Pokémon:
A Marxist analysis
Pokémon advocates socialism
and attempts to overthrow capitalism through the idea of communism. This essay
provides a Marxist criticism of Japanese cartoon series “Pokémon” focusing on
the analysis of class relation and to look upon the struggle between the bourgeoisie,
petty bourgeoisie and proletariat.
Pokémon’s original name is
pocket monsters; it was created by Satoshi Tajiri in 1995. At that time the
economic situation of Japan was not very good as a massive earthquake had hit
the country. Tajiri being a middle class man himself had his sympathies with
his class which allowed him to make the protagonist of the series Ash Ketchum a
middle class boy. This essay focuses on major characters Ash, Misty, Brock and
minor characters Gary, Team rocket and the three sensational sisters. The
humans have to catch wild creatures named Pokémon’s to move up in the society.
The goal is to “catch em all” and the humans have to catch more and mighty Pokémon’s
to achieve the ultimate goal of being a Pokémon master.
In his book ‘The communist
manifesto’ Karl Marx outlines the structures he sees as controlling society in
a capitalist system. He calls the upper class bourgeoisie or superstructure that
control the proletariats or working class through coercion and force. Marx
talks about proletariats constantly getting mistreated by bourgeoisie
employers. Peter Barry in begging theory states that
“Aim of Marxism is to
bring about a classless society based on the common ownership of production,
distribution and exchange”
.
[Barry P 150]
It
is based on the belief that those who control the society both culturally and
materially and the dominant class can also dictate what everyone else has
access to in terms of art, media and products available for consumption.
Marxist
sees literature “not as works created in accordance with timeless artistic
criteria but as products of the economic and ideological determinants specific
to the era” .
[Abrams P 149]
There are three classes in
the text; bourgeoisie, petty bourgeoisie and proletariat. Brock, Gary and the
three sensational sisters belong to the bourgeoisie class. Brock is
dissatisfied with being a gym leader and goes to search for more. Gary is a
Pokémon trainer but because his uncle is a Pokémon professor he has it easy. Ash
and Misty belong to the petty bourgeoisie who are constantly trying to move up
the social ladder by honing their Pokémon skills. These characters are looked
down by the bourgeoisie class. Ash is often physically and verbally mocked by
Gary and Misty is separated from the sensational sisters because she lacks
beauty. The Pokémon’s are representative of the proletariat or the labor class.
They respond to the bourgeoisie command. They don’t rebel and feel intense
guilt for failing their masters. The viewers like the dutiful and subservient
Pokémon’s instead of the wild ones.
Pokémon’s get captured; they
work for their masters by fighting battles. When the trainers wins he gets
batches and titles but the Pokémon only gets more battles to win and more
training to do. Pokémon’s are laborers and according to Marx laborers should be
in control of their labor but the labor Pokémon’s do make profit for their
trainers and this is exploitation. So can Pokémon training be called
capitalistic production? No, because they are not actually getting paid. They
get food and shelter but no money. Pokémon’s are kept inside a poke ball like a
prisoner. The poke ball could be hideous place that’s why the wild Pokémon’s
refuse to go in it in the first place. The Pokémon’s are kept in the balls and
they only come out when they are needed by their masters. Pokémon’s lifestyle
doesn’t improve because they are not in control of their labor.
The goal of the bourgeoisie
is to “catch em all” and the goal of the proletariat is to fulfill the goal of
bourgeoisie. The bourgeoisie looks down upon petty bourgeoisie, they constantly
boost of their superiority, the gym leader and trainers see the petty
bourgeoisie as incapable of accomplishing anything. The Pokémon’s are exploited
by every class because their means of production is not in their hands. This
gives rise to class conflict; battles are constantly fought to raise the social
status. Pokémon trainers indulge in violence and physically abuse Pokémon’s.
The different social classes interact only in terms of Pokémon battles and the
journey they undertake to achieve the final goal of becoming the Pokémon master.
The bourgeoisie owns the means of production, petty bourgeoisie aims to own it
and the proletariat does nothing but gets exploited. All characters employ
their time toward the achievement of their goal.
In Pokémon world that master
is superior who owns more Pokémon’s. There is hierarchy in the Pokémon’s as
well, the one which fights better is moved up. The social status or class is
determined by the Pokémon skills of the trainer. The only economic force we can
see is through team rocket. Team rocket is the villain and representative of
capitalism in the series. They wish to sell Pokémon for profit but they are
defeated every time which is a example of communism since the goal if communism
is to eliminate greed and discrimination, to aware people with reality and the
series has Misty as the female protagonist to show that sex or ethnicity is not
a hindrance. There are jobs but nobody actually gets paid, the only way we hear
of money is through gambling and capitalist team rocket. There is also no
central authority in the series, there is police and gym leaders who serve as
ambassadors and law keepers but no dominant authoritative body is visible. The
individuals are supposed to be responsible themselves which is precisely the
point of communism.
Marx believed that
capitalism can only exploit until the proletariat seize control of means of
production and that’s when Mewtwo comes into picture. Mewtwo was created by
team rocket for profit but this Pokémon is the most powerful Pokémon ever and
he turns rebellious. He decided to put his labor towards the goal he sets.
Mewtwo gains the means of production and destroys team rocket, this shows
capitalism leads to its own end.
Tajiri’s Pokémon is a
cartoon series which represents the economic position of his time where the
lower class is trying to use the means of production to level up their status
and the bourgeoisie maintains its position by showing their superiority,
downgrading petty bourgeoisie and exploiting proletariat. The series provides
an optimistic approach by proceeding towards communism and overthrowing capitalism.
Works cited
Abrams, M.H. “Marxist
criticism” A glossary of literary text. 7th ed. Fort Worth: Harcourt
Brace college publishers 1999. 147-153
Barry Peter, “Beginning
theory” An introduction to literary and cultural theory. 3rd ed.
Manchester University press 2009. P 150
Written by-
Deepali Yadav
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