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Tammy Reque Professor Corrinne Lewis Film 2700 17 March 2013 Exploring the Gender Roles in Pokmon FireRed

Pokmon FireRed is a remake of the original game Pokmon Red. The game play is very similar in the way that the character's aspiration is the same - become the greatest Pokmon trainer in the land. However, differently from the original Pokmon games, the player can choose to play as a male or female character. The objective of this essay is to explore the gender roles in Pokmon FireRed by analyzing the dynamics of the game play as a boy trainer versus a girl trainer, if there are any changes, what are they and how they influence the game; the gender roles in the other game characters and the Pokmon themselves.

In 1990, inspired by the Game Boys system cable link, Tajiri and Ken Sugimori created the design document for the game Capsuled Monsters where the player would capture, train, collect, battle and trade monsters in duels. The process of bringing the game to life was more complicated than anticipated because of funding issues and the project was almost abandoned. After years of work, the game came to life, entitled Pocket Monsters, or simply Pokmon. The first game, Pokmon Red, was released in Japan in 1996 followed by Pokmon Green, Blue and Yellow versions. In 1998, Pokmon Red Version and Pokmon Blue version were released in North America. After the first games came the new game versions, more pokmons, and better graphics. In 2002, it was the time of the III Generation to shine with the release of Pokmon

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Ruby and Pokmon Sapphire for Game Boy. Although the improvements were striking, it was disappointing that the I and II Generation of pocket monsters werent being represented. In 2004, eight years after the release of the first games, came Pokmon FireRed and LeafGreen which would be the first remake in the series history.

Pokmon FireRed (and LeafGreen) upgrades and changes were more than in aesthetics. There were slight changes in the gameplay, the location, battle moves and more prominently in gender. The new versions made able for the player to choose to play as a male or female character, a feature made available on Pokmon Crystal for the first time. Pokmon Crystal was released in 2001 in North America, about three years after the first game. There are no specific reasons for the female character to be introduced; according to Craig Harris it's purely a cosmetic change in the overhead and battle screens (HARRIS, C. 2001). The pokmons also have gender differentiation, which influences their nature and abilities. This refreshed concept of monsters gender allows them to breed in the end of the game.

The player characters are Pokmon Trainers beginning their Pokmon journey. Although the player is able to choose to be a boy or a girl trainer, Red is a male and the main protagonist of Pokmon FireRed. This protagonist has many versions and appears in different games of the series but he is probably more known for being Ash Ketchum in the anime. The girl avatar in the game is based on a female unused character in the original Red, Green and Blue. She was never officially given a name but many refer to her as Leaf. This is an early reflection that the role of female character is subservient. The impression is that not much thought was given about introducing a female protagonist; it was just what was being done since 2001. The most

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prominent issue in this situation is that Leafs counter-part Red is the most iconic human character of the series, not only because of the Pokmon anime but because he becomes a legend in the sequel, being referred as the boy who by himself stopped Giovanni, disbanded Team Rocket and becomes the most powerful trainer. While Red gets all the credit in the series, the player that chooses to be Leaf does the exact same thing in the game.

Leaf is one of the few heroic characters that never appeared in the anime. Her back story is practically the same as Reds. She decides to become a Pokmon trainer after her best friend Blue becomes a bully, her father is disappeared, she starts her journey in Pallet Town by doing Professor Oaks a favor. The most characteristic dialogue is the mothers farewell to the young trainers when she says All boys leave home someday to Red and All girls dream of travelling to Leaf. The game is about the characters personal development while catching, training and creating a relationship with pokmons. The problem with generalization is that the lack of personalized dialogues makes the female trainer even more irrelevant for the story. This is seen throughout the game since due to unchanged dialogue the other characters constantly refer to Leaf as if she was a boy.

The protagonist is not the only female character left helpless in the face of generalization. There are three groups recurring clones in the Pokmon games and two of them are formed by women. These two groups (Nurses and Officers) are characters that appear in almost every game and in the anime. In Pokmon FireRed, the nurses at the Pokmon Centers have identical appearance and they are all named Joy. They wear the same clothes and often have the same Pokmon with them. Like this is not enough generalization, the Japanese name joi means

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female doctor. Although it is said that this is a parody of the identical sprites used commonly in RPGs videogames, the use of these recurring clones poorly portrays the true female identity and eliminates the opportunity of more character development.

Pokmon trainers are often classified by the type of Pokmon they raise, their goals or their looks. These kinds of classification are known as trainer class. The Beauty class is characterized by young women who are vain and typically use cuteness and delicacy to win battles. Their most popular Pokmon move is Attract, which makes the Pokmon of the opposite gender to fall in love with them. The objective is to make the infatuated Pokmon unable to fight back. Other trainer classes composed exclusively by women that appear in FireRed are Lass, Aroma Lady, Picknicker and Crush Girl. They all wear either short skirts or tight clothes. As if encountering stereotypical female characters along the Pokmon journey wasnt enough, the Celadon Gym puts them all in the same place.

Celadon gym is the part of the game where the player is overblown by sexism. Gym leader Erika specialty is Grass-type pokmons which makes the gym a charming garden protected by only female trainers. Erika is the representation of traditional Japanese beauty. Everyone in Celadon, including the old man peeking through the window from outside of the gym cant get enough of how beautiful she is. The real issue is on the dialogue of the trainers of the gym Picknicker Tina will ask if the player character is a peeping tom, even if they are female, Lass Lisa will say that the reason they are all female in the Grass-type gym is because they like making floral arrangements and Beauty Lori, when she loses, will admit that she doesnt know anything about Pokmon and that she picked them by the looks.

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As shown in the popular Japanese saying good wife, wise mother, in Japan the traditional role of women is to be subordinated by men. The main objective in a womens life is to help her husband succeed. Therefore the female characters in Pokmon FireRed are portrayed as shallow individuals who lack personality, self-respect and confidence unless they are directly counter-parted with male characters, and then they are portrayed as strong and determined characters, such as the protagonist and the multi-gender trainer classes. This is a reflection of an oppressive society that suggests women are not smart or motivated enough unless they are trying to be more like the men.

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Works Cited Harris, Craig. Pokmon Crystal. IGN.com Web. 30 July 2001 Tvtropes. Characters: Pokmon: Protagonists and Rivals. Tvtropes.org Web. Bulbapedia. Pokmon FireRed and LeafGreen Versions. Bulbapedia.net Web. Mary R. Beard (May 1947). "Woman's Role in Society (in Women in Present-Day Society)".Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 251: 19.