The Lure of Pokemon : Video Games and the Savage Mind

Video games are often thought to draw children out of nature and into isolated, closed spaces. In The Lure of Pokemon: Video Games and the Savage Mind, however, Nakazawa Shinichi shows how the Pokemon series of video games, far from standing in opposition to nature, actually seeks to represent the true, hidden essence of the natural world.

From humble beginnings as a video game launched in the mid-90s, Pokemon has become a global entertainment franchise, even reaching into the real world with “augmented reality” via the mobile game Pokemon Go. Nakazawa argues that the Pokemon worldview is the best contemporary example of Levi-Strauss's “savage mind” (la pensee sauvage).