Why is pokemon so famous? Is it the cute accent over the e (accent egout I believe)? Is it the snappy tag line (gotta catch 'em all)? Is it that little yellow critter, Pikachu? The answer is d, all of the above. The focus of this review (article, whatever) is to help parents understand why kids go crazy over pokemon and thereby enrich the parenting experience. This is not a bash pikachu article, this is for people who love their kids, and want to let their childrens imaginations run wild.

I have broken my pokemon thesis up into 3 parts: 1) significance of Pokemon appeal, 2) identification parallels of pokemon, 3) pikachu, pikachu, pikachu.

SIGNIFICANCE OF POKEMON:

Pokemon derives the greatest part of its significance from the fact that no other television show has geared itself so perfectly toward its target audience, children ages 6-10. We've had shows in the past such as he-man and batman which amused children of the target audience's age yet had some fatal flaw - for he-man it was the lack of a significant female character (she-ra didn't come along until much later, and she only did cameos ;-) ) and batman had darker characters and also lacked a significant female character. Both shows were also quite violent at times.

Pokemon however remedies these cons. To take care of the lack of a female character Pokemon has introduced several female "trainers" and of course Ash's (the main character) buddy, Misty, who is a constant companion. To take care of the violence element, people and pokemon who are "killed" are not actually injured - they simply are knocked out. Thus, Pokemon exists in a perfect world of sexual balance and perpetual non-violence - both attributes I believe to be positive influences on younger children.

IDENTIFICATION PARALLELS OF POKEMON:

Kids identify with Pokemon - know why? - because of all of the things the Pokemon world offers that your kids draw parallels with in their lives. First of all, there is the element of surprise and discovery which accompanies every episode. There is always something to explore or a new creature to be discovered. Yes, the catch phrase says it all to our target age group: "Gotta catch 'em all." Remember the days of playing in the dirt and finding (miraculously) a snail!? Oh my were you proud of that snail! Pokemon has given us imaginary snails to find: flying snails, swimming snails, furry snails - these kids go "hog-wild" over what they could "discover" in the next pack or episode of Pokemon.

Let's of course not forget or discount the main character, a gritty little kid Ash (approximate age 12?) who is old enough for the little ones to look up to, and young enough for the older ones to identify with. He's questing (never-endingly some might groan) to become the greatest Pokemon master ever. He's searching for identity just as your children will for the next 20 years of their life (maybe more if they're lucky!)

All of these parallels working in tandum creates a sensational experience for children of the target age group. For older kids Pokemon may seem hokey, for them I recommend the newest "kill all enemies and learn a life lesson" show (is Power Rangers still airing?).

PIKACHU,PIKACHU,PIKACHU:

At first I thought of writing this entire section entirely in Pikachu (it would go something like PIKA, Pika, Pikachu,Pika?) but then I realized that no one except me and that cute furry little fuzzball would understand what I was saying. This section is gonna be short and to the point, Pikachu is darn cute! That's right, I'm telling you now, those red dimples and high little voice are the return of shirley temple.

Look: Pikachu talks baby talk. He does. It's not gaga-googoo it's Pika, Pikachu! And you wonder why your 5 year old goes gaga over Pikachu - not to get too Freudian but pikachu becomes the kids surrogate child! Pikachu can display the full range of human emotions with a facial expression and 2 syllables. When ever Pikachu gets "knocked out" in an episode of Pokemon, I find myself close to tears. I need not elaborate any more, Pikachu is unbearably cute.

SYNOPSIS:

Yes, my article was long, but that's why I called it a rant. Yes, maybe I over-analyzed the whole Pokemon thing a bit, but that's why I called it a rant. And no, I'm not going to say yes again.

Hopefully this deep dive into the world of Pokemon will help you parents deal with the stress of raising the next great Pokemon trainer. Personally, I think a hug and a "Pika!" will do just fine.

- Av

P.S. I really like the show, and I'm much too old for it. Too bad it's on at 7 AM.





Recommended: Yes