Mane 6 backstories and Rarity

[Scootie 108]

Every season that goes by, the more upset I get that Rarity has VIRTUALLY no backstory compared to the rest of the main 6. 

How did she get into fashion? Why does she wear makeup? Why does she choose to manipulate and bat her eyes at stallions (and Spike) into getting what she wants instead of simply asking nicely? Why does she like gemstones so much that she got upset when Spike said he was going to eat the fire ruby? It would make Rarity's 'negative' actions a whole lot more endearing if we knew WHY she did them. Instead people are just left to assume that Rarity is simply a shallow, selfish bitch and nothing more. It's probably why there's such a double standard when it comes to Rarity negative actions and everyone else's. 

 

For example, Fluttershy has be shown to care way more for animals than other ponies, which is negative in many situations, but it can be seen as endearing because we know that she was bullied relentlessly as a filly for being a weak flier. Animals don't judge her like ponies do. 

 

We also know how Fluttershy came to love animals in the first place.

We know how Pinkie became the happy, bubbly pony she is, and when she realised she wanted to dedicate her life to making other ponies happy. We can forgive Pinkie for being insensitive and overbearing sometimes, because we know she has good intentions.

We know Rainbow was bullied and given a horrible nickname as a filly, and she dropped out of flight school because she was lazy. We can (mostly) forgive Rainbow for being egotistical and arrogant, because we know it's to cover up some deep-seated insecurities she has and there is no malicious intent behind it.

We know it was when Twilight saw Celestia raise then sun that one time that made her want to learn everything there was to learn about magic. We know how she got Spike. We know how she became Celestia's prized student. We can forgive Twilight for being a bad friend sometimes because we know she didn't have any before she came to Ponyville as she spend most of time studying.

And Applejack is just Applejack. She doesn't really do anything wrong to begin with. Other than what happened to her parents, there isn't really anything worth knowing about her past.

 

What do we know about Rarity's past? She found gems in a rock and put them on costumes, leading to her immediately getting her cutie mark. That's it. Nothing else. Doesn't give us much to work with when trying to analyse and understand her actions.

 

So does anyone else think that Rarity's lack of backstory has anything to do with the criticism she receives? 

[Jeric 46,869]

I like to take a look at the contextual clues in the series to get an idea of Rarity's initial motivations and an in-universe explanation.

 

For example - we see in Cutie Mark Chronicles that Rarity is already sewing sans cutie mark in the dwelling that would become her Carousel Boutique. It doesn't look kept up ... at all. Rarity also wears throwback styled glasses when she is working.

 

What does this tell us?

 

 

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I would like to point out that the Fire Ruby scene was through Spikes POV according to MA Larson which is why you have the visual effect. It is supposed to indicate that Spike is seeing the reality different ... as in through his own biased lens.

[M'gann M'orzz 745]

There doesn't really need to be some deep seated reason for why Rarity likes Fashion, it's just what she's passionate about, like you bring up Dash but do we know why Dash is so obsessed with the Wonderbolts really? 

 

 

You can pretty much gather why Rarity does pretty much all the things she does by watching her in the PRESENT. It should be astonishingly obvious to anyone who pays attention at this point that Rarity almost always has good intentions, and whenever she dips into Selfish territory she almost always ends up feeling horrible about it and going out of her way to make amends. Frankly giving her a backstory episode isn't gonna help her with her haters because those people are already willfully ignoring her characterization, which is easily among the show's strongest. They project a character that doesn't really exist onto her based entirely on a bias against the "fashionista" archetype, or they project someone they knew once (I see the same thing happen with Rainbow Dash as well) onto her. There's not much that can be done to change that.


Frankly Id rather have a character with clear defined goals in the present and an arc toward achieving them anyway, which Rarity has and has progressed through great.

Edited May 18, 2016 by M'gann M'orzz

[twiia 1,843]

Doesn't bother me, we can dream and assume and come up with headcanons.