Now, isn’t that the question of the hour? Why? Why in the world is a revival of an eighties cartoon for little girls about pastel colored talking horses suddenly so extremely popular with what is its nearly polar opposite demographic? Well, while no one can say for certain, I can offer my opinion on the matter.
What are the elements of this show that seem to draw people in? Well, as much as it pains me to say it, first and foremost, one of the elements that got it off the ground with the older crowd…was irony..
Okay, okay, put down the pitchforks. I’m not saying that every brony is a hispster or even that that’s the main appeal. Hear me out. For starters of course, everything began in October 2010 when the hub premiered. Mostly on imageboards concerning cartoons, including a couple other places, but this was where I found it. The /co/ board of 4chan.
I’d heard of the show before that particular date, as I’d seen a few gifs of Rainbow Dash running around, namely one of her jumping on a cloud (Which would later be adorably pixlated)
In anycase I, and most everyone there that particular day, was mostly excited for The Hub because it would be airing a few classic 90’s cartoons that hadn’t seen the light of day in upwards of a decade. So the day was spent watching the channel to see what it had to offer. When MLP’s turn came up on the schedule, the general thought was ‘Hey, lets see how bad it is this time’.
Because at the time, the only recent experience anyone had had with the MLP franchise had been the previous generation, usually watched out of irony, seen from afar by those of us who were around small children, or as a form of torture. Case and point:
(Don’t look at it too long…if you value your soul…)
So the air around the show was, ‘Let’s see how bad this is’, or ‘Ha! This show is for little girls, but I’m gonna watch it anyway’. This was also mixed with a tiny bit of hope as word had spread the Lauren Faust was on the project. But many people actually saw this as a death knell for her career rather than any actual improvement on the franchise. I mean this is a classic little girl’s cash cow cartoon how could it possibly be any good?
So the reason people first watched wasn’t because they looked forwards to it. It was because of ‘Camp Value’ or out of irony. What happened afterwards was a complete and total happy accident.
The show was good.
Everyone who watched was shocked. Few had seen flash animation done quite this well since Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends. And I for one absolutely loathed the trend of using it over traditional animation. But another thing in the show’s favor was it took that style of animation and made it look REALLY good. So good that I really can’t imagine it done any other way.
This helped it gain steam as the gifs hit the web everywhere. And the show is just so nice to look at. But that alone didn’t propel it to popularity. The animation was nothing without the writing.
But the writing was great too! The first two episodes were enough to keep people watching for the rest of that year. But things really didn’t start to kick off till around December…and that brings me back… to irony.
Any analysis of why MLP:FIM became so popular is incomplete without irony. In culture and especially American culture, there’s a cultural stigma against media aimed at girls. This isn’t even only true for males. It’s in general, from romantic comedies, to girls cartoons, all of it is usually viewed as something banal, simple, or even manipulative, made to pull at the heart strings, or cause a sappy reaction in your girlfriend. Which of course is the only reason anyone would ever sit though any media aimed at women.
When examined closer, there is an almost angry response to a lot of women’s media. Go into any majorly populated area and try to talk about Sailor Moon, or any show known to be for girls, or even has ‘Girl’ in the title. If you are not met with at least five eyerolls every five minutes, and at least one scoff, I will be surprised. If you’re a guy, you’re quite likely to be outright insulted.
Which is again, why the show was such a surprise. We generally don’t expect girls media to ever be all that notable outside acceptable parameters, Disney and the like. And how far out of the box is that? You rarely see a girl’s cartoon worth remembering outside of how bad it was. I’m not saying there aren’t exceptions, there are, but seriously, stack them against notable cartoons aimed at boys. When considering good, memorable girls media for television I bet one show immediately came to mind:
And I wonder what they have in common? One of the things I have always respected about Lauren Faust is that she knows how to make a show aimed at girls, that is not just a ‘Girl’s show’. It is this element that ties into why the show is so popular. Within pop culture there has always, and will always be a trend of going against established rules and guidelines. This is because pop culture is established by the young, and the young want to go against the old ways, and find their own ways. MLP came at just the right time, where not only is this true, but the current trend is to take the old, and make it new. We are obsessed with what came before, and putting it into what’s coming now. Subverting it, changing it, making it our way. And what is a bigger subversion than this? The girly show that other girly shows look to as the end-all be-all of girliness suddenly not only being watchable but enjoyable? Not just for girls, but suddenly for everyone? In the climate we find ourselves in, where women’s rights are at the forefront and the very idea of masculinity vs. femininity is at the height of its exploration, and challenge, this show almost makes a talking point on its own.
Okay, well, that focused a bit more on one aspect than I intended…there’s really a lot more to say on why it’s popular. This is only one facet. I think I’ll stop here, if people wanna here more reasons toss it into my askbox.
-Squeak
