So this has been irksome for me... · 6:11pm Dec 27th, 2014
I've been ruminating on the community's response to Remedial Lessons for some time. While the story has been met with approval from nearly all who offered feedback, there were some comments that brought up portions of the story they didn't agree with. Specifically, the treatment of Twilight Sparkle and the nature of Luna's reaction to the guard's improper acts. I was excited to engage in discussion of these themes, but apparently didn't pursue it aggressively enough at the time, so none was forthcoming.
I decided to write this blog post addressing those concerns and inviting real criticism and discussion of the views presented. For the sake of not asking everyone to search for specific portions of the story, I'll quote the parts in question and offer my own thoughts.
Twilight took a deep breath. After holding it for several seconds, she let it out in a slow sigh. “I… cannot… believe the nerve of these ponies. I caught a few guards ‘admiring’ me a few weeks ago. I didn’t think much of it until I had that backlash accident with the extrasensory enchantment last week.”
“Oooh, I’ve done that before. I saw far more than I needed to that weekend,” Luna said, wincing. “On the upside, I think I really cut down on guard/staff fraternization.”
Twilight nodded, pointing wildly at Luna with a hoof. “Yeah, see! Luna knows! Practically every single guard I’ve talked to, walked past, or flown over has been staring at me.”
Celestia raised an eyebrow. “Twilight, I understand why you’re upset, but”—
“That’s not all!” Twilight said, slamming a hoof down on the table. “I had Gold Standard in Court today trying to convince me to lower his taxes. This is the third time this month he’s tried to get me to show him favoritism!”
Celestia sighed, an ache beginning to form in her temple. “Twilight, I’ve received at least a thousand proposals from various poni”—
“And to top it all off,” Twilight shouted, “I received a report today on the national crime rate. Have you seen the numbers? What’s wrong with these ponies?”
Red-faced and panting, Twilight stared at Celestia. Closing her eyes, Celestia rubbed her head with a hoof.
“Well? Aren’t you going to say something?” Twilight asked.
“Twilight, I understand how you feel. I’ve often felt the same way, but it’s just part of life for us in these times,” Celestia said.
“We’ve also improved our crime reporting services recently.” Luna nodded. “That probably has something to do with the rise in the crime rate.”
Twilight stared, open-mouthed. “I can’t believe it. How are you two okay with this?”
“You know, she may have a point, Tia,” Luna said. “I’ve often wished we had some sort of way to screen out the greedy or ridiculous proposals.”
Celestia winced at the thought. “That would certainly go over well with the nobles. Nearly all of them would be sent away at the door.”
In this scene, Twilight raises the issue of how the guards express their attraction to her when they think she isn't looking. This problem is brought up by Luna later in the story:
“As for the guards, I’ve sometimes felt as you do. However, I believe the same principle applies to them. They are all males expected to stand in one place all day, so some… looking is expected. However, that doesn’t excuse more aggressive actions like staring or making inappropriate comments.
“Speaking of which, when you were shouting at the guards earlier, it sounded like you were telling them off for some sort of assault.” Luna raised an eyebrow.
Twilight began fidgeting again, looking nervously over Luna’s shoulder.
“Did our guards really step so far out of line, Twilight?” Luna asked.
“W-well they did step out of line. I guess it’s fine to help me up, but they lingered way too long. I-I mean, that guard had it coming anyway! He’s been assigned to guard me for the whole week and he won’t stop staring,” Twilight sputtered. “It’s… I mean, the guards aren’t there to do that, right?”
“So, you believe we should punish this behavior by turning them to stone?” Luna said.
Twilight scuffed the ground with her hoof. “Well, maybe I overreacted a little, but that kind of behavior is still unacceptable.”
Luna approaches the issue with more deliberation than Twilight did, and Twilight's actions are framed as an overreaction in this conversation. This part of the story seems to be a point of contention for some readers.
While I don't want to protect the themes in this story from discussion or disagreement, I would like to point out that the philosophies presented operate within the context of the characters expressing them. I do agree with many of the attitudes I wrote, but an equally valid discussion would be whether or not this interpretation of the characters' canon actions is accurate.
Time to talk about the actual attitudes presented. The problem of the guards admiring Twilight from afar must be considered within the context of modern gender politics. Personally, I feel that the mere act of looking is not only harmless, but an expression of male sexuality governed by evolutionary factors entirely beyond the control of modern technology. The guard's lingering contact, however, is rude in a casual sense and completely inappropriate in a professional one. I feel that Luna's response was not to dismiss Twilight's concerns, but rather to temper those concerns in a useful and harmonious way. A leader who turns her subjects to stone for touching her can't expect many followers. Luna is also trying to teach Twilight the importance of having a thick skin when you're a public figure. In real life, celebrities receive everything from marriage proposals to death threats on a daily basis. Responding to these actions only encourages their continuation. The leader of a nation must not only appear strong to earn their subjects' respect, but also respond to provocative actions based on how they affect the population rather than how they affect the leader personally.
Anyway, I just wanted to get all this off my chest and ask more directly what the readers think. Any comments are appreciated.
I realized that I haven't re-read this story since it got accepted to EQD, and that was awhile ago. I don't know how much you've changed it, but if I put aside some time to reading this weekend I think I'd like to read it again.
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I doubt the story itself has changed too much. I'd love to hear your opinion on the updated version, though.
I had a few thoughts after reading the story. Be warned: THIS IS A WALL OF TEXT. If you want a summation, go to the end (Points 3a and 3b)
1a) Luna has had far more practice at this, and Celestia even more, so it's possible they've been at least partially desensitized. They may be looking at the situation in too objective a view; they're not considering how Twilight actually felt, only what events technically transpired. I mean, they even say as much.
1b) However, the Sisters are likely considered Goddesses, or at least very close; it's unlikely anypony would dare to make more than the slightest acknowledgement of them sexually (outside of complete privacy) if they though they might get caught. So, all-in-all, it's possible the Sisters didn't understand how Twilight felt.
1c) Luna does mention that Celestia was responsible for the all-male guard force essentially because she got horny. So for Celestia in particular, it's possible she actually enjoys the "attention" and didn't really grasp that Twilight was in a completely different situation.
2a) Twilight opens with several complaints about being a Princess. That would indicate - to me at least - that she's extremely stressed. She's normally so level-headed; the fact that she actually threatened her guards with petrification indicates that she's actually far beyond stressed. It's possible that her stress caused her to exaggerate what happened and make it worse than it was, and to not think rationally. We can actually see this in how she neglects to think of alternate motivations for crime, even though she's normally very acute.
2b) Also worth considering is her background. We've seen that she has very few friends - and had basically none before Ponyville. So she was almost certainly fairly repressed and unaware of how general sexuality works. She may not have known what was appropriate, or she may have been unable to read others' intentions. Which brings me to my final point...
3a) Since we don't know what happened, we can only make generalizations. Because of what I mentioned above, my analysis is that it's likely Twilight's reaction to what happened - basically going crazy - was unwarranted and overreacting. However, I think the Sisters were in the wrong as well by basically not paying Twilight's concerns any heed, and underreacted.
3b) This is the most important part. It's not at all a fault with you or the story, but simply a fact. We're lacking the most crucial peace of information for making any real statement: We have no idea what the guard actually did. Twilight simply says he "lingered too long". We, however, don't know how or where he "lingered". If, for example, he helped her up and touched her flank or - according to fanon - wings or horn, that would be inappropriate. However, if by "linger" Twilight meant he held her hoof for too long, her reaction would completely unwarranted.
Well, no real conclusion; just a few first observations I had. If I had to make a conclusion - actually more like a non-conclusion - I'd say this: Everything is essentially circumstantial. We don't have enough information to draw a real conclusion. My personal opinion, however, is that Twilight was simply stressed.
I would get to it right now if I weren't trying to finish this chapter I promised myself I wanted done this weekend! I've been sitting on it 70% done for months but I keep getting distracted.
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After reading the legendary Wall O' Text (TM), I think you bring up some good points. The story is vague about the nature of the infraction. In fact, it doesn't even get close to what exactly happened until near the end. I also like the points you bring up about Celestia and Luna possibly being desensitized to this sort of thing due to their long lives.