Imagine what happens when you remove the environment that molds Red into the prodigy he becomes and simultaneously provide Green with one where he's encouraged and rewarded for being ruthless and ambitious. Learned helplessness can be applied to Red in this situation. He can't win without Green. Green is his protector. Green tells him what to do. Green is the strong one. Red is continuously beat down for trying to express his instinctual connection to Pikachu. He doesn't have the stomach for being a ruthless trainer. Eventually, he's going to be conditioned to becoming a completely useless trainer. At the same time, Red is all Green has left in the way of "family." Red is his best friend. Red is too weak to fight for himself and needs to be protected. Red is his responsibility. Even though Green is getting all this guidance and attention from Giovanni, it's conditional on his performance. Red, though a burden and disapproving of what Green is doing to get into Giovanni's good graces, is always there. It's a situation that breeds equal amounts of resentment and necessity. I'm not so much aiming for the Sacred Band of Thebes thing here (though your mention of it does give me some ideas). Rather, I'm aiming for codependence. They can't function without each other. The "Green/Red" in the pairing summary isn't so much that they're "gay," but that they so desperately need each other and are so constantly in each other's presence that it's basically a fucked up relationship.
Imagine what happens when you remove the environment that molds Red into the prodigy he becomes and simultaneously provide Green with one where he's encouraged and rewarded for being ruthless and ambitious. Learned helplessness can be applied to Red in this situation. He can't win without Green. Green is his protector. Green tells him what to do. Green is the strong one. Red is continuously beat down for trying to express his instinctual connection to Pikachu. He doesn't have the stomach for being a ruthless trainer. Eventually, he's going to be conditioned to becoming a completely useless trainer. At the same time, Red is all Green has left in the way of "family." Red is his best friend. Red is too weak to fight for himself and needs to be protected. Red is his responsibility. Even though Green is getting all this guidance and attention from Giovanni, it's conditional on his performance. Red, though a burden and disapproving of what Green is doing to get into Giovanni's good graces, is always there. It's a situation that breeds equal amounts of resentment and necessity. I'm not so much aiming for the Sacred Band of Thebes thing here (though your mention of it does give me some ideas). Rather, I'm aiming for codependence. They can't function without each other. The "Green/Red" in the pairing summary isn't so much that they're "gay," but that they so desperately need each other and are so constantly in each other's presence that it's basically a fucked up relationship.
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