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Thursday May 23, 2019
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com MICHIGAN IN COLOR

WARNING: 
SPOILERS 
AHEAD!
Recently I went to go watch 
“Pokémon 
Detective 
Pikachu.” 
Why? I can’t really tell you. For 
context, I’m not a major Pokémon 
fan. Sure I played “Pokémon GO” 
for a little bit, but to be fair I think 
everyone did. My brother was the 
major Pokémon fan growing up, so 
I did spend a fair bit of time watch-
ing Pokémon movies and TV shows 
with him. Every once in a blue moon 
when he was feeling generous, he’d 
even let me play one of his precious 
Pokémon DS Games. 
So mostly due to my brother, 
Pokémon did play some part in 
my childhood but was not signifi-
cant enough for me to feel any pull 
towards this movie when it came 
out. If I’m being honest with myself, 
the only reason why I went to see 
this movie is because the ticket was 
cheap and I had time to spare. 
If you’ve been paying atten-
tion to recent box office sales, then 
you’ll know that “Pokémon Detec-
tive Pikachu” has broken the video 
game movie box office record and 
has also beat “Avengers: Endgame” 
in box offices overseas. Which is no 
small feat, considering “Endgame” 
recently took the worldwide record 

for highest opening weekend gross. 
Needless to say, “Pokémon Detec-
tive Pikachu” has been received 
extremely 
well. 
Many 
people 
watching the movie were probably 
struck by things like the impressive 
use of CGI, the complex character 
arcs and the realistic integration of 
fictional creatures in a world that 
seems so similar to ours.
But the thing that struck me most 
about the film is something that 
hasn’t been a topic of conversation. 
It’s diversity.
To start, the introductory scene 
of the film is two young men of color 
trying to catch a Pokémon.
One of them is Karan Soni, 
an Indian actor known from the 
“Deadpool” franchise, and the 
second is Justice Smith, a Black 
actor known from films like “Paper 
Towns” and the Netflix TV show 
“The Get Down.”
I was immediately excited upon 
seeing that the first two important 
characters introduced in the film 
were people of color, especially 
considering that I never see that in 
action movies.
We go on to learn that the Justice 
Smith plays the main character in 
the film, a 21 year old named Tim 
Goodman who works for an insur-
ance company.
I was completely blown away by 
the fact that Justice Smith was play-
ing the main character in this film, 

because I 100 percent expected the 
main character in this film to be 
white. As that was standard to all 
other films I’ve seen similar to “Poké-
mon Detective Pikachu,” and just 
most of the blockbuster films I watch.

But the main character of this 
film being Black, biracial specifi-
cally, was a casting choice that the 
directors didn’t have to make but 
chose to anyway. Seamlessly too, 
to the point where Tim’s race 

didn’t overshadow his character 
or become a hindrance to him but 
instead just became a fact of his 
identity. Different scenes in the 
movie show Tim’s Black grand-
mother and mother and we get to 
see Tim’s white father for a short 
period of time in the film, but that’s 
the most his race comes into play. 
Tim is built to be a lovable 
character who’s introverted and 
awkward but still finds a sense 
of self-confidence after undergo-
ing a tumultuous journey to find 
his father. He’s funny, imperfect 
and relatable which is a refreshing 
change from the offensive stereo-
types Black characters are often 
made out to be in film and tv.
More than just the casting of 
the main character, the diversity 
of the movie was stood out because 
the majority of the other people in 
the film were people of color. The 
majority of the film takes place in 
Ryme City, a diverse and bustling 
metropolis akin to Tokyo, Japan. 
Throughout the city you could 
spot multiple billboards and glow-
ing signs, just as many in Japanese 
as English. Over 40 percent of the 
people in the city were Asian, pre-
sumably Japanese, and the many of 
the other people held other under-
represented minorities.
For example, the mayor of the 
city was a Black man and the head 
scientist was played by Rita Ora, 

a Yugoslavian singer-songwriter. 
This was all really refreshing, as 
for one, most current movies are 
centered in the western world, not 
in the Eastern Hemisphere. It was 
also refreshing because in most 
films today the majority of people, 
regardless of whether they’re main 
characters or extras, are white.
In this movie, there were only 
about 3 white major characters 
(Ryan Reynolds spends the major-
ity of the movie as a Pokémon, and 
not as Ryan Reynolds, and for so 
he’s not counted within the 3). And 
also, of those three characters, two 
of them were villains. Which was a 
nice change from having people of 
color fulfill the racist villain tropes 
in movies (i.e. Arab terrorists, Afri-
can warlords, Native savages, etc). It 
was appreciated because it showed 
that a character’s “evilness” doesn’t 
have to be conflated with their race 
or a product of it. 
“Pokémon Detective Pikachu” 
is a dynamic film that has made 
giant strides in the video game 
world and in mainstream Holly-
wood for its representative cast-
ing. I loved watching this film 
because it was an unexpected 
chance to see people of my race 
and other minority races well 
represented and I am excited 
to see more films in the future 
that follow “Pokémon Detective 
Pikachu”’s progressive footsteps.

The diversity in ‘Pokémon Detective Pikachu’ spans 
beyond the types of Pokémon

I’ve worked hard to get here, so why do I still feel that I 
have prove myself?

EFE OSAGIE
MiC Senior Editor

I have not raised my hand all class. 
I know what to say; I have something 
worthwhile to share … I want everyone to 
hear what I have to say. I say to myself: 
“Michaela, you can do it. Raise your 
hand. You’ve done this before.” 
It is almost as if I am playing hot potato 
in my head — in the end, I do not raise my 
hand. Another opportunity is missed, and 
I am left scolding myself until the next 
day. 
Why do I feel like I will be laughed at if 
I give an answer to a question during dis-
cussion? Why do I feel that I have to make 
sure that anything I say “sounds intelli-
gent”, so that I can feel that I belong? 

Sometimes it feels as if I have to con-
stantly prove that I am competent enough 
to sit in the same class as other students. 
Coming out of high 
school I knew that 
there would be some 
challenges I would 
have to face because 
my high school was 
severely underfund-
ed; the sky was the 
limit for some, but 
for most, this is was 
untrue. 
Sometimes I do 
muster up the cour-
age to answer a ques-
tion during instruction. I did just this in 
my Biological Anthropology class I built 
up the confidence and cleared my throat. 

I did not flinch or appear nervous when 
I provided an answer. Suddenly, someone 
replies with a scoff: 
“No, I think this is 
the answer” 
This 
moment 
is 
when I realized that 
the feeling of hav-
ing to prove myself 
was reality. And that 
gut wrenching feel-
ing of not feeling good 
enough 
takes 
time 
to cope with — it can 
mess with your mental 
health. Knowing that 
you have worked hard 
in high school with all that was offered to 
you, but realizing that you will always have to 
work ten times harder can be discouraging. 

However, one thing I continue to remember 
as I walk around campus and see other students 
that have similar stories to my own is that we 
are still here. We are going to graduate from the 
University of Michigan, we are going to pass 
that hard class that everyone warns us to never 
take, we are going to succeed even though the 
odds are against us. And even more important, 
as a black woman, I am even more motivated to 
do well because not only do black students make 
up about 4 percent of the population at the Uni-
versity of Michigan, but the graduation reten-
tion rate is lower than our white counterparts.
Though I may have to work a little bit 
harder than others to get an A in a dif-
ficult class, I am learning to understand 
that working harder does not mean that I 
am not competent enough, but rather that 
I am determined to accomplish the goals 
— no matter what. 

MICHAELA MINNIS
MiC Columnist

The first two 
important 
characters 
introduced in 
the film were 
people of color, 
especially 
considering I 
never see that in 
action movies

Another opportunity 
is missed, and I am 
left scolding myself 
until the next day

