My Little Pony's nomination for a Hugo Award: Why it's probably not a good thing

[Red Cedar 1,408]

So, the big news of the week was that the fifth-season opener, The Cutie Map, was nominated for a Hugo Award. The Hugos are considered the top prize in Science Fiction. They are nominated and voted on by fans of the genre and awarded each year at the World Science Fiction Convention, as they have been since 1953. This year's WorldCon will be held in Kansas City in August.

 

That's the good news. The bad news is how they came to be nominated.

 

In 2013, a group calling themselves the Sad Puppies formed with the intention of getting certain works nominated for Hugo Awards. The works they wanted to see nominated, however, were ones they described as not attempting to be taken as serious literature, or to be pushing a particular social message to the reader. Over time, however, this came to be seen as just about any work that was male-driven, ideologically right-wing, and borderline misogynistic. The other slight problem with the works the Puppies suggested were that they generally weren't that well-written either, which is a bit of a concern for a largely literary award.

 

Last year, the Sad Puppies and a splinter group, the Rabid Puppies, managed to get large numbers of candidates nominated through bloc voting. Other voting fans pushed back, however. Not a single Puppy-suggested work won (except for Guardians of the Galaxy, which many conceded would have been on the ballot and won even without the Puppies' involvement), and in those categories where Puppy candidates were the only nominees, the fans voted to give out No Award, in an unprecedented five categories.

 

For whatever strange reason, as My Little Pony:Friendship is Magic seems to directly contradict their usual thinking, the show appeared on the suggested nominee lists of both the Sad and the Rabid Puppies this year. (The Sad Puppies only named the series, the Rabid Puppies suggested The Cutie Map specifically.) Once again, large numbers of their suggestions were bloc-nominated onto the shortlist for this year, also, which is already not sitting well with a lot of Science Fiction fans.

 

In short, you can expect a huge amount of controversy, drama, and caps-lock typing over this issue across two fandoms. None of us should let it get under our skin - it wasn't our fault, after all - and we really shouldn't be surprised if MLP doesn't win its category, either (it is up against Doctor Who). But if any of us are faced with the inevitable accusations of rigging the vote, we can at least point to the facts.

 

[HoovesOnIce 74]

The only thing that bothers me is that "Do princesses dream of sheep" Wasn't nominated instead. It felt way more well written and much more fun to watch. 

[cmarston1 5,959]

To be honest, I don't really want MLP FIM to win the award.

For starters the show isn't even science fiction, so I don't think it even should have been nominated in the first place.

But besides that, I find the Cutie Map to be pretty overrated.

Plus FIM feels really out of place when compared to other shows that were nominated like Jessica Jones.

Edited April 27, 2016 by cmarston1

[Red Cedar 1,408]

The only thing that bothers me is that "Do princesses dream of sheep" Wasn't nominated instead. It felt way more well written and much more fun to watch. 

 

Agreed. And the fact that it was actually named for an acclaimed Science Fiction novel itself would have been more appropriate.

[Mesme Rize 15,687]

The only thing that bothers me is that "Do princesses dream of sheep" Wasn't nominated instead. It felt way more well written and much more fun to watch. 

 

I have to strongly disagree. That episode was probably one of the worst episodes of Season 5. It handled the topic of Depression like a non issue and that really bothered me. The last 2 minutes went like this

 

Luna: "I am sad"

Twilight: "No you're not"

Luna: "You're right"

 

Twilight went with Luna through 2000 hours of therapy in 1 minute. Also, the rest of the episode was pretty underwhelming and just threw fanservice around.

 

 

As for the topic itself, so what? Even if it causes drama, i am sure this will be swept under the rug after 2 or 3 days, so i am pretty much not that worried about it.

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 41,801]

I am up for this show winning awards, pretty sure the people that work on it deserve such acclaim. Whatever 'fandoms' do doesn't really matter. They can have their drama, and the people that work on the show can have their pride that their show was nominated for something like this and potentially win. 

 

I do think however that the Cutie Map was...meh. I wasn't very fond of it, but to each their own. 

[Banul 3,831]

Does MLP even qualify for a Hugo? I wouldn't exactly call it science fiction.

 

Ultimately, it doesn't matter. Who cares if a bunch of dudes got it nominated as a joke. I certainly don't require their validation.

[Gestum 2,493]

How in any way what so ever is MLP classified as science fiction?

[Red Cedar 1,408]

How in any way what so ever is MLP classified as science fiction?

 

Indeed, that is the other burning question over the nomination.

[Glike 487]

Indeed, that is the other burning question over the nomination.

Super Colorful Immersive Equines Nominated Cause Eggplants.

 

S.C.I.E.N.C.E.

 

Ehh, 6 outta 7 ain't bad.