A Christian INFJ Psychology Major’s Thoughts on Season Five Partially in Response to joshscorcher/Commander Firebrand’s Reviews Part 1: Starlight Glimmer · 4:50am Mar 6th, 2016
I would like to start off by making clear the purpose of this blog post. This post was not intended to start trouble or create enemies. It was not intended to coerce others into sharing my opinion, and it certainly was not intended to undercut Mr. Scorcher’s credibility as an analyst or invalidate his opinions. This post is simply an expression of my thoughts, and I have made the decision to risk gaining the brony community’s ire and derision by sharing my thoughts in hopes that maybe my words would inspire kindness, compassion, introspection, and maybe even joy in other people.
Firstly, I had absolutely no intention of becoming a fan of Mr. Scorcher/Commander Firebrand’s review videos. You see, I was under the impression that analysts, especially those in the brony community, were cynical, overly critical, worldly, and foul-mouthed and feared that watching their reviews would ruin my innocent, untainted enjoyment of the show. Well, rather unexpectedly, Mr. Scorcher/Commander Firebrand managed to impress me. His reviews were not only entertaining and thought-provoking but RELATIVELY positive, optimistic, and clean. The fact that he made attempts to keep his reviews free of any headcanon was a bonus. Of course, the fact that Mr. Scorcher/Commander Firebrand gained my respect did not mean that I automatically agreed with every single one of his opinions.
I had one such moment of disagreement when he opened his review of the season five finale with the following statement: “THIS EPISODE SUCKED!” If the comments on YouTube and my conversation with my brother were anything to go by, he was not alone in this opinion. I could not help but be surprised, maybe even shocked, at this overwhelmingly negative response because unlike my brother and many other bronies, I actually enjoyed the season five finale despite its obvious weaknesses. I would even go so far as to say I learned from it. Granted, it was a lesson that I had already learned and understood, but I did not mind re-learning it in the slightest. I would even go so far as to say that I needed to re-learn it.
You see, like Starlight Glimmer when her friend Sunburst moved away, I was forced to go through an unpleasant yet necessary transition. I graduated college and moved back to my hometown, leaving behind the place where I had made so many wonderful friends and shared so many happy memories with them. I had to continue growing up without them and allow them to continue growing up without me. The possibility that I could grow apart from the people who were like another family to me was sobering, and the transition was trying and harsh, but I knew I had to try to move on if I wished to mature into person I was meant to be. Although I did not allow myself to go down the destructive path of bitterness and self-pity, I could understand why such transitions would cause other people (and by people, I mean ponies, and by ponies, I mean Starlight Glimmer) to go down this path. For this reason, I saw in Starlight the person I could have been and felt compassion for her despite how clearly undeserving she was of it.
So, why do other bronies feel so disdainful towards her? Why are they so willing to write her off as unlikable, unsympathetic, and ill-conceived? Well, after watching Mr. Scorcher’s review and listening to what he had to say, I came to the conclusion that the reason why Starlight as a character was so hateful to fans is that her backstory and its similarity to what happened to Apple Bloom in season 1 painted her in a very unsympathetic light. Like Starlight, Apple Bloom lost her best friend to a cutie mark. Unlike Starlight, Apple Bloom made new friends and moved on, handling the situation much more maturely despite being much younger.
The obvious lack of maturity on Starlight Glimmer’s part turned off quite a few fans, Mr. Scorcher included, and ruined their enjoyment of the finale. However, what if there were other factors that affected Starlight and Apple Bloom’s difference in maturity? Granted, these factors won’t justify Starlight’s extreme actions in the season premiere, but I don’t think tragic pasts are supposed to justify wrongdoings anyway. If anything, I think tragic pasts only exist to show a character’s need for compassion despite how clearly in the wrong he or she is.
So, what is so different about Apple Bloom and Starlight that a mere child would show more maturity than a grown woman? Well, in order to answer that question, we have to examine what we know about Apple Bloom and Starlight. I will begin by writing about Apple Bloom.
We know that Apple Bloom is a member of the Apple family and that she grew up in a farm near Ponyville, a town that appears to be considered the friendship capital of Equestria if “Flight to the Finish” is anything go by. Her immediate family consists of two older siblings who sometimes act as her parents and a kooky grandmother with enough mental acuity to spit out pearls of wisdom from time to time. Despite occasional occurrences of annoyance and embarrassment, Apple Bloom’s family clearly adores and cares for her, and she in return loves and admires them. Based on this information, I can conclude that Apple Bloom was raised in an environment that was as conducive to a healthy mental and emotional development as fertile soil is conducive to growing a beautiful bloom. (Now, we know why her name is Apple Bloom and why her cutie mark has a heart inside of an apple. The analogy was too good not to use.) Additionally, Apple Bloom just seems to have a knack for acting more maturely than her age would suggest (“Bridle Gossip,” anyone?). She has had moments when she has acted more maturely than even her own sister (“Hearthbreakers”), so the fact that she handled losing a friend better than Starlight did isn’t THAT surprising to me.
On the other hand, we do not know much about Starlight Glimmer’s childhood background. We know that her best and only friend growing up was a colt named Sunburst, but no parents or any other family members were shown or mentioned. Additionally, she appeared to live in a nondescript, yellow, brick building that seemed much too large for an average family yet too modestly decorated to belong to a wealthy family. Come to think of it, Starlight’s home seemed more like a boardinghouse or an orphanage than a family home. (If this comic is anything to go by, I’m not the only one who thought this.) Maybe she was struggling with abandonment issues even before Sunburst left her. Maybe Sunburst was the first pony she was able to open her heart to only to be seemingly abandoned and cast aside by him as well.
However, assuming that I am correct in my conjecture, why was this not explicitly addressed in the show itself? Maybe the show staff did not want to further convolute an already rather complex finale by accounting for every single factor that affected Starlight Glimmer’s descent to villainy and chose to focus only on the most prominent factor. Another possibility is that Starlight herself was unaware of the other factors that led to the development of her warped worldview. After all, human beings (and by extension, ponies in a fictional world meant to resemble human beings) are complicated, and no matter how much we learn about what makes us who we are, there will always be something that we will never know about ourselves.
Many of you will read this and point out that even if my guesses were correct, they do little to justify Starlight’s heinous actions or make her more likable. As I stated earlier, it was not supposed to, and I’ll admit that even with the possibility of my speculations accounted for, Starlight still comes off as an immature child. I mean, her whole plan in a nutshell is that she was going to strip everypony of their identities, rendering them valueless and disposable, just because a bad experience with a friend made her feel the same way. She seemingly never learned that forcing others to be as miserable as you are is not going to make you any happier. The concept is simple and grounded in the most basic of logic, which makes anyone who cannot seem to grasp it look especially immature, but maybe Starlight is not AS immature as she appears to be. What if she is just as immature as the average human being? We know we are not supposed to go around making other people unhappy just because we are unhappy, yet we do it anyway, many times without even realizing it. (The Lord knows I have done it more times than I would willingly admit, even to myself.)
Maybe the reason why some of the fans are so quick to write Starlight Glimmer off is because no one wants to believe that they could possibly behave the way Starlight did in a similar situation. No one wants to believe that they carry in themselves potential for great evil and that that potential could be set in motion by something as common as drifting apart from a friend. If a child like Apple Bloom can get over growing apart from a friend, then a grown mare like Starlight surely should be able to also and, by extension, so should human adults. Unfortunately, how we should act and what we actually end up doing are often two different things. Admittedly, the likelihood that anyone in real life would react at the same extreme as Starlight is pretty slim, but let’s face it. Who doesn’t have an inner brat that makes them force their pain onto other people? Furthermore, who hasn’t ever lost control of his or her inner brat before?
During his review video, Mr. Scorcher and his guest Ms. Inkrose try to interpret Starlight more sympathetically by comparing her to a guy named Dan from a show that I have never watched. Apparently, this character has a reputation for allowing his inner brat to run hog-wild on an everyday basis. I remember reading in the comments section that this comparison actually makes Starlight look even worse as a character because when Dan sets his inner brat loose, it’s played for comedy. Unlike Dan, the fact that Starlight’s own inner brat seemed to have complete control over her life was very un-comedic and was obviously not intended for comedy. Maybe this was the point. The harsh, sad truth about having an inner brat run your life is that it is just plain awful. It is not fun or funny. It hurts other people, and it definitely hurts you. Even more tragically, being ruled by your inner brat prevents you from realizing your potential for good (something Starlight wasn’t able to do until the end of the episode). Maybe Starlight exists as a cautionary figure to show fans why having a tight leash on your inner brat is so important.
There is so much more I would like to say about season 5, Mr. Scorcher’s reviews, and the thoughts that they both inspired, but what I have written is all I have to say specifically about Starlight Glimmer. I understand that many fans will continue to dislike, maybe even revile her as a character regardless of whatever case anybody makes in Starlight Glimmer’s defense. I, for one, appreciate Starlight Glimmer for her role as a cautionary figure and what her character says about the dark side of human nature. For this reason, I have made the decision to give her a chance to surprise me next season.
At first I don't like Starlight Glimmer mainly for the slap on the wrist punishment. I think because she was shown the conscience of her actions and keep going is the biggest problem. then I started thinking maybe Starlight had no pony else to relate to other than Sunburst.
It took Second Prances for me to start liking her,
And it made feel bad for her but the thing is how do we know that it is not same as not showing Fluttershy's parents, maybe she does have parents?
4110556 Maybe, but the house she was living in didn't really look like a house. Both the outside and inside were bigger than what you'd expect a house to look. The interior decorating was also pretty basic and maybe even a bit impersonal. It just didn't really fit the stereotypes of a family home. I know that doesn't prove she has no parents, but it is possible.
4110567 interesting but the house being small is not proff that there is'nt a family cersidering there families in apartment it possible that she was'nt very rich and that why her house was kind of bare. That or we as the audience don't see the whole house.
4110786 I didn't say it was small. I said it was BIG. SPACIOUS. "What are you doing living in a college dormitory at this age" big