Bustin' in and taking names: Quelling Season 3 Ails

[Dark Photon 0]

Hello! Welcome!

 

There seems to be two main strands of thought that are emerging from the first two episodes:

 

1. Celestia giving Twilight mysterious test? OMG Twilight is now alicorn!!

 

2. King Sombra lacking serious ponyfeathers in the personality and threat department.

 

So, how can these be possibly rationalised from the show we know and love? To the first, Twilight is not becoming an alicorn. “How can you be sure!” You may very well holler – an alicorn transformation presumes permanency. You can't have that in a kid's show (short of a theatrical release), else themes/emotions spring forth from their narrow boundaries and get too 'deep'. Specifically, note how everything reverts to the 'default' state after each major encounter, thus limiting time for the characters to reflect and reach 'adult' insights. Additionally, since it is doubtful season 3 will be the last season, such drastic change as permanent, physical transformation makes it even more unlikely. Although,a new unicorn princess is not as far fetched.

 

To the second well, as others have said, his villainy is a product of time constraints and serving as a vehicle to Twilight's 'test' (moving the plot along). Think about it – the entire event was set up to prove if Twilight was ready, and in Celestia's eyes, there was no real danger to begin with. If worst came to worst, the sisters would likely save the day, as they kinda do.

 

Now, discarding these strands, let's move onto what themes and lessons were explored (which focus on Twilight's development):

 

1. Self sacrifice (conveyed through dialogue)

 

2. Having confidence in yourself (conveyed through song)

 

3. Balance of light and dark, good and evil (conveyed visually)

 

Since the first two are, more or less obvious, lets look closely to the third. I found it odd that Twilight casually infers how to use dark magic, without fear of consequence, and that Celestia fails to explain it in any detail. But then again, you could argue that Twilight's frustration and eventual success over the revolving door 'test' at the bottom of the spiral stairs symbolize the understanding that dark magic's untempered use leads to suffering and disillusionment. A balance, of both 'light and dark' was needed to reclaim the crystal heart (superimposed visually by the descent and ascent of the dark and light stairs, respectively). This hints towards Celestia not only wanting Twilight to learn the importance of self sacrifice, but also of the potential dangers of unrestrained light and dark magic.

 

Finally, as an interesting small addendum, both Twilight and Spike's most destructive fears are rooted in abandonment of the 'mother' figure (the nightmare's projected by the door). Which makes sense, since Spike's fears are mirrored by Twilight's - the parent implicitly passes their fears to the child. They, together however, rediscover that their strength of togetherness would overcame this anxiety, and allow them to press on.

 

You could even go so far as to say that, since Celestia is Twilight's symbolic mother (her real parents having zero thematic and personal significance in the show), that Twilight's anxiety stems from an inability to soothe her emotional state from the less than stable relationship with Celestia during childhood (consequence of being a princess, one can presume, causing frequent absences). Twilight's rapid intellectualisation is also the mechanism to deal with this uncertainty, a learned shield to cope with potential loss and failure (that lead to abandonment)...if you've made it this far, bro-hoof.

 

 

Agree? Disagree? Post your provocative thoughts and discuss!

Edited November 11, 2012 by Dark Photon