Is Pokémon Childish?
For years, older Pokémon fans have been tormented by snide remarks about Pokémon being "for babies", to the point where many don't even admit in public that they like the series.
Indeed, it is hard to deny that the way Pokémon is marketed is primarily geared towards younger audiences, and this unfortunate fact has spawned an infamous anti-Pokémon argument basically stating that to enjoy Pokémon over a certain age points to anything from immaturity to low IQ to mental retardation.
Throughout the years, many things have been labeled as being for children, from specific things such as Pokémon itself to broader terms like animation and fantasy being entirely shoved aside as "children's entertainment" that an adult has no business enjoying. This unfortunate attitude is what I will try to debunk in this article.
When we wish to argue against a statement, the first question to ask is nearly always Why? Why should adults not enjoy Pokémon or animation or fantasy? Perhaps it says a lot that all three of my examples have an enormous adult fanbase despite the labeling. In any case, one must make a distinction between that which is created exclusively with young children in mind, with no intentions of attracting adult viewers, and that which merely has children as the prime target audience.
Let us consider the Teletubbies. It is an extreme example, but an example nonetheless. It is very difficult to imagine an adult watching Teletubbies for sheer enjoyment of the same kind as that they get out of watching television shows geared at adults, for a few simple, factual reasons. There is hardly any part of the show which is not repeated at least once, which works for young children who are still learning to observe the world but is to an older person simply redundant and annoying. The show has no ongoing plot whatsoever nor any effort to make the characters interesting; instead it focuses entirely on the absurd, futuristic setting and simple, repeated, daily events in the lives of the Teletubbies with only tiny variations each time. Just about each episode follows the exact same structure. Some episodes seem to largely consist of material from other episodes rearranged. I think it would not be an overstatement to say that the show is downright insulting to any self-respecting adult's intelligence. Toddlers can enjoy it because their brain still works that way. Adults can't because theirs doesn't. Of course it can be amusing to watch, but it is generally amusing only in the same way that it can be amusing to watch or listen to children: its childishness itself can be cute in a way, but otherwise it is quite simply not entertaining. A case can definitely be argued that an adult who does find it entertaining in the same way as more mature material must be a rather strange person.
But is this the case with all things that are labelled as being for children? Far from it. In fact, there are relatively very few brands of children's entertainment that are truly childish in this way; only that which is produced for extremely young children can truly be said to be unenjoyable by any self-respecting adult. The basic requirements for that are a nonexistent or extremely basic and predictable/repetitive plot; lack of complexity and extreme stereotypes in character personalities; lack of any conflict whatsoever or an absolute black/white division of "good" and "bad" characters; lack of subtlety, complexity and depth that young children would have a difficult time understanding; simplistic moral lessons inserted at every opportunity; abuse of children's lack of experience, logical thinking and ability to tell utterly half-hearted effort from true quality; and being based on basic education in things that most adults should already know to the point of perfection such as reading or counting. Only with most or all of those qualities does anything become virtually impossible for an adult to enjoy.
You may notice that this leaves an awful lot of commonly-considered "children's" things out, and awfully many of them, not coincidentally, have legions of adult fans. There is nothing inherently childish about animation, fantasy, nonexistent monsters, talking animals, cartoon logic, Game Boys, yellow electric mice or Pokéball technology. Of course none of it has to be to your taste, but that doesn't mean it can't be to anybody else's!
But, some Pokémon hater might point out, I'm seeing quite a few of your "symptoms" in Pokémon! The plot of every episode of the show is the same and it has cheesy moral lessons, and you admit yourself in that Trozei review that the cutscenes in the Game Boy games look very poorly made! You only proved my point!
This is where I must direct you to the Why Do We Like It? section. This is why I said that most or all of the qualities I mentioned must be present: Pokémon has its flaws, but there are so many other, absolutely non-childish things that we like about it! The games employ complex strategy, but, because their primary target audience is children when it comes right down to it, make up for it by allowing the player to freely train their Pokémon ahead if the game is becoming too difficult (or, alternatively, halt their training if it's too easy - see the Fancy a Challenge? section). The monsters are many and have extremely versatile designs that appeal to a wide range of people - while cute, cuddly Pokémon like Pikachu tend to be the most advertised, there are countless different approaches, from sleek and graceful to big and bulky to scary monsters. And within it all is enormous potential for creative thinking to race ahead into the many unexplained mysteries of its intriguing world.
To summarize, yes, Pokémon is marketed for children - but there is so much more to it for older fans to enjoy that there is absolutely no reason why Pokémon should be a worse interest than anything else, save society's narrow-minded perceptions.
Page last modified January 03 2007 at 23:16 GMT
