It’s a show about the MLP franchise, and teaches children love and friendship. What I’m not understanding is why does it matter nowadays. The My Little Pony franchise has been around since the 1980s and their are other shows that do the whole teach children friendship & learning. Other shows make characters people can relate to. Why is this little show just a international phenomenon?
My Little Pony has become an international phenomenon because of several factors, of which, the relatable and loving characters are a part of. To start, we should examine the viewership of MLP. The show is viewed by two main divides, of which their importance will be touched upon later on, 1) Little girls who the show is purposed for, a marketing tool for selling the pony toys for Hasbro, 2) Men between the ages of 13-40.
To understand the dynamics that allow for both little girls to enjoy the show as well as entertain an older audience we must assess the show’s creation: its purpose and its development. The show was indeed created for little girls, by Hasbro, who decided to commission cartoonist/artist/visionary Lauren Faust who brought real talent to the series and where the show’s popularity stems from. Lauren Faust was the creator of many popular and “more artistic” cartoons such as Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends and the Power Puff Girls. Her work consistently cycles through a wide range of complex story development, character charms (likable features that always repeat), and situations that test the elasticity of the characters. Just a reminder that most cartoons rely heavily on situations that test characters, if those situations don’t provide entertaining digression of which the characters undergo, the cartoon suffers. An example of situation: 101 Dalmatians, get kidnapped by eccentric evil fashion maniac. In short, bad/boring situation – bad cartoon.
The show, completely aware of its viewership divide, achieves a dual appeal for both girls and men as we’ve seen. This dual appeal consists of a delicate balance of maintaining its purpose: selling toys, while including details that are either appreciated by men, or directly engage them through a subliminal dialogue that is deaf upon younger ears. “Is this one of your super secret special herbal ingredients for the zap apple jam?” says young Applebloom, “Now that there’s a rumor *wink*” says old Grannysmith(Season 2 Episode 12) . An example of zesty dialogue that men can appreciate, and my 5 year old sister doesn’t pay any mind to. This duality of dialogue is definitely one of the factors that cater to men.
Another aspect where men find entertainment in the show is, as mentioned, the development of the characters. The characters of My Little Pony each represent different elements of friendship and magic. The main characters, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkiepie, Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy, and Rainbowdash form the elements of harmony through the power of their Friendship. For children, just the interaction is enough to entertain them throughout the course of a situation in an episode, for men, we see the ponies personalities as very representative of people we may know or encounter on earth. Pinkiepie, for example, is the quintessential frat girl. Sometimes, she’s flat out “silly” and she likes to “party”. She’s got a type A personality and loves her sugar. There are many facets that you may find appealing in the course of watching her personality cultivate over the course of MLP and interaction between her and other complex characters can often feel very predictable in a way that is somewhat comforting. Spike, Twilight’s Dragon slave, in one episode (Season 3 Episode 11), we find that Spike wants to make a Gem cake because Dragons love eating these beautiful gems. Spike ends up eating every gem meant for the cake without knowing it (drops them onto his tongue instead of into bowl), the way he stuffs his face with these gems and is completely dumbfounded as to where they’ve gone is seriously laughable. What follows is even better. To summarize the episode, Spike goes to his friends to get paid more gems to feed his addiction and promises to take care of all their amazing pets, all with cute and distinct personalities. Spike begins to show signs comparable to drug addiction and the way he interacts with the Ponies paying him as the situation crescendos out of hand keeps you laughing and interested in the outcome.
To understand this show you really need to watch it with an open mind and eye for the detail that brings the show to a new level of cartoon. I hope you leave this work with a better understanding of the appeal of these quaint Ponies.