Shadsie
Sage of Tales
Okay, this is just a very weird thought that came to me after experiencing some smell-'tarded wank on another forum. (On a subject having nothing to do with Pokemon, actually). I rarely ever check the "Fandom Secrets" livejournal anymore, but it used to be a place that amused me. (It's a forum where anons post photoshops of their "darkest fandom secrets" for people to see and comment on anonymously). Someone posted a cute secret about wishing their favorite character could be with them in Heaven and everything wanksploded because a couple of trolls decided to show up and helpfully inform everyone that Heaven didn't exist, it was the equivalent of believing in unicorns and that everyone who'd ever had the notion was stupid. (You know, on a board about longing over fiction and fictional characters and having fun with speculation). It didn't really bother me much, being standard and particularly uncreative wank, until I realized I was feeling vibes from these people that they not only thought everyone goes "poof" when they die, they seemed to *actively want it* (at least for everyone but their smart selves). That's the feeling I got from them anyway - an easy feeling to get from trolls.
That lead me to the sudden thought "I've just played Pokemon Y, through the story and this silly little videogame handled issues of life, death and human longing SO MUCH BETTER than most of the Internet does!" How is that?
The main plot of X/Y, at least as I remember in between catching and training my pokemon, has to do with Team Flare reviving an ancient pokemon-powered superweapon in order to wipe out everyone but their stylish selves to create a "better world." The superweapon was long ago created by a man who'd lost his beloved pokemon-companion in a war who was using it to revive his poor dead friend. After this, disgusted upon being brought back to life at the cost of many others' lives, the pokemon left him, the man became angry and decided end the local wars with an explosion his resurrection-machine turned weapon.
I found the plot a little confusing, yet pretty simple - and here it is, speaking more to me about basic human longings that real world human beings who try to have religious/anti-religious arguments on the Internet.
The game didn't give me any definitives regarding the existance of a Heaven or an afterlife, except in some of the 'dex entries of ghost-type pokemon. My main team has a possessed sword, for cryin' out loud ("Soul," he's such a butt-kicker), but there's really nothing definitive. Maybe it's because I got Y, the one with the "Death" legendary, but characters post-game were telling me to "enjoy the time I have" with my pokemon with a heavy general emphasis on the preciousness of temporary life. The story handles ambiguity and the preciouness of existence well.
It also dealt with human longings not to lose the people/pets/beings that are precious to us. Az loved his little Floette so much that he was willing to do anything to get her back and spent several centuries searching for her after that. He wanted to be reunited with the one he loved - (much like people in the real world hope for in concepts like "Heaven"). He cursed himself with immortality to try to get to that place where what is lost is found and there are no more separation. Though he went about his longing in entirely the wrong way, the longing (to have his friend back) is not condemned and is shown as a function of the human heart.
The third player in this is Team Flare, of course. They are a group of people who think they know what's best for the world. They have a touch of that "omnicidal mania" that I sometimes get in my angrier/more depressed moments that I fortunately do not have the power to act on. They think in terms of who is worthy of survival and who is not in regards to saving the planet from overpopulation and overconsumption. I find that Team Flare thinks like a lot of dictatorships or like a lot of philosophical movements who think, say "I wish we could kill/sterileize all the idiots" and people who think "Only a certain kind of people with certain kinds of beliefs will inherit the future." Instead of being content to leave the people they don't like slowly die out in the dustbin of history, they are proactive. This of course means that they are the greediest and nastiest of humans, themselves, just the kind of humanity that Lsyandre wished to rid the world of.
(Part of me doesn't actually judge Team Flare too harshly. As I've implied, I have a "Humanity Sucks!" attitude and occasional desires to see us all wiped out, too - though I wouldn't leave any survivors in fancy red suits if it were up to me).
So, yeah, I was just thinking about how FREAKIN' POKEMON is better for exploring ideas of life, death, survival and humans' relative worth than people talking things through on the Internet, or even, in some cases, meatspace. Ideas and longings are explored without necessarily being condemned, at least not without some examination (or pokemon battles).
Then again, I have this pet theory that sometimes, fiction really IS better than "life" for some things, that sometimes we asborb great Truths better when we're allowed to disgest them in fantasy-story form than if someone were to try to tell us a thing or convey their perspective on something straight out. Sometimes, even simple stories can out-profound people's "real" arguments for subjective matters.
That lead me to the sudden thought "I've just played Pokemon Y, through the story and this silly little videogame handled issues of life, death and human longing SO MUCH BETTER than most of the Internet does!" How is that?
The main plot of X/Y, at least as I remember in between catching and training my pokemon, has to do with Team Flare reviving an ancient pokemon-powered superweapon in order to wipe out everyone but their stylish selves to create a "better world." The superweapon was long ago created by a man who'd lost his beloved pokemon-companion in a war who was using it to revive his poor dead friend. After this, disgusted upon being brought back to life at the cost of many others' lives, the pokemon left him, the man became angry and decided end the local wars with an explosion his resurrection-machine turned weapon.
I found the plot a little confusing, yet pretty simple - and here it is, speaking more to me about basic human longings that real world human beings who try to have religious/anti-religious arguments on the Internet.
The game didn't give me any definitives regarding the existance of a Heaven or an afterlife, except in some of the 'dex entries of ghost-type pokemon. My main team has a possessed sword, for cryin' out loud ("Soul," he's such a butt-kicker), but there's really nothing definitive. Maybe it's because I got Y, the one with the "Death" legendary, but characters post-game were telling me to "enjoy the time I have" with my pokemon with a heavy general emphasis on the preciousness of temporary life. The story handles ambiguity and the preciouness of existence well.
It also dealt with human longings not to lose the people/pets/beings that are precious to us. Az loved his little Floette so much that he was willing to do anything to get her back and spent several centuries searching for her after that. He wanted to be reunited with the one he loved - (much like people in the real world hope for in concepts like "Heaven"). He cursed himself with immortality to try to get to that place where what is lost is found and there are no more separation. Though he went about his longing in entirely the wrong way, the longing (to have his friend back) is not condemned and is shown as a function of the human heart.
The third player in this is Team Flare, of course. They are a group of people who think they know what's best for the world. They have a touch of that "omnicidal mania" that I sometimes get in my angrier/more depressed moments that I fortunately do not have the power to act on. They think in terms of who is worthy of survival and who is not in regards to saving the planet from overpopulation and overconsumption. I find that Team Flare thinks like a lot of dictatorships or like a lot of philosophical movements who think, say "I wish we could kill/sterileize all the idiots" and people who think "Only a certain kind of people with certain kinds of beliefs will inherit the future." Instead of being content to leave the people they don't like slowly die out in the dustbin of history, they are proactive. This of course means that they are the greediest and nastiest of humans, themselves, just the kind of humanity that Lsyandre wished to rid the world of.
(Part of me doesn't actually judge Team Flare too harshly. As I've implied, I have a "Humanity Sucks!" attitude and occasional desires to see us all wiped out, too - though I wouldn't leave any survivors in fancy red suits if it were up to me).
So, yeah, I was just thinking about how FREAKIN' POKEMON is better for exploring ideas of life, death, survival and humans' relative worth than people talking things through on the Internet, or even, in some cases, meatspace. Ideas and longings are explored without necessarily being condemned, at least not without some examination (or pokemon battles).
Then again, I have this pet theory that sometimes, fiction really IS better than "life" for some things, that sometimes we asborb great Truths better when we're allowed to disgest them in fantasy-story form than if someone were to try to tell us a thing or convey their perspective on something straight out. Sometimes, even simple stories can out-profound people's "real" arguments for subjective matters.
