So how girly is Friendship is Magic?

[SteveMorison 404]

On a scale of 1-10, 1 being completely gender neutral and 10 being pandering to girly stereotypes (like G3 MLP). I'd personally say it's about 5, there are many girly elements throughout the show, such as the colour pink, emphasis on love and friendship, excessive cuteness, and fashion. However, there is also many aspects of this show which makes it appealing to any audience, such as comedy, conflict driven stories, excellent character development and balanced values.

[Discordian 6,015]

Screw generic and pointless number scaling systems.

 

That said, it's definitely leaning towards more female-specific but not so much in the stereotypical way. If anything it continues to level the playing field that girl's shows are not all dolls, kittens and boy talk which makes it accessible to the male audience as well since they don't feel like they're having femininity shoved down their throat.

[Aubrey & Faette 19]

I'd rate it at a lower 3, but scales like that are almost useless metrics; But to your own question, I have to ask.. when did love and and friendship become a feminine thing?

[Frostgage 7,976]

Obviously it has elements that appeal to other viewers, but I have to say it's a 9 or 10. I don't mean that in a bad way at all, just a factual sort of way. I'm aware it's girly, and that's part of the reason I like it <3 I'm not gonna pretend I watch it despite it's girlyness

[SteveMorison 404]

I'd rate it at a lower 3, but scales like that are almost useless metrics; But to your own question, I have to ask.. when did love and and friendship become a feminine thing?

I agree that love in itself is a neutral thing, but you don't see many boy pandering shows focusing on the values of love and friendship. In our society girls are encouraged to express their emotions whilst boys are encouraged to hold back their emotions and be "macho". I don't agree with that but it's how it is. FiM definitely encourages the former. Edited July 19, 2015 by DashBandicoot

[Ribbonfree 2,383]

It's a show for girls in that the PoV of the characters is feminine, but I think that only has some effect on how things play out, mostly in some dynamics. It's not an especially stereotypical show, and I think that's partially because I believe the metric of gender stereotyping is changing with the younger generations. Guys and girls are less clearly separated along arbitrary values now. 

[The Second Opinion 270]

Maybe a 6. It does a great job extending its appeal across different demographics, and the "girly" exterior is usually just that, but there are instances, especially recently, where it extends more to the core of the show, particularly in the Rarity and Fluttershy episodes. Part of it is just the cultural standard of what it means to be "girly," which is why the emphasis on emotional exploration can come across that way, but stuff like the thing with Moondancer can make it seem like they think of their audience as "delicate" and "feminine." And season 1, once or twice, came across like it was trying to fend off accusations of being "girly" ahead of time, like it assumed its audience was mostly female. 

 

So yeah, 6 instead of 5 because it occasionally just lets itself embrace the girliness, but not to the point where I could hold that against it.

[Banul 3,831]

Does it matter?

 

I've never really cared about how "girly" it was

[Discordian 6,015]

Does it matter?

 

I've never really cared about how "girly" it was

As someone who believes that most of the differences between male and female are physical, and everything else is learned behavior at best, I'm with this guy.

[ThatOneComrade 1,091]

On a scale of 1-10? Hella (like 16)

[Justin_Case001 4,907]

I'd personally say it's about 5, there are many girly elements throughout the show, such as the colour pink, emphasis on love and friendship, excessive cuteness, and fashion.

I see no reason why the items I bolded should be necessarily feminine.  Which light waves a surface reflects has nothing to do with gender.  Love and friendship is something everyone should be passionate about.  And what's wrong with a guy who loves fashion?  (Nothing wrong with cuteness, either, I'm just focusing more on the other points.)  I'm not attacking you, DashBandicoot, I'm just trying to help break down stereotypes that need breaking down.

 

I think FIM is a pretty happy medium, though.  Feminine, but accessible to everyone.  I just don't think it's the colors, the love and friendship, the cuteness, or the fashion that should make something feminine.  It's the estrogen that makes it feminine.  It's a female dominated cast, and that's why it's feminine.

[Grepper 3,192]

I don't really think about how "girly" the show is, because I don't really care.

I'd probably give it a 5, because the main cast is female and often do feminine things, but it isn't over the top.

[Gearbox10mm 794]

I would consider something like Spongebob to be gender neutral. 

 

I'd consider MLP FIM to be much closer to something like Spongebob than it is to the likes of gen 3 or 3.5. So If Spongebob is a 1 and Gen3 is a 10...

 

I'd rate it a 4/10 on the girly scale.   

[manic 121]

Pink isn't exclusive to girls

 

http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2014/10/pink-used-common-color-boys-blue-girls/

[Nightfall Gloam 18,267]

A show (or movie, or anything really) being for girls has never really mattered to me, and I can't stress it enough that it shouldn't really matter to anyone.

 

But, to properly answer your question, it is the kind of "girly" that more "girly" things should be: just "girly" enough so that the target audience enjoys it, while still maintaining a content for really anyone to enjoy. Here's hoping that studios learn this from FiM.

Edited July 19, 2015 by shoyrumaster11

[chirox the pony 1,336]

It all depends on what you define as "girly", for example such concepts as family and friendship are explored in various children's films with mostly male characters and there do happen to exist male fashion critics, and simply put pink is just a colour and I consider it quite immature to have a thing against because "it's for girls". What I define as girly is something that blatantly panders to sexist stereotypes with little to no substance. And so for that reason in my eyes MLP isn't really a girly show. 

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 41,808]

I honestly do not understand what even makes something 'girly' in the first place, it is a concept that I have never agreed with because I find giving something like a show or something like that such a classification is odd. For the majority of things at least.

 

So I would give the lowest rating of 1, I find the show to be cute, not 'girly'.

[Guest]

I wouldn't say it was girly. As @@Kyoshi said, It's more 'cute', and he's right. Plus, bright & colourful. I'd give it 2.

[Gernia 691]

I'm not actually going to rate it, but I would say it's pretty girly just not to the level of G3.

[Pastel 7,630]

Not that much, it would be below 5.

There are much more girly shows.

[----------------------- 171]

It used to be girly, but the show evolved from S1 to now. We've gotten more mature topics and some of the animation sequences aren't as colorful as before; more in the dark spectrum. There still are girly elements in the show (especially since the target audience is still enjoying them), but there's still enough material for the others to enjoy without wanting to pull their hair out. So probably a 4 or 5 out of ten sums it up.

[Shanks 10,816]

I would say a 6, the show was intended to be gender neutral and for the most part does a good job of it. There are some "girly" elements to it but it is no more girly than Powerpuff Girls if you ask me and certainly not enough to feed into stereotypes. Toward the earlier seasons though I would say it was closer to maybe a 7 or so.

Edited July 19, 2015 by EarthbendingProdigy

[Argumedies 1,748]

It does lean to the girly side but only because thats its intended target audience.

 

However,*comma* the show semi-inadvertently self steared its self into a more nutral position

[Mango Trip 45]

On a scale of 1-10, 1 being completely gender neutral and 10 being pandering to girly stereotypes (like G3 MLP). I'd personally say it's about 5, there are many girly elements throughout the show, such as the colour pink, emphasis on love and friendship, excessive cuteness, and fashion. However, there is also many aspects of this show which makes it appealing to any audience, such as comedy, conflict driven stories, excellent character development and balanced values.

 

Putting aside what is considered girly altogether, I do have to state that there is a problem with what was stated (that I bolded). I understand that you were asking to see how "girly" MLP is in it's current gen and that you created a numbered rating system for it, and that you find those specific aspects that you mentioned to be girly, that's fine. Those are just random characteristics of the show that could, by central stereotypical definitions, be considered girly. No problem there.

 

Where I have a problem is that when you explained that there are other aspects to the show that cater to more audiences other than girls, you pointed out the specifics of EVERY good show out there. Those aspects are essentially what are known to make good shows. So by what you said, you, by default, stated that any show that has character development, balanced values, comedy, or conflict driven stories is NOT girly. So simply you believe that a girly show can't have those things? I find that to be rather offensive honestly. 

 

Think about it. There are those typical things that can make a show girly or boyish (if you so choose to label them as such), but story development and character development ARE NOT exclusive to one side or the other. If you're going to make a post about something like this how about balance the idea that pink and love are girly, with the counter that high intensity combat and the color BLUE are boyiish (or more gender neutral). 

[SteveMorison 404]

Putting aside what is considered girly altogether, I do have to state that there is a problem with what was stated (that I bolded). I understand that you were asking to see how "girly" MLP is in it's current gen and that you created a numbered rating system for it, and that you find those specific aspects that you mentioned to be girly, that's fine. Those are just random characteristics of the show that could, by central stereotypical definitions, be considered girly. No problem there.

 

Where I have a problem is that when you explained that there are other aspects to the show that cater to more audiences other than girls, you pointed out the specifics of EVERY good show out there. Those aspects are essentially what are known to make good shows. So by what you said, you, by default, stated that any show that has character development, balanced values, comedy, or conflict driven stories is NOT girly. So simply you believe that a girly show can't have those things? I find that to be rather offensive honestly.

 

Think about it. There are those typical things that can make a show girly or boyish (if you so choose to label them as such), but story development and character development ARE NOT exclusive to one side or the other. If you're going to make a post about something like this how about balance the idea that pink and love are girly, with the counter that high intensity combat and the color BLUE are boyiish (or more gender neutral).

Yes, all those qualities should be the mark of any good show, but the point is most shows that pander to girls do not have these qualities. Shows that recieve criticism for pandering to girls are often bright, cute and conflict free, and usually have little development, whilst shows that pander to boys are either just toilet humor or violence for the sake of violence.