What makes FiM so great?

[teygrim]

What makes 'Friendship is Magic' so great? It's a question I'm sure we've all asked ourselves at one point or another. I, for one, have been obsessing over the question for the past few days. I've heard many answers and have come up with a few of my own and I'd like to discuss them in this thread.

The most obvious answers are the animation, the characters and the writing. While all three are top rate, and certainly help to make the show very good I don't think that they are what push the show into the realms of greatness. 'Madagascar' had very good animation and no one's obsessing over that, and 'Dexter' has very good writing and characters (plus it is more socially acceptable to watch as an adult male) but it fails to inspire the kind of fandom that FiM has garnered. No, I think what makes the show great is something far more subtle and sublime.

To me, what makes FiM great is the same thing that made Star Trek great. In fact, I see a very clear similarity between Star Trek fandom and Pony fandom: both were/are great shows that were/are socially unacceptable to watch when they first aired but both created a strong fandom despite the pressure to conform to the prevailing norms of the time to stay away from that 'kids stuff'. As for the inspiration for these fandoms, the shows themselves, I think, again, that the appeal very similar. Although, at face value, the shows look very different I think the subtext for both is the same, and that is the idea of utopia and the our ability to attain it.

To explain, I should probably define my interpretation of utopia and its function in literature and philosophy. Utopia is a theoretical value. It's the philosophical equivalent of the mathematical value infinity. It's something that is approached but never reached. It's the destination to a journey of self and social improvement. The importance of utopia lies in its ability to give us direction because it's easy to get lost if you don't know the destination. And although utopia will never be reached, we still become better people along the way.

Star Trek and FiM both feature a utopia. Star Trek depicts an Earth that has eliminated war, disease and poverty: a world that lives in harmony and FiM depicts something similar: social harmony. The Star Trek universe and Equestria are both desirable places to be and both are presented in a way to make them feel attainable in the real world. So, although we will never live in a literal Equestria, we can still take cues from that world in order to improve our own. It's an achievable utopia, and FiM teaches viewer the interpersonal skills needed to find it; something that very few works of fiction bother to even attempt.

I'm very cynical when it comes to fiction of any kind because of its lack of educational content. That might sound strange given today's stereotype of what makes an 'educational show', but to me, education is the sole purpose of storytelling. To clarify where I'm coming from I feel that I should talk about storytelling in the context of evolution.

Imagine, for a moment, the dawn of mankind. There are small tribes whose only method of learning about the world is through direct or vicarious interaction with it. Imagine that, one day, a child falls off the edge of a cliff and dies. The mother learns from the experience that she should keep her kids away from cliffs but in order to spread this knowledge to other mothers she must communicate her experience to them so that they won't have to learn it the hard way. She does this by telling a very simple story (or anecdote if you'd prefer): 'My child played near the cliffs. He fell off and died. Lesson: don't let your children play near cliffs'.

Many stories like the one above would be generated through the experiences of the tribe's members and they would be communicated through spoken language and passed down to educate the generations to come about the world they live in. Through the Chinese whispers nature of spoken storytelling, the stories would deviate from the actual events and fictions based on them would be created. While the new stories might not be as accurate as the originals, the overall message and lessons should survive, and through these stories a tribe's member can learn how to interact with the world around them without having to resort to trial and error.

Because of the evolutionary advantage using stories as a basis for our world view we have evolved to enjoy hearing them. Unfortunately, writers have taken advantage of this and have focused solely on the enjoyment factor without even thinking of the messages that they send. The result is a whole lot of stories that, while enjoyable to hear, do nothing but regurgitate cultural dogma or teach people things about the world that are no longer relevant.

I don't want to go into cultural dogma as it is a very controversial subject and it is not really relevant to the topic so I'll skip over to 'no longer relevant'. An example of 'no longer relevant' is the idea that violence is the answer. I'm sure we've all seen a movie where there's a villain with no redeeming qualities harming the innocent and the only way to overcome him/her is through violence. While violence was a very useful tool in the past, it is rarely the right thing to use today. Violence as a solution is overrepresented in the fictions of today and it is refreshing to have a show like FiM to offer more practical solutions to actual problems that are still relevant to our society (while Transformers was a great show I've never had a problem with evil transforming robots plundering my energy supply in order to create energon cubes. And even if I did, I think I could have figured out that I should use violence to stop them without that show).

Now, let's finish up with a little about the characters and the role they play in utopia attainment aspect of the show. The utopia of this show is interpersonal harmony and the way in which it is obtained and maintained in the show is through the relational styles and strategies of the characters. Each character has their own method of relating to their friends and serves a different purpose in the group. The leader, Twilight is very task orientated and uses her talents to organize everyone; the socio-emotional specialist, Pinky Pie, uses her energy and enthusiasm to enhance everyone's mood; the status enhancer, Verity, uses her hyper awareness of social hierarchy to optimize the group's status among others; etc.

The point is that each character uses a different strategy to accomplish different interpersonal tasks. This is useful to those who watch the show because they provide role models that the viewer can use in the real world. When a social situation calls for confidence then a fan of the show need only to channel the personality of Rainbow Dash; if a fan needs to make friends fast then they can switch over to Pinky Pie; if they need to play a leadership role then there's Twilight. While each character has their own individual flaws, when you put them together the mane six create an ideal of interpersonal harmony that can serve as something to live by and live up to.

For all the reasons mentioned above, I believe people when they say that this show has made them a better person. FiM is a utopia show that provides both a destination and methods to get there; that is why I think the series is great.

***

WOAH, I did not intend for this to be THAT long. Sorry guys. But I'm curious about what everyone else thinks. What is it that makes this series of MLP great; you've heard my opinion, now let's hear yours.

[Dessa]

Argh, a lot to say, but I can't seem to form a coherent thought ATM. It's a broad question, and even tackling subcategories will take a little organization and a lot of typing. I like the tone and direction of the subject though. I'll get back to this.

[Hippo]

I think the fact that it's a girl's show is what makes it so much more appealing. If Friendship is Magic premiered on MTV, towards it's future fanponies, I don't think it would have been as popular. In order for this show to be what it is, it had to start a few doors down from where we thought we would be, so that it could crash through concrete walls to display its awesomeness. Not many people liked this show because they anticipated it. It's like going to a movie that you had no idea what it was about, only to find out it had a great charm to it, that couldn't possible be justified in a 30 second trailer to get your attention. You have to see it, to see it.

[teygrim]

@riverhippo

That's an interesting take, but I think I'm an acception to your rule. I'm one of the few who expected it to be great and it lived up to my expectations. There was no surprise for me, but I still find it awsome to the extreme.

[Hippo]

Had I done a little research into the show before watching it, I suppose I would have thought good things of it, too. The problem was, I wasn't it a place to be looking up what Laura Faust was up to since PPG had finished. Only on a random freak occurance would I have been able to forsee the awesomeness.

Are you a long time fan of MLP? Tell me how you saw it coming...

[teygrim]

Actually, I can't stand the orignal cartoon. I found out about it because I'm in the furry fandom and everyone there was obsessing over it. From experience, I've found that people generally don't obsess over something (especially something as socially unacceptable as MLP) unless it's something special.

[Hippo]

maybe I've got pony-vision now, but I think that MLP is becoming more socially acceptable every day.

By the way, you mentioned furry fandom. Wasn't the concept and design of the G4 characters established long before the premiere of the first episode?

[teygrim]

@riverhippo

I think there's definitely progress but it takes a long time for attitudes to change, and after so many years of bad girl shows people have developed very strong beleifs that they can't be good by definition. And it's hard to prove them wrong if they arn't willing to watch something that's actually good.

As far as the character designs go; I don't really know. I havn't been in the MLP fandom for very long and the furry fandom isn't specifically focused on this show.

[Ginger Mint]

hi hi

While I think there is some amount of "forbidden fruit," effect going on with some people's initial reactions to the show, I think I agree a bit more with teygrim's original assessment as far as the show's enduring qualities. Although, I would be hesitant to use the term "utopia," since that has negative connotations for a lot of people. However, I understand your working definition and it makes sense.

People are told over and over in contemporary media that they should be cynical, violent, mistrustful, afraid, apathetic and selfish. Most of these seem to have started out as marketing techniques to get people to buy something to fix those problems (even if they didn't exist before), but it has since taken on something of a life of its own where it has been used to achieve some social and political goals. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is like a refreshing reminder of that other part of ourselves that is brave, honest, kind, empathic and trusting.

Now obviously there is more to philosophy and morality than what is shown in a TV show for kids, but it captures the spirit of harmony. Harmony that is not through uniformity and conformity, like the proponents of the self fear, or though some heroic dictator father figure, as the proponents of the society fear; but as a balance of many different things. Even anger gets a few brief acknowledgments (dragonshy anyone) when it is appropriate, but they're just as quick to point out when it quickly becomes a hinderance.

"A deep man believes that the evil eye can wither, that the heart's blessing can heal, and that love... can overcome all odds." - Emerson

[teygrim]

@Ginger Mint

I think you've hit on a very good point there. FiM can definitely serve as a counter culture to our culture of individuality and autonomy. It satisfies and emphasises a basic human need that is left wanting by Western culture. It allows us to see the value of collectivism rather than glorifying individual achievement ("Apple Buck Season" comes to mind as a prime example of this) like most other stories told in our culture.

[Ginger Mint]

hi hi

Yeah, I think there is some amount of counter culture there (at least for the mid twenties crowd), but what is really amazing about it is that it showcases the value of working together without also diminishing the value of the individual as well. A lot of people see self-vs-society as a black and white, one or the other dichotomy, but it doesn't have to be that way. You can have both at the same time.

[teygrim]

Exactly. In face, I think that's why Rainbow Dash is so popular; she is the embodiment of Western ideals but she is still part of the group.