Sunset Shimmer: A Critique of Her Character: Part 2 · 6:37pm Apr 10th, 2015
So now for Sunset Shimmer in Rainbow Rocks. Now, I'm strictly heading into opposition territory now. Evil Sunset Shimmer being bad is a commonly shared opinion, however, good Sunset Shimmer is an absolute fan favorite. I am guaranteeing people hating me after this, but I have to give my honest opinion.
Like last time, I'll be splitting my review into sections.
So without further ado, let's get started.
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Events Of The First Film
So you should know by now that I thought that EQG 1 was a fucking trainwreck. Every logical minded person thinks that. One particularly bad scene was Sunset Shimmer's extremely out of place apology at the end.
Now, if they were trying to make this a good film, they would have retconned Sunset a little like they did with Luna. Have her still be a good guy but a bit more gruff and brutal than the mane six, telling the audience that this is the same character. But they made her completely perfect in this movie.
Now, I'll get to the problems with her character at a later point, but I'm first going to talk about how she stretches out the first film's flaws.
In one of the worst scenes of the first film, Sunset Shimmer has a sudden change of heart. She's so guilty in this one, and has a warm and caring personality, but why?
One theory is that the elements possessed her and made her good, but that really questions the morality of the elements, so I'm going to say that's not true. Let's just say she changed her ways at the end, for, whatever reason.
Her excuse at the end of EQG 1 was "I didn't know there was any other way." I'm sorry, but if the writers really wanted to go that direction, then they would have had the HuMane 5 actually teach her stuff about friendship like the whole deal was at the end of EQG 1. But Sunset Shimmer is the one that teaches them lessons about friendship.
Sunset Shimmer is so selfless in this movie, but as she gives out the lessons and didn't learn a thing from the HuMane 5, that confirms that she did know there was another way, it was a choice. Not that it was a well crafted excuse from the get go, as she had Celestia in her life a lot of the time, but now it's even worse. You know with Luna and Discord, they both learned stuff, the mane six didn't learn stuff from them, Why did you get this mixed up? It only worsens her reformation because what she said was not true.
Also, I need to discuss something. Sunset Shimmer shouldn't be unpopular, no, people should be cowering in fear. One of the main problems with these films is that high school is never portrayed in a realistic way. I'm going to say this right off the bat, if these movies had been portrayed in a more down to earth fashion, with the intention being to put these characters in realistic situations instead of selling toys, then I might have actually really liked them. But as it stands, it just wants to be a shitty high school drama with no substance whatsoever.
That makes the school feel incredibly unrealistic, because nobody acts like a proper human being in this high school. They act like a demon trying to brainwash students into invading another dimension is something that happens, I don't know, every couple of months. You see, nothing is realistic. It's not trying to put these characters in real situations for the sake of being creative, because if that was their intention then they wouldn't behave like this.
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Mary Sue
This character is absolutely perfect. She has no character flaws other than her past, which we might as well call the actions of a different character, because Sunset Shimmer was reset in this movie completely. She never gets angry with herself, constantly takes the HuMane 5's insults, doesn't give in, and is over the top cute.
Again, I think it would have been much more realistic to have her be the most brutal and violent of the group, learning the lessons of friendship, but not quite getting the hang of it, and attempting to beat the Dazzlings with brute force.
But as I said before, she, the former villain, was the one character who wasn't being a complete jerk, and was the one who got to tell the lesson at the end. Yeah, the HuMane 5 are so jerky, they have to be told that their being douchebags. Not learn it through self experience, be told.
They try to make this character as identifiable as possible, but I can't relate to her because she's too perfect.
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I know this is a lame excuse and I should be ashamed. But I don't think there's much more I can say about the RR Sunset Shimmer. I mean, she's pretty nice, and not unlikable. I just hated the character in the first movie so much that I think a reformation is a waste of time, and that she's had a character 180 in such a short space of time.
Also, just one more thing. This was a major opportunity to explore her backstory, and tell us why she did what she did, to make her a tad more realistic. Did they do that, no.
Okay, bye.
No, its not a lame excuse and you should not be ashamed for what you've said/wrote here. It's actually a very good point that many so called critics have missed in their analysis of Sunset character. They totally ignore how forced her redemption is, how now she is so perfect and nice. There is really no effort for this character. None. Nada. Sunset didn't had any character development, oh no, she was just written that way, turning her into a generic reformed villain.
That alone is enough to piss me off, but there is more. Sunset is a paradox itself when you think about it. In EQG she was a completely evil cunt. But beside that her villain plot worked only because people in EQG are fucking morons. In Rainbow Rocks she is a completely good spirited girl and everyone is a jerk to her to help people feeling sad for here. That is some LAZY writing.
2987529
Glad to hear from you mate. ☺
I was thinking of reviewing some fanfiction. Do you think that's a good idea?
Also, I wrote loads more posts since then, so feel free to check those out.
2987987 Yes, if i can i wish to hear your thoughts on the fanfiction called "Warming up". It's a clop fic that started great but then gross me out.
So I know I'm very late to all this, but I'd like to give my two cents, if that's okay.
Wait, wait, wait. Sunset Shimmer is a Mary Sue?
One sec, I'm just a bit scared I don't fully understand what a Mary Sue is...
...I think I understand?
So, you want her... to be a slightly downgraded version of her previous self?
Let me explain.
According to this, you would want Sunset to be the more brutal of the group. You want her to be darker, slightly sinister. The "realist cynic", if you will. Yet in the sequel, she isn't like that. She takes all the Mane Five's insults without much protest, because she believes that they have every right to do this.
Like it or not, that is very realistic.
This is something called a guilt complex—an unhealthy obsession with the idea of doing something wrong.
According to this website: https://blog.udemy.com/guilt-complex/
This is a psychological problem, as the individual inflicted with it cannot overcome this overbearing sense of dread. It often arises when one realizes too late that what they've done is wrong, and are convinced that they deserve supreme punishment. To that end, any sort of punishment they get—big or small—can be considered a "relief," a bit of self-justification for their self-loathing. People who have experienced mental or physical hardships can grow to develop such a complex.
Let's take a look at Sunset Shimmer once more with this information in mind. In the first movie, she is a former student of Princess Celestia who had a greedy edge to her. Hungering for power and instant gratification, she grew mad that Celestia would not allow her to become as powerful as she wanted, and thereby abandoned her studies.
I get it; it's a bit cliche. But, if you really think about, most every character has a cliche with them. (RD is arrogant, AJ is stubborn, Rarity is opinionated, Pinkie is extroverted, Twilight is cynical). Analyzing today's culture, you'll see that these "cliches" have become the norm for attitudes and personalities. But I digress.
Throughout the first movie, she doesn't exactly progress beyond that... in the first movie, she is bland, and boring. Perhaps her only interesting point, therefore, is her limited backstory. I grant you that.
At the end of the movie, however, she does a 180 and expresses remorse about her actions. I'm sure we all remember the fact that she was actually crying at the end, when Twilight offered her a hand up. That gives us our first clue to to the idea that she has a guilt complex.
Turning into a raging she-demon is probably very traumatic; and being so suddenly offered forgiveness can also be doubly traumatic. These are polar opposites, meaning that they would clash. By that, I mean that it would be like being blasted with blazing heat from a supernova on one side, and then being shoved through a cold black hole on the other. (Of course, either way, you'd be dead)
In the next movie, we see that everyone still hates Sunset Shimmer. And, realistically speaking (and I hope you had noticed this), would you be willing to forgive a raging she-demon so soon after her failed takeover? Would anyone, besides the HuMane Five, who have received the lessons of friendship by the Princess of Friendship herself? The answer should be no. Because, realistically speaking, people hold grudges even to those who need forgiveness. Realistically speaking, people are assholes.
Now, as for why Sunset takes all those side comments about being a she-demon taking over the school, here's my explanation once again.
She has a guilt-complex. She thinks she deserves to be punished, no matter what, so she allows these things to happen. And, as she's been given little time to 1) get over the fact that she was she-demon, and 2) cope with the fact that she's been forgiven so readily and easily by the very people she hurt, she has suffered trauma to her psychological being. The adage "Time heals all wound" has never been truer; without the time to solve both of the aforementioned issues, she could not so easily cope positively with these events.
If she had more time, then what you have suggested would have happened: she would still be learning about friendship, be more brutal, and try to defeat the Dazzlings by force. However, she has been confused by the actions of the HuMane Five, plus Twilight, plus herself. She copes by thinking that she needs to force herself to learn friendship—and quickly, too. It may be because she thinks that it's part of her punishment to learn about friendship. Again, I reiterate that she would consider everything as punishment—even things that aren't even close to it.
Of course, since the rest of the school does not suffer from this guilt complex, she does not think too much of them insulting and being a jerk to her. Why? Because she believes she deserves it.
And, if you look at the most recent episode, Do Princesses Dream of Sheep?, you'll find a similar situation. Luna has a mild guilt complex. (In that episode, the issue is resolved way too quickly in my opinion. I would have rather had Luna try to overcome her complex throughout the season—or perhaps the entire series.)
I think what you're thinking (AND I'M NOT SAYING IT'S WRONG) is that Sunset is perfectly imperfect. In that, she has every imperfection possible that she is a perfect failure. Like Azrael said, it's a paradox that the writers overlooked. It is very odd that Sunset would be perfectly imperfect, I get that.
Of course, this is just my analysis of the character, as well as my effort to understand where you're coming from. Since I am actually a mild fan of EQG (preferably RR), partly because it was one of the first things that introduced me to the fandom, I hope that you are considerate when you view my response. I hope you don't hold anything against me for saying all this.
3232252 Nice post. But she is still completely perfect, no, not perfectly imperfect, TOO PERFECT.
You mentioned the guilt complex, and why that's true, it's still lazy and awful writing because in the first movie she showed no hints of remorse for her actions until the almost comical scene at the end.
Princess Luna's guilt complex was written incredibly well, as is her entire character. She still kind of has an association with the dark arts, as she can go into peoples dreams and create all sorts of dark magic, the guilt complex made sense because her reformation worked due to her being good originally and her character was still the same character from Nightmare Moon originally, who has slowly evolved into a better person from Luna Eclipsed onward.
With Sunset Shimmer, they should have still done the guilt complex, but make it the same GOD DAMN CHARACTER. Whilst she is good, she's still violent, brutal, sickly intelligent (the character trait she should have had).... But instead they decided to make her over the top cute, completely perfect in every way, and waifu material for the fandom (god, every waifu needs to be destroyed) and now nobody will shut up about her and Sonata Dusk.
3236793 I agree in that regard. Sunset's reformation was too quick. I like the stories in which she still struggles with overcoming her past—though, nearly all of these stories take place between the movies.
2987529
So how would you have fixed the Sunset Shimmer story line? Like come on, it's not like the concept of her was terrible.