MLP: A "Colt" Following (A Collegiate Essay on Why Adults Like MLP)

[Bolt the Super-Pony 62]

This is a causal essay I wrote for a college English class (which I received a really good grade for; I don't mean to brag), and I thought I would post it here and ask the Brony community for feedback: What do you think? Am I right (or at least on the right track)?

 

For full MLA formatting, including double-spacing and the properly formatted "Works Cited", see the attached copy of the essay. MLP Causal Essay.doc

 

A few NOTES TO READERS:

• The term "Pegasister" was not included in this paper because "Brony" is an all-inclusive term that spans across both genders. I have nothing against those who prefer "Pegasister," but because it's my essay, for simplicity's sake I chose not to include it.
• I changed the name (from my real name) in the essay to match my username. I also erased my teacher's name from the essay.
• I know this essay is lengthy (the requirement was 4-5 pages, and I just had a lot of fun with it), but I encourage you to please read through all of it. I'm sure you're going to love what you read.

Enjoy!

 

My Little Pony: A “Colt” Following

When you think of shows for kids, Saturday morning cartoons and anything airing on Nickelodeon or Disney channel might all come to mind. Usually, these shows are geared towards the younger, 2-11 year old demographic (Pollack), though certain shows are also aimed at teens. There are also, of course, cartoons aimed exclusively at adults, such as Family Guy and anything else by Seth MacFarlane, The Simpsons or Archer. It is uncommon and nearly unheard of that a cartoon TV show where the main demographic is young girls would have an audience of adults, especially older males. That, however, is exactly the case with a certain Saturday morning cartoon.  My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, airing Saturday mornings on the Hub Network (formerly Discovery Kids), has skyrocketed in popularity since its debut, starting out with 1.4 million monthly viewers and growing to 4 million by the end of the first season (House). Despite social and cultural conventions, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic continues to gain older fans because of executive producer Lauren Faust, the Internet, and aspects of the show itself including its complex characters, pop culture references, catchy music, unassuming and inexplicit morals, and entertaining/original storylines.

The “My Little Pony” franchise started with a toy line in 1981 called “My Pretty Pony” (Lewis), and a show (later known as the “first generation” by fans) didn’t start until 1983. Fast-forward a few years, the social impact of the show and toy line became visible as the franchise grew popular in 1992 in the United States, and so did the gender roles wherein ponies were thought to be a girl’s thing, while boys were marketed with toys such as G.I. Joe to play with.  When the TV show My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, the fourth “generation” of the My Little Pony franchise’s show and characters first aired back in October of 2010, the intended audience for the show was 2 – 11 year olds (Pollack). As the show grew, it gained a massive following from an unexpected audience of 18 – 49 year old adults, especially 15 – 39 year old males (Kern). Calling themselves “bronies” (a collective term combining the words “bro” and “pony”), they span a growing membership of at least 75,000 members according to the official Facebook page, and many members of this community even participate in real-world and online activities related to the show. None of the elements of the show would have been possible, however, if it weren’t for the creativity of former executive producer (for the first and second seasons) Lauren Faust, who spearheaded the idea and launch of the show.

Lauren Faust was born in 1974 and is known as a writer for shows such as The Powerpuff Girls and Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends. When she tried to pitch her idea of an original concept to Hasbro, the company behind the My Little Pony franchise, it was rejected, with an explanation such as “Girls don’t watch cartoons” (Faust). It was then that Lisa Licht, a senior executive form Hasbro approached Faust with the idea of remaking the concept of rebooting the My Little Pony series (BOC Editorial; Strike). It was this opportunity that gave Faust the chance to have her moment in the spotlight. After “[…] years and years […]” (Faust) of pitching ideas to Hasbro, the latter now had a pitch for her. Looking back at the previous generations of the show, which were overly girly with no personalities between the characters, the primary goal of the series was to sell toys, and the TV show was merely an afterthought. This is exactly the kind of thing Faust wanted to avoid. According to Faust,

"To look at the quality of most girls’ cartoons, it would seem that not one artist really cared about them. Not one designer, not one background painter, not one animator. Some of the more well-meaning, more expensive animated productions for girl audiences may look better, but the female characters have been so homogenized with old-fashioned “niceness” that they have no flaws and are un-relatable. They are so pretty, polite and perfect; there is no legitimate conflict and nothing exciting ever happens. In short, animated shows for little girls come across as boring.  Stupid. Lame."

Lauren Faust’s contribution in steering the show away from the generic, product-driven plotlines is a large factor in why the show is so popular among adults. Of course, the Internet also played a role in spreading the wildfire.

            When the Friendship is Magic series premiered, some parents decided to watch it along with their kids. Upon liking what they saw, word started to spread about the TV show and later original works of art, music, and video parodies including remakes of songs and episodes, some with even stronger adult-oriented themes (such as the YouTube parody series My Little Pony: Friendship is Witchcraft, wherein the characters are near opposites of what they are in the show), soon followed. Hasbro as a company has generally taken a laid-back approach to this trend, allowing for the growth of the fandom. The only notable case in which Hasbro has intervened in a fan-based work was in the case of a computer game made by adult fans as a result of the show’s popularity amongst adults. Developed by a small group who calls themselves Mane 6, My Little Pony: Fighting is Magic was developed as a street-fighting style game using the characters from the show as the players in the game. After Hasbro caught wind of this, however, it sent Mane 6 a cease and desist letter to halt the production, with which after negotiations, Mane 6 eventually complied. Since then, another group of fans have published a “Tribute” edition of the game, which has spread around the Web, and looks exactly like the original Fighting is Magic game. Mane 6 claims to have had no part in the game, and no (legal) action has been taken on Hasbro’s side as of yet (Koch; Mane 6 DevTeam).

The show itself includes specific elements that can be attributed to its popularity. For example, some of the characters have been pulled from previous generations of the show and were given a complete makeover, usually in both personality and appearance (Lewis). The morals and lessons in the show are not obvious and are only revealed subtly at the end of the episode. Episodes contain references to pop culture (such as other franchises, TV shows, movies, and other media; from Batman to I Love Lucy to “Weird Al” Yankovic, who has guest-starred in the episode “Pinkie Pride”), and events from previous episodes, as a sort of reward to regular viewers. Artist Andy Price, a fan of the show, adds that “A child can take away silly humor and fun art and even some lessons. An adult can take away the same, plus the cultural references and the sly witticisms." (Truitt). Several songs in the show have catchy tunes and/or lyrics such as “The Goof Off” from season four, or darker themes such as “This Day Aria” from the season two two-part finale. In fact, Daniel Ingram, composer and song-writer for My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, remarked on the success of “This Day Aria” as one of the darker songs from the show, stating that “[…] there’s room in children’s programming for emotional music and darker music and you don’t hear it very often, but I think people love it when it’s good.” (Burlingame). The show also contains jokes that adults would understand, but kids would either not care or be left scratching their heads. One notable example is visible in the episode “Owl’s Well That Ends Well”, wherein one character named Spike falls into a punchbowl, exhausted from his work earlier in the day. The joke is then made that the punch has been “spiked”, prompting all of the characters in the scene to laugh.

Some people might say that adults don’t like to watch children’s shows, or that only an immature person would be amused enough to do so. Still others might claim that My Little Pony is nothing more than a children’s show, albeit one for little girls. In a recent case, a nine-year-old boy was told by his school that he cannot wear his backpack, which displays My Little Pony insignia, to school as it poses a risk for bullying (Candler); the assumption being that boys should have nothing to do with My Little Pony, because it’s a girls’ thing. Sadly, this is a common misconception that is perfectly illustrated within the environment of an elementary school. 

Fortunately, adults possess a power which most elementary students do not, the ability to keep an open mind, another possible attribute towards the show’s popularity. Disbelievers should try watching the show with an open mind and look at the ratings the show has received, including an 8.0/10 on the International Movie Database, 8.7/10 on TV.com, and a 4/5 star review by Common Sense Media, a website that rates the quality of media for kids (“My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic” IMDb; “My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic” TV.com;  Ashbury). Therefore, given that there is such a large following and the ratings are high enough to make My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic one of the most popular shows on the Hub Network; it is easy to see that My Little Pony is no ordinary children’s cartoon, and that there are indeed redeeming qualities that drive its popularity.

The TV series My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic grew to be popular amongst adults because of the creative input of Lauren Faust, the word of the show and fan-made work spread around the Internet, and the unique elements in the show that especially appeal to an older audience. If you’re still unconvinced about the appeal of My Little Pony, perhaps the best words of advice come from Lauren Faust herself, who encourages “[…] skeptics […] to watch My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic with an open mind. If I’m doing my job right, I think you’ll be surprised” (Faust).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Works Cited

Ashbury, Emily. "My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic." TV Review. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2014.

BOC Editorial. "Hasbro Studios Appoints Lisa Licht & Linda Steiner in Senior Positions." Businessofcinema.com. N.p., 15 Oct. 2009. Web. 18 Mar. 2014.

Burlingame, Russ. "My Little Pony’s Emmy-Winning Daniel Ingram on Scoring for Kids of All Ages." Comicbookcom. N.p., 1 Mar. 2013. Web. 19 Mar. 2014.

Candler. "Mom: School Bans Son's 'My Little Pony' Backpack Due to Bullying Risk." Mom: North Carolina School Bans Son Grayson Bruce's 'My Little Pony' Backpack Due to Bullying Risk. N.p., 18 Mar. 2014. Web. 20 Mar. 2014.

Faust, Lauren. "My Little NON-Homophobic, NON-Racist, NON-Smart-Shaming Pony: A Rebuttal." Ms Magazine Blog. N.p., 24 Dec. 2010. Web. 18 Mar. 2014.

House, Kelly. "Meet 'bronies' -- Grown Men Who Are Fans of My Little Pony." The Oregonian. N.p., 17 Sept. 2011. Web. 17 Mar. 2014.

Kern, Mark. "Hub TV Network Scores Record High Audience With Outstanding Performance of Special Royal Wedding of the Year on 'My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic'" (NYSE:HAS). Hasbro, 24 Apr. 2012. Web. 17 Mar. 2014.

Koch, Cameron. "GameInformer." Fan-Made My Little Pony Fighting Game Available To Download. N.p., 4 Mar. 2014. Web. 20 Mar. 2014.

Lewis, Chad. "My Little Pony G1 - G4 Review | RETOONED." YouTube. YouTube, 06 Mar. 2014. Web. 17 Mar. 2014.

Mane6 DevTeam. "Friendly Reminder | Mane6." Mane6. N.p., 28 Feb. 2014. Web. 20 Mar. 2014.

"My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 17 Mar. 2014.

"My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic." TV.com. Ed. Taker65. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2014.

Pollack, Judann. "'My Little Pony: The Friendship Is Magic' Gains Unexpected Audience -- Adults." Advertising Age Special Report Americas Hottest Brands RSS. Advertising Age, 28 Nov. 2011. Web. 17 Mar. 2014.

Strike, Joe. "Of Ponies and Bronies." Animation World Network. N.p., 5 July 2011. Web. 18 Mar. 2014.

Truitt, Brian. "'My Little Pony' Plants a Hoof in Pop Culture." USA Today. Gannett, 26 Nov. 2012. Web. 19 Mar. 2014.

 

Also, if any-pony knows how to double-space posts, please let me know how!