Equestria Girl Power, Feminism, Rainbow Rocks, and the Future · 11:20pm Dec 6th, 2014
Think back to spring 2013.
Twilight Sparkle assured us, “Everything's going to be just fine.” But there were good reasons to feel anxious about the future of the show. Season 3 had been brilliant, but had ended with Twilight being crowned a princess! (Who asked for that?) Lauren Faust had left the show (with rumors that she did not much like the direction it was going). And the next big thing would be a humanized film commissioned to market a set of rather uninspiring dolls, in which we would “Learn all about the magical parallel universe with high schools instead of castles, where six pony friends become real girls with a love for fun and fashion.”
That did not sound encouraging. The forces of pretty pony princessification seems to be turning Faust's original vision into something like the Disney Princess marketing juggernaut. Many feminist fans had had enough at this point, as documented in Amanda Duncil's bleak commentary: Equestria Girls: How Did My Little Pony Go So, So Wrong?
But it often happens with this show, that when it really doesn't look like things will work, it most surprises. Think of the end of season 2: A royal wedding in which Twilight's brother (Twilight has a brother? Sorry, we forgot to mention it until now) gets married to a pink alicorn princess. Can you imagine a crazier synopsis? But Meghan McCarthy seems to excel at challenges like this, and she somehow turned it into an utterly awesome double episode. Marketing may have said it had to be a pink pony princess wedding. But they didn't say there couldn't also be an invasion of shape-shifting insectoid aliens.
Could Meghan pull off the same stunt with Equestria Girls? Yes and no. It was an excellent execution of a difficult idea, and she managed to build an entirely new world, integrate it with the series, and stay true to the original characters. But ultimately in trying to achieve so much, and satisfy so many different needs, there had to be compromises. It didn't quite reach the same level of awesomeness as the original series. Even if it did have winged demons and zombies, it was still a little too princessy – a story of a new girl at school, struggling to fit in, but winning friends thanks to her true heart, and going on to win the crown.
The general opinion among feminist fans was favorable, but not over-impressed. I quite liked Kelly Knox's summary: “Is Twilight Sparkle really a princess? Yes. Do they all look like stick-figured Bratz dolls in the movie? Yep. Did my four-year-old love it all?... I was fully prepared to dislike it, but overall I enjoyed watching it with my daughter—and I won’t be pulling out my hair when she watches it over and over.”
But not everyone was so positive.
Now what about Rainbow Rocks? According to Meghan, “The Empire Strikes Back of Equestria Girls. Everything gets kicked up a notch.”
It certainly feels that feminist side of My Little Pony is fighting back. This is a film about smart, confident girls, learning to work together to produce their own music, and tackle the forces of dark magic at the same time. It has a Girl Power feel to it—Spice Girls-esque—but singing and dancing to your own tune, instead of blindly following a manufactured band like the Dazzlings. And still very much a kids film with none of the “sexual” tones, which annoy so many parents. For all the comparisons with the disliked Bratz franchise, Equestria Girls characters have been carefully designed to avoid the more obvious age-inappropriate elements. In fact the film plays with this a bit, by giving the villains the subtle come-hither look, to contrast with the more wholesome sugary sweetness of our heroes. If Twilight role is not so key this time, it just gives the other girls, especially Sunset Shimmer, a chance to shine. Rainbow Dash does her gender stereotype shattering stuff. Flash Sentry's role is kept to an absolute minimum. In short, I liked it.
Where do we go next? Given the final scene, I would love to see a third film with a science theme to it, just like the rock music theme of Rainbows Rock. With a line of dolls, and science kits, to go with it. Wishful thinking? Yes. But we can make a case that this would be a smart move for Hasbro.
There is a growing cultural movement centered around the promoting of science and technology to young girls, driven by science outreach programs, and pushed by social-media-savvy fourth-wave feminists, but with the solid foundation of the large (and growing) number of women working in the field, and their male friends who can see that gender equality is much more fun than an old boys club. (Just a few examples: ScienceGrrl, Women Rock Science, Robogals.)
There is also a growing campaign to persuade the toy industry to stop labelling toys as “for boys” or “for girls”, especially where this is suggesting science and engineering are just for boys; but also to show there's nothing wrong with boys playing with dolls, and no child should be discouraged from playing with the toys they want by gender-segregated advertising. (Let Toys be Toys, GoldieBlox, A Mighty Girl, Pink Stinks.)
So far these campaigns have been mostly just highlighting the most blatantly stupid, sexist adverts on Twitter, and promoting ideas small start-ups and independent toy firms. It seems to me that the time is now right for a major international toy manufacturer to really embrace this philosophy, and make it a central part of a new toy line.
And what better brand to do so than My Little Pony?
Look at the way the Lego Research Institute set sold out so quickly, thanks to the viral promotion by these groups. (See also this NY Times article, which also briefly mentions bronies.) Now imagine the potential of an Equestria Girls Twilight Scientist doll.
OK, it won't happen. But it's good to feel that Hasbro now have more respect for the feminist basis of the series. And whatever the theme of the next film, I have a feeling that it's going to be good.
Yes, everything's going to be just fine.
Yes it will, I think!
Hasbro cares just for one thing: Money. All businesses do. Not necessarily the people behind it, but the company does. It's the one thing that everyone in the company can agree on, and it's the one thing that ultimately gets done. The cameo at the end of Rainbow Rocks with EQ! Twilight seemed like if there's going to be science anywhere, it'd be in the next Equestria Girls.
On an earlier blog you wrote, I commented what I would like MLP:FIM:EG3 to be. To summarize myself, I want the HuMane Twilight Sparkle to be a Scientist in University investigating the strange things occuring at CHS which seem to violate the physics of her universe. It is almost as though the physics of another universe bleed into her universe:
If the Good Doctor Professor Isaac Asimov exists in her world and he wrote “The Gods Themselves” and she read that story, then she knows that this could be very bad:
In the Gods Themselves, our universe interacts with a similar universe with a much more powerful (hundreds of orders of magnitude) Strong Nuclear Force. The Physics between the universes start to equalize. The Proton-Proton-process becomes easier and Beryllium 8 becomes stable, thus eliminating the need for the Triple-Alpha-Process. In other word, if something is not done soon, the sun will explode.
With the threat of the destruction of her whole solar system, The HuMane Twilight Sparkle starts harassing The HuMane 5 and SunSetShimmer until she discovers the power of friendship.
I would argue that the Dazzlings are classic Vamps, complete with the extreme malice toward their victims.