Pokemon Theories: Some basic questions
Jun. 23rd, 2013 05:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
reynard531Hello everyone. I mentioned before in my commentary on how games translate to story that I am fascinated with the possible inner workings of the Pokemon universe, like what the Fanon Pokedex does on TV Tropes. What I mean is, applying a realistic sense to Pokemon. And I don't mean super realism like Christopher Nolan. That's too much. I mean figuring out the internal rules, looking at the Pokemon world from the perspective of someone that lives in it, citizens and researchers.
I've discussed some of these on the Bulbapedia forums, but I thought I would try here. First off, I wanted to talk about some of the common questions about the Pokemon universe. Please note that I am a fan of the anime and not really the games (never played them, simply because I never had the game system). So I will be drawing mostly from the anime. Also note that these are my opinions. I support them with evidence, but it is still my opinion.
1. Is there a government? Are there laws? Are all the regions one world government or separate?
Answer: Yes, there is a government. The Pokemon universe, with all its cities, technology, and societies, that so resemble our modern society, could not be possible without some sort of governing body. Furthermore, there are police, so that means there are laws, which means a government exists.
As for whether the regions are one world government, maybe. I can definitely say that the regions are separate countries. How? Well, remember the early Advance episodes, the ones in Hoenn? Team Rocket calls their boss to report they are in Hoenn, and Giovanni tells them to set up a base of operations there. He says "While Team Rocket does operate internationally, we don't really have a branch in the Hoenn region."
He says "operates internationally". In order for that sentence to make any grammatical sense, the Hoenn region would have to be a separate country. This leads to the idea that different regions are separate countries as well. One exception could be Kanto and Johto. The two are on the same continent, so they could be a joint country. Another interpretation of that statement is that there is a world government with an European Union-like setup. The EU is a collective government body, but each of the members is still referred to as a separate nation.
2. Are there police officers besides Jenny? Or what about Joy?
Answer: Yes to Jenny. While it may be true that the only officer you see in the games is Jenny, that may just be a move by the game makers to save on creating new avatars. She's just the default representative of the police. In the anime, there was the episode with the Growlithe, K-9 Caper I believe was the name. That showed other officers besides Jenny. The episode where Ash and co are presumed dead on the St. Anne also showed Jenny with other officers.
And while nothing similar has been seen with Nurse Joy, the presumption is that there ARE other nurses and doctors in the Pokemon Center. I don't care if they have Pokemon assistants, there would still potentially be a need for other humans there, especially in a larger center. A smaller one, maybe not. You could say that perhaps "Joy" isn't her first name, but rather her LAST name. Maybe the Joy family has a long and proud tradition of Pokemon medicine. Maybe they helped establish the centers.
3. What about the army? They are never around.
Answer: An army may exist. If they don't show up when they should, that is probably the fault of the writers and game designers. The want to focus on the main characters, so the army is presumably off screen doing something important (like in movie 2). You can also take Lt. Surge. He's a Lt, with dog tags, a military item. The games originally said he was a soldier from America, but I think we can just presume he was a soldier from a Pokemon country like Kanto. There were attempts early in the series history to tie into the real world, with real references like that, but I think it has largely been dropped, and it is so much simpler to say that the Pokemon series happens on it's own Earth. Otherwise, Pokemon would have been in Earth history, and that includes world wars, and it's just a mess.
4. Does the Pokemon League act as the government? Are Gym Leaders political leaders?
Answer: This is a theory that has been proposed before, and I personally find it ridiculous. The Pokemon League never comes off as a governing body. It comes off more as a mix between a sports organization and the ASPCA. They have great legal power and create regulations for Pokemon training and gyms, but that goes along with working with Pokemon. They work with the larger governing body, but are not the actual government. The everyday life of Poke-Earth is tied with Pokemon, yes. With the powers they have, it's a given. But not everything there revolves around them.
As for Gym Leaders as political leaders, that is also ridiculous. A Gym Leader is the strongest trainer in a gym, and runs the gym. They may own the gym, they may have built it. But just because someone is a good Pokemon trainer does not mean they can be a leader in government. Say what you will about political cynicism, but the elected leaders in a government do have a job to do running an ordered society, and a Gym Leader does not automatically have the skills to do that right.
And some Gym Leaders have other jobs. Erika has a business. So does Cilan. And they also have to manage the gym, which when you think about it is a really big job. They have bills to pay, they have people to help (it is a gym for training, not everyone goes there for badges), they have to fix damage to the gym from battle. They have to care for their Pokemon and keep them in shape. It can be said that Gym Leaders can be important public figures. After all, they are high ranking trainers, and that strength could be helpful in a sudden crisis. Some of them are big figures in other ways. Volkner's genius in robotics and electrical engineering helped create the infrastructure of his city.
With that in mind, Gym Leaders may not even have the time or energy to be government leaders, unless being in government is their job in the first place.
EDIT: Looking into Pokemon, I have found that my theory that "Joy" was a last name was confirmed in the DP anime, when Nurse Joy showed her children with different first names, and a husband. If that's true, it's could be the same for Jenny. It's not usual to have families full of cops or families full of doctors.
Also, the idea that "Joy" or "Jenny" is a last name makes so much sense for other reasons. Joy is always called "Nurse Joy". Tell me, if you had a nurse or doctor in a hospital, let's call her Abigail Baxter, how would she most likely be addressed? Would she be "Doctor Abigail" or "Doctor Baxter"? It would be the second. The same can be said for officers. Usually when referring to them, you would say "Officer [insert surname]".
And that's it for now.
I've discussed some of these on the Bulbapedia forums, but I thought I would try here. First off, I wanted to talk about some of the common questions about the Pokemon universe. Please note that I am a fan of the anime and not really the games (never played them, simply because I never had the game system). So I will be drawing mostly from the anime. Also note that these are my opinions. I support them with evidence, but it is still my opinion.
1. Is there a government? Are there laws? Are all the regions one world government or separate?
Answer: Yes, there is a government. The Pokemon universe, with all its cities, technology, and societies, that so resemble our modern society, could not be possible without some sort of governing body. Furthermore, there are police, so that means there are laws, which means a government exists.
As for whether the regions are one world government, maybe. I can definitely say that the regions are separate countries. How? Well, remember the early Advance episodes, the ones in Hoenn? Team Rocket calls their boss to report they are in Hoenn, and Giovanni tells them to set up a base of operations there. He says "While Team Rocket does operate internationally, we don't really have a branch in the Hoenn region."
He says "operates internationally". In order for that sentence to make any grammatical sense, the Hoenn region would have to be a separate country. This leads to the idea that different regions are separate countries as well. One exception could be Kanto and Johto. The two are on the same continent, so they could be a joint country. Another interpretation of that statement is that there is a world government with an European Union-like setup. The EU is a collective government body, but each of the members is still referred to as a separate nation.
2. Are there police officers besides Jenny? Or what about Joy?
Answer: Yes to Jenny. While it may be true that the only officer you see in the games is Jenny, that may just be a move by the game makers to save on creating new avatars. She's just the default representative of the police. In the anime, there was the episode with the Growlithe, K-9 Caper I believe was the name. That showed other officers besides Jenny. The episode where Ash and co are presumed dead on the St. Anne also showed Jenny with other officers.
And while nothing similar has been seen with Nurse Joy, the presumption is that there ARE other nurses and doctors in the Pokemon Center. I don't care if they have Pokemon assistants, there would still potentially be a need for other humans there, especially in a larger center. A smaller one, maybe not. You could say that perhaps "Joy" isn't her first name, but rather her LAST name. Maybe the Joy family has a long and proud tradition of Pokemon medicine. Maybe they helped establish the centers.
3. What about the army? They are never around.
Answer: An army may exist. If they don't show up when they should, that is probably the fault of the writers and game designers. The want to focus on the main characters, so the army is presumably off screen doing something important (like in movie 2). You can also take Lt. Surge. He's a Lt, with dog tags, a military item. The games originally said he was a soldier from America, but I think we can just presume he was a soldier from a Pokemon country like Kanto. There were attempts early in the series history to tie into the real world, with real references like that, but I think it has largely been dropped, and it is so much simpler to say that the Pokemon series happens on it's own Earth. Otherwise, Pokemon would have been in Earth history, and that includes world wars, and it's just a mess.
4. Does the Pokemon League act as the government? Are Gym Leaders political leaders?
Answer: This is a theory that has been proposed before, and I personally find it ridiculous. The Pokemon League never comes off as a governing body. It comes off more as a mix between a sports organization and the ASPCA. They have great legal power and create regulations for Pokemon training and gyms, but that goes along with working with Pokemon. They work with the larger governing body, but are not the actual government. The everyday life of Poke-Earth is tied with Pokemon, yes. With the powers they have, it's a given. But not everything there revolves around them.
As for Gym Leaders as political leaders, that is also ridiculous. A Gym Leader is the strongest trainer in a gym, and runs the gym. They may own the gym, they may have built it. But just because someone is a good Pokemon trainer does not mean they can be a leader in government. Say what you will about political cynicism, but the elected leaders in a government do have a job to do running an ordered society, and a Gym Leader does not automatically have the skills to do that right.
And some Gym Leaders have other jobs. Erika has a business. So does Cilan. And they also have to manage the gym, which when you think about it is a really big job. They have bills to pay, they have people to help (it is a gym for training, not everyone goes there for badges), they have to fix damage to the gym from battle. They have to care for their Pokemon and keep them in shape. It can be said that Gym Leaders can be important public figures. After all, they are high ranking trainers, and that strength could be helpful in a sudden crisis. Some of them are big figures in other ways. Volkner's genius in robotics and electrical engineering helped create the infrastructure of his city.
With that in mind, Gym Leaders may not even have the time or energy to be government leaders, unless being in government is their job in the first place.
EDIT: Looking into Pokemon, I have found that my theory that "Joy" was a last name was confirmed in the DP anime, when Nurse Joy showed her children with different first names, and a husband. If that's true, it's could be the same for Jenny. It's not usual to have families full of cops or families full of doctors.
Also, the idea that "Joy" or "Jenny" is a last name makes so much sense for other reasons. Joy is always called "Nurse Joy". Tell me, if you had a nurse or doctor in a hospital, let's call her Abigail Baxter, how would she most likely be addressed? Would she be "Doctor Abigail" or "Doctor Baxter"? It would be the second. The same can be said for officers. Usually when referring to them, you would say "Officer [insert surname]".
And that's it for now.
