>>51038643While I do agree with the overall argument, I think the abolition between trainer and Pokémon was more meant to apply to the tradition institutions within the U.S. (or Unova). At least from my perspective, it seemed like Team Plasma treated the ownership of Pokémon as a barbaric and oppressive system that should be abolish, almost as if it was a relic from the era of slavery or Jim Crow. After all, it wouldn’t really make much sense for Ghetsis to just want to control all the guns; while it makes sense on paper, people could always just find their own Pokéballs and rally enough forces to eventually overthrow him, even if he did control a legendary Pokémon.
Speaking of the legendary Pokémon, I think their execution in particular is the key to understanding the subtle political parallels Game Freak seems to have incorporated into this game. Reshiram is declared as representing truth while Zekrom is declared as representing ideals (or at least that is my assessment, iirc the whole gimmick is that it depends on how you view either), making me believe that Reshiram actually represents the pre-Enlightenment ideology of universal objectivism while Zekrom represents the post-Enlightenment ideology of universal subjectivism. One views that we should strive to follow tradition since we already know what works, while the other demands reveling in change since we will never truly understand what Is.
Either way, it’s fascinating that you can see such attention to detail in a children’s game. It’s also kind of amusing that N is pretty much a groomed prodigy, kinda like with Anakin being the corrupted messiah. Also kind of funny how on the nose the fascist detail is with Ghetsis literally using a dark-type hydra as his premier Pokémon.
