More importantly, I would like to discuss a question my friend asked me soon after my discovering the show:
[Incredulous Voice]"MY LITTLE PONY? You want me to watch My Little Pony? You do realize that we're sixteen-year-old guys and not six-year-old girls?"
He then stripped me of my man card.
I tried to explain to him how beautiful of a show it was, how Lauren Faust is the Shakespeare of modern cartoon animation. Somehow though, there was a disconnect, a bridge I couldn't cross. One could say that there was a language barrier. I was talking about how beautiful and cute and well written this cartoon animation was, but all he could hear was: MY LITTLE PONY!
Since then I looked into what separated people like him and people like me. While I understand that many of the bronies are women, a lot of us are men as well. Quite frankly, a disproportionately large amount. So what is it that allowed me to enjoy the friendship found by my little ponies, while my close friends all recoiled in horror?
The most obvious thing that separates us from the neighsayers (besides the fact that they don't like My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic) is that we're pretty open to this kind of thing, or just weird things in general. You have to be in order to watch and appreciate a show like this. It's not exactly something that the kids these days would consider to be "funky" or "poppin".
I'll admit, I originally hail from the dark waters of 4chan, a place I have long since disavowed. One day, while lurking on 4chan, I found a thread talking about some show called My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. As originally stated by this brony: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRsVGQv_13k&feature=player_embedded, there are five stages of Brony-dom.
At first I was in denial: God, these people are weird even for 4chan. Although, I gotta admit that is some really good artwork...
Then I was angry: Man, these people are all hating (already, the virus was setting in, I was annoyed by hatred) over some stupid show?
Soon, I was in bargaining: Well, maybe they should be hated on, but I better watch the first episode first.
Well, suffice it to say that I shot strait past depression into acceptance. Well, more of a pony-induced nirvana. I had found a show that was simply amazing, and I wanted to spread happiness and cheer and rainbows to all of my friends...after another episode, of course. And so I found my way into a community based on love and tolerance. Somehow, I had found a calm island in the middle of the s*** storm that is the internet.
Luckily, I have almost no self-respect. It has its advantages, including that I was never shamed by watching this show. Now, I'm not saying that people who watch this show have no self-respect, in fact I would say that the 4chan-ers who knocked the show have no self-respect.
However, I am willing to say that many of the people who watch the show have a fair amount of...call it disillusionment, if you'll let me use a "literary" term. Many of us find that the real world is full of hate, full of disappointment, full of failure. It does us good to watch this show, because it proves that maybe, just maybe, there is some good in the world, and that sometimes, friendship truly is magic.
Sethisto over on equestriadaily.com recently ran a poll. The question was,
Trixie offers to turn you into a pony and teleport you to ponyville. There is no going back. Do you do it!?At first I thought, "no way, I've got way too much going on for me here." And then I thought, and thought, and thought, and I realized that I really don't. I'm an average student, no extracurriculars, feel awkward to the point of isolation around more than two or at most three people, have a frail sickly body, not to mention more than my fair share of psychological problems. So I voted yes.
Yes, I would leave my entire life behind, if in exchange I could go to ponyville and become a pony.
Now, not everyone would do this. 74% of the voters would, however, and I thank that that's what drives us to the show. We love the show because it is such a contrast to what we see. We can escape.
That's what this show would be called: escapist fare. Means that we watch it to escape the darkness of reality.
It will be a while before I can get any actual reviews up, but once July rolls around I should be able to put out two or three a week.
You can contact me at coppertoken@derpymail.org.
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