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Reflections on a Fandom (and Ponies)
14 years ago
General
A few months ago I was finally goaded into watching the first episode of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic by a few friends. Thinking it was OK, I said I'd watch more later. After all this time I finally figured I'd make good on that promise and watch the second half of the Nightmare Moon saga. I finished it about a minute ago and figured I owed a response.
Am I going to spout off on how it was amazing and the best thing I've ever seen? No.
Am I going to rip into it and ramble about why I don't understand the internet's love for it? No.
Overall, I enjoyed it. Yes, I groaned at the somewhat predictable and cliche plot elements. Yes, I made a series of dumb jokes to myself throughout the episode. And yes, it was sickly-sweet to a point that I had to pause it every so often to do something serious to balance it out. (Planning an action scene for Royvas, my fire-magic using swordsman badass, proved to be a good selection.) I thought it was funny to finally see some of the original animation that's been turned into a flurry of memes and jokes, and might have a few of my own to make at this point.
However, it got me thinking. Every reaction I've seen to the pony craze has been either extremely positive or extremely negative. People will either be shooting off quotes, gushing about the characters, and being in general very giddy about the whole topic, or telling people to shut up, bashing every aspect of it, and generally being very butthurt about it. This kind of thing is common in a lot of fandoms around media- the furry fandom is a prime example, and I've seen it around other internet fanbases, such as Homestuck, or even anime.
Polarization on the internet isn't new. I mean, there's a reason YouTube changed to a Like/Dislike system. People either rated five stars or one star, and the average rating as a result was relatively useless to determine a video's quality. It's true that you either like something or you don't, regardless of degree. However, many don't take the time to access how much they actually like something, and so narrow it to the two options. We've become locked into the idea that we can either love something or hate it. This isn't necessarily a bad thing (and it certainly makes conversations about it more interesting to have/read), but it leads to these kinds of disputes extremely often.
I'm all for being a rabid fan of something. And I'm extremely happy to see the internet excited about something because its good for once rather than spreading around things that are popular because they're know for being awful. And it's satisfying to see a TV show get such a dedicated fanbase. But my ultimate thought here is that there are always going to be people who enjoy something too much. In the furry fandom it's typically the lonely teenagers who claim to have "furry pride!" and are rejected by friends and family alike due to the fact they like to wear a tail; in the MLP fandom, I'd say it's anyone who seriously refers to it as a cult (sorry, "herd") and believes that everyone must see this show as if they're some kind of divine profit, sent to spread the holy word of Lauren Faust throughout the land. These people will exist no matter what, and while I respect their beliefs- and I'm sure most of us really do- we'd really just appreciate it if they calmed their tits a little. It's really annoyance that leads to internet hate- sure, something can be good, but if you hear about it every waking hour and just think it's OK yourself, you're bound to have some negative feelings grow in strength.
To summarize, I enjoyed this show, and I'm probably going to go watch some more after this journal is posted. However, I also know that enjoyment should be taken with a grain of salt. If this had been another journal about how it's the best show ever, I'm sure it wouldn't have gotten a lot of intelligent response. (Then again, judging by comments on previous journals, this still won't.)
So there you have my thoughts on the subject. I'm frankly pleased watching this gave me something to chew on. I've needed that lately. Thank you, My Little Pony.
Your semi-faithful fan,
Duino Duck
Am I going to spout off on how it was amazing and the best thing I've ever seen? No.
Am I going to rip into it and ramble about why I don't understand the internet's love for it? No.
Overall, I enjoyed it. Yes, I groaned at the somewhat predictable and cliche plot elements. Yes, I made a series of dumb jokes to myself throughout the episode. And yes, it was sickly-sweet to a point that I had to pause it every so often to do something serious to balance it out. (Planning an action scene for Royvas, my fire-magic using swordsman badass, proved to be a good selection.) I thought it was funny to finally see some of the original animation that's been turned into a flurry of memes and jokes, and might have a few of my own to make at this point.
However, it got me thinking. Every reaction I've seen to the pony craze has been either extremely positive or extremely negative. People will either be shooting off quotes, gushing about the characters, and being in general very giddy about the whole topic, or telling people to shut up, bashing every aspect of it, and generally being very butthurt about it. This kind of thing is common in a lot of fandoms around media- the furry fandom is a prime example, and I've seen it around other internet fanbases, such as Homestuck, or even anime.
Polarization on the internet isn't new. I mean, there's a reason YouTube changed to a Like/Dislike system. People either rated five stars or one star, and the average rating as a result was relatively useless to determine a video's quality. It's true that you either like something or you don't, regardless of degree. However, many don't take the time to access how much they actually like something, and so narrow it to the two options. We've become locked into the idea that we can either love something or hate it. This isn't necessarily a bad thing (and it certainly makes conversations about it more interesting to have/read), but it leads to these kinds of disputes extremely often.
I'm all for being a rabid fan of something. And I'm extremely happy to see the internet excited about something because its good for once rather than spreading around things that are popular because they're know for being awful. And it's satisfying to see a TV show get such a dedicated fanbase. But my ultimate thought here is that there are always going to be people who enjoy something too much. In the furry fandom it's typically the lonely teenagers who claim to have "furry pride!" and are rejected by friends and family alike due to the fact they like to wear a tail; in the MLP fandom, I'd say it's anyone who seriously refers to it as a cult (sorry, "herd") and believes that everyone must see this show as if they're some kind of divine profit, sent to spread the holy word of Lauren Faust throughout the land. These people will exist no matter what, and while I respect their beliefs- and I'm sure most of us really do- we'd really just appreciate it if they calmed their tits a little. It's really annoyance that leads to internet hate- sure, something can be good, but if you hear about it every waking hour and just think it's OK yourself, you're bound to have some negative feelings grow in strength.
To summarize, I enjoyed this show, and I'm probably going to go watch some more after this journal is posted. However, I also know that enjoyment should be taken with a grain of salt. If this had been another journal about how it's the best show ever, I'm sure it wouldn't have gotten a lot of intelligent response. (Then again, judging by comments on previous journals, this still won't.)
So there you have my thoughts on the subject. I'm frankly pleased watching this gave me something to chew on. I've needed that lately. Thank you, My Little Pony.
Your semi-faithful fan,
Duino Duck
(It's a bit weird - it seems like the majority of the people who watch the show are male, but all the RL friends I know who watch it are girls.)
So yepppp I just generally have a good vibe towards that show, hence why I watch it
also omg
"I can see someone like Taily or Spaz make a "Duino Pony" so be prepared."
MY REPUTATION: ESTABLISHED.
Seriously, though. If you make MLP cuisine, you better have some gemstones all up in that menu.
I COULD DO THIS
It's drilled into our heads to think in a binary order. Are you liberal or conservative? Fundamentalist or atheist? Warrior or mage? Coke or pepsi? I learned long ago from Nietzsche how the group mentality works and have always questioned and always hold objective viewpoint.
I'm not sure if I can really get into MLP. There's some part in my brain screaming "This is for little girls!!"
It just looks so damn sugary sweet. Maybe I'll take EKG's advice and try that one episode but I really don't like the art style...really.