Deconstruction is Magic: A My Little Pony Retrospective (S1E7) · 10:32pm Oct 17th, 2020
Grrrrrrrrrrrrreetings everypony, and welcome back to Deconstruction is Magic, my Retrospective/Review/Analysis of every episode of My Little Pony: Friendship is magic ever. Today, we have another fandom touchstone episode, Dragonshy! Without wasting any more time, let's get on with the analysis! I am the Mage of Mind, reminding you, as always, that even a cheeseburger can be deconstructed to its source.
Dragonshy is the first episode of MLP to feature Fluttershy as the central protagonist, while also giving her some development. Fluttershy is a pony who has inspired me personally, influencing my decision to study animal management. Her animal expertise were displayed in episode one, but here we see a personal limitation of hers; this being her phobia of dragons. Applejack does note that it's normal to be scared of dragons, as fear of a dangerous beast is rational. However, Fluttershy isn't just scared of dragons. She is downright terrified, a paralysing fear which makes it difficult for her friends to deal with the task at hoof.
Dragons in fantasy literature are a dime a dozen. While we would get more varied and detailed depictions of dragon culture later on, for now, we have a dragon which isn't far removed from the Smaug archetype: Greedy, selfish, and destructive. It speaks volumes to the strength of the worldbuilding that a single dragon's smoke can cause mass disruption to Equestria, blotting out the sun for hundreds of days while they sleep!
(There, sure glad I don't look stupid in this.)
It's easy to see Fluttershy's friends as being insensitive, and to an extent, they are. They could do more to acknowledge Fluttershy being scared out of her mind, but this is where a closer examination of the dialogue comes in handy. Rainbow Dash is the biggest jerk in this episode, perhaps unreasonably so, given how in Griffon the Brushoff we see how she can be sensitive to the needs of Fluttershy. But given the bigger threat at hoof being the dragon, Rainbow's comments about Fluttershy being scared of her own shadow isn't entirely inaccurate. Given how this is still early days for the friendship of these characters, it's easy to look at Fluttershy's meakness and not fully grasp that it's because of a specific phobia that she's struggling.
However, her friends generally are empathic to her needs, as when she struggles to keep up, they don't think twice about helping her along, even if it does delay them. When Twilight finally learns of Fluttershy's phobia, she does try to understand how scared she is, but also acknowledges that she has potential expertise in animal handling, giving her an edge in talking down the dragon. Ultimately, she does accept Fluttershy's lack of involvement, with her and the rest of their friends each trying their own methods of reasoning (or, in Rainbow's case, butt-kicking) the dragon out of its cave.
(There, sure glad I do look ridiculous in this!
I've talked alot about pacing in season 1 during this retrospective, so I'll try not to repeat myself here. What I will say is that much of the first half is taken up by Fluttershy's reluctance to get up the mountain, much less confront the dragon. This does make for some good gags, but perhaps it could have been cut short a little, making more room for Fluttershy to adjust to her task of dragon diplomat. This leads nicely into my next point: that of exposure therapy! Exposure therapy is, in a nutshell, a gradual exposure to a phobia or fear in a controlled environment, making small progress each time to re-acclimatise the patient with their fear. This is often done with people who have suffered from extreme trauma, among other situations. This isn't the be-all-end-all of therapy, and it certainly doesn't work for everyone (all therapy must be tailored to the needs of the individual patient).
My point is that what we see with Fluttershy, here, is an extreme form of exposure therapy. Because the mane six need to remove the dragon from over Ponyville as soon as possible, they don't have time for Fluttershy to slowly adjust to facing the dragon. She needed a push in the right direction, and though it's indirect, it still happens in a moment that has become a defining scene in all of FiM!
(Evil beware. We have a Fluttershy.)
Fluttershy's now-iconic stare defines her, not just because she is badass enough to talk down to a dragon ten times her size, but also that she is able to empathise with it. She talks to the dragon like a parent would to a naughty child, while also acknowledging that Rainbow Dash's attack was uncalled for and unnecessary. Fluttershy is highlighting a proportional response, showing the dragon that she won't be intimidated, and that the dragon has the responsibility to be careful about creatures smaller than it! For you see, this dragon isn't evil. Grumpy? Yes. Careless? Absolutely. But it isn't malicious. Fluttershy doesn't begrudged the dragon for wanting a nap, she just needs it to do so somewhere that won't effect the lives of ponies for centuries to come!
This is a refreshing take on dragons, in my opinion, as while FiM is far from the first animated media to show dragons in a more complex light, it is nice to see how the archetypes of dragons are evolving. Spike was raised by Ponies, and so is as placid and laid back as any pony could be! A great strength of FiM as a whole is showing that characters in children's shows can have some moral ambiguity. As we will see, this doesn't mean there are no villains who are outright evil in the show, far from it. It just means that an antagonist for any given episode doesn't need to strictly be a villain. Life is more complicated than black and white, good and evil, and so it stands to reason that our fantasy media can represent this moral spectrum as well!
(A tune for the dragon on the world's smallest violin!)
Conclusion
Dragonshy is an absoltute classic episode that has come to define how strong the show's writing can be. I know I've said that alot so far, but it's hard to overstate just how much both the writing and animation combined to make FiM special. When looking at how this show rose to the level of popularity it did, we can point to episodes like Dragonshy as prime examples of how we connect with these characters.
Most of my critiques are nitpicks, mostly being in the pacing department, to perhaps better balance the two halves of the story. However, this does little to dampen my overall enjoyment of the episode. With such a high bar of quality set, I award Dragonshy a final rating of 8.5/10. Rainbow Dash's arrogance drags it down a little, but not by much. What did you think of this episode? Where does it rank for you among iconic moments of season 1? Feel free to discuss in the comments on this blog! Until text time, take care all~.
