FIM and Wish Fulfillment · 2:32pm Oct 4th, 2014
It's no secret that Friendship is Magic has a preponderance of wish fulfillment, both in fanfiction and in art.
This is nothing new. All fiction attracts escapism by its very nature. Yet FIM as a fandom seems to have a lot more of it. You could argue the law of averages here—more fans and more internet exposure may make the problem seem more severe than it really is.
I don't think it is that simple. In this blog post I'll examine three factors that might explain this, at least partially. As with all my opinion posts, however, this is mostly speculation.
Cutie Marks—This is a big one. Cutie marks mean that no pony ever has to worry about unemployment, "finding themselves", or living with their parents until they turn thirty because of the housing crash. Every character in the setting is good at something by default. This is an incredibly alluring prospect, and there are countless fics and ask blogs which are sort of "occupation porn"; They focus solely on ponies with cool jobs doing those jobs. Wouldn't being a firefighter or police officer without having to sit through years of training be pretty cool?
I don't want to make any assumptions about the fandom as a whole, so I'll only reference myself when I say that finding a career is hard. I sort of lucked into choosing one and I still haven't completed all the training necessary to do it yet. The idea of a society where every person has a purpose, and yet avoids the dystopic overtones of having your path chosen for you (a la Brave New World et al.) is a very enticing prospect, and lots of wish fulfillment stories use it.
Humanity is absent—This is nothing new. Science Fiction has been using the Humans Are Special routine for as long as the genre has existed.
Ponies, however, gives this a different context. Humans don't exist in the setting by default. This means that if a human ends up there, then they are special and important by virtue of their existence. If a human/author stand-in appeared in the Legend of Korra universe or the Harry Potter universe, so what? If anything, they would be at a massive disadvantage without all them sweet powers and magic and whatnot. If an author avatar popped into Mass Effect, it wouldn't be worth noting. All the aliens there are quite familiar with humans (and several of them actively hate our guts). When a human appears in Equestria though, it is not the same. It is (within the logic of the story and real life), a justifiably big event. They are unique despite being normal, interesting despite being bland.
The setting is malleable—I've said before that fanfiction authors do not attempt to perfectly emulate the universe. Fanfiction universes that tend to become popular are ones that leave a lot of details open for authors to use and speculate on.
Equestria fits this criteria perfectly. It has an uneven technology level (trains and quills alongside more modern "electrical" devices like projectors and arcade cabinets). It has magic. It has thousands of years of backstory that the show has not bothered to expand on. It has other types of magic. It has classical mythology creatures alongside original creations. It even has its own High School AU. It's a mishmash of dozens of parts and slapping on a new one doesn't raise an eyebrow.
This means that any element that appeals to an author can be included without much fuss. Does Luna own an Xbox 360? Sure, why not. Were humans there all along? Sure, why not. Do ponies know how to play Dungeons and Dragons? Sure, why not. Video games and tabletop RPGs are the main culprit here, but it can apply to anything. The universe has rules, but it is so poorly defined that space can be made for anything without contradicting the setting. And since wish fulfillment relies on appealing to the author, this becomes very easy for facilitating otherwise counter-intuitive things.
Are these factors the only ones? Of course not. I left out quite a few things because other people have already made their own analyses of them (including, but not limited to; Spike, OC Stand-Ins, high female population, friendship, and low setting lethality). But these three are integral parts of the setting that, in many ways, foster wish fulfillment.
If anyone wants to link to posts covering those or other topics, please do; I could not find them despite googling. And, as always, comments discussing what I missed, what you agree with, or what I could phrased better are always welcome.
I'll give you this much. You're right.
Huh. Hadn't thought about it that in-depth before. Well said.
I agree. FiM at its core is practically engineered for wish fulfillment stories. Honestly I believe that's in part because of its origin as pandering for children. Hell, one of the first major outings of this franchise was a special in which a child serving as the audience surrogate was dropped into Gen. 1 Equestria and becomes one of the principle main characters.
At any rate, nice thought piece. Definitely brings up points for discussion.
hi hi
I think the cutie mark part is actually part of a larger theme, where everyone is encouraged to participate, and not taken advantage of backstabbed for sticking their necks out. Like Winter Wrap-up where everyone plays a part, even if it has nothing to do with their special talent, or Last Roundup, where Applejack only has to ask and is able to make a difference harvesting cherries, even though her special talent is apples. People are genuinely glad to have the help. In short, effort and good will are rewarded, not exploited. People are treated as an end in and of themselves, and not just a means to an end.
Firmly agreed. The worldbuilding underpinnings give a wide range of potential alterations, alternative explanations, and plugin-style additions.
Honestly, I think this sort of thing could be expanded into a dissertation on television, for the right graduate student.
2505966 Yeah, I considered mentioning Hasbro doing that intentionally, but it's a hard thing to judge. Like I said, most fiction is escapist by default.
It's interesting that you mention Megan though. I didn't even think about that since I never watched previous gens, but the parallels between that and bad HiE fics are pretty obvious
2506244 I can see what you mean, but that was actually one of the things that always confused me about the setting. Equestria obviously uses capitalism and currency. That cherry merchant and Flim and Flam are probably outliers, but there is also a rich upper class and an obvious class divide.
Consolidating economic necessity with the whole "universal acceptance" angle creates a lot of unintuitive situations. I suppose it's better than the alternative of "A place for everyone and everyone in their place", but at times it feels inconsistent. Dare I say, disingenuous.
I do agree that the lack of manipulation (excluding fringe cases) is an alluring part of the setting, but oftentimes I don't buy it.
2506759 My school library's journal database didn't turn up anything. Sociology/psychology majors take note, lol.
2508183
It isn't that there is a lack of manipulation, or that problems don't happen, but that the standard is that they get resolved, rather than perpetually compounded one after another. It isn't a lack of hardship, but the ability to work through it that counts.
There are also horrible monsters living right next door. It is not that they don't exist, or never go on a rampage, but that they can be dealt with.
Wish fulfillment almost has a derogatory connotation to it, as if anyone who hopes for something better is just fooling themselves. But people worked, fought, and died to get the world to where it is today. It didn't just magically happen, and it definitely isn't an immutable constant. If there is anyone who is fooling themselves, it is the people who think that things can never be any different. Things necessarily will be different over time, but whether the changes are for the better or for the worse, that is subject to change.
Also, it remains ambiguous as to where the divide between upper class and lower class resides. The upper class in Canterlot is occasionally portrayed as self-absorbed and out-of-touch with reality as well, and others are shown to purposefully avoid that lifestyle. Like Applejack when she got her cutie mark. It could be a matter of prestige among certain social groups, rather than strictly possessing more wealth.
Ponyville chooses not to use magic to wrap up winter. The settlers in Appleloosa built a new town in less than a year. Members of the extended Apple Family have their own airship, and though it doesn't look as extravagant as the one from Sweet and Elite, it could be seen as a conscious preference for simplicity.
Interesting piece. I especially agree with the third point. It's something I've observed myself: for a little girls' show, MLP has a relatively fleshed-out and consistent setting (so we've got plenty to work with) yet at the same time there's a lot left open for headcanon.
I think this is a big part of what makes MLP a very interesting franchise to write fanfiction for in general, but of course it also applies to wish fulfillment fics specifically, as you point out.
2505966 So... HiE was canon all along?
(one of these days I'll stop trying to be eloquent right before bed)
2508871 And I agree that the setting isn't perfect, but sometimes reconciling some of its more idealistic aspects with its more realistic trappings gives me pause. It's definitely one of many parts of the setting that is open to all sorts of headcanon.
And I was using "wish-fulfillment" in the derogatory sense to refer to unrealistic fanfic constructions, but the line between verisimilitude, embellishment, and full-on wish-fulfillment is an even more complicated and subjective subject
I wouldn't even say the show has given enough setting details to draw a line (especially since Sombra and Discord "beat" the good guys in the backstory, however briefly).
The show's optimism is one of the things that attracted me to it in the first place, but at times it is just vague enough to be frustrating. Combine in the mass of differing headcanon and it's no wonder that the world is so attractive to fanfic writers.
2511730 I think for me the characters are a bigger draw when it comes to writing fanfic. They are archetypal and malleable, while still having defined personalities. I may be biased, since a lot of my fics are character-driven or have minimal impact from the setting.
So yes, the setting is part of what makes it fun to write in as well as a wish-fulfillment magnet. But I think the setting is easier to ignore or minimize the impact of if you want more creative freedom. It has a bigger wish-fulfillment impact than other modular aspects of the show.
Firstly, apologies to both of you for not responding soon. My charger decided to go on holiday, so I had to leave fimfic for a few days.
2511730
In technicality, yes. Gen 1 had a good bit of reference to the human character. If you want to get technical, it can even be argued that Gen 4 makes Pony on Earth canon view the Equestria Girls debacle, although its reliability as canon can be debated as Studio B themselves don't seem to have much of a consensus on whether it was a direct spinoff, an alternate universe, or somewhere between.
2508183
I see your point on all fiction being escapist by virtue of an at least slightly fabricated story and often appealing to the reader/viewer/player's ability to relate to the character. Case in point, as a gamer, one of my favorite games I've ever played is Far Cry 3 and I would be lying if I didn't admit that part of my personal love of the game comes from that I as a (nearly) twenty something upper middle class white guy named Jason can relate to the protagonist. Same goes for Edward Elric in the anime/manga Fullmetal Alchemist, as my younger but larger brother and I have a nearly identical relationship to the two protagonists, right down to people constantly mistaking him for the older brother on first meeting. But, I'm digressing...
At any rate, I think including a little girl in Gen 1 of MLP was a far more calculated marketing ploy. I think it was an extremely purposeful way to give the audience watching, mostly girls in Megan's age range, a character whom they not only could relate with but actually place themselves inside, given she was mostly a Gordon Freeman style empty shell with whatever personality you decided to give her.
It is kind of funny though that "good" nostalgic cartoons of the eighties are so readily comparable to bad contemporary fanfiction.
2511842
I think I see what you mean. I suppose I may have managed to avoid a lot of the art and fiction that includes things like shameless Mary Sues, gratuitous self-inserts, or improbable projection onto main characters by the artist/author, and that may be part of why my point of view is slanted in the other direction.
I don't have much time to respond, but I did want to say that 'occupation porn' is a brilliant summation and definitely something the millenial generation finds appealing.