Sociology of Marine Bronies · 8:23pm Oct 27th, 2015
A short piece on military bronies on a sociology website:
Masculinity, Marines and My Little Pony
As I'm neither a sociologist nor a military person I should probably not speculate too much about this. (There is an interesting history of physicists contributing to discussion on sociology). But there are some interesting questions here.
At one level, so what? If plenty of military guys enjoy the show, it just shows that they enjoy good quality entertainment as much as civilians. Good for them. Are any further theories just a sign of academics doing what we do best and overanalysing everything?
Or is there something more here? Military bronies do seem to be a distinct sub group within the fandom. Is there something about the fandom which particularly appeals to marines? Or are bronies disproportionately attracted to a career in the armed forces? Maybe both groups provide a strong sense of community which appeals to many of us. Or is the Marine Corp's love of the show a reaction against traditional ideas of masculinity pushed onto them? Are there any similarities with the experiences of gay and transgender servicemen and women?
I have a simpler explanation. MLP:FIM is pro-military. Note the character of Shining Armor, and the general depiction of the Guards as early as S1E01.
People who do all do the same unusual and costly thing will either form a group and a group identity and become recognizable as such or else fade away altogether. There are economies to groups that make such costs tolerable, and in order for a group to exist, it is necessary to be able to distinguish between group members and non-group members. In other words, the question here (we are looking for a point of falsification), what would happen if the same marines loved MLPFIM but were not a distinct and recognizable subgroup?