Cult of Cutie Markless or: Don't Drink That Kool-Aid, Twilight Sparkle! · 1:13am Apr 5th, 2015
Firstly: Obligatory spoiler warning (after the break)
Secondly: Shameless plug for my newest fic, The Silver Standard
So! How about that new episode, huh? I'd almost forgotten what new episodes were like. Feels nice.
There's been a lot of talk about Starlight Glimmer's little town lately. Before the premiere, I wondered if we would get a classic dystopia. Others theorize (and still do) that what we see is Stalinist communism or perhaps overzealous political correctness. And while there are certainly shades of all of those, I don't think any of them fit because as I see it...
Starlight Glimmer has a cult. A cult through and through.
In fact, it displays several warning signs and symptoms of a cult. Let’s run down them together, shall we?
1: Personality changes: Do you find yourself saying, "He's a different person," or, "I don't know her anymore"? Destructive cults successfully replace their members' personalities with new identities.
AKA: The entire M.O. of Starlight Glimmer. Cutie Marks aren’t just representations of special talents, cutie marks represent the whole of who a pony is and who they are meant to be. To take away a cutie mark is to take away the pony and all that’s left is an empty, smiling husk.
2: Dramatic shifts of values or beliefs: Psychological research has shown that beliefs and values are highly resistant to dramatic short-term change. Such radical changes require extreme situational influences such as those provided by skilled cult leaders.
See point one. Whatever these ponies loved before, whatever they believed it is gone now. Everypony is the same. Everypony believes the same thing. It’s more… friendly that way.
See also: Loss of personality quirks, like AJ’s countryisms and Pinkie’s….everything.
3: Changes in diet or sleep patterns: Cults will often restrict the diet and sleep of members, possibly in an effort to hamper normal, rational thought processing.
The only food in the entire town are tasteless, bland muffins. Also, did they bother to feed the mane six while they were locked up? I have my doubts they did.
4: Refusal to attend important family events: Family members pose a strong threat to the influence of the cult. As such, many cults refuse to allow members to attend family events such as marriages, sick relatives, etc.
Not a bunch of evidence for this on the part of the townsfolk, but I'm pretty sure being locked up and not allowed to go home probably counts for this.
5: Inability to make decisions without consulting a cult leader or guru: One of the signs of dependency upon a cult leader is the loss of personal autonomy.
Oh, yeah. These guys barely function without Starlight holding their hoof.
6: Sudden use of a new ideology to explain everything: Like a harpist playing an instrument with a single string, a cult member uses his or her new ideology to explain the entire world--even when it's wildly inappropriate.
I actually don’t have a good direct example of this one off the top of my head. Not much of a match, though I certainly get this vibe from the townsponies, especially Double Diamond.
7: Black and white, simplistic reasoning: Underneath all the complicated jargon, you’ll find a cult recruit dividing his or her world into ‘good’ and ‘bad’. The shades of grey in which we all live are usually intolerable to a cult member.
There's lots of this throughout the episode, but this moment in particular sticks out to me:
Sugar Belle: Just a moment ago you were disagreeing, and now it sounds like you’re agreeing.… you had such differing opinions – and cutie marks.
Rarity: We have differing opinions all the time, darling!
Sugar Belle: But you look like you’re friends.
Twilight Sparkle: We are friends! A simple disagreement wouldn’t change that!
Sugar Belle: I’m sorry, I’m just having a hard time understanding. Different talents lead to different opinions which lead to bitterness and misery. So… why aren’t you bitter?
8: New vocabulary: Is the person suddenly using complex jargon to obscure irrational or simplistic thinking?
No super complicated jargon pops up for simplicity’s sake since it’s a kid’s show. However, we do hear this string of mantras from the loudspeaker:
In sameness, there is peace. Exceptionalism is a lie. Free yourself from your cutie mark. Choose equality as your special talent.
The phase "equalization process" rings of this a bit, too.
9: Insistence that you do what they are doing: Recruitment is one of the first duties a new cult member is given. It consolidates the recruits beliefs while it inflates the cult's ranks.
Basically the plot of the entire second half. However, I have to give special mention to what looks a damn lot like the lovebombing of Fluttershy. Lovebombing is a technique where members lavish tons of love—“friendship” in this case—on someone to create a sense of unity. It’s a “coordinated effort, usually under the direction of leadership”
It's a bit early to say for sure (since I bet money on her returning this season) but in addition to all of that, Starlight's personality and actions mirror that of several other cult leaders, namely hypocrisy and an inflated ego to an almost god-like status. She's channeling Jim Jones big time.
Anyone else wonder what would have happened to Fluttershy if she had stumbled upon Our Town alone?
I was half-expecting to see a big bowl of kool-aid as a background prop.
yup!
This was actually a disturbing episode for me, for I lived in a cult for three years. It brought up painful memories but there's one aspect of this cult that doesn't happen a lot: once they saw their leader was false, they turned on her. Usually, members are so brainwashed and so invested in the teachings that they make excuses for the leader's bad behavior. If this were real life, and if Starlight hadn't snapped at them, but instead came up with a plausible lie for her actions, most of them wouldn't have revolted.
Also, it's worth noting that not all of the ponies joined the herd that ran up to the mountain; their cutie marks had to find them because they were still down in the Village. It can be assumed they were the really hardcore believers, who weren't ready to face a reality where they had to think for themselves.
All good observations. But I wonder if differentiating between cults and dictatorships may be putting too fine a point on it.
Historically, most tin-pot dictators establish personality cults, so there will always be loyalists and bodyguards who won't attempt assassinations or coups d'etat. So these episodes managed to tell the truth about both these things. (Yet another good reason to believe in M.A. Larson!)
Starlight Glimmer: Is she Jones by way of Stalin, or Stalin by way of Jones?
It's a combination of cult, communist dictatorship, and Kim Jung un. Or whatever his name is spelled like, don't understand you not put Kim Jung and communist in the same sentence without punctuation. Mostly because Kim Jong is a combination of cold and communist dictatorship combined into one scary package. Have you seen some of documentaries about how some people who escaped North Korea tell tales of things like if you touch the propaganda papers that the South Korean send your arms and legs will fall off and these people will believe it, that's what I see in starlight glimmer.