On opening weekend, I saw the movie Detective Pikachu with some friends. I thought it was a pretty nice popcorn flick — the plot, involving a young man and a talking Pikachu trying to find out what happened to said young man’s father, is simple and straightforward, and it comes to a satisfying conclusion (though the girl who accompanied the young man was written to be super obnoxious, no doubt due to the trends mentioned in my previous blog post.)
However, when I was watching the movie, I noticed something else about its presentation, something strongly reinforced by the movie’s own themes: the film takes place in Utopia.
The word “utopia” was coined by Sir Thomas More for his book of the same name; it combines the Greek words οὐ (“not”) and τόπος (“place”) to mean “no-place,” or a place that doesn’t exist. For any work of fiction, this is a given; however, Detective Pikachu takes it a big step further.
The movie’s utopia is “No-Place” not merely because it’s the setting of a make-believe story, but because the setting is constructed in such a way that you cannot associate it with any part of our real world.
Note what you see even before we reach the main setting of Ryme City. The main character, a black kid named Tim Goodman, is with an Indian friend in a small, go-nowhere town; this is intended to show that even the small towns of Tim’s region are highly cosmopolitan and diverse.
Going from there, Ryme City is specifically described as a brave new harmonious world where man and Pokemon can live together in harmony. Pokemon battles are banned there, and the people treat the Pokemon like partners as opposed to subordinates. Its human population is highly diverse (in accent as well as appearance), and English is the common language. The informational video implies that Ryme City was a very recent creation, without a long history behind it. All of these reinforce the movie’s theme of harmony and togetherness.
But in doing so, it also reveals that the city lacks any cultural markers beyond the ideology of human/Pokemon equality. Because the city is young, there isn’t much history there to begin with. The prevalence of different accents implies that much of Ryme City’s populace came from elsewhere — this means that to live together in one city, they discarded their old identities and languages. Everyone speaks English, widely recognized as the “global language” in real life. You never see any sort of national flag, whether of real countries or fictitious ones.
Thus, the movie’s setting is carefully constructed to not have any analogue to a real place. It strongly averted the Fantasy Counterpart Culture trope — you can’t call Ryme City or its region an American city, a British city, a French city or anything like that. Its lack of history implies that some native population was not displaced, killed, or absorbed; everyone came together because they wanted to, not because they were forced to.
Now one can object that the Pokemon universe doesn’t feature any real-life countries; however, everywhere else in the Pokemon world has a clear analogue to a real-life society. The first four regions — Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh — are based on parts of Japan. Unova is specifically based on New York City and New Jersey. Kalos is Poke-France, and Alola is Poke-Hawaii. Even Orre from Pokemon Colosseum is based on Arizona. The upcoming Galar region in Pokemon Sword and Shield is based on Great Britain. All of those regions feature cultural and/or geographical markers from the real-life places they’re based on.
By contrast, Detective Pikachu avoids this utterly. Ryme City has no identity, not even a made-up long history.
That is why it is “No-Place.” I would go so far as to say that the region the movie takes place in should be called “Utopia” for this very reason.
However, setting the movie in No-Place actually works to its benefit. You get the sense that the people there are committed to more than just human/Pokemon equality; they want a fresh start, a chance to leave old things behind and build a bold new future where everyone can live together with their pet monsters. You get the sense that when the action is afoot, something precious is threatened, and Tim must fight valiantly to protect it. Ryme City is meant to represent an ideal and a hope that peace can prevail between mankind.
In other words, utopia.
Rawle,
Thanks. I’ve heard that the main protagionist is an unlikeable obnoxious dude. Did you pick that up?
I’d like to have my kids see it. I was intrigued by the premise and from your assessment it is,
Here’s a fun tidbit. In the Romance languages alt history is called ucronia; in French uchronie.
xavier
xavier
I never got the idea that Tim Goodman (the main human character) or the Pikachu were obnoxious, though the Pikachu pretty much acted like Deadpool. If anyone was obnoxious, it was the female reporter.
As for “ucronia/uchronie,” I’d heard of that. My own novel definitely fits that description, and those words (ucronia/uchronie) follow the same etymological pattern as “utopia,” but instead of No-Place, it’s No-Era since it contradicts known history.
Rawle,
Thanks. Other authours who I respects have remarked that the main character (the boy detective) was. I did read that the female reporter was annoying.
Thanks again for your comments.
I really want to read your book because I bet that it’s closer to the European ucronia genre than Harry Turtledove/Eric Flint alt history. And the whole kiasu genre is really intriguing
For an example of the European genre: Albert Villaro: els Ambaixadors is a really great novel. His follow up el Sindict de l’Oblit continues it but I found it disappointing.
I suspect that he wanted to wrap it up so he could continue with his detective novel series.
Thank you for that vote of confidence! By the way, what are the main differences between European ucronia and Turtledove and Flint’s approach?
Rawle,
Basically, the European ones hew much closer to reality but use a butterfly effect. Very small/insignficant change led to counterintutive events (aka the what ifs?) . An eample of this (I haven’t read the book but the review provide a basic plot summary) is Joan Luis Luis: Vaig matar a Franco ( I killed Franco) It’s basically a story of a very ordinary person who through some very minor incidents in his life ends up killing Franco as he recounts in his’memoirs (aka the book in question).
In the Ambaxiadors,the story on a lot of minor and major whatifs that very plausible and believable for the worldbuilding. The appendix has a brief alt biography of many famous personages of the period, They’re a real hoot.
In the sequel, the Cuban missile crisis lead to the destruction of Balitmore and Soviet influence throughout Western Europe (basically what the Soviet tried to do in Portugal in the ’74 coup)
I’m not familiar with Flint but Turtledove takes a momentous event: European recognition of the Confederate states culminating to the Holocaust on American soil with blacks as the victims.
TL:DR no butterfly effect using minor events but rather a preference to use macro events for the worldbuilding
xavier
In that case, mine is closer to the Turtledove variety — during World War I, two small asteroids explode over France, destroying Paris as well as a large portion of the French army. This leads to the Central Powers winning the war easily; meanwhile in the US, a socialist revolution takes place but maintains the isolationist stance. This revolution is then subverted by the Japanese Empire, who end up fighting the German Kaiserreich for control of North America from 2015 to 2020.
My novel takes place 30+ years after that massive conflict; Japan controls most of the US, while the US’s deep interior remains independent (though allied with Germany.)
Rawle,
That’s very interesting. I wonder if this is a cultural thing between the Europeans and the Anglosphere?
I’ve always held since conclusion my 2os:
Continential scifi stems from Acts of the Apostles+the conquest of the Americas while Anglophone is Revelations+the English civil war.
I’m oversimplifying it to make the conclusions clearer but I hold these are the respective roots of the West’s scifi traditions.
xavier
I haven’t studied the issue in depth, so I’m not sure how it applies to sci-fi as a whole.
However, regarding my own book, the English Civil War was definitely an indirect influence.
I would say that the main character is a reluctant hero; and reluctant heroes are annoying. Don’t they realize they’re on a heroic adventure?!? Quit refusing the call already!!
I’ve heard complaints that too many recent movie heroes are reluctant rather than decisive.
Rawle,
That’s very fascinating I’ve always picked up this vibe when reading English language scifi especially the older works. It certainly seared the British imagination and deeply influenced subsequent cultural works.
I wonder if it has to due with the the Dissenters and their strange world views (I’m thinking of the Levellers, Diggers and others like them) that influenced the fantastical literature in English culture?
xavier
xavier
I can’t say for sure; I haven’t researched it.
Rawle,
Thanks. I wonder who we can ask? It’s a topic I’d like to explore.
Jeffro? Daddy warpig? Nick Cole? Alex of Cisrova?
Probably Alex of Cirsova or Jeffro.
Rawle,
Thanks!
xavier