All Fear the Horsewomen of the Apocalypse: An ‘Equestria Girls’ Review

Don’t let be said that I’m not a woman of my word: a couple days ago I finally sat down and watched Equestria Girls with my brother. (If you don’t remember, I made the damning promise in this post right here.) I appreciate the fact that I got to watch it with him because unlike myself, he’s an actual fan of the shows and would be able to pick out the inconsistencies between this ‘movie-verse’ and the universe created by the show. Unfortunately, even with his help I don’t think that the phrase I uttered the most during the film changed all that much from if I had been forced to watch it alone. (That phrase being “this is the dumbest shit.”) Not even ‘dumb’ in terms of Equestria Girls being a film made for an audience that is obviously not in my age bracket, but dumb in all the trite ways one would expect from a piece of media designed solely around marketing. This is not to say that it was all terrible, mind you, and some of my assumptions from the earlier post were certainly proven wrong. So let’s dive right into the plot and find where this movie went from enjoyable kid’s movie to jumping the shark.

Twilight and her friends travel to Celestia’s castle so that she may receive some lessons on being royalty from the other three princesses. During the night however, Twilight’s crown containing the element of magic is stolen by a mysterious pony. With their combined chasing skills, the six younger ponies catch the thief but only momentarily as both the crown and the mysterious pony fall through a magical mirror. In the aftermath, Celestia reveals that the pony was no other than the pupil she had before Twilight, Sunset Shimmer, whose impatience and mean nature led her to leave Celestia’s teachings and follow her own path (presumably the path of ‘evil’). Also, the mirror which the crown and Sunset fell through is actually a portal to another world. Twilight must chase after Sunset before she wreaks havoc on this unknown universe with the element of magic.

Oh, My Pop Culture Pinkie Sense: Science versus Faith in My Little Pony

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic’s Season 1 episode, “Feeling Pinkie Keen”, introduces an interesting conflict into the world of Ponyville. Twilight Sparkle, a scientist and evidence-driven thinker, is thrown into a world of confusion when confronted with Pinkie Pie’s Pinkie Sense, a precognitive Spidey-sense-like ability to sense danger before it happens. Pinkie doesn’t know why she sees these things; she just does, and Applejack and Fluttershy (and, I assume, the rest of the Mane Six, who aren’t in this episode) have seen her twitchy premonitions come true without fail so many times that they consider a Pinkie Sense warning as good as a promise.

Throughout the episode, Twilight becomes more and more frustrated with Pinkie. She refuses to accept that there’s not a logical explanation for Pinkie’s precognition, going so far as to hook her up to a machine to test her, and to stalk her for the day, hoping to learn something or to catch the Pinkie Sense failing. At one point she gets up on an actual soapbox to explain to Pinkie how something that’s unexplainable in that way can’t possibly exist.

A box. With soap. This episode is excruciatingly literal.

Eventually, the evidence that the Pinkie Sense exists and is right 100% of the time becomes so obvious that Twilight can’t ignore it. She has to put aside the scientific method and accept it on faith, even if she can’t quantify it. As the episode wraps up, she sends off this Friendship Letter to Princess Celestia with the lesson she’s learned:

I am happy to report that I now realize there are wonderful things in this world you just can’t explain, but that doesn’t necessarily make them any less true. It just means you have to choose to believe in them. And sometimes it takes a friend to show you the way.

The message of this episode is a little ham-fisted and confused, and what the casual viewer comes away with is the story of, essentially, a non-religious person coming to believe in a religion because they’ve witnessed a miracle.

Equestria Girls: They’re Kind of… Terrible?

The other day, my brother handed me his phone with only the preface of, “you should write an article about this.” He knows me too well.

The last time I talked about My Little Pony, I touched on some of the good messages that the show brought to younger girls—confidence, hard work, and perseverance—and how moves within the show can serve two basic purposes: one of teaching the younger female audience the virtues that will help them when they’re older and the other providing business investors with revenue. Today I’ll be discussing this latter point in concerns to the negative implications to MLP’s audience. However, I won’t be doing this through the Friendship is Magic brand. Instead, I’m going to be looking at the newest member to the franchise, Equestria Girls.

In Defense of the Alicorn

There’s a storm on the horizon. In fact, many would argue that it’s already here and it as such, has already been given a name: Hurricane Alicorn, starring one Twilight Sparkle.

Yes, apparently there’s a big fuss in the more vocal part of the fandom over the purple pony reaching the mythical level of the Alicorn—some sort of pegasus/unicorn hybrid. And as you can probably tell from that last statement, I’m not in this fandom. I have seen a grand total of three My Little Pony episodes, counting this finale, but I think that even as an outsider I can talk about some of the trends happening in terms of the sociology of the program (perhaps even especially as an outsider). Specifically in terms of this season finale, it’s clear that there’s an interesting disparity happening between the two very distinct parts of the fandom. Interesting in some respects, rather disgusting in others.

Rejoice, my bronies and pegasisters: MLP has returned!

I intended to write this review last week after the premiere, but you know, school and stuff. Anyway, let’s talk about the premiere two-parter, “The Crystal Empire”, and last Saturday’s “Two Many Pinkie Pies”! In the former, the Mane Six have to help Shining Armor and Cadence save a city from an ancient curse, and Twilight faces an important test. In the latter, Pinkie Pie clones herself because she wants to be able to spend more time with her friends, but hijinks quite obviously ensue.

“The Crystal Empire” had big shoes to fill. Although the first season’s premiere episodes are denigrated as the worst of the series, Season Two had both the premiere with Discord and the finale with Queen Chrysalis and the Changelings, and I think this one suffered living up to it. For a series that has given us a lot of interesting and complex villains throughout the show, I found King Sombra frankly boring.

Bronies, we need to talk.

Okay, bronies. As a fellow fan of My Little Pony and self-identified brony, and as someone who has sung the praises of this particular fandom on multiple occasions, I’m telling you we need to talk. And although I usually use the term ‘brony’ as a catch-all term, in this case I’m directing this at the ‘stereotypical’ straight, white, cis-male brony.

Let’s get something straight. I am a hundred percent supportive of your enjoyment of MLP. I think it’s awesome that you’re finding enjoyment outside your gender’s ‘assigned’ genres, and I encourage you to continue. I am sorry that sometimes people make fun of you for this. But for all you straight, white, cis-male bronies, outside of your pony-related choices of entertainment, you have ALL the privilege. By dint of your being straight, white, cis-guys, your life comes with the lowest difficulty setting.

This is important to remember. Privilege isn’t something to feel guilty about, because it’s not something you can change. But it is something to be aware of. And, being aware of this privilege, you need to make sure you do two things.

1) Do not ever appropriate the sufferings of actual minority groups. The phrase “I know what persecution is, because I am a brony” is not okay. Have you, as a brony, ever been denied legal rights or been considered less than human? Is bronydom a fundamental part of your genetic makeup that you can’t help? Has a religious establishment ever told you that you were going to hell for being a brony? (Or maybe it’s okay to know you’re a brony, but not okay to act on that bronydom?) Are you more likely to be targeted for discrimination by law enforcement, and do crimes committed against your group often go unreported or unprosecuted? Are there countries where you could be killed just for openly being a brony? Stop and think about what you’re saying. Being a brony is being part of a fandom, not part of an underprivileged minority group.

2) Actually make an effort to love and tolerate all people. Bronies seem to be constantly congratulating themselves for being open-minded enough to love something that is considered girly. Step back, bro(nie)s, and consider this: when you think you’re being accepting for deigning to like something girly, or attempt to recast MLP as somehow masculine, you’re actually reinforcing gender stereotypes, not breaking them down. You’re saying “usually girly things are dumb and stupid but, guys, look, this girly thing broke the mold and became awesome!” or “There are totally badass bits in here and therefore it’s manly and okay to like”, instead of “Gee, it sure is dumb to say what genders get to like what kinds of entertainment.”

The MLP fandom is, in general, an inclusive place to be. But these are some of many ongoing issues that need to be addressed. Take heed, my colts, and go forth having learned a (friendship) lesson.

Sexualized Saturdays: Strong Women are Lesbians

Long ago, all the way back to last January, Lady Saika wrote a post about Homophobia and Slash Fanfiction. At one point she discussed why people have a difficulty imagining some of their favorite characters as a sexuality other than straight. She wrote:

Part of this is rooted in persistent and terrible stereotypes.  If, when you think ‘gay’, you think ‘faaaabulous’, you’d never imagine Dean Winchester getting into a relationship with a guy.  If when you think bi, you think ‘slut’, you never would imagine someone like Durarara‘s Mikado as bi.  If you think ‘butch’ when you hear ‘lesbian’, you’d never in a million years think of, say, Luna Lovegood as a lesbian.

The same is true in the reverse. If a woman doesn’t want to get married, is into sports, is a warrior, is basically not stereotypically feminine, then automatically people assume that woman is a lesbian. Now don’t get me wrong, these characters could very well be lesbians, bisexuals, pansexuals, asexuals, straight, or whatever; my problem is assuming someone is homosexual based on gender stereotypes.

Web Crush Wednesdays: Bunnimation

But we can call her The Bunnimator. I love My Little Pony, and it’s nice to see other people who love it just as much. Unfortunately, outside my one fanfiction and the occasional fanart, I personally don’t direct too much of my free time into creating things based on other people’s works. Well, one time I did make a Pickman out of plaster, but that’s beside the point. Regardless, I’m always impressed when people can spend so much time and effort on something they love so much. And while The Bunnimator does have other projects in the works, like this one, which prevents me from looking at broccoli the same way ever again, she does a lot of My Little Pony fanart and crossover art.

Most of the things I looked at for her are on her DeviantArt page; however, she does have her own website on livestream.

Now, I believe most of her work is computer-oriented, which is personally something I’m no good at, so I find that I have a lot of respect for people into graphic design. Especially if their works don’t suck. She does have a few pics that I have some trouble figuring out what medium she used. What I do know is that visually I like her art, and I think she’s a very talented person. Furthermore, she’s done some very nice interpretations of the MLP:FIM characters as human. And I know it’s been done before, but The Bunnimator’s use of colors and style makes her more than memorable.

I hope The Bunnimator keeps up the good work. I know I would hire her if I had the money. Especially for her steam pony works.

My Little Pony: Racist? Homophobic? Smart-Shaming?

Recently this article appeared on Ms. Blog, which is a blog for Ms. Magazine, a feminist blog that critiqued the popular kids show My Little Ponys: Friendship is Magic. Not long after Lauren Faust the creator of My Little Pony wrote a rebuttal to the above mentioned article defending her work.

The first article is written by Kathleen Richter who laid these charges at the hooves of My Little Ponys:

So overall, these are the lessons My Little Pony teaches girls:

• Magical white ponies are suited for leadership; black ponies are suited to be servants.
• Stop learning! You will overcome any obstacle by resorting to strength in numbers (of friends).
• Girls that wear rainbows are butch.
• You need the government (ideally a monarch invested with supreme ultimate power and a phallic symbol strapped to her forehead) to tell you what to do with your life.

Many people came to the defense of the show and soon Faust responded on behalf of her little ponies.

A surprising amount of commenters rose in defense of the show, and for that I am extremely grateful. Without repeating their retorts too extensively, here is my defense against the accusations.

• Color has never, ever been depicted as a race indicator for the ponies. When your characters are purple, blue, orange, yellow, black, white, red, green and pink, who’s to say which is supposed to signify a white person, a black person, an Asian person? The only races in My Little Pony are Earth Pony, Pegasus and Unicorn, and they are all treated equally, ruled by a leader who embodies the traits of all three  This leader is white only to signify day, and she co-rules with her sister, who is purple to signify night. Additionally, I’d just like to assure anyone who might still question the guards at the foot of the Princess’s throne that their colors were picked arbitrarily–and they are paid for their service.
• In the first episode, the lead character, Twilight, is depicted as a pony so wrapped up in her studies that she has no interest in socializing. But since socializing and making friends is an important, healthy aspect of anyone’s life, her mentor encouraged her to, essentially, go out and play. In the end, the character goes on to lead a more balanced life, maintaining both relationships and her studies. In subsequent episodes she is frequently seen reading, referencing books to help solve problems and even living in a library.
• Rainbow Dash has rainbow-striped hair because of her name and because she is very interested in sports, specifically flying. She is a tomboy, but nowhere in the show is her sexual orientation ever referenced. As we all know, there are plenty of straight tomboys in the world, and assuming they are lesbians is extremely unfair to both straight and lesbian tomboys.
• The Princess is depicted as the main character’s mentor, her teacher. She’s an authority figure and even a bit of a surrogate parent. The Princess gave Twilight her instructions as someone who knows her and is personally involved in her upbringing. And though there is historical speculation that unicorn horns were indeed phallic symbols, I doubt that is making its way into anyone’s subconscious.

It surprised me that she responded at all considering that similar charges have been raised against the show. Even here at Lady Geek Girl and Friends (though we doubt Faust even knows we exist) we have discussed some episodes that come off as potentially racist (see: the episode with the Buffalo and the episode with Zecora the zebra).

But despite some of its problems, I think it’s fairly obvious that many of us love My Little Pony. It’s not without its flaws, but I never thought the problems as bad as Richter makes them out to be. Despite my own criticisms of the show, I realized that many children might not pick up on the problems I’m seeing. That’s not to say that those problems don’t matter or that kids might not be learning something from them subconsciously, but I personally don’t think that the current problems in My Little Pony isn’t anything that good parenting can’t fix.

I find many of the charges Richter raises ridiculous. Faust defends her work much better than I ever will so I won’t try to counter Richter’s argument. Though I would like to say one thing about her criticisms.

Rainbow Dash being thought of as a lesbian simply because she is a tomboy with a rainbow mane is just as ridiculous to me as hating her because people think she is a lesbian. Just because someone is a tomboy—which by the way I hate that term because it immediately says that any girl that doesn’t like stereotypical girly things is somehow “mannish” or less of a woman—doesn’t mean they are a lesbian. Furthermore, someone liking rainbows doesn’t mean that they are a lesbian (Rainbow Dash has, I assume, a natural rainbow mane. She didn’t dye it to show her gay pride. And just to be perfectly clear none of these things mean she isn’t a lesbian either). Putting girls and members of the LGBTQ community–hell, putting anyone in a box, defining specific things that make someone a girl or a lesbian is far more damaging than anything My Little Pony has done.

What do you think?

 

MLP: Pinkie Pie’s Awesome Song

So last week I went over to ihazstew’s place to engage in some My Little Pony, and the episode we watched started with Pinkie Pie singing an amazing song. It’s been stuck in my head since last week. I can’t get it out, nor I can I stop myself from singing it. So in an effort to subject everyone else to it, enjoy: