Another Fandom Rant · 2:58am May 13th, 2013
And here we are again.
You know, I thought I could get over it, I legitimately thought I could deal with this fandom. Their whitewashing of villains is still annoying, but I figured I could just accept it and move on with all the good parts. But it seems like that's not happening soon either. You see, more information about Hasbro's latest endeavor 'Equestria Girls' was released recently. Now, up until this point, I had largely been indifferent to the whole thing; it was something that they were making, but it wasn't going to be for me. However, I was presented a link to the information and looked it over out of curiosity; the information was more of the same, nothing really standing out all that much, but a trailer was provided and I gave it a look.
Much to my shock, I enjoyed it.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not blindly expecting it to be the greatest thing ever, but what I've seen does give me high hopes for the movie. However, while some bronies only shrug their shoulders at this information- not really minding either way- I've found that a large number of them are only spending their time doing two things: Whining and complaining over it.
Some of these can be passed off as aesthetic sensibilities; which, while still something I feel a shallow reason to dislike something, are a part of a person's character and immutable with anything other than time and their own willingness. However, one which really and legitimately made me angry was one comment from a member of this site's very own 'The Writer's Group' community: That the best that anyone could hope for out of this is well done stereotypically girly entertainment.
Firstly; referring to an entire genre of entertainment as 'girly' is, in fact, rather sexist in my mind and something that should be squashed out. The entire concept this show that we claim to love is- by that definition- 'girly' because it's about a bunch of magical, pastel ponies dealing with life. Yes, they have adventures as well, but the entire theme of the show is that of a Slice-of-Life comedy. Which, from what I've seen, is what the movie is going for as well; it seems to be a high school drama type of deal, which is just a specific type of Slice-of-Life, and attempting to be humorous as well. In other words, it's exactly like the show only with the characters being of a different species.
Secondly; I know it may come as a massive shock to some people, but, the main reason that something is usually referred to as 'girly' is because that- believe it or not- girls actually do like it! That does not mean that boys can't enjoy it to; in fact, if this show has proved anything, it's the girls and boys can both find enjoyment out of the same thing. My Little Pony has a large number of male fans now, it's true, but a good number of them are also females who still enjoy the show. Call them 'Pegasisters' or what ever you want (since I've heard that some girls don't care for that name), but they still exist and yet no one would call Friendship is Magic 'stereotypically girly'.
Finally, notice what I said up there about the comment that spawned this little fit; some of it was paraphrased, but I specifically recall him saying 'Well done stereotypically girly entertainment'. If you're not getting my point yet, I'll spell it out: 'well done stereotypically girly entertainment'. If it's well done, why would the fact that its 'girly' even matter? Things with a negative connotation can still be pulled well and be extremely entertaining. 'Through the Eyes of Another Pony' takes the plot of a brony going to Equestria and turning into a pony and makes it into something highly entertaining; 'Past Sins' deconstructs the idea of redeeming a villain, then reconstructs it so that it works and is still a personal favorite of mine; The 'Silent Ponyville' stories take gore and grimdark to whole new levels, and are some of the most compelling fanfiction I have ever read. If something is done well, it doesn't matter the connotations that surround it, it's still an awesome source of entertainment and enjoyment.
So to all you bronies out there still acting like whiny two year olds over Equestria Girls, thank you.
Thank you for lowering my opinion of this fandom even more.
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It's seems like a perfectly good movie. I just hope they get home at the end. Since I'd rather Spike not get stuck as a dog. And it would miss the point of 'My little pony'. An 'the adventure continues' while they're still int he human world IMHO would be a downer ending no matter how they paint it. In short, as long as it's 'a nice place to visit, but I don't want to stay here' it'll be a good story. I don't HATE a movie that hasn't even been released yet. I'm just WORRIED because so much can go wrong.