Re: My comment on the Royal Wedding (spoilers) · 11:57am Apr 22nd, 2012
If anyone is curious what I meant by "I am in awe at the skill with which the fanbase and media were manipulated to reinforce empathy with Twilight's feelings over the course of the episode," (doubtful since no one but me gets notifications of comments on StN) lets take a look at it for a second.
We're going to assume a couple things: First, that Hasbro needed a pretty pink princess bride pony to sell (and that someone high up decided this had to mean an alicorn), and second, that the story has to be completely self-contained like all of the other premieres and finales.
So what do they do? They take the idea and they run with it. They market the ever-loving hell out of this character who comes out of nowhere knowing full well that people who really follow the show (not necessarily bronies!) will at the very least be extremely skeptical of, all the while selling tons of these pretty pink princess bride ponies to the market that wants them.
But what about the actual episode? They take all that pent up skepticism and mistrust and they use it. Twilight's first comment about Cadence sets the mood: "Who in the hoof is THAT?" she asks incredulously and the viewer agrees completely, buying completely into the narrative. It's revealed after a few scenes that Twilight actually does know her, but by then opinions are formed and Twilight's mistrust of her is immediately reinforced as she fails to be the pony Twilight remembers. That theme of mistrust is played with for the rest of the first episode, and builds up viewer engagement with various ups and downs and questions of whether she (and we, the viewer) are wrong about Cadence after all.
Then, of course, the reveal. All our skepticism and mistrust about Cadence is validated: she's evil as evil can be. We're right, she's wrong, we hate her. At the same time, the real Cadence is introduced and redeemed all at once through one simple fact: she's not the character we've grown to hate. Nothing about her concept has changed, but all the hate and mistrust is attached to Evil Cadence; Good Cadence has, at worst, a blank slate to work on, which they attempt to build on quickly with a song shared with the Evil Cadence, reinforcing their differences and being in general, a pretty awesome villain song.
Evil Cadence is firmly in our mind as wicked, and finally we have the second reveal which completely removes the reasons we disliked and distrusted her in the first place (the percieved identity of Cadence) and gives her a unique identity: Chrysalis, Queen of Changelings and Visual Design. Suddenly, we can like this character; she's actually pretty awesome and she gives us a taste of real war in Equestria which is something we've never seen before. Pretty much everyone should be on board with the episode at this point.
Then the mane six fail to get the elements because their protagonist cards have been revoked for the duration of this episode, Cadence recharges Shining Armor's batteries with love and oh hey look, we get a glimpse of someplace that isn't Equestria. The End.
I'm not going to comment on Celestia's role or any of a number of other issues, but regarding a purely emotional standpoint, I appreciate the crafting that went into the realization of this finale within the bounds which were required of them, especially that which took place before anyone ever saw a frame of the episode. In the end, they sold toys and managed to distract us at least for a little while from the fact that we really honestly still resent Cadence, who we will do our best to pretend doesn't exist. In my eyes, that's a success.
Oh how I love when people pick at what they watch and analyze
It's always so interesting, and a much better response than the "OMG, best episode ever" phrase
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I perfer to use pictures to describe my thoughts on this episode
i.qkme.me/364w24.jpg
Prepare for the rush of new fanfic's of Shining Armor, Changlings, Princess Cadance, being sympathetic to the changling queen and making her to be the victim, Celestia being weaker than once thought, twilight's family, more than 2 alicorns, and more war stories.
......
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I also noticed this! Let the fans place all their negativity in the Cadance present in the lead-up to the episode, then swap her with the version the show creators want us to have. Twilight's place is a familiar guide for the watcher.
I'm glad I wasn't the only one who saw this - it makes it more likely this was intentional and not a result of over-analysis.
I agree with you completely. Personally I have been asking myself and anyone who would listen: "Where the buck is this third alicorn coming from?!?" I mean for two seasons we were under the impression of alicorns being godlike beings. Then out of no where comes this Mary Sue Cadence who happens to be twilights old sitter, alicorn, and princess who weilds the power of love to magically beat the bad guys. I mean where the heck did she come from? It would make sense if Cadence was a daughter of Celestia or Luna but she was only described as a "princess". Just how many alicorns are there? IMO Cadence did seem a bit forced, it was probably an executive decision that the animators just had to deal with it and tried to make the best of it. I really loved how the story took a turn towards being "grimdark" showing actual fighting and actual evil villans. If they somehow combine the darker plot-lines with the lighthearted cartoon we love into the future I believe that MLP will reach new heights of greatness. Replies welcome.
Haha, I just have to say that I loved reading this post xD.
I admit to rather liking the episode, despite being dead set on disliking it from the start, so big kudos to DHX for that. It's not perfect, and I still hate Cadence and Shining Armour, but they did a great job none the less. I will still try my best to completely ignore the existence of those two however.