![]() ![]() Hasbro was one of the companies involved in selling chunks of plastic to kids who could then nag their parents via the magic of animation. The upshot was a series of Saturday morning cartoons (as well as other children’s shows) that were nothing but glorified commercials for various toy lines. A pleasure shouldn’t have to feel guilty – especially one with its magical heart so firmly in the right place.Your rating: None Average: 2.9 ( 9 votes)ĭuring the early eighties, the FCC began to back off on restrictions on advertisements in children’s television, despite pressure from parents’ groups to apply more. While I can understand how the ponies might not be everyone’s cup of carrot juice, don’t sniff at people for liking what they like. Generosity, laughter, loyalty, honesty and kindness always prevail and when you’re feeling a bit glum, it’s chicken soup (or maybe warm oats) for the soul. ![]() Ponyville is a default female community, where the action very rarely focuses on relationships or romantic reactions, jumping clear over the hurdle of the Bechdel test. The moral of the story – anxiety sucks, trust those who care about you because they want what’s best and obviously, Friendship is Magic ™.Īside from addressing darkness head on, My Little Pony offers a safe space to those often on the periphery of modern media who may need a mental comfort blanket. When treated with kindness and acceptance, she realises the error of her ways and joins forces with the good guys, with a hint at future friendships. ![]() In the baddie camp, we have powerful unicorn Tempest Shadow (voiced by Emily Blunt) whose loneliness and alienation by peers due to a physical deformity led to her heel turn. The fillies fall out and separate – and then everything really goes to manure. She becomes overwhelmed with an anxiety that sees her lack trust and belief in her friends, resulting in her going against rationality and attempting to steal. The new movie (which, thanks to its geeky fandom in-jokes and references, as well as hallucinogenically fast-moving neon graphics, has mostly bewildered and alienated critics) focuses on Twilight’s struggle with her new royal responsibilities and the resulting pedestal that they put her on within her friendship group. In a similar way, many of the series’ villains, instead of being vanquished with brute force are transformed through kindness and understanding from the pony protagonists. Vain Rarity demonstrates Narcissistic Personality Disorder, while Pinkie Pie’s manic highs and occasional crashing lows have always spoken to me very personally as a Bipolar sufferer.Īll the ponies keep their respective disorders mostly in check with the love and care of their diverse friends, representing a balanced mental system, as well as the need for a good support network. The loudest and most self-possessed pony, Rainbow Dash, displays characteristics of Hypomania, while Apple Jack’s tireless work ethic subtly nods to Masochistic Personality Disorder. Fluttershy also tends to avoid other ponies out of fear, a classic symptom of Social Anxiety Disorder. The central princess alicorn Twilight’s bookish reserve hints at Avoidant Personality Disorder, and, less subtly, OCD. In this vein, the latest incarnation of My Little Pony preaches that Friendship is Magic via its ‘mane six’, whose diverse personality types (and disorders) work together to create balance. Quite a different portrayal to that in Disney’s recent Inside Out, which showed how all anthropomorphic emotional states are good and necessary in the correct balance. In these pre-Prozac times (the popular antidepressant was approved in the US in 1988), children’s cartoons addressed the taboo of mental illness by giving it a monstrous face that needed to be battled into submission. This slimey depression analogy reflected the villainous zeitgeist of the period – Milo’s dull life and lazy procrastination in the Phantom Tollbooth’s doldrums, the colour and fun-sapping Murky and Lurky from Rainbow Brite, not to mention fellow equine Artax, who met his sticky end in The Neverending Story’s Swamp of Sadness. Aside from turning beautiful fields into barren wastelands, it could also throw chunks of itself which, when attached to living beings, turned them into grumpy, mean creatures unable to care about each other, causing apathy and despair in themselves and others. While the gargantuan slime-beast was only a secondary antagonist with a catchy song, its ability to destroy anything in its path, living or not, was genuinely terrifying. ![]()
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