Black Stereotypes in Pocket Monsters

___________

Pokemon is Racist!

Politically Incorrect Pokémon

1-5-00
By Carole B. Weatherford

I confess: I succumbed to Pokémon fever. I took my 10-year-old son to "The Pokémon Movie" during opening weekend. I suffered through the bad animation and mindless plot while he sat spellbound as the battles advanced toward a saccharine moral. When I saw the movie, I already understood the phenomenon, having bought Pokémon Red, Blue, Yellow and Pinball. Manufactured by Japan's Nintendo Corp., these digital games challenge players to collect and train 150 little pocket monsters that gain power as they evolve. If my two children are any indication, the game is incredibly fun and addictive.

The fun merely begins with the game, however. Pokémon trading cards capitalize on the game's popularity. Despite my son's begging, I initially resisted investing in Pokémon cards, having bought Pogs and Beanie Babies when those fads were at their peak. So, without spending a dime, my son assembled a 60-some-card collection using duplicates donated by friends. I eventually relented and allowed him to buy a starter set, theme deck and several booster packs of Pokemon cards at prices ranging from $4 to $17.

Like I said, I have submitted to Pokémania. And I would have paid a premium for the video game Pokémon Snap if only I could have found it on store shelves or e-commerce sites during the holiday shopping season. Unfortunately, Nintendo underestimated demand, and the most popular Pokémon toys were snatched up around Thanksgiving. Committed to resume my search for Pokémon Snap after the Christmas rush, I saw a character on the Pokémon TV cartoon that not only stripped the phenomenon of its innocence but stopped me cold.

The character Jynx, Pokémon #124, has decidedly human features: jet-black skin, huge pink lips, gaping eyes, a straight blonde mane and a full figure, complete with cleavage and wiggly hips. Put another way, Jynx resembles an overweight drag queen incarnation of Little Black Sambo, a racist stereotype from a children's book long ago purged from libraries.

While my 10- and 12-year olds do not find Jynx offensive, their parents and grandparents do. We call a spade a spade. And we have seen enough racist stereotypes to know one when we see it. There was room to debate whether "Star Wars: Episode One's" Jar Jar Binks was West Indian, but there is no question about this Pokémon character. Jynx clearly denigrates African Americans, particularly black women. At the close of the 20th century, how could Japanese computer animators unleash such a culturally insensitive menace on the global marketplace?

In Asia the racist stereotypes popular before World War II apparently die hard. In 1985 when Colgate-Palmolive bought Darkie Toothpaste from Hong Kong's Hazel & Hawley Chemical Co., the new owner inherited not only a leading brand but also a racist name and logo featuring a grinning caricature in blackface and a top hat. Rival Procter & Gamble leaked news of the offensive logo to the American market, sparking protests by civil rights groups. Though Colgate eventually scrapped the Al Jolson-inspired logo and changed the brandname to Darlie, the Cantonese name-Haak Yahn Nga Gou-remains "Black Man Toothpaste."

Every few years, the Japanese sense of superiority seems to resurface.

For example, the Japanese fought to keep U.S. military bases in Okinawa from relocating to the mainland. And about a decade ago, a high-ranking Japanese official attributed Japan's low crime rate to the country's lack of ethnic diversity, blaming African Americans for the high crime rate in the U.S.

These are strange days. Sisters in Harlem toss long tresses-courtesy of hair extensions shorn from women in Shanghai-to the beat of misogynistic raps produced by Japanese media giant Sony.

So I am not surprised, though I am appalled, that a computer animator at a Japanese corporation would conceive of Jynx and that corporate executives would deem the character appropriate for multiracial markets. Even Jynx's name-a variation on the term "jinx," which means a bearer of bad luck-has negative connotations. In addition, the name Jynx suggests a link with witch doctors and voodoo, practices rooted in African religion but often ridiculed by Western culture.

Pokémon is unquestionably the year's hottest toy. Since Pokémon's arrival in the U.S. in 1998, more than 7 million of the games have been sold, representing more than half of all U.S. video game revenues.

Will African-American parents continue to cough up hard-earned dollars for games and trading cards featuring a monstrously racist image? Will Jynx deal Pokémon's last hand in the black community? Or will the blonde-haired, black-faced, monster evolve into an ebony princess? Stay "tooned."

Carole Boston Weatherford, a High Point, N.C. poet and children's book author, wrote Sink or Swim: African-American Lifesavers of the Outer Banks
(Coastal Carolina Press, 1999).

OK, now while this article may bring up some good points, it ruins the argument by making a number of other accusations about the show that make it seem to be nothing more than just another attempt to become famous by speaking out against the popular trend of the time. But before I get into that, I'll talk a little bit about Japanese homogeneity.

First of all, Japan is a homogenous society and doesn't have the ethnic diversity that America has. African-Americans (or in this case, African-Japanese) are pretty much non-existant. It probably wouldn't be too exaggerated to say that 85-90% of Japan is made up of purely Japanese people. When making a show, the creators didn't expect to have a huge international success. All of the pokemon were thought up before the first episode of the anime was aired, before the Red and Green versions of the game were released. So for a show (at the time) marketed solely to Japan, who's going to connect Ruujura with Little Black Sambo? There are really no black people to offend in Japan--or at least black people who know about old American black stereotypes. So it really isn't surprising that a character like Ruujura is accepted by the Japanese public.

America was as laid back as Japan about these things once. There's a 1940's Superman cartoon, "Jap O Tears," which was made during World War 2. The cartoon shows Superman beating up every Japanese war machine and Japanese person he can before he can get Lois back, and the short ends with him flying up toward the sky with an American flag billowing in the background. You know, your typical wartime propaganda film. Now I understand that a cartoon depicting America's hero beating up the nation's enemy was seen as OK in the 1940's (just as no one thinks an anti-Taliban story is seen as inappropriate today), but showing Superman beat up that same "enemy" 60 years later is totally inappopriate.

I loved the old Superman cartoons, with the exception of the one I just told you about, because of their great animation which was ahead of its time. I also liked how this was the EARLY Superman, when he leaped instead of flew, and when he didn't have all these powers he has today. So, for Christmas one year, I asked for and received a three-volume tape containing every Superman short from the 1940's. When I ran across the previously mentioned cartoon, I thought to myself, "This cartoon is so incredibly racist. They'll never air this on TV now." Then to my surprise, while watching Cartoon Network one day, I saw that very cartoon! And it wasn't on that Toonheads wartime special either. This was in the regular rotation, shown alongside a bunch of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck shorts for all to see. This racist cartoon was still being shown on TV almost 60 years after it was made! The short is still being played to this day.

The problem particular to Japanese stereotyping during World War 2 was that it was more unfair than the other stereotyping going on at the time. America had three big enemies in the war--the Russians, the Germans, and the Japanese. Mussolini was the scapegoat for the Russians and Hitler was the scapegoat for the Germans. No one liked Mussolini or Hitler, so people made fun of them while leaving the rest of their nationalies alone. I mean really, if you encounter a Hitler sympathizer today, you tend to get away from that person as quickly as you can. But when it came to the Japanese, Emperor Hirohito wasn't the only one made fun of--the entire Japanese as a race was stereotyped. Japanese people had a really cruel stereotype to boot--if everything you learned about Japanese people came from World War 2-era cartoons, you'd think they were nothing more than buck-toothed, slant-eyed, thick glasses-wearing, funny-talking idiots.

So what does any of that have to do with Ruujura being a black stereotype? Well, African-Americans and Asians tend to be the most cruelly-stereotyped people historically. "Sunday Go to Meetin' Time" shows a black man constantly running into bad luck after sneaking out of church to steal some chickens. "Scrub Me, Mama, with a Boogie Beat" has a huge and appalling collection of black sterotypes. "Laundry Blues" has gags about Chinese cats and a gag about a mouse with the word "Kosher" written on his side in Hebrew. In "Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips," Bugs Bunny is heard saying remarks to Japanese people like "There ya go, Monkey Face" and "Don't push, slant eyes" as he hands the Japanese hand grenades. For a while, Tom (the cat in Tom and Jerry) was constantly afraid of a black maid, Mammy Two-Shoes. There are a lot more, and all of them have been banned from American television. In fact, Cartoon Network originally intended to air all the Bugs Bunny cartoons for their 2001 "June Bugs," but decided not to air 12 of the cartoons because they were so racially offensive.

I know America is different after 60+ years. America has gotten a better social conscience--these cartoons reflect the times in which they were made. They're a part of the history of animation--an uncomfortable part, yes--but it's still a part nonetheless. The cartoons really shouldn't be condemned for not living up to the standards set 60 years after they were created. Since these cartoons we've had the Civil Rights movement and the Women's Right movement, both which have brought new rights to women and African-Americans.

And now we swing back to Ruujura. Japan doesn't check with every culture and say "Does this character offend you? How about this one? How about the other 249 pokemon? Do any of those offend you?" Is it wrong? Maybe. Should the Japanese have known better? Perhaps. But that doesn't mean Japan is this evil racist place and that every Japanese person hates African-Americans. There are many anime with multicultural characters (Gundam W, Street Fighter, most of the cast of Fushigi Yuugi) that aren't shown as lower than the Japanese. Sure, there are few black characters (a few episodes of Dragon Ball, the police chief in Bubblegum Crisis, a few characters in Cowboy Bebop) but that's because they aren't the majority. Minorities get less air time--it's the same way in America.

The article above also mentions Ruujura's name, Jynx. That's not its original name, so the Japanese creators didn't make its name to mean voodoo or witch-craft or anything like that. That was the work of the translators when they renamed the characters. Besides, the name "Jynx" probably refers to its kiss, and how it would be a "jinx" to be kissed by it (as Ruujura's kiss paralyzes people), not a statement on how African-Americans are witchcraft-practicing devil worshippers.

There was a problem with the article, though. It was probably due to the author's passion for the subject, but if she had calmed down a bit then maybe this rather bold statement whouldn't have slipped its way in:

"And about a decade ago, a high-ranking Japanese official attributed Japan's low crime rate to the country's lack of ethnic diversity, blaming African Americans for the high crime rate in the U.S."

No it wasn't. The official was saying that because of Japan's lack of cultural diversity, there are less hate crimes. Less hate crimes equals less crimes in general, and therefore a lower crime rate. They weren't blaming any one race for the crime in America, but just the fact that there are so many races means there is the opportunity for more hate crimes.

In May of that same year, another article surfaced about both Ruujura and Mr. Popo (from Dragon Ball Z) that was brought to my attention through DBZ Uncensored. The article, which repeats some of the above arguments (well, it was written by the same person), add Mr. Popo into the mix.

Japan's Bigoted Exports to Kids
Carole Boston Weatherford
Copyright Christian Science Monitor May 4, 2000

If a teacher these days dared read "Little Black Sambo" in school, that teacher would be banished from the classroom. Maligned for racial stereotyping, the book, which exaggerated black features, was banned decades ago by schools and libraries. So there's little chance of Sambo showing up at story time, except in Julius Lester's politically correct 1996 revival entitled "Sam and the Tigers."

Racial stereotyping in the world of children persists, however. Today, racist images are more likely to appear in computer animation than between the covers of books. Two such characters appear in "Pokémon" and "Dragonball Z," wildly popular cartoons and digital games from Nintendo and Sony, respectively.

Few of Pokémon's 150 evolving pocket monsters have human attributes. However, the character Jynx, Pokémon #124, has decidedly human features: jet-black skin, protruding pink lips, gaping eyes, a straight blonde mane, and a full figure, complete with cleavage and wiggly hips. In her pink gown, Jynx is a dead ringer for an obese drag queen.

When I first glimpsed Jynx on the "Pokémon" cartoon, I thought surely the character was an aberration. Then I saw Mr. Popo, a cosmic character from "Dragonball Z." Mr. Popo is a rotund, turban-clad genie with pointy ears, jet-black skin, shiny white eyes, and, yes, big red lips.

I discovered these characters because my 10-year-old son is a Pokémaniac. He watches the cartoon, collects the trading cards, plays the digital game, and surfs the Net for game codes and trivia. He still pleads for new Pokémon games, but declares that "Dragonball Z" is his favorite cartoon, as his daily doodles of the show's protagonist Goku attest.

Not coincidentally, both Jynx and Mr. Popo were created by Japanese animators. Apparently, racist stereotypes that would shock Americans don't raise an eyebrow in much of Asia.

Hong Kong's Hazel & Hawley Chemical Co. would probably still be hawking Darkie toothpaste had the company not been acquired by Colgate. The Darkie brand's Al Jolson-inspired logo, a grinning caricature in blackface and a top hat, was as offensive as its name. Colgate bought the company in 1985, and then ditched the logo and changed the product's name to Darlie after US civil rights groups protested. However, the Cantonese name - Haak Yahn Nga Gou (Black Man Toothpaste) - remains.

American advertisers also have a shameful history of racial stereotyping, although such images long ago fell out of favor. Before World War II, African-American caricatures were employed for many products, from soap to cereal. Today, collectors of black memorabilia - mostly African-Americans - snatch up advertising and ephemera att antique shops, flea markets, and Internet auctions.

Black collectors reason that reclaiming the images not only preserves heritage but strips the icons of their power to denigrate.

Not all black caricatures have been consigned to history, though. On supermarket shelves, updated incarnations of Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben, bankable logos featuring blacks as domestics, still serve up impressive market shares.

Neither icon bears even the slightest resemblance to Jynx or Mr. Popo, however. Known to millions of children through cartoons and product tie-ins, Jynx and Mr. Popo depict descendants of Africa through the bigoted lens of white supremacy. These stereotypical characters could adversely affect black children's malleable self- images.

Nearly a half century ago, to prepare for the historic Brown v. Board of Education lawsuit, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund enlisted psychologist Kenneth Clark to conduct a study in the South's Jim Crow schools. Using black and white dolls, Mr. Clark asked black elementary-school students which doll they liked best, which looked best, and which resembled them. The students preferred the white doll, but identified with the black doll, despite the fact that they said it looked "bad." This admission upset many of the children. Clark concluded that segregation reinforced racial inferiority and damaged black students' self-esteem. The psychological evidence helped convince the high court to outlaw school segregation.

Today, many schools are integrated, and black dolls are more attractive than they once were. But African-American youth - who watch 40 percent more TV than their white counterparts, according to a study by the Chicago-based advertising agency TN Media - are still bombarded with media images that idealize Western beauty and cast African-Americans as thugs and buffoons.

Japanese computer animators add insult to injury by unleashing Jinx and Mr. Popo, culturally insensitive menaces, on the global marketplace.

* Carole Boston Weatherford is a poet, cultural critic, and children's book author. She wrote the poetry volume 'The Tar Baby on the Soapbox' (Longleaf Press, 1999). (c) Copyright 2000. The Christian Science Publishing Society

Now I think Mr. Popo is a more obvious stereotype than Ruujura. Even on the official site, Mr. Popo is called "Kami's servant" (my emphasis). In fact, I can't think of a single black person in all of Dragon Ball who isn't drawn with the big lips and whatnot. I won't reiterate the statements made on Chris Psaros' site (it's the May 6th entry), I'll just say that I agree with him. But perhaps Ms. Weatherford will take comfort in a few things--for one thing, how many Ruujura or Mr. Popo toys do you see out in the market? Not many. I doubt Hasbro will re-introduce any Jynx products anytime soon. And I'm sure that IF Labs won't be churning out any Mr. Popo figures in the near future. In addition, the Japanese companies have apparently received a few complaints about Ruujura because in all the promotinal art for the character, its skin is now a light purple, not jet black. See the differences in the two pictures of Ruujura on this page? It was more than likely (though I can't confirm that) a reaction to all the criticism. With Dragon Ball Z, the show wasn't even on the air in America until after it had finished in Japan, so parents like Ms. Weatherford didn't have access to the show to get the producers to change the character.

I think we should be wary of such stereotypes, but we also need to realize the situation in Japan. We also need to realize that America is guilty of doing the same thing, and continues to produce cartoons like South Park, where Cartman makes some rather harsh statements about all sorts of minorities. I'm not condoning them by acknowledging that they exist, I'm just stating the situation the way I see it.

Pocket Monsters was not created by me. It was created by Satoshi Tajiri and the crew at TV-Tokyo. Pokemon is (c) Game Freak, Nintendo, 4Kids Productions, Hasbro, Bandai, and a ton of other companies. When you have a popular anime like Pokemon, lots of people own it so it's impossible to list every company who owns a piece of Pokemon. No infringement of copyrights is meant by the creation of the web site. All images were gotten from official websites (Nintendo, TV-Tokyo, etc.) unless otherwise noted (I don't steal images from other sites!).