World of Pokémon... Media

On various occasions on this blog, I've noted that the world of Pokémon is quite similar to and in some sense parallels the real world. The same could also perhaps be said of media in this world, and it's not hard to see how. Both the games and anime have depicted various forms of media, which are very much alike to, if not exactly the same as, media in the real world. This might seem obvious, of course, but it also deserves some discussion.

Anyone who has seen the very first episode or the 20^th movie knows that the initial battle turns out to be a televised battle, which means that television networks exist in some form; in the first episode, there was also a clip of a documentary. The games also show TVs and TV stations, and the programs are either informative or entertaining. In any case, it can be construed from both that TVs have much the same purpose as the real world in informing and entertaining, though much of television may be Pokémon battle-oriented; lots of them do take place after all in tournaments or otherwise. Yet anything else related to Pokémon is still plausible to be shown.

Radio is another kind of media depicted in Pokémon. In the second-generation games, radio is depicted as a way of delivering verbal information, and also music in a rare case. In the anime, there is one case where radio was involved to deliver information - in a rather different way, but information nonetheless. So while music is quite possible but rare, radio of the Pokémon world is evocative of news and talk radio of the real world; it may be aimed to provide mostly information, though in some sense it may also be entertaining as well or perhaps both at the same time.

It's not hard to expect that there may be print media as well in the Pokémon world. Their contents are not likely to differ from that of the real world, being details on the latest happenings. Newspapers would be apt to discuss deep information and issues on Pokémon, while magazines could cover more fun and lifestyle-related things. Once again, it's all about both/either information and/or entertainment, only it would conceivably concern life as people share it with the monsters and creatures in typical and atypical ways relative to the real world.

Information and entertainment seem to be a core purpose of any media that exist in the real world. People know about and are made pleased by things by way of media. Being that the world of Pokémon is similar to or a parallel of the real world, the media there should do the same, and they appear to do so. Their media appear to be important for matters of creatures as our media appear to be important for our humanly matters.

One year ago: Videophones and Pokémon, Then and Now