"Kishōtenketsu" and the Appeal of Equestria

[--Thunder Bolt-- 534]

Since I encountered the brony community (and subsequently, started watching the show and became one), I've noticed that it seems fairly common for bronies to wish they could actually become ponies in Equestria, leaving our world and species behind.  Even though it has flaws and evil does exist there, Equestria and pony society do seem to provide the feel of not just "a better place," but "a better way to be." 

 

Recently I encountered something that may provide a partial explanation: a narrative plot structure called "kishōtenketsu."  This is a type of plot structure, common in Japan and China, which does not center on, or even require, conflict.  The traditional Western plot structure is focused on conflict as its driving force.  The first act introduces the characters (heroes, and the villains or other obstacles they must overcome) and their conflict.  The struggle intensifies as the story proceeds, until a narrative climax is reached, and the conflict is resolved: victory, or defeat for the protagonists.  Notions like the zero-sum game (the heroes or their opponents must win, and the other side must lose), "life is struggle," "the world is mean," "the Other is the enemy," and so on are built in on the level of source code.  It's Us vs. Them conflict and fighting "all the way down."

 

A kishōtenketsu plot is not like this.  It works by introducing characters and a situation in the first act.  The second act shifts the story with a sudden, seemingly unrelated twist.  The third act presents a reconciliation of the two.  It's possible to have conflict in a story like this, but it is not the pivot on which the whole story moves; it's not even necessary.  This presents a kind of scenario where differences are approached from a perspective of reconciliation or integration, rather than battle.

 

I don't have all the FiM episodes memorized (I just got 'round to ordering the DVD sets for S1 and S2 ), but it seems to me that the show uses kishōtenketsu a lot.  In "Friendship is Magic," we're introduced to a geeky loner unicorn who has uncovered an ancient prophecy warning of the return of Nightmare Moon.  In accordance with conventional Western plot structure, she orients herself toward the conflict ahead, sending a warning to Celestia and trying to start researching the problem.  Then Celestia introduces the first kishōtenketsu twist: instead of sending her on a quest to defeat the Enemy, she sends her to Ponyville to oversee preparations for a celebration, with instructions to...make friends?

 

Twilight hurries on her way, hoping to get the preparations out of the way as quickly as possible and bypass the friend-making thing so she can get on with the "real business" of preparing for the conflict with Nightmare Moon.  Things don't go as she intends.  Again and again her quest is sidelined as she meets each new pony and ends up making friends with them.  Each encounter is a mini-kishōtenketsu story.  Instead of having a conflict with Rainbow Dash over the latter's seeming lack of attention to the job of clearing the clouds getting herself rained on and the results of her "Rain-Blow Dry," Twilight ends up in awe of Dashie's speed, and being "prepared" for her encounter with Rarity.

 

The "quest" itself contains kishōtenketsu pericopes.  The encounters with the manticore and river serpent are resolved not by defeating them, but by a twist (the thorn, the severed moustache) followed by reconciliation.  Even the central conflict with Nightmare Moon ends not by sending her back to the Moon or killing her, but by breaking Luna free from a malevolent outer shell (note the fragments scattered around her) and restoring her to her proper place in the celestial order.

 

I'll have to re-watch the other episodes with kishōtenketsu in mind to see if the pattern holds, but it occurs to me that if kishōtenketsu is the predominant plot structure in FiM, it could create a subconscious understanding that "mean world syndrome" does not apply in Equestria the way that it seems to apply here, because we look at our own world through the lens of conflict-centered narrative structure.  Could this be one of the reasons Equestria seems like such a better place to be?  How would our world change if we approached it and other people through a kishōtenketsu lens, rather than the lens of conflict, competition, victory or defeat, and the Other as opponent in a zero-sum game?

[RrVPfX9cPtw59FpC 1,296]

Interesting, but there are definetely ponies who don't like this idea, most of which would be the villains. Still, it sure describes normal life in Equestria. It'd be interesting if Faust based the pony world on this.