- Joined
- Jan 22, 2014
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- #1,081
Something that's always bothered me since the day of its premiere is how Johanna spent the whole of Dawn's Grand Festival final round match praising Zoey left and right. As if she's some sort of prodigy that can do no wrong with her similarly perfect Glameow. She no less compliments her and her Pokemon five times throughout the fight (making up a majority of her conversation) while refusing to offer any semblance of applause for Dawn (not even a cheer or a "nice job!" after causing Zoey to lose points). Instead, Dawn only gets criticism of what she's allowed Zoey to do during her performance. Even Zoey compliments Dawn several times during the match, and she's her opponent.
I understand that there are parents who are hard on their children and may rarely affirm their successes (at least in the public eye), especially if they're following the same career or activity. And this can be done for several reasons, such as not wanting your child to become complacent or overconfident. I know firsthand with my dad and how he acts with my brother's soccer career. That being said, in my experience, most parents who do so also don't praise their child's opposition so openly and in detail while failing to mention anything positive about their own child in the same breath.
Yes, she did travel all the way to watch her daughter and yes she did give her a brief congratulations after the fight-but looking at the episode you'd think Johanna's more in awe of Zoey than Dawn, and that any encouragement that comes after the fight is just obligatory maternal support. While she lost, Dawn did put up an impressive showing with a couple nice combinations and made it to the Top 2 on her very first try in her contest career. I just feel that Johanna could have been characterized better with acknowledging and appreciating that. Perhaps if we saw the promised talk where Johanna was to go over things with Dawn, I'd feel much different as we'd hear her openly praise her daughter for how she showed off her Pokemon throughout the Festival. But, we don't. Instead, it feels like Johanna is Zoey's proud former-Top-Coordinator mother, elated that her daughter is clearly emulating her success.
I understand that there are parents who are hard on their children and may rarely affirm their successes (at least in the public eye), especially if they're following the same career or activity. And this can be done for several reasons, such as not wanting your child to become complacent or overconfident. I know firsthand with my dad and how he acts with my brother's soccer career. That being said, in my experience, most parents who do so also don't praise their child's opposition so openly and in detail while failing to mention anything positive about their own child in the same breath.
Yes, she did travel all the way to watch her daughter and yes she did give her a brief congratulations after the fight-but looking at the episode you'd think Johanna's more in awe of Zoey than Dawn, and that any encouragement that comes after the fight is just obligatory maternal support. While she lost, Dawn did put up an impressive showing with a couple nice combinations and made it to the Top 2 on her very first try in her contest career. I just feel that Johanna could have been characterized better with acknowledging and appreciating that. Perhaps if we saw the promised talk where Johanna was to go over things with Dawn, I'd feel much different as we'd hear her openly praise her daughter for how she showed off her Pokemon throughout the Festival. But, we don't. Instead, it feels like Johanna is Zoey's proud former-Top-Coordinator mother, elated that her daughter is clearly emulating her success.