Thoughts On: The Maud Couple

Some more quick thoughts on the latest episode. I may make this a recurring series of blog posts throughout Season 8, but we’ll see. As always, mild spoilers.

• I liked the episode. Mud Briar was almost universally unlikable as a character from start to finish, but it's pretty obvious that's what they were going for, and the writers pulled it off really well.
• I've heard a few people complain that Mud Briar can be easily read as a stereotype of autism. Speaking as someone on the spectrum, I totally get how someone could see that, but I think what prevents it from being offensive to me is that never really felt to me like Mud Briar himself was the butt of the joke. The humor was almost always centered on how Pinkie reacted to him, and it was always framed as Pinkie overreacting.
• IMO, this puts Mud Briar somewhat apart from a character like Sheldon Cooper, who is never said to be autistic outright, but is always written and portrayed in a manner consistent with negative autism stereotypes, and usually intended to be the one laughed at by the audience for it.
• On a more meta level, it's kind of funny to see Pinkie reacting to another character the same way other characters initially reacted to Maud. My my, how the turn tables.
• If Pinkie's imagine spot of Opposite Twilight doesn't become a meme, I'm going to be severely disappointed.
• For the entire episode I was waiting to hear Mud Briar say that "technically correct" is the best kind of correct.

Comments

[Frustration in Excelsis]

IMO, this puts Mud Briar somewhat apart from a character like Sheldon Cooper, who is never said to be autistic outright, but is always written and portrayed in a manner consistent with negative autism stereotypes, and usually intended to be the one laughed at by the audience for it.

I absolutely agree that that's a huge difference between a character like Sheldon and one like Mudbriar -- with Sheldon, things are fairly clearly set up to portray him as a wierdo who doesn't understand obvious things and acts and talks in strange ways, and that in itself is what the audience is supposed to find funny. With Mud, as you said, the jokes are pretty obviously structured around Pinkie blowing things out of proportion. Mud himself is annoying and does a lot to escalate the situation, yes, but the humor itself was still centered around Pinkie Pie's antics -- Mud usually provides the setup, but the punchline is on Pinkie.

Speaking as someone else on the spectrum, I've gotta agree with your analysis. I didn't develop that much of an investment in Mud's character, but I can't say I found him offensive. Honestly, I think MLP does a much better job of representing autistic(-coded) characters than a lot of other works I've seen. It's the same thing with Maud -- she's never really the butt of jokes. The comedy in her episodes tends to center on how other people react to her.

On a more meta level, it's kind of funny to see Pinkie reacting to another character the same way other characters initially reacted to Maud. My my, how the turn tables.

Familiarity bias was definitely a theme. Pinkie's so used to Maud that she has no issue "translating" her speech quirks and body language and doesn't seem to think about them anymore. Mud has overall fairly similar mannerisms, but Pinkie's not familiar with his quirks and so has difficulty communicating with him, and since doesn't seem to fully realize that this is the root of their issues she concludes that he's just weird and completely unlike Maud. The comedy scene in the intro really highlighted this -- I don't think that a random Ponyvillian off the street would see that many differences between the two, and Mud's family would probably find Maud a bit or more off-putting while being at their ease with Mud himself.

[Gavier]

I never learned how to read!

[Bugsydor]

Also on the Spectrum (there sure are a lot of us over here), and while I didn't like Mud Briar in his first scene, he quickly grew on me. Especially once I saw how he made Maud smile. The guy reminds me of a lot of old habits that I had to work to overcome in order to get along with the humans. I mean, my fellow humans.

The showrunners do a surprisingly good job portraying autistic horses. I approve, and episodes like these are among my favorites.

Also, seeing Maud smile was the best thing. Possibly ever.

As for meme status, here you go: orig00.deviantart.net/cd90/f/2018/090/c/f/the_truth_comes_out_by_ethaes-dc7hhrh.png

[Psyco Josho]

I'm on the Spectrum as well (Asperger's), and I found Mud Briar to be surprisingly relatable. I think that he ultimately wants to be understood perfectly, and so he picks and chooses his words with due diligence. Unfortunately, his stiffness and eccentricity cause him to be very irritating towards most ponies, and they end up not understanding him at all unless they really put the time into him.

My favorite moment from him was when he told Pinkie Pie "see you later" instead of "goodbye," and he didn't pause or hesitate to say it at all, unlike when he was deciding his words with the storekeeper.

I'm also glad that the episode ended with Pinkie Pie deciding that she's going to tolerate Mud Briar, even though she still doesn't get him at all. I feel that if she had come to understand him as well as she understands other ponies, then it would completely miss the point that, sometimes, people are just hard to understand, but you can deal with them anyway.