Black and White

Out of all the criticisms Pokémon Black and White received, there was one I found myself agreeing with: Ghetsis, the games’ final boss, is too one-dimensionally evil.

One-dimensional villains aren’t innately bad, but Ghetsis doesn’t seem to fit the games’ themes. True to their names, Black and White emphasize the importance of valuing our differences, including differing opinions. People, their worldviews, and their reasons for holding them aren’t always black and white. They are always better together, differences and all, than apart.

Ghetsis’s goal, however, is to have everyone release their Pokémon so that he can seize control of the region. Instead of attempting to make him morally nuanced in any way, the story makes him even more diabolical by revealing that he abducted a child and indoctrinated him to serve in his scheme. How can Ghetsis fit into a story about listening to “both sides” and coming together in spite of our differences when he is so irredeemably evil that he is deemed not worth listening to? As the player character’s childhood friend Cheren says before apprehending him, “[I]t’s a waste of valuable time listening to [Ghetsis] ramble on.”

Over the years, I’ve come to realize that Black and White aren’t just about how we should “meet halfway” with everyone who disagrees with us. They’re also about how we shouldn’t sacrifice our own values when we listen to others.

When “black and white”— people of differing perspectives — come together, they don’t, and shouldn’t, become gray. Compromising with those who would take opportunities and rights from others while maintaining those rights and power for themselves comes at the cost of your own values — it’s a waste of valuable time listening to them ramble on.