True, true friendship.

Okay, so apparently I have a lot to say today. So what?

So, Fluttershy speaks for the gang and says that they all love Twilight. Twilight replies, very clearly, that she loves them too. This is my favourite moment of the episode, possibly the whole season. Why? Well, let's find out:

They genuinely love each other and they are comfortable enough to say it. This is why I love the show. This is why I think it's seriously the best kid's show on TV right now. They didn't hold back on what's actually going on; none of this withholding the 'I love you' except for family members and dating/married couples. Kids deserve to know that love isn't reserved for family and romance - you can love your friends, too. Heck, everyone should know that.

For too long, popular media has worshipped the idea that romance, falling in love and getting married is the be-all, end-all goal of life. Find your prince/princess, have a fairy tale wedding and live happily ever after. All those stories and books and movies simply glossed over the fact that people need friends. You really, really do. They never make any mention about how the protagonist made those friends that support them throughout the movie, they are just sort of there. And why not? Because nothing can be as exciting as fighting and struggling to find your happy ending with the one you love, apparently. And by that same token, love is portrayed as this powerful, wonderful thing that's so amazing, only couples who love each other romantically should have the privilege of experiencing it.

But FIM breaks the pattern. The way the girls treat each other is the perfect example of love between friends. (Gah, English is so limited! We've only got one word for love and we need about five or six.) We've watched them laugh and cry and cheer and help and fight and forgive and protect and grow together. They're practically sisters by this point. You don't go through all of that and become a better person without love.

And that, boys and girls, is the take-home lesson. Make good friends and love them dearly, because love is seriously the greatest thing in the whole freaking world and you don't have to get a boy/girlfriend to experience it. That's what the show is teaching us, and it's a lesson that everyone deserves to learn.

Comments

[Portmeirion]

Strongly agreed. The Greeks actually had a word for that: phileo, which roughly means love between friends. The way this show depicts phileo is one of my favorite things about it.