Discussion: Is Twilight Sparkle an Escapist Character?

[Yoshi89 5,293]

I'm linking this for info but I'll explain it here anyway: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EscapistCharacter

 

We've seen Twilight Sparkle develop throughout the series. Some of us here have complained that she is "too perfect" and with good reason. From the start, we've known her to be close to Celesita, a princess of Equestria. Twilight is intelligent, very gifted at magic, has a baby dragon for an assistant and is one of the Elements of Harmony. Those sound like fantasies the intended audience would want to have from a main character.

 

This increased as the series went on, especially since the end of season 3. Twilight became an alicorn princess in the Season 3 finale and got her own castle at the end of Season 4 (granted it was after her library got destroyed but still). What kind of person watching the show wouldn't want to possess those things after seeing Twilight have them?

 

Not that this is a bad thing. Twilight isn't without her flaws which still makes her somewhat balanced in nature. Main characters can have Mary Sue-like traits but it's their wish-fulfilled fantasies that make the audience crazy about them. I'm sure lots of us watch My Little Pony because we all want to escape from the real world for a while. If we find ours in what Twilight Sparkle does more than others, does that make her an escapist character?

[Castle Bleck 19,302]

This increased as the series went on, especially since the end of season 3. Twilight became an alicorn princess in the Season 3 finale and got her own castle at the end of Season 4 (granted it was after her library got destroyed but still). What kind of person watching the show wouldn't want to possess those things after seeing Twilight have them?

 

You forgot her fighting Tirek DBZ-style.

[Mesme Rize 15,683]

I always saw Twilight Sparkle as a character who can be very inspiring to alot of people.

 

I know that no one can become a part of royalty, or can learn magic or any of that fantasy stuff. But i always admired her for studying so hard, but also finding friends that she loves very much and then she becomes a pony who has a position of power and now she needs to use that power, to spread happiness around Equestria.

 

There are people out there, who want to become scientists, or doctors or something to make this world a better place. They study very hard to accomplish these things. I know, it's not like spreading the magic of friendship, but you get the idea.

 

I was also a guy who didn't had alot of friends at a young age and i rather spend my days in my fantasy worlds, through Books, movies and video games. But i became quite open to people in the last 8 or 9 years and i also made alot of wonderful friends. That's why i like Twilight so much, because i can see myself in her.

 

Also, whenever i hear that Twilight is a mary sue, i have to play this:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2y8Sx4B2Sk

[Roughshod 719]

Well like the TV tropes article you posed claims, it's a very subjective matter. So maybe?

 

I personally don't consider her an escapist character for myself, but I do respect many of her qualities and achievements without fantasizing about possessing them. There's definitely some nuance in my case.

[Cleverclover 1,526]

That definitely makes sense to me, particularly when you consider that a good portion of the show's audience are impressionable little girls who enjoy fantasizing about princesses and other such things.  

 

However, her achievements and endless glorification is nothing but a source of annoyance for me. 

[Nature's Spell 526]

I don't think she is in the way Indiana Jones might be, but for some people she might be just that. Twilight has a few things going for her that sets her apart and makes her a character that some might want to be more like.

 

Before I list those, as an aside, I don't get why Twilight is different from any main character in her level of achievement. Even ensemble casts tend to have a break out star and Twilight was always the shows protagonist. I just don't get it.

 

 

She's the classic example of the type A personality super over achiever. Most successful people in our world are too and most of us would like to have some of that drive. She started as a student of a wise and maternal master which are both powerful memes. We'd all love a wise mentor. Students have to become the master one day and she is now in that stage. She's a genius, gifted, and we tend to be attracted to people like that. She's all the elements of friendship, but also flawed and knows she isn't perfect. She has destiny, through the Tree of Harmony, on her side and destiny is a powerful literary device. Small wonder she's admired.

[UnknownFry 169]

 

 

However, her achievements and endless glorification is nothing but a source of annoyance for me. 

 

I take that as a good sign for the show then considering everyone else has their own achievements and their own glorification at times as well

 

BTW there is no endless glorification of Twilight at the expense of others.

[Wind Chaser 4,768]

I'd say that Twilight did not start out this way, but became this increasingly since Season 3. Where she started was as this relatable every-pony. She had a defining shortcoming which she was working on overcoming - her initial resistance to friendship. A lot of us liked her for this humble nature of just coming out of her shell. Beating the bad guys and attending royal weddings? Consider those side perks. Even those of us who claim to have boring lives may have occasional excitement every now and again.

 

However, we got to Season 3, when these kinds of things seemed to become a regular occurrence. Twilight rose to become the number one pony Celestia came to call on in times of need, even surpassing the other, more experienced princesses (who may or may not be dispensed with as the plot requires). Her life, although not perfect, skyrocketed into this trope almost overnight.

 

Although they may say Twilight is still the same character she was, the fact is she isn't. She still is the same personality at her core, but her new social status has transformed her from an aspirational everyman into a major success story. This is where it gets tricky. I personally preferred the older, more relatable Twilight because I find more everyday conflicts happening to everyday characters more fitting for the show's context than what Twilight is becoming. Wish-fulfillment is most definitely subjective. There are those of us who want to see it, and then there are the rest of us who are just tired of it and want something a little bit more realistic.

 

Twilight has an amazing life, but I liked her better before she had that amazing life.

[sweetolebob18 728]

To me Twilight is the embodiment of the American Dream "Work hard & you will grow rich".  Sadly, IRL that is increasingly less so.  But, in a kid's cartoon it still works.