{"id":15542,"date":"2014-01-08T04:22:03","date_gmt":"2014-01-08T09:22:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=15542"},"modified":"2015-06-07T04:28:16","modified_gmt":"2015-06-07T08:28:16","slug":"hooves-and-fangs-investigating-why-some-men-love-my-little-pony-but-no-men-love-twilight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2014\/01\/08\/hooves-and-fangs-investigating-why-some-men-love-my-little-pony-but-no-men-love-twilight\/","title":{"rendered":"Hooves and Fangs: Investigating Why Some Men Love My Little Pony, but No Men Love Twilight"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"bronies-My-Little-pony-warpzoneonline\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The word \u201cbrony\u201d has become so loaded over time that it\u2019s hard to use without bringing up unfortunate connotations. I\u2019d like to leave aside the more\u2026 colorful aspects of the group and stick with the loosest definition possible: a brony is an adolescent or adult male who watches and enjoys the cartoon My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. (To answer your inevitable question: Yes, I have watched the show. I do think it is very clever and has a lot of crossover appeal. The quality declines after the first season, but if you can get past your \u201cew, cooties!\u201d mindset, you might find something you enjoy.) The show is so popular with males that a female fan is almost unusual and strange. When someone brings up MLP, as a citizen of the internet, you just kind of assume it\u2019s a guy. Just as, if someone is fanatical over Loki, it\u2019s reasonable to think they\u2019re probably a girl. It\u2019s an intriguing phenomenon: whereas a girl liking superheroes is unconsciously viewed as \u201ctrading up,\u201d a boy liking something meant for girls is automatically viewed as shameful.<\/p>\n

Much of the brony fandom revolves around ideas of dismantling out-dated patriarchal concepts and acceptance of others\u2019 differences, a reaction to the belittling they receive as fans. Now that the mania has subsided, it\u2019s easy to forget how culturally significant Twilight actually was. It united daughters and mothers in paranormal sexual fantasy; fans segregated themselves into \u201cteams\u201d in support of which suitor Bella should ultimately choose. Twilight features vampires, werewolves, ancient mythology, and other supernatural chicanery, but the entire series can be encapsulated as \u201cTeam Edward vs. Team Jacob.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regardless of your exposure to the series, it\u2019s almost guaranteed you at least understand this conflict. Edward is a vampire who doesn’t kill people; Jacob is a werewolf who takes his shirt off a lot. Bella Swan has to choose between them. That\u2019s really what it boils down to. It makes sense that the fervor surrounding the franchise began to lessen around the time Bella\u2019s choice was actually depicted on screen. When she ultimately chose Edward, the story lost much of its appeal for many viewers. What remained were family disputes and difficult pregnancies. Hardly the stuff of adventures.<\/p>\n

Twilight almost seems woefully old-fashioned in the wake of something like The Hunger Games, whose female protagonist is a skilled athlete with an affinity for long ranged weaponry. Katniss Everdeen is not beholden to the men in her life. In fact, she\u2019s actually stronger and more significant than both of them. Her story does not fixate on whom she will eventually end up with, thus keeping it from seeming too \u201cgirly.\u201d (Many people have an aversion to works designed for girls so strong it borders on extreme hatred. Girls, especially teenage girls, are much maligned in society, but it was extremely emotional girls obsessed with Elvis and the Beatles who created fandom as we know it.) However, this raises important questions. If \u201cgirliness\u201d is what drives males away, how can we explain the popularity of My Little Pony with males?<\/p>\n

At first, it seems to defy explanation. MLP is undoubtedly girlier than Twilight. Episodes have such themes as empathy, sharing, and fostering love. One of the main cast (Rarity) is a fashion designer and another is literally named Pinkie Pie. Twilight has vampires! And werewolves! And epic battles! Shouldn’t men like it more than talking ponies instead of less?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an old idea that women don\u2019t like sex as much as men. It seems like an obvious conclusion, easily supported by facts, but I suspect that any human being who\u2019s actually honest with himself about the world we live in knows this is total bullshit. Women love sex; maybe just as much as men, possibly much, much more. There is a crucial component that Twilight has which MLP lacks: sex. The very act of biting (penetration) takes on a sexual aspect in a lot of vampire fiction, but the overwhelming focus on her mates keeps men far away from Bella\u2019s adventures. Does than mean men are afraid of sex? Of course not. While many men may find a woman\u2019s sexual urgency disquieting, those men are probably misogynists. Men love to see another man get the girl, but only after he blows a bunch of stuff up. Peter Parker may have trouble deciding between Gwen and Mary Jane, but first and foremost he\u2019s Spider-Man and he has to go kick Green Goblin\u2019s ass.<\/p>\n

Perhaps this means that women are hopeful and men are cynical. To wit: Bella\u2019s function is audience identification; she\u2019s deliberately made to seem as average as possible, an \u201ceverygirl\u201d if you will. Two men fight for her affections, but one is not meant to feel animosity toward Bella because of this. Very few fans (if any) criticize Bella as a slut, or whore; they see her conundrum as ultimately appealing. They don\u2019t shame Bella because she has what they want; to criticize her would be to criticize themselves. However, in Spider-Man (In the interest of simplicity, I will refer here to the first Sam Raimi Spider-Man film. Since the story has been so exhaustively reinterpreted over the years in both comics and movies, it will be easier to refer to this one portrayal specifically.), the hero only has one love interest, but he has to rescue her first. Bella is desired just because; Spidey is desired for what he does. So it would seem that women hope to be swept up in a love affair, but men know that the only way anyone will want them is if they prove themselves.<\/p>\n

On second thought, that conclusion seems unnecessarily reductionist. Perhaps instead of looking at what keeps men from Twilight, we should focus on what draws them to MLP.<\/p>\n

When Lauren Faust began conceiving the show in the late 2000s, she describes herself as being \u201cextremely skeptical\u201d as she\u2019d previously found shows based on girl-targeted properties to be uninteresting. As a result, she specifically focused on proving that \u201ccartoons for girls don\u2019t have to be a puddle of smooshy, cutesy-wootsy, goody-two-shoeness.<\/a>\u201d Indeed, MLP was born of a desire to make a girl\u2019s cartoon with a wider appeal. Of course, nobody anticipated how strongly the show was embraced by older males, but it\u2019s not necessarily surprising. The opening of the series explains the dichotomy between the two celestial beings who represent day and night. We are told that Luna, who rules the night, became jealous of her sister, Celestia, who governs the daytime since everyone sleeps during the night instead of frolicking around and sought revenge. Right away, this feels like something more akin to Greek myth than Pound Puppies.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, Twilight, had an almost opposite origin. Series author Stephanie Meyer claims that the inspiration for the series came to her in a dream<\/a> (which automatically implies there wasn’t a lot of hard work done at the inception). Said dream involved a normal girl who was in love with a vampire who thirsted for her blood. Meyer\u2019s writing is often criticized as reading like fan fiction. Stephen King has gone on record stating that she is \u201cnot very good.<\/a>” In fact, the Twilight Saga Wikipedia page has an entire subcategory titled \u201cNegative Reaction.\u201d So it feels safe to say that Twilight wasn’t meant to be a literary powerhouse. Stephenie Meyer didn’t want to influence the conception of vampires or change the way we think about Young Adult literature; she wanted to write about a dream she had one time.<\/p>\n

So maybe this is the answer. Faust was actively targeting people outside of her expected demographic; Meyer was writing for them, specifically. Could it be that men like MLP because it\u2019s simply better?<\/p>\n

When defending themselves, Bronies often point to the quality of the program. On the website, whatisabrony.com, the introduction reads<\/p>\n

First impressions might be that bronies are creepy or gay, however that’s a typical misconception. Most bronies are friendly teenagers and young adults that simply aren’t afraid to admit that they enjoy a show that is innocent, colorful, and funny.<\/p>\n

The latest rendition of My Little Pony is much different than the previous generations most people associate the title with. This show has a fresh, modern look, and tells fun stories that people of all ages can enjoy. Not to mention the show is amazingly well-made and showcases a massive amount of talent ranging from voice artists, to writers, to music composers, and much more.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

To a more cynical person, this probably comes across as justification for whatever bizarre compulsions these people have, but what\u2019s important is the stress on how good the show is. \u201cFresh, modern, fun\u201d are used to describe it. No matter what, a fan of Twilight can\u2019t make this argument. When Stephen King says the author sucks, it\u2019s kind of a losing battle. Twi-hards defend themselves in spite of the quality of the work. So maybe MLP really is just better.<\/p>\n

This is just opinion, but when dealing with things of social importance, opinion and perception are really all that matter. Because of its huge popularity, Twilight is a household name in a way MLP will never be. (If I say \u201cTwilight\u201d in a crowded arena, I\u2019d bet 99% of attendees would know what I was talking about. The number would drop significantly if I were to say \u201cBrony.\u201d) As a result, Twilight fans are scrutinized in a way Bronies aren’t. This has two effects: First, it makes Twilight less appealing to try, since everyone has already heard how much it sucks. Second, it makes becoming a fan of MLP much safer since most people don\u2019t know what the hell you\u2019re talking about.<\/p>\n

Being a Brony just seems more defensible than being a male Twi-hard. \u201cHave you even seen it?\u201d is the obvious rebuttal to anyone who criticizes your affection for the show. But with Twilight, it doesn’t matter if the tormentor has seen it – they don\u2019t have to. Since Twilight has been absorbed into our culture, everyone feels entitled to have an opinion on it. You can become a Brony and settle into a quiet corner of the internet, away from judgmental eyes, but if you want to appreciate Twilight, there are legions of people who will tell you that\u2019s a mistake.<\/p>\n

So maybe there are many male fans of Twilight, but they\u2019re just afraid to come out of hiding. If so, it doesn’t seem like they\u2019ll be revealing themselves any time soon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The word \u201cbrony\u201d has become so loaded over time that it\u2019s hard to use without bringing up unfortunate connotations. I\u2019d like to leave aside the more\u2026 colorful aspects of the group and stick with the loosest definition possible: a brony is an adolescent or adult male who watches and enjoys the cartoon My Little Pony: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[1241,702,737],"class_list":["post-15542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pcthugs","tag-bronies","tag-my-little-pony","tag-nostalgia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15542"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15542\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15544,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15542\/revisions\/15544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}