Subject: A Documentary!
Author:
Posted on: 2012-04-28 22:05:00 UTC
I have found a documentary on the phenomenon on YouTube. I'm only half way through but it has me cackling away so far. It's pretty well made for a High School project and seems to be trying to explain everything in a cogent and yet humorous manner.
Best quote so far: "It has become my religion"
I was wondering if anyone could explain to my why My Little Pony seems to have such a huge cult following at the moment. I have only really become aware of this in the past few days, mainly through (loosely) following goings-on on this site. Before that, all I had heard was that deviantart is, allegedly, full of MLP pictures, and a rumour that this began on 4chan.
It may be hard for some of you to understand, but I felt a good deal of shock and horror when I realised that this is something that a lot of people take seriously. You could call it "culture shock". MLP was not part of my childhood - I was already well past the target age range when it was first introduced, and for a very long time it was something of a laughing stock for older people. It was the stereotyped example people used of a sexist and rather pointless toy for 3 year old girls. I didn't become aware there was even a cartoon of MLP until a few years ago. I think I have actually seen it exactly once in my entire life.
So it must be admitted there could be something I'm missing out on here. A lot of children's programmes are, in fact, very good. After all, the best ones are designed with the knowledge that grown-ups are going to be forced to watch them as well. Without this, one would quickly become insane whilst keeping toddlers and small children company when watching their favourite tv programmes.
In the past other programmes aimed at the very young have gained cult followings amongst an older age group - for example Teletubbies became very popular with college students. As far as I know, this sort of thing tends to be due to a fortuitous combination of scheduling times, psychedelic visuals and general silliness that can be quite appealing.
However, I don't think that I've seen anything quite like the MLP phenomenon. Granted, I've only been aware of it for a few days: but it looks as though it has a huge, devoted fan base. Does anybody have any thoughts, opinions or facts on how this came to be? This appears to be relatively recent - is it the latest incarnation of MLP that is simply superior? Was it originally ironic in some way? Or is it that the "MLP generation" grew up, and some people still have a lot of fondness for something that was originally a childhood thing?
I'm not trying to insult anyone or hurt anyone's feelings. Seriously, I am probably much too old to even be here, never mind understanding current "youth" trends. So don't take it personally.
If it makes anyone feel better, when I was around seven or eight years old I used to write stories set in a fantasy world populated by brightly-coloured unicorns and flying horses. I'm generally too embarrassed to admit to that! But I really enjoyed it at the time. I was quite peeved when MLP appeared (although I had stopped writing those stories by then).
I have a feeling that my recent surfing has only turned up the craziest of the crazy, which is probably contributing to my discomfort about this subject.
I needed to write this as a form of catharsis: for some reason this has been really niggling at me. I don't mind if nobody replies, but I'd be interested to hear anyone's take on this phenomenon, whether it's explaining the awesomeness of MLP, hating on it, a sociological perspective or any other.
There isn't anywhere else I can post this that people will even give two hoots, or probably even know what on earth I'm talking about ... so apologies if you feel this is misuse of the board.
I think it has something to do with how GOOD the stories and characters are. And the catchy music helps. That's from what I can tell, anyway...
I have found a documentary on the phenomenon on YouTube. I'm only half way through but it has me cackling away so far. It's pretty well made for a High School project and seems to be trying to explain everything in a cogent and yet humorous manner.
Best quote so far: "It has become my religion"
And it explained a lot, and made me smile. Hah!
It sort of help hat the original creator, Lauren Faust, had a fairly decent following from before she did MLP. Her previous two shows, Powerpuff Girls and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, were fairly popular and now most of the people who were fans of those shows have grown up a bit, and upon hearing that Faust was doing another show, most of them decided to give it a shot, and found that they liked it.
(I sat "them" but to be honest, I fall into this category as well.)
I'm not going to judge you for being honestly confused. It does seem pretty insane if you don't know what's going on. {= )
So, clarification first: the thing people are obsessing over is not the toy line, or any of the old TV shows, but a new show originally developed by Lauren Faust in 2010, called My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic.
The appeal is manifold: first of all, it's not at all the bland "girl" programming of the old cartoons. Lauren Faust expressly wanted to get away from that, because girls too like stories in which the main characters can be strong, feisty, proactive, etc.—but also make mistakes and have to face consequences for their actions. There are real conflicts that real groups of friends face, and each of the main characters has a distinct personality and set of interests. (Hey kids! It's okay to be yourself!) Also, there is that adult appeal, too. For instance, one of my favorite episodes of the first season (I haven't seen the second beyond the premiere) features a musical number based on Sondheim's "Putting It Together" (watch an official clip here!), and there's another episode that uses the Benny Hill theme.
Also, IMO, it's really, really refreshing to see stories in which the whole point is something like learning to communicate effectively to prevent misunderstandings, or accepting each other's differences and being friends anyway, or hey, friends fight sometimes, and it's not the end of the world, because forgiveness! And it's not condescending or preachy about it, either, which helps make it accessible to older people.
So, I hope that clears it up a bit. If you really want to see for yourself what the big deal is, though, I recommend watching a few episodes. I don't know what official availability is, but you can probably scare up an episode or two somewhere online if doing so doesn't bother you.
~Neshomeh
...episodes can be purchased on iTunes. There has been no DVD release as of yet. YOff the record, though, there are some people who post a new episode to YouTube by the time 24 hours have passed since the new episode is aired.
And yeah, you pretty much hit the nail on the head there. Don't forget, too, that the characters are really engaging, and that the show isn't above making fun of some of their eccentricities.
It's interesting that they have gone for a complete reworking of the concept - I must say I approve, judging by what you have described.
I tried to watch the clip that you linked but, sadly, it isn't loading for me. Often I have found that American websites won't allow clips of their tv shows to play when people are viewing from outside the USA - it could be that.
It absolutely sounds as though they are trying to appeal to a much older audience, if references to Sondheim and Benny Hill are anything to go by. That gives me clues that there may be themes or ideas in this show which are philosophically deep, perhaps with some references that can only be appreciated by adults.
It is only a matter of time before I get bored enough to try to find one of the episodes and watch it. I'll try YouTube ... sometime. I think I will need to be in the right sort of mood to actually concentrate on following a cartoon closely enough to "get" it.
It did occur to me that maybe it's just an illusion that MLP is such a cult, and that perhaps it is simply that these days everything has its own following, what with the internet and all ... These days it seems any niche you can imagine has its own social scene. I actually woke up this morning in a semi-dream/nightmare where I was able to perceive and appreciate the vastness of the world, i.e. the number of people in it. This was directly caused by my recent surfing, discovering yet more of the gob-smacking silliness (and sometimes downright perversity) that is the internet!
I just looked up who Sondheim is, to be sure - I associated his name with West Side Story, and that was correct ... but what just struck me was that using Benny Hill is something of a meta-reference. At first I just thought "gosh, that is really old!", but of course he is still having re-runs abroad and is popular all around the world.
What made me call it a "meta-reference" is that Benny Hill was famous for being a show that adults could enjoy with children, in specific because a lot of his humour was very risqué but done in a manner that passed over children's heads. Somehow I doubt it was really intended in that way, but certainly they are using cultural references that children simply won't be aware of, to add that "extra dimension" for adults.
Thanks again both of you for taking my question seriously and trying to enlighten me!
*DISCLAIMER: I am NOT a fan. However, I have several friends who are rather obsessive fans, and I've been thinking about getting into it myself*
It's more or less the new incarnation: Friendship Is Magic. The other ones, from what I can tell, are NOT as good.
It's a combination of most of the things you said- good writing, good art, being aimed at kids and adults, the fact that it being a show about ponies makes it ironic, and most of all an EXCEEDINGLY kind, welcome fanbase.
The author of the show LIKES her fans, and goes out of her way to make them happy. The fandom doesn't get into flame wars- most of the time- because it's just Not Nice. Since the new version of MLP is ALL ABOUT FRIENDSHIP, they go out of their way to make friends with noobs and to be patient and kind.
...Well, most of them.
That does help me understand a little of what is going on!
When you say the author goes out of her way to make people happy, does this imply that there is some kind of two-way process going on when the shows are written? By this I mean reading feedback from fans and taking suggestions about what they would like to happen in the stories.
If that is what you meant, I imagine it would not have been possible until recent years due to the proliferation of internet connections etc.
The creator keeps an eye on what her fans like and slips it into the show. There's a handful of ponies that were supposed to be background characters, but became popular for one reason or another in the fandom. She slips them into the show now, and gives them speaking roles, just so the fans can geek out.
Example: A pony that bears a resemblance to David Tennant. 
This little guy got nicknamed Dr. Whooves by the Fandom, and she makes a point of slipping him in every so often.
That really made me laugh. I see how the hour glass could have sparked that association but my first reaction to being told that picture resembles David Tennant is ... well, put it this way ... someone sounds like they've been in the spice rack, if you catch my drift.
That made my day.
I think I need a little lie down now.
Definitely the hair. xD
And yeah, I know. My pegasister friend is definitely on SOMETHING.
Well, good. I'm glad.
... and the penny dropped.
My world will never be the same ...
When the Doctor regenerates, he regenerates as a pony. Or Equestria makes everyone into a pony. One of the two.