 |
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Except that, becoming a goddess is about as blasphemous as you can get, Christian-wise. |
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Kougeru
 Posts: 5527 |
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I honestly think those are just....human morals...rather than Christian morals.
Also, the spoilers are strong in this post. I know this movie is old and Madoka is 5 years old already, but there are new fans getting into the medium every day that might've not seen these. Am I supposed to assume that everything in the "Interests" section is going to have spoilers at all times? It's more irritating when the spoilers are for shows that are entirely unrelated to the topic (Madoka spoilers in a Pokemon article). This is the 4th or 5th time I've seen spoilers on interest (and the third Madoka spoiler since 2014), is there no way you can mark them? |
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malvarez1
Posts: 1660 |
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No, the quote wasn't saying that Madoka becoming a goddess was Christian-like, but that once she was a goddess, her actions were Jesus-like. You know, sacrificing herself to save everyone's soul and all that. |
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Lili-Hime
 Posts: 569 |
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So is this like the difference between British and American Christianity? Embracing pop culture vs 'everything is the devil!' attitude of America... I remember lots of fundamentalists here saying Pokemon was evil because it taught evolution
 I wonder why no one mentioned Evangelion. Kaworu is such a Space Jesus he literally tells Shinji in 3.0 that he'd take the burden of his sins.
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Chrno2
 Posts: 6171 Location: USA |
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Y'know I never thought of the first movie that way but I can see it. And to think at the time when the game came out there was all this backlash about it being Satanic. I never knew why. Probably because I never really gave a look into why they viewed it that way.
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Nephry
 Posts: 57 |
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Huh, that's...interesting. As a Christian myself, I'd like to explain my view.
I think you can find Christian morals in everything, if you look hard enough. It's not that they're always intentional; it's just how you look at things. Pokemon has a lot of good morals: loyalty, friendship, trying again after you fail, setting and working toward goals...and it's simply an entertaining story 
I think it's nice to see a part of the Church not immediately rejecting something because it's popular (without really doing much checking into it), since I think we tend to do that sometimes. At the same time, I can see how Pokemon might turn off parents of younger kids: ghosts, psychics, "evolution" (really, it ended up just being the game's terminology for IT GOT STRONGER AND COOLER) and stuff were mostly what offended my parents, and also some of the outfits might have seemed a little risque by "kids'-show" standards back when I was a kid (my mom once complained about Misty's belly shirt, but I think she was mostly annoyed with how '80s it was  ).
TL;DR: Christian, or even just plain good, morals can be found in almost anything depending on how you look at it, and it's nice to see a part of the church being willing to embrace that Pokemon isn't all bad. In the end, it just boils down to what bothers the individual Christian in their walk with God. |
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TamenishDragon
 Posts: 43 Location: Australia |
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As a Christian myself I have to agree, although I don't think they're necessarily present in every text. Both myself and my best friend were raised in Christian households and we both grew up watching Pokemon. We recently went to an anime convention together and we're talking after about how we never really watched Dragonball as kids. My friend's mum commented on the long drive home that she discouraged her kids from Dragonball because all the characters seemed so constantly angry (on the other hand I never watched Dragonball because I never tuned in consistently enough to follow why everyone was fighting all the time... My parents wouldn't t have cared if I watched it). On the other hand she encouraged Pokemon because the trainers have to care for their Pokemon and friendship, loyalty and working hard to achieve a goal were morals that are generally good for younger kids. I often get a lot out of anime as a Christian, even when I watch stuff that other Christians might consider a little taboo. I just finished Blue Exorcist and really enjoyed the show. After I'd got over the impact of the ending I began to think about the overall message I got out of it - despite what others think of us and the circumstances of birth it is possible to overcome sin and use our gifts for good. This is rather close to the part of the message of the first Pokemon movie. Mewtwo was created for destruction, but decides that it is not how you are born, but what you do with the life you are given that matters. |
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EricJ2
Posts: 4016 |
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Well, that's just it: Out of half a dozen campaigns, none of the Fundamentalists could agree on WHY "Pokemon was evil"--Of course, it didn't help that few of them knew what the game or show were about, either. Some thought it was because Pokemon's powers were "magic", some thought it taught "control of animals", some thought Pokemon were magic "animal familiars". The one thing they did agree on was that it had to be protested at once, because all the parents' children were into it! (Which, if one wanted to be cynical, one might guess is the usual strategy of Fundamentalist "evil" protests, that it's brand competition: Is Disney really "evil" because it "puts gay characters in Lion King", or is it protested because Elsa and Buzz Lightyear take kids' attention away from VeggieTales, and into normal mainstream entertainment just like their friends' at school, that doesn't enforce a theological or political agenda, and they might find wandering away from the church a lot more interesting? They certainly know which of the two franchises has more influence. Oh well, it's the parents who hold the purse-strings, and if you can convince the parents, who've never played Pokemon or read Harry Potter in their life, that the latest trend is "seducing their kids", there's a responsible parent who'll keep their kids safe and homeschooled and away from such temptations!) With the C of E, it was just "Here's a crazy idea!", as picked up by other Japanese who were just analyzing some cultural pop item out of their own childhoods-- Much like some web blogger publishing those old theories that the Gilligan's Island castaways "symbolically represented the Seven Deadly Sins". Last edited by EricJ2 on Thu Jan 14, 2016 2:14 am; edited 1 time in total |
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鏡
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I really wish someone would write about the role of Nietzschean philosophy in Rebellion because it's very heavy-handed.
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Lili-Hime
Posts: 569 |
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I think you got this perfectly; wow never thought of it that way.
Well, they certainly found a reason to hate Frozen! |
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Minimimiau
Posts: 194 Location: somewhere on this planet. |
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Finally a curch says Pokémon teach something good. After 20 yeaars.
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Agent355
 Posts: 5113 Location: Crackberry in hand, thumbs at the ready... |
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Hold up! Who interpreted which characters as gay in The Lion King?
Ginger's lust, I'm guessing? |
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