Is high status making the Mane Six less relatable?

[Zerbu 72]

Something I've been thinking about lately...

 

The Mane Six used to be average members of pony society. They went through similar experiences to what exists in real life, but in a magical, cartoonized way.

 

Then, at the end of season 3, Twilight was elevated to the status of an allicorn princess. Fast forward to the end of season 4, and the other five are ruling alongside her.

 

The Mane Six are now high status rulers overlooking all of Equestria. Gone are the times of everyday lessons about friendship and general social interactions.

[Paladybug1 288]

Actually only twilight is a ruler. The Mane 6 are just her friends still. If they were all rulers they would be alicorns. 

[SkullcandyPegasus 603]

I would think the mane six are less relate-able now. There are two extremes to this spectrum of relate-ability, and unfortunately I see those two all too often. On one end you have the "average high school life," which is completely devoid of interesting circumstance, and to the other you have the "invincible hero chosen by the gods" which only works for the narcissistic crowds who view themselves as such

 

I don't think mlp exists to either extreme currently, but I believe twilight ruling on her own was the preferable arrangement.

[Zerbu 72]

Actually only twilight is a ruler. The Mane 6 are just her friends still. If they were all rulers they would be alicorns. 

Twilight is the leader, but the other five are still rulers alongside her, at least according to the season 4 finale.

 

 

I would think the mane six are less relate-able now. There are two extremes to this spectrum of relate-ability, and unfortunately I see those two all too often. On one end you have the "average high school life," which is completely devoid of interesting circumstance, and to the other you have the "invincible hero chosen by the gods" which only works for the narcissistic crowds who view themselves as such 

 

I don't think mlp exists to either extreme currently, but I believe twilight ruling on her own was the preferable arrangement.

 

 

Agreed! If there had to be a ruler among main characters, I'd rather it be only one of them, instead of all of them. There's still some relatability, but not as much as there are in the earlier seasons.

Edited July 28, 2015 by Zerbu

[Sky Knight 1,172]

I believe they're in the phase of "role model" where they set the example and we learn from it. I do not think it's bad since they're probably the few things in this world that teach me good morals. I can happily say I've learned quite a bit about friendship and how to act because of the Main Six. If it was on a more toned down scale I think it would appeal less to younger audiences and I think Hasbro want to keep it appealing to this "younger audience". You could watch a drama on the tv if you want a more relatable main character with a much more real to life setting. But for the MLP universe I think it's perfect the way things are, over the top fun.

[NotoriousSMALL 1,984]

Them being relatable is not a problem. They still face problems like regular people... no need to worry about "hurr muh mary suezz"

 

even twilight is often not acknowledged as royalty STILL

[silvadel 1,393]

I would not envy the stallion that would try to court Princess Twilight.

[Justin_Case001 4,861]

Gone are the times of everyday lessons about friendship and general social interactions.

Am...Ame....Amends....Making Amends?  Mend...mending....Mending....Mending, Hence?

 

 

AMENDING FENCES!  That's it!  That's the one.

[Shanks 10,811]

No, the timing and way Twilight ascension has been handled has threatened to do that with her though. It brought Twilight to the brink of Mary Suedom but thankfully didn't go all the way over the edge with Twilight, pretty much still being Twilight even with that change. As for the others, they are associated rather closely with Twilight but Twilight is tecnically above them. Applejack was already well known and respected much of it due to a good reputation and much of it also because her family founded Ponyville.

 

I would not envy the stallion that would try to court Princess Twilight.

I would if he actually managed to woo her, Twilight would make a good marefriend.

[silvadel 1,393]

No, the timing and way Twilight ascension has been handled has threatened to do that with her though. It brought Twilight to the brink of Mary Suedom but thankfully didn't go all the way over the edge with Twilight, pretty much still being Twilight even with that change. As for the others, they are associated rather closely with Twilight but Twilight is tecnically above them. Applejack was already well known and respected much of it due to a good reputation and much of it also because her family founded Ponyville.

 

I would if he actually managed to woo her, Twilight would make a good marefriend.

 

Oh, she would make for a great marefriend... but...

 

1) You have the talk with Shining Armor.

2) You have the talk with Princess Celestia.

3) You have the talk with Rainbow Dash.

4) You have the talk with Pinkie Pie.

5) You have the talk with Fluttershy.

6) You get to endure Rarity and Cadance's collective interference.

7) You get to have the talk in a dream with Princess Luna.

[Silver Letter 1,831]

Twilight Sparkle's royal status has had little to no effect on her normal relations with other ponies as it is. Ponies generally don't give her any extra respect or even bow when she is present with a few exceptions for plot reasons. I mean, remember the cheek the ponies in the library had to shush her in "Amending Fences"?

 

Because of this, I don't think that this council that the ponies have will make any real difference. I don't think it has so far.

[Buck Testa 5,503]

I may need to make a thread or a video on this, but this is a terrible misconception that permeates the fandom. 

 

Relatable does NOT equal Good character

Good character does NOT equal Relatable 

 

Relatable is nothing but a buzz word, it has no baring in good works of fiction what so ever. In fact Its not even a word, go ahead and type it and see if a red squiggly line doesn't pop up. The need to relate to something is a wholly modern concept that really stunts the development of characters rather than adds to them. 

[Dark Qiviut 22,221]

 

"Relatable" IS an actual world. Just because the textbox doesn't register it as one doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

 

In shows like FIM, relatability has a lot to do with making good-quality characters. Often, protagonists really shine the most when you can find a way to connect to them in some way. One of FIM's biggest strengths — especially when comparing it to past generations — is the ability to present protagonists you can connect to your audience. Depending on who you are, some connect more than others. Plenty relate to the Mane Six, Spike, the CMCs, Luna, secondary characters like Moondancer, and background ponies like Derpy. FIM's protagonists have roles beyond the screen. In real life, they're role models to tens of thousands of people, so being able to relate to them is incredibly important.

 

Is it the end-all, be-all? Of course not. There are exceptions to the rule, such as Starlight Glimmer. But dismissing it destroys your opinion's credibility.

 

---

 

To the OP, I disagree. Despite carrying a completely new role in spreading friendship rather than learning it all the time, the characters still maintain plenty of relatability. You get Pinkie wanting to please the yaks, the ReMane Five in Castle Sweet Castle, Applejack consoling Apple Bloom when she fears what'll happen to her if she doesn't like her cutie mark, and especially Twilight in Amending Fences. It depends on the execution.

Edited July 28, 2015 by Dark Qiviut

[Buck Testa 5,503]

"Relatable" IS an actual world. Just because the textbox doesn't register it as one doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

 

In shows like FIM, relatability has a lot to do with making good-quality characters. Often, protagonists really shine the most when you can find a way to connect to them in some way. One of FIM's biggest strengths — especially when comparing it to past generations — is the ability to present protagonists you can connect to your audience. Depending on who you are, some connect more than others. Plenty relate to the Mane Six, Spike, the CMCs, Luna, secondary characters like Moondancer, and background ponies like Derpy. FIM's protagonists have roles beyond the screen. In real life, they're role models to tens of thousands of people, so being able to relate to them is incredibly important.

 

Is it the end-all, be-all? Of course not. There are exceptions to the rule, such as Starlight Glimmer. But dismissing it destroys your opinion's credibility.

 

No its not, just because some dictionaries are accepting anything and everything now a days doesn't mean its an actual word. Those same dictionaries say literally can be used in the same way as figuratively because people can't figure out how to talk, so I take their opinions with a grain of salt. But I digress

 

Characters, even the most down to earth ones, are not "relatable" for the common person. Do you actually relate to a magical purple pony princess with magical powers who lives in a fantastical land? Do you actually relate to a pink party pony that defies all laws of physics and breaks all sense of reason? Of course not, to say your life relates to these characters would be troubling more than anything. 

 

You can Empathize with a characters situation, you can aspire to the things they do, you can connect to their goals and dreams and want them to succeed, or gain respect for them as the story goes on, but relating to them is entirely unnecessary. If relating to characters were truly important, then there wouldn't be fantastic stories of high flying adventures and magical lands, because who can relate to stuff that doesn't exist? Yes you could argue that they are talking about personalities, but that's more along the lines of Empathy anyway, we don't need to make up a word when one which works infinitely better already exists. 

[Skyling 14]

Twilight is the leader, but the other five are still rulers alongside her, at least according to the season 4 finale.

 

 

 

 

Agreed! If there had to be a ruler among main characters, I'd rather it be only one of them, instead of all of them. There's still some relatability, but not as much as there are in the earlier seasons.

 

Eh, not really - only Twilight is an actual ruler with actual authority, the others have no authority beyond what Twilight would assign them for specific tasks. You could say they are potentially influential based on the fact that Twilight is liable to listen to their advice in certain matters, but that's about it.

 

So at most they have the influence of political advisors - which can be decent enough, but they don't "rule" anything, nor do they have the authority to order anyone around, unless Twilight would assign any of them to act in her name (like Spike tried to do in Princess Spike).

 

So ... no. Twilight is the only one who qualifies as a ruler. The rest are simply her friends and confidants, as they have always been - just that suddenly these positions carry a bit more weight since Twilight became a Princess. And nah, I don't find any of them less relatable - even Twilight, who is the only one to undergo a real social-political upheveal, has gone to some lengths to appear as the same old Twilight she has always been, instead of demanding special treatment and gets by with the absolute minimum royal decorum.  

[Dark Qiviut 22,221]

 

 

No its not,

Wrong. The origins of the word date back to at least the 1940s.

 

 

 

Characters, even the most down to earth ones, are not "relatable" for the common person. Do you actually relate to a magical purple pony princess with magical powers who lives in a fantastical land? Do you actually relate to a pink party pony that defies all laws of physics and breaks all sense of reason?

Abso-frickin'-lutely! Just because characters like Pinkie Pie defy real-world logic and physics doesn't mean they can't be relatable. Beneath all the mumbo-jumbo are plausible characters with feelings and emotions that you can connect with. Trying to fight peer pressure, self-doubt, and the inability to be honest out of fear? Feeling upstaged or wanting to really impress someone else? Struggling to overcome a goal due to a devastating phobia? Feeling unimportant and shafted by someone who was supposedly a friend? Deciding whether to give up your lifelong goal or not because they violate your own morals and fearing loneliness because others shame you into it? Looking up to somebody else as a role model even though you might be incapable of performing the same things because of a handicap? Self-harming because the mental pain is too unbearable? These real conflicts from the show happen to many of us at some point of our lives or another. By writing real conflicts, the characters feel real, and we can relate these characters with ourselves. People connect with these characters because many of the conflicts they experience happen all the time in real life. They can point at the characters' dilemmas and say, "I've been in this situation before." You're arguing semantics by saying otherwise.

 

 

 

to say your life relates to these characters would be troubling more than anything.

To call it "troubling" implicates they're incapable of living in the real world, which is incredibly disrespectful to millions of bronies worldwide.

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 40,561]

The thing is, other than living in a huge castle of shininess, we have not really seen any of the mane 6 step outside of their boundaries at all, not even Twilight has much. The other mane 5 have not made any 'royal' decisions for anything, they have not abused this supposed position, and other ponies don't even seem to notice, for better or worse so they honestly are pretty much the same characters that they were, though some have changed a bit since the start but that's expected I think.

 

Am...Ame....Amends....Making Amends? Mend...mending....Mending....Mending, Hence?

 

 

AMENDING FENCES! That's it! That's the one.

This. Guy. THIS....guy. Thisguy. He makes the best point.

[Buck Testa 5,503]

Wrong. The origins of the word date back to at least the 1940s.

 

Even your Link calls it a Modern Peculiarity and was born from slang usage, so that doesn't really change anything.

 

 

 

 

Abso-frickin'-lutely! Just because characters like Pinkie Pie defy real-world logic and physics doesn't mean they can't be relatable. Beneath all the mumbo-jumbo are plausible characters with feelings and emotions that you can connect with. Trying to fight peer pressure, self-doubt, and the inability to be honest out of fear? Feeling upstaged or wanting to really impress someone else? Struggling to overcome a goal due to a devastating phobia? Feeling unimportant and shafted by someone who was supposedly a friend? Deciding whether to give up your lifelong goal or not because they violate your own morals and fearing loneliness because others shame you into it? Looking up to somebody else as a role model even though you might be incapable of performing the same things because of a handicap? Self-harming because the mental pain is too unbearable? These real conflicts from the show happen to many of us at some point of our lives or another. By writing real conflicts, the characters feel real, and we can relate these characters with ourselves. People connect with these characters because many of the conflicts they experience happen all the time in real life. They can point at the characters' dilemmas and say, "I've been in this situation before." You're arguing semantics by saying otherwise.

 

THAT is Empathy. Empathy is the capacity to understand or feel what another person is experiencing from within the other person's frame of reference, i.e., the capacity to place oneself in another's shoes.

Thats like saying replacing Determination with Sticktoitiveness is just as valid. One is a word, the other is generally accepted slang. 

 

 

 

To call it "troubling" implicates they're incapable of living in the real world, which is incredibly disrespectful to millions of bronies worldwide.

We are talking about a cartoon show, chill out. 

Edited July 28, 2015 by Buck Testa

[Dark Qiviut 22,221]

Even your Link calls it a Modern Peculiarity and was born from slang usage, so that doesn't really change anything.

Wrong again. Even though it's more modern compared to others, it doesn't make it any less valid. "Relatability" is a very real word.

 

THAT is Empathy. Empathy is the capacity to understand or feel what another person is experiencing from within the other person's frame of reference, i.e., the capacity to place oneself in another's shoes.

Thats like saying replacing Determination with Sticktoitiveness is just as valid. One is a word, the other is generally accepted slang.

You're issuing semantics again. What makes a character relatable is the ability to relate to them. To connect to them. Can they relate to the conflict, resolution, overall personality? Equestria's fantastical realm doesn't change how relatable the protagonists are. Cartoon logic notwithstanding, the characters feel real. You're going beyond understanding them. You're connecting to them. You're becoming one with them. The characters really connect to various people because they've been there.

 

You are the one implicating that not me, and you are the one looking to escalate things unreasonably when we are talking about a cartoon show. Chill out.

You're factually wrong here. Unfortunate implications exist; you're sending implications that people who can relate to them are lesser human beings by calling it "troubling." There's nothing troubling about being able to connect personally with cartoon/fictional characters you like and look up to. Claiming otherwise is incredibly disrespectful to bronies and fans in other fandoms.

Edited July 28, 2015 by Dark Qiviut

[Buck Testa 5,503]

 

 

You're factually wrong here. Unfortunate implications exist; you're sending implications that people who can relate to them are lesser human beings by calling it "troubling." There's nothing troubling about being able to connect personally with cartoon/fictional characters you like and look up to. Claiming otherwise is incredibly disrespectful to bronies and fans in other fandoms.

No, you are the one implying this, you are the one stretching out one word into a sjw tirade. If you cannot remain civil I will simply mute your posts, I am here to talk about magical ponies and sometimes grammar, not get white knighted by people who take cartoons way to seriously. 

[Dark Qiviut 22,221]

No, you are the one implying this, you are the one stretching out one word into a sjw tirade. If you cannot remain civil I will simply mute your posts, I am here to talk about magical ponies and sometimes grammar, not get white knighted by people who take cartoons way to seriously. 

How you shape your words matters. Connotations to how your word content exist. Rather than ignoring them and use "SJW" as an ad hominem, listen to them and understand them.

 

 

 

to say your life relates to these characters would be troubling more than anything.

I called your fragment out because you're implicating without knowing it that if you can really relate to these characters, then there's something wrong with you. I don't think you mean it, but that's why it's an unfortunate implication. There's nothing wrong to relate to a character. To connect to a character. To be that character. Characters like the protagonists in FIM are role models. Every single one of us can relate to a fictional character at some point or another, and that's completely okay.

[Silver Letter 1,831]

 

 

What makes a character relatable is the ability to relate to them. To connect to them. Can they relate to the conflict, resolution, overall personality? Equestria's fantastical realm doesn't change how relatable the protagonists are.

I agree. The idea that the particular fictional world limits our ability to empathize with characters does not sound correct to me.

[Cleverclover 1,525]

 

 

sjw tirade

 

Wow. Speaking of buzzwords... 

[Buck Testa 5,503]

Wow. Speaking of buzzwords... 

I'll take that one. But seriously The dudes taking it WAY to far. 

 

 

I agree. The idea that the particular fictional world limits our ability to empathize with characters does not sound correct to me.

 

Not what I'm saying at all

[Silver Letter 1,831]

 

 

Not what I'm saying at all

I apologize but I quoted a different person. You may however dispute my statement anyway and I shall respond to it.