Recently I've been thinking a lot about what's wrong with My Little Pony's newest generation. Or, well, about why I didn't like it, because different people value different things in art, and what is important to some others can easily ignore. And the first aspect I want to analyse is the one which made people doubt the 5-th generation's quality even before its release.

A lot of fans expected that "My Little Pony: A New Generation" would contain a politically charged message. That the "woke" virus had reached the pony world and destroyed it in the name of cheap propaganda. The film's synopsis said that the main conflict would be based on pony racism. Then in an iterview with the creators the movie was described with dreadful words such as "activist", "diversity" and "inclusion" and it was also declared a sequel to "Friendship is Magic". "Friendship is Magic" had its own political episodes since the very beginning, but its creators weren't that loud about it, and it worked fine all the way at best or began to turn into propaganda towards the end at worst. Also, Equestria's downfall into racism was widely considered nigh impossible after "Friendship is Magic"'s ending insisting that now Equestria had finally became this friendship utopia it was believed to be since the first episodes. However, the fandom's fears turned out to be largely baseless. "A New Generation" was only a little political. Rather, some of its problems came from not being political enough.

Now, "political" here means themes of organization and leardership in large communitites rather than commentaries and references to modern real life politics (altough they seem to be present iether). In "A New Generation" there is a corporation built entirely on racist hysteria. Ponies get captured and put to jail solely because they belong to another race. The dreadful word "activist" was indeed referring to a lonely naive protester trying to outvoice a well-funded propaganda. We also see how capitalists and racist hysteria empower a dictator, how lie is used to maintain political power which then crumbles immediately after the reveal. But in the end, none of it contributes to the movie's conflict on a level it could.

Let's begin from our main antagonist - Sprout Cloverleaf. He takes over Maretime Bay with the help of his mother, who also happens to be CEO of "Canterlogic" and the city's supreme brainwasher. He ramps up the fearmongering, starts to command even "Canterlogic" workers and orders to build a huge pony-mecha-tank which he then uses to attack Sunny and her friends. But all of this is undermined by the fact that the people of Maretime Bay don't contribute anything beyond constructiing Sprout's superweapon and confessing that they are all stupid.

Sprout's song "Danger, Danger" says openly that his power is based on an angry mob ready to defend the town from perceived threats. But that mob immediately falls apart at the slightest perspective of fighting. They began to listen to Sunny, who is supposed to be an outcast and who should be rejected even more now when everyone is super brainwashed by Sprout. And what a speech Sunny delievered! She said that the other races don't have their scary magical powers, and she's going to bring them back. Would it be seen as something good by a racist, either genuine or induced, who also believes that these other races are inherently evil? But it is seen, and Sprout doesn't even point out how insane Sunny's promise of friendship sounds. He just desperately yells "They're all brainwashed", which sounds especially cheap in this context.

Next, Phyllis Cloverleaf herself, who eventually goes into conflict with her son and confronts him in the final battle. First she easily steps down in an arguement, which is literally "But it's my factory" - But it's my city". And next she steps in front of Sprout's mecha-pony-tank for... what? Her power and wealth are literally based on racism, so why would she defend outgroups when continuing the campaign would bring her even more money? Maybe she thinks it wouldn't and doesn't want the actual war? This wasn't established either, and judging by "Canterlogic"'s production and assembly line she doesn't care about earth ponies too.

Additionally, the relationship between Phyllis and Sprout seems to remain entirely personal, which doesn't contribute to the whole deal with the dictatorhip either. For someone who is supposed to be power-drunk, Sprout doesn't invoke his power enough. And all of this mess could be easily fixed without substantially changing the plot by adding a bunch of enthusiastic bullies who would try to drag Sunny down from the scene at the beginning and then become Sprout's most loyal minions. When Phyllis defends her workers, Sprout could first invoke the contract beween the city and the corporation and then, when Phyllis points out that it doesn't give him rights over the factory, take it by force. She would be then found by Hitch in the shefiff's office behind the bars tell him what happens and where is the weakpoint on the mecha-pony-tank. These events would show that Sprout, however incompetent he is, is evil enough to put his own mother to jail on a ridiculous charge, that angry mobs can accept any reason to see one as an outsider worthy of attacking, and that Phyllis, being the most materially invested into the status-quo, could abandon it, but not in an instant. Same for Sprout, who, by the way, was awkwardly forgiven and forgotten in the end of the movie. Put him to jail along with his minions or just make him work like you did in "Make Your Mark", but show that not everypony has been magically converted into not being racist, people actually do something on their own and starting a war has meaningful repercussions.

On a side note, there is a line about Zephyr Height's royal family and their downfall at the hooves of Sunny and Izzy. Yes, it is on a side note, because it ends with nothing. It is implied that queen Haven knows about the disappearance of magic and the impotrance of the crystal and cares about her people or at least pretends to care. But when her conspiracy with faking flight is revealed, she is overthrown and captured, then flees and in the ending is implied to be the pegasi leader despite her authority supposedly has been destroyed. Why could't she remind the rebelling people that she still cares about them, confess about the lie and the crystal and then go on a search to retrieve it from the non-pegasi thieves who have also taken her daughters? This adds more weight to Haven's decision to believe her daughters and convert to friendship, shows her as a strong and reasonable leader and shows the pegasi folk as important both for Haven personally and in terms of political power.

In the end, in the movie about overcoming prejudices ingrained in the society nobody actually holds them. Even Sprout, who went as far in confronting the friendship team as to assault them in a pony-mecha-tank, is motivated not by belief in the evilness of other races, but by envy to his boss. And everypony except several focal characters has no thoughts of their own and just listens to leaders. Or, rather, they subconciously agree with the protagonist but are brainwashed by evil (and also incompetent) demagogues and then somehow turn to the light side in a moment. "My Little Pony: A New Generation" is a movie about everyone's stupidity, where the conflict is established as "society versus society" but comes down to "hero versus villain" while common people don't do or decide anything.

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Why is... Any of this the things that came to your mind?
Why??
Like ... Do you want it to be political?

What the hell even??

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I want it to be good at adressing political themes or not try it at all. Currently I see it as trying to talk about systemic racism but then backpedaling to not be seen as political. Which results in, as I said, dumbing the movie down in order for the masses of people to not actually matter.

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Afraid I'm gonna have to lock this thread, as it is in clear violation of rule 9:

9. Post all political, religious, and news topics in the pinned thread set aside for this purpose here. Do not post political stuff in the main group or it will be deleted by the group admins.

Locked.