How the media portrays us (bronies)

[Stormwind 53]

One thing i find Very interesting is how various media outlets portray the fandom. Before i sucked up my pride, watched the show, and fell in love with MLP i was turned away from the community by the portrayal in the media. I only saw the stranger side of the community and it scared me. I only saw the things that portrayed bronies as a cultish group of cloppers.

 

In my opinion there are three ways that media sources such as TV, online articles, and some you tube videos portray us. The first way is Negatively, the second is neutral, the third is positively.

 

The first category is Negative portrayal. This is the most common in mainstream media such as TV, magazines, and news articles. This is the kind of media which influenced my opinion on bronies before i joined the fandom. The first time i was made aware of the fandom was through a letter to the editor in the magazine GameInformer, when a reader wrote in defending the show from a previous anti-brony joke and the editor replied very harshly. One thing that always strikes me about the anti-brony media is how uninformed it is, and how it is stuck in the past of G1-3. The hatred often comes from people who are either uninformed or are intentionally trying to create a stir in the audience. two of the prime examples of this are segments from the jerry springer show and a fox news broadcast. In the Jerry springer segment, he gets two "Bronies" (i still think they were payed to act they way they did) and asked them questions about it. They replied in ways that made the fandom seem like a creepy fetish. In the fox news segment they compared MLP to "japanimation" and ranted about how it was strange and homosexual to like the show if you were a guy.

 

The second type of portrayal is neutral. This is by far the least common way we are portrayed. In fact the only notable instance of neutral portrayal is an article on wired.com which provided an objective, neutral, and surprisingly well informed information on the community. This is good in my opinion, there need to be things that let people make their own decisions. The article and some of the more neutral things ive seen are not there to create a stir, they just make us out as a group of people who enjoy an off beat show (which is true).

 

The last category is positive portrayal. This is almost as rare in main stream media as neutral. One of the main examples of positive portrayal in mainstream media is a video by a youtube channel owned by PBS called the PBS idea channel. At first the video started out as slightly negative, however it turned positive shortly. The video was titled "Are Bronies Changing the Definition of Masulinity", and during it the host talked about the positive aspects of the fandom and not just the cloppers and overly obsessed people. It focused on the idea that we are challenging preconceived notions of masculinity and that FIM is gender neutral. It was fascinating and it was actually one of the major factors which caused me to give the show a try.

 

Media portrayal is one of the major factors in how the community is viewed, and depending on what you see first, it can form a lasting opinion in your mind. People who see the anti-brony material are likely going to share anti-brony sentiments while people who see us from a positive light first are going to be able to make their own choice. I guess what this all boils down to is that first impressions are important and mainstream media shapes them.

Edited March 27, 2013 by Cloud_thunderhoof

[Ezio Auditore 702]

Yeah that the media for ya...

 

You like a TV show beacuse it's nice? Oh you like the art style? The characters are good? It's just nice wholsome television? Well then you're a gay, perverted, freak.

 

Yeah don't watch that show for little girls, watch the news where we can tell you about murders without blinking...

 

I hate how people portray us without knowing anything about us....

[Jack Durango 119]

Hey, can we get a link to that Wired.com article?

 

Yeah man, people look at us in all sorts of different ways. There's no doubt the media plays a big role in governing our thoughts and opinions on subjects as unique and isolated as the brony fandom. If you're not a part of it or something similar to it, it's going to strike you as odd. Also, I think somebody's reaction comes according to what kind of person they are. Open-minded people tend to respond with nonchalance and open-mindedness; narrow-minded people, prejudice and narrow-mindedness.

 

Well, for anyone who cares to look up more about the fandom, they'll know the truth, and discover that like most anything it has good points and bad points. And those television shows that portray us negatively...I wouldn't get all bent out of shape about them. Anybody who watches it is going to forget what the episode was about the next day as they plop their ass down on the couch, tired from work, and their glazed eyes roll on to the next mildly interesting T.V. program.

[Stratos 109]

I dunno, I think the persecution complex plays into itself.  Haters gonna hate, right?  And most media outlets who don't report on major events need small fluff pieces that seem scary to the ignorant so they can make money off of them.  Best to just ignore it and keep ponyin.

[Just some guy 1,070]

It's the media,what do you expect?They choose who're the heroes,the villians,the freaks,and the celebrities of our society,even if it's just a cash-in or an attention grabber.As sad as it is,a fandom full of grown-ass men that masturbate to pastel-coloured ponies is quite the attention grabber.It's also one that you can't quite put a positive spin on as...well,the headline is about men masturbating to ponies.You can't shoehorn in all the good we do or something mundane we did if that's the headline.So,off the media goes with negative press and bam,they get more traffic on their website or more people watching their show.

 

It's a damn shame that we don't get more press as "the fandom of pony-lovers who do charities and such",but what can you do?The media decides what influences society,whether we like it or not.

[Sugar Cube 4,843]

A while back, Equestria Daily posted a video of a news report on TV about Bronies, and I got the feeling the reporters had some bias against the fans of the show. They were laughing at the fandom and joking about whether or not a certain Brony they interviewed had a girlfriend or something of the like. That kind of bias and unprofessionalism is what bugs me. They should just do their job and do the report, not give their misguided opinion on something they know and understand so little about.

 

The media loves to demonize people. I mean, I've read plenty of articles about the Brony community that were positive, or at the very least, neutral and unbiased like news reports should be, but there's still a lot of them that have to put in their two cents.

Edited March 27, 2013 by Sugar Cube

[Stormwind 53]

Hey, can we get a link to that Wired.com article?

 

Yeah man, people look at us in all sorts of different ways. There's no doubt the media plays a big role in governing our thoughts and opinions on subjects as unique and isolated as the brony fandom. If you're not a part of it or something similar to it, it's going to strike you as odd. Also, I think somebody's reaction comes according to what kind of person they are. Open-minded people tend to respond with nonchalance and open-mindedness; narrow-minded people, prejudice and narrow-mindedness.

 

Well, for anyone who cares to look up more about the fandom, they'll know the truth, and discover that like most anything it has good points and bad points. And those television shows that portray us negatively...I wouldn't get all bent out of shape about them. Anybody who watches it is going to forget what the episode was about the next day as they plop their ass down on the couch, tired from work, and their glazed eyes roll on to the next mildly interesting T.V. program.

 

heres the link: http://www.wired.com/underwire/2011/06/bronies-my-little-ponys/ Like i said before, it is one of the more neutral thing i could find. It is more of a synopsis of the fan base and some of the basic things that we do.

[MadPointer 75]

I don't think we should worry about negative portrayal.

 

Before joining the fandom, I saw some small pony references in different media but it didn't grab my attention before I watched "My Little Brony" by Collage Humor. I looked at the comments and was surprised how mature comments from bronies were. I decided to watch an episode because my scientific curiosity was tingling. I'd never thought I end up watching the whole series and joining the fandom.

 

I'm not offended by Collage Humor's portrayal because I know that I'm not that kind of brony and the brony from the sketch shouldn't be offended because he appears to be secured enough in his behavior.

[HungryTroll 137]

I watched MLP at first place because of negative portrayal.

I have watched "Teens reacts on MLP" (well it's not most negative thing I've seen, but still...), and Bronies reaction after that, and thought - "These guys sertanly know that they doing, I need to try series myself".

 

And more about topic - I was asked plenty of times if it's hard to be a brony in Russia, since there concept of masculinity is stronger (that's not my words)?

And only now I've undestanded why it's not - No one knows about G1-3, about G4 itself, about Toys, about Cloppers and etc. "Guy loves cartoon about ponies? Well he strange one, maybe even gay." - it's maximum negative reaction I've head about here, since none knows about MLP, no one can tell something realy negative.

[Stormwind 53]

I don't think we should worry about negative portrayal.

 

Before joining the fandom, I saw some small pony references in different media but it didn't grab my attention before I watched "My Little Brony" by Collage Humor. I looked at the comments and was surprised how mature comments from bronies were. I decided to watch an episode because my scientific curiosity was tingling. I'd never thought I end up watching the whole series and joining the fandom.

 

I'm not offended by Collage Humor's portrayal because I know that I'm not that kind of brony and the brony from the sketch shouldn't be offended because he appears to be secured enough in his behavior.

I dont realy consider the college humor animation negative media portrayal. It was a joke, just meant to poke a little light heated fun at bronies. No one should be offended, it was a spoof

[Display Name 448]

This video really disgusts me.

Even if they are joking, it's still making us look bad. 

Especially the fact this is PUBLIC television.

[Shanks 10,816]

I don't trust the mainstream media as they have a nasty habit of lying and sensationalizing things so anytime they hate something it usually has the exact opposite effect on me. When I first heard about bronies I thought it was a bit strange, but harmless and didn't see any point in getting on their case for something as benign as liking cartoon ponies. So when I first saw the negative reports I just thought "here they go again distracting the public from the real issues by trying to whip people up into an irrational frenzy over nothing."

Edited March 27, 2013 by EarthbendingProdigy

[Windwaker 194]

FOX, YOU WIL DIE IN THE PITS OF HELL! FLUTTERSHY RAGE!

 

But, I do like baby man. He's very interesting. But only wired people file for disabilities for watching MLP! And the call it My Little Ponies? IT'S MY LITTLE PONY, IDIOTIC MEDIA!

[john smith12345 33]

I never trust the media. They spread lies about practically everything and pound those lies into the heads of everyone so much that we just accept them as fact. They busy us with trivial matters such as this, celebrity lives etc, all simply to distract us from the real problems that are all around us. I would go into more detail but I can't be bothered at the moment.

[Stormwind 53]

This video really disgusts me.

Even if they are joking, it's still making us look bad. 

Especially the fact this is PUBLIC television.

Its stuff like that which really gets on my nerves. They are uninformed and just trying to create controversy to help gain more views, controversy is stressed more than truth because it makes a story more interesting. Also where did they get their info, i have never heard of a brony filing for disability just to watch the show. This just goes to show, don't trust the media.

[Rainblow H. Ash 5,091]

Fair and Balanced...

 

... as a pile of dirty dishes teetering on top of one another.

 

I remember seeing that a long time ago when I used to watch Fox News from time to time, and, luckily, that was not my first impression of Bronies. As usual, the mainstream media just doesn't get it at all, and they use that ignorance to stir controversy for no good reason.

 

They pretty much will do it with anything, and Bronies are just yet another target they can pull out of their box of tricks.