oedipus complex/pokemon emerald : essay

8/2/2019 Oedipus Complex/Pokemon Emerald : Essay

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The game Pokmon has alwaysbeen about accumulation; thus the phrase Gotta Catch Em

All! (Game Freak, 1996). However, underlying themes can be found within the story also.

One is a theme that can be best described by the psychoanalytical theory, the Oedipus

complex. The scenario this theme is present in is in the game Pokmon Emerald, where the

player at about halfway through the game fights their own father. If the player is successful in

this, they gain boons as a result and also the admiration of their own mother (Game Freak,

2005). The Oedipus complex will be used to analyse this specific scenario, and improvements

will be outlined that could have made the scenario more compelling.

The Oedipus complex, as defined by Rycroft, C. (1995), is a group of largely unconscious

ideas and feelings which concentrate on the desire to possess the parent of the opposite sex

and eliminate the parent of the same sex. Essentially, it means that the male will be envious

of the father while desiring the mother. Also, the other side of this is the Electra complex,

which is the female envious of the mother and desiring the father (Appignanesisi & Forrester,

1992), though Freud disagreed in the distinction between the two sexes, saying we are right

in rejecting the term Electra complex which seeks to emphasize the attitude of the two

sexes (Freud, 1905).

The Pokmon game in question is the game Pokmon Emerald. The specific scenario we will

be using in the game however is the fifth Gym battle; the battle against your own father

(Game Freak, 2005). At the beginning of the game you have moved to the town of Littleroot

because your father is working as the leader of a Gym in Petalburg City two towns over.

Your task there is unclear at first, but becomes apparent when you gain a Pokmon of your

own; you are perhaps destined to become a Pokmon Master. To do this however you must

first challenge and defeat the eight Gym leaders of the region in a Pokmon battle and receive

a Gym badge for each one. Once you have eight of these badges you may challenge the Elite

Four, an elite force of four powerful trainers who you must also defeat for the chance to

challenge the current Pokmon Master and gain the title for your own.

However, your father is the fifth of these eight Gym leaders (at least, he is in the games own

linear design). When you first arrive in Petalburg City you go to your fathers Gym and speak

to him, but he declines your challenge. Roughly halfway through the game you find yourself

back in Petalburg City with much more powerful Pokmon and your father accepts your

challenge due to your increase in skill (Game Freak, 2005).


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A careful examination of the scenario shows that many of its elements mirror or complement

that of the Oedipus complex. You have been forced to travel to a strange town due to your

fathersjob. You may have begun or already do resent him for that fact because your father

has been away most of your life, using his Pokmon to fight gladiatorial arena battles against

those weaker than him in an attempt to deny them passage to become the Pokmon Master.

When you set out to become a Pokmon Master you, your mother and your father know full

well that someday you will have to challenge him. During your quest you accomplish other

feats, feats that your father may not have been able to achieve himself, and these feats areeven recognised and celebrated by your mother who gives you gifts and is always cheering

you on towards your goal.

When you do finally reach him your chances of beating him depend on how you have trained

yourself and your Pokmon during the earlier stages of the game. By this time if you want to

Figure 1. You father expresses reservations at battling you at such an early state

in your development (Game Freak, 2005).

Figure 2. Your mother expresses her care for you near the end of the

game, after you have beaten your father (Game Freak, 2005).


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have any hope of beating him your skill and strength must be either equal to or surpassing

that of your fathers, otherwise you will most likely fail. Once you have defeated your father,

as custom holds he must give you a badge as proof of your triumph in battle, and gives you a

Technical Machine (TM) that gives you the chance to teach one of your Pokmon his

favoured Pokmon ability.

After this, if you return to your mother she gives you a priceless gift that you could not

acquire through any other means. She expresses her pride in you, and maybe now favours

you over your father. You may have set out to become the Pokmon Master and throughdoing so gained dominance over your father through what is essentially mortal combat

between captured monsters, though the beginning and carrying out of this act is equivalent of

a typical situation of an Oedipus complex by the definition above.

The use of the Oedipus complex turns a now fivefold repeated boss fight into a very

personal battle of dominance. The use of the Oedipus complex in this scenario makes this

Gym battle one of the more memorable in the game. Your own mother has commented on

wanting you to defeat the eight Gym leaders, and in turn defeat your father. Your father has

acknowledged this challenge, but perhaps when he first finds out that you are planning on

becoming a Pokmon Master he does not consider you much of a threat.

The risk of this scenario, depending on how you have trained your Pokmon leading up to the

battle, and even on what Pokmon you have decided to train throughout your adventure, is

relatively high. Every Pokmon has a type, and your fathers Gym type specialty is Normal; a

Pokmon type which has no advantage over other Pokmon types and is only weak against

Fighting type Pokmon. Normal type Pokmonlacking any kind of Super Effectiveness

Figure 3. Your father expresses a desire to defeat you, and challenges you again (Game Freak, 2005).


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over another Pokmon typeare instead given improved base statistics, such as higher Hit

Points (HP), Defence or Attack. Without a Fighting Pokmon, or a particularly strong

Pokmon of any other type, the Gym battle with your father is a challenging endeavour.

However, the badge and TM are worth the risk, as is the prize you get from your mother, not

to mention the fact that if you dont beat your father is this Gym battle, you cant continue on

with the game.

Despite the effect the application of the Oedipus complex has on the scenario, improvements

could have been made for the theory to have an even stronger effect on it. Your father, while

not the weakest of trainers, is hardly the most challenging Gym Leader in the region, but

rather a turning point for the difficulty in the game as he marks the mid-point between start

and finish of your quest. His position in the game could have been made more remarkable for

the Oedipus complex to have more of an impact on the player; he could have been the eighth

and final Gym Leader, or perhaps a trainer amongst the Elite Four, or even the Pokmon

Champion himself.

Another improvement that could have been made on the scenariobecause of the ability to

choose your gender in the gameis that the Electra complex could have been applied in the

Oedipus complexs stead. Therefore, if a player selected for their character to be female, then

the fifth Gym Leader of the game could have been the players mother rather than her father,

and the mother that cheers you on throughout the game could have been your father. This

would have shown a broader understanding of the application of the Oedipus/Electra

complex.

A final, minor improvement that could have been made alongside these former changes could

have perhaps been different dialogue along the road to the scenario. In terms of dialogue,

your parents could have alluded more to the separation between each other (in terms of

distance, not marriage), or stronger reservations could have been established between

yourself and your father. Had the game not primarily been aimed at a younger audience,

carrying a classification rating at the time in Australia of G8+ (for gambling references,

rather than any kind of violence) and been given more mature themes, the Oedipus complex

could have come out directly in the story, with the player wanting their mother for their own

and a need to cast down their father for more blunt Oedipus complex related reasons, rather

than the ones already established.


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Through application of the Oedipus complex it is fair to say that the battle against your father

in Pokmon Emerald is a point of interest in the game. Not only does his defeat award you

with a badge and a TM, but your mother comes to respect and adore you even more, and

presents you with a gift as well. However, had the Electra complex been applied too, and had

your father been put in a higher position of power, or had the entire situation been given more

relevant mature themes, then perhaps the scenario would have been even more thrilling.


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References:

Appignanesisi, L. & Forrester, J. (1992).Freuds Women. New York: Basic Books.

Freud, S (1905). Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality. New York: Basic Books.

Game Freak (2005). Pokmon Emerald Version [Video Game]. Kyoto: Nintendo.

Game Freak (1996). Pokmon Red/Blue Version [Video Game]. Kyoto: Nintendo.

Rycroft, C (1995).A Critical Dictionary of Psychoanalysis. London: Penguin.

oedipus complex/pokemon emerald : essay

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