Why Maud likes Rocks

[Cwanky 17,589]

Sometimes, the fandom as a whole forgets that the messages of each episode don't just apply to the characters. They are equally as applicable for us the audience.

 Rock Solid Friendship is a teaching moment for Pinkie Pie as an episode in that she learns to understand and let others do things their way, not forcing her way upon them. Moreover it also teaches us a lot about learning to respect the differences of others. Maud may not share the same interests as Pinkie or make friends the way she does. Perhaps she just likes to be left alone too, like Cranky....., and still have friends. All of these things are fine and part of relationships. We learn to respect the differences of others, including among our friends and family, even when we strongly disagree or dislike some of there traits. 

Maud Pie gives us a lot of insight into herself, and indirectly about how society and us can at times judge others. Maud's interest in rocks gives more insight about her than I could imagine:

"Another reason why I like rocks: they don't exclude you if you're different."

For better or worse this isn't just reflective of Equestrian society, its reflective of us. Simply because Maud is different from other characters we know or like, many have made vicious attacks against Maud. Sure its one thing not to care for her or even strongly disagree with Maud's personality. But some have gone as far as to hate her worse than some villains. Worse others, perhaps because they don't understand someone who's different, suggest that Maud has a mental disorder, ie: Asperger's syndrome, autism, down syndrome, etc. It almost seems as if the writers anticipated this type of reaction equally from the fanbase as they do from their own characters like the Mane 6 when they interact with Maud.

Where is the loving and tolerating folks? We are better than this.

I don't like to do this, but emulating Starlight there are characters in the fandom that others like that folks like me.....share less than kind sentiments about. Take Rainbow Dash for example. Honestly,  I think she acts like an egomaniac sometimes, she's very abrasive and rude, she lacks maturity and development at times, and yes I think she's overrated. 

And how about yours truly Pinkie Pie?  Don't get me wrong I love her as a character, but as shown here, she can be extremely annoying, obnoxious, and gets in the way A LOT when she's not needed. 

But in spite of all these criticisms, warranted or not, I tolerate and accept these characters for who they are. Discourse is a healthy and normal part of relationships. Not everyone will share the same interests and views as you. Sure Maud may be boring and flat, but she's not any less of a person just because she's different. Let's learn to embrace and interact with those who are different from us, not push them away and treat them as something less. 

That's a rock solid lesson to take away from this episode. 

[BlueBrony 388]

I highly enjoy Maud as a character. I love the fact that her bond with Pinkie Pie goes way deep, even if their personalities clash like crazy. Starlight was a great choice for the unlikely friend. Another way that you can look at this episode is that Maud has her own struggle to deal with: intentionally seeking out friendship vs. withdrawing completely from society.

Maud has probably lived most of her adult life very much aware that she is different, and that it is harder for her to blend in with society. (To tell you the truth, that may be a characteristic of the entire pie family). Maud has often easily chosen things which isolate her and make her comfortable, but after receiving her rocktorate, she knew that wasn't enough. Of course, she didn't want to go anywhere completely new by herself, so her best bet at trying to join society was with her vivacious sister, Pinkie Pie. Despite Pinkie's unwanted efforts, Maud began to develop a genuine connection with someone. However, when faced with the awkward situation of telling her sister that she was being way too pushy, Maud ditched her efforts and instead chose to return to where she was most comfortable, if perhaps a little sad. It then took this same sister who pushed her into isolation to apologize and convince her to come back and rejoin society, where she is happier with her newfound friend.

It takes guts to face your fears and rejoin society if you have felt excluded. There will be awkward situations and misunderstandings, but there will also be true and genuine friendships if you look intentionally (perhaps with the help of family). You may find that some of the isolation comes from yourself, rather than others. That is another message I believe the episode conveys on a more subtle level.

[Ganondox 899]

4 hours ago, Cwanky said:

Worse others, perhaps because they don't understand someone who's different, suggest that Maud has a mental disorder, ie: Asperger's syndrome, autism, down syndrome, etc.

[rant]

I was with you until this line, which spoiled the entire rest of the post, and now it's HELL NO, I apparently still got a lot of work to do. Posts like this are why I made this thread. First off, your implication that it's worse to imply that Maud is autistic than hate her more than a villain is extremely offense as you're basically saying it's worse to be autistic than evil. Second, no, people aren't saying Maud is autistic because she's different, it's because she would almost certainly be diagnosed as autistic if she was a real person (well, at least if she were a male person, but that's another discussion) rather a fictional character.

There is simply no other way to put it, autism is the best explanation for her behavior from a psychiatric perspective, ESPECIALLY with the most recent episode. The defining aspects are difficulties in social and restrictive patterns of behavior, both of which fit Maud to a tee. Literally the only thing missing from making the diagnosis for Maud just from what we've seen in the show is the fact it's technically not proven she's had these problems since childhood, but there is no reason to believe otherwise. You can go look at the criteria yourself, it requires some addition information to know exactly what the criteria means, but I've trained in recognizing autism and Maud is a textbook case. Taking offensive to Maud being interpreted as autistic is akin to taking offense to Cho Chang being interpreted as Asian. The fact you are lumping down syndrome (which she obviously doesn't have) together with autism and aspergers (the latter two are really the same thing) makes it pretty obvious you know nothing about autism, and you ignorance about autism is causing you to say offensive crap and attack non-existent problems because you simply don't understand what people are actually doing. The issue isn't that people "don't understand someone who's different", but that you don't understand people with autism.

It's NOT a "vicious attack" against her character, and by treating it as such you are attacking people who are autistic. Has it not crossed your mind that real people with autism are ostracized for being different, and as such can relate to Maud? They watch the show as well. Fact is people with mental disorders are people like anyone else, they are part of our community and as such need representation, and acknowledging their disorders isn't a slight against them (you also seem to be completely unaware of the neurodiversity movement, which approaches autism as a difference rather than a disorder so when people say a character is autistic they might not actually be saying they have a mental disorder as we just happen to live in a society that pathologizes certain differences, but in practice autism is only diagnosed if it's somehow disabling, which we can see is the case for Maud). You can't promote love and tolerance if you're exclude a whole demographic. The moral of the episode absolutely applies to dealing with autistic people, and you're ironically making the very same mistake you're calling out other people for doing. 

[/rant]

Anyway, regarding authors anticipating this type of reaction, I think they actually intended for Maud to autistic. In 2015 it was mentioned in an interview that they've discussed doing an episode about helping a pony with autism, and given the timeframe it's entirely possible that this might have been that episode. The word choice in the video you linked sounds like it was taken straight from an autism novel or memoir, and I believe that was deliberate. In the past I would have objected to them using Maud for such an episode as she was very flat, and interpreting her as autistic is especially problematic for the first episode's moral, but this episode really humanized her. I really like the explanation they give for her liking rocks, it's creative, but also very real. 

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 41,577]

The thing is, there is nothing wrong with the implication that Maud might be autistic. She matches quite a few key bullet points in a diagnosis for that and I would know, I am autistic myself and have seen multiple mental health professionals. And if people assume that is what she is like, that isn't an insult. Is she different than most ponies? Yes, and I am different from most people, for better or worse. I try to embrace that fact and not let it hurt me, even though my self confidence is in shambles, it is not because of that and clearly, it doesn't bother Maud either. She acknowledges she is different, has a definite way to deal with that, and it all works out. Hell, even if she has social problems and other issues, she has a damn Rocktorate which clearly indicates that even if she has those other problems as the result of a mental disorder, she also has a lot of smarts resulting from it as well. That is something I can't say for myself.

In the end, these claims aren't some attack on the character, but rather an acknowledgement of something about that character and something that we all can accept her for. Which, I find that even better. My entire life I have found it so difficult to be social, my anxiety problems don't help and when I do try to be social, I probably just weird people out because of how I speak, how I present myself, the fact I don't make eye contact and so people probably judge me negatively, that happens in this society a lot. It is a fairly cruel place this world is. So for Maud to say that she loves rocks because they don't judge her and then have Starlight not judge her either, that is an excellent show. It is something this damned society could learn from. If she is autistic, so be it, that is part of who she is.