I love all your vids analysing mlp!! A thing I've been thinking about while watching the earlier seasons is how much the characters and the show formula has evolved. Any thoughts on that?
oh yA YA I GOT LOTS O THOUGHTS ON THAT!!
thesis: both versions of the show have it’s strengths but ultimately season 8 is built for a different audience than season 1 was originally built for
my personal feelings on this vary as my little pony, as a whole, ignoring the context that it exists in, my little pony is an evolving show, where it’s genre evolves with the age and roles of it’s protagonists which is really exciting !!! the only other story that comes to mind when thinking about this is adventure time and then probably harry potter, i’m sure there are more out there.
but my little pony is special because it wasn’t always intended this way. and while part of me is like, it’s very cool i like the idea of a story that can blossom from humble beginnings and into a full fledged story with nuance and meaning
the other part is frustrated with the role that fandom played in the ultimate warping of the show.
now i just want to say, “pandering” or “fanservice” in these cases at least, it’s not necessarily a bad thing and it’s not always a bad thingbut it does feel like… bringing in an outside element when trying to conduct an experiment.the experiment is now contaminated and we’ll never know where the show would have ended up without that outside influence and there’s a bit of a sadness in losing the trail we could have gone down.
there is no stronger season (there are weaker seasons, im looking at u s4), but season 1 isn’t inherently better or vice versa, because they aren’t really comparable.season 8 is no longer the same show subscribing to the same “laws” that season 1 abides byhow can we compare the friendship lessons, when we’re learning different lessons completely?
it’s why i like to describe the show as a spectrum that goes from dealing with close interpersonal relationships, broadening all the way out to how your actions reflect into the society around you- while also broadening the types of characters you might interact with. (which is why i believe the later seasons especially season 8, are SO interested in mental illness and how it functions against other characters)
which is really interesting because! … well, you know i’ll use myself as an example and if you relate to this well then you’ll see what i mean
now i got into MLP because it was cute, the songs were nice and the art was incredible. but there was something so calming about having the moral laid out simply for you at the end of the episode. and not only that but these morals also dealt with relatable issues, you know, disagreements with friends, having more good things than can go around, etc. etc.
and i personally became drawn to this as a sort of guide to life. the MLP universe is soft and inviting and if i can take these lessons to heart, maybe i can make MY world soft and inviting too.
so now you’ve got a bit of a fandom who are consuming this media in hopes that it will teach you something new about dealing with that unsavoury world outside your door. and while the show flounders a bit with it’s new found audience (IM LOOKING AT U SEASON 4)
by the time starlight comes in, this new form of the show now has a true audience surrogate and now the show has taken a decisive turn into where it wants to be. show morals become a little more grey, we around recounting old lessons but from different points of view, we’re broadening the scope in which to look at the show.
we are moving from internal relationships to external relationships as it grows with the needs of the audience.
i think it’s interesting how we start watching the show thru twilight’s eyes, she’s the main character and we relate to her and as we go thru the seasons we grow up with her, but the show is gentle with us at this stage, we are still so youngso when starlight comes in, we now have to be aware of our faults and the impact we have on others, this character we looked up to, twilight, has now become a literal teacherguiding us through our everyday as we struggle to overcome our past mistakes and move into a new generation
and the best part about this is that they approach it from the point of view of, well, what if you have something that can really hold you backwhether it’s where your from or how your brain is wired, they don’t try and tell you that YOUR the problem, they simply try and install you with the tools to cope and the knowledge to prepare you for the future.
they are aware that the audience watching right now FEEL like they are the villain. whether it’s because your one of those fans, or whether it’s because you live in a place where you can’t be yourselfthey take that idea and they tell you, it’s okay if you think you are bad. we know that all it takes is a friend to change things for the better.
this is quite a ramble so i’ll wrap it up here but;the early seasons of my little pony are so SO important, it’s a formula that i think works extremely well, it’s accessible for almost all audiences and i truly want to push the idea of making children’s (and even adult’s) television way more educational than they currently are.
it’s sad that the show doesn’t subscribe to this formula anymore, but in abandoning the formula they allowed for the story to grow and change outside of it’s assigned box and that’s something to really celebrate! art is about it’s evolution through the years and my little pony is a fantastic example of that and it’s impact on people.
i’m excited to move into this era of long form story driven animation but i’d be lying if i said i didn’t hope that someone out there is still working to forge a new kind of story experience based on the formula of bottled episodes.
edit: also i will be uploading a new video soon i wanna get one or two done before i move and then after that i wanna do them weekly once we’re settled
