Dear Princess Celestia…
I’ve started watching My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic as a 25-year-old adult without children.
I watched a good chunk of the first season around 14 years ago when the show first started airing. I believe I watched the full season, or at least up to a certain point. In 2010, I was in the sixth grade. I distinctly remember telling my friends that My Little Pony was this hilarious internet prank where grown men would pretend to like a show for little girls. The worst part of it is that there was this girl who really had a huge crush on me at the time, and I even said the same thing to her because she asked, except she was literally the target demographic, so the joke didn’t really land. I thought the appreciation for the show was a joke, as the internet typically tends to paint ironic situations like that. I think to some degree, when the show first started airing, it was a joke, or maybe I’m just gaslighting myself into believing that was the case.
I think as time went on, people who were seriously into the show I sort of ostracized and alienated, as I began to realize it wasn’t a joke I developed this strange urge to hold a cold stance against the show and watching it and the whole Brony craze. Don’t really know why, either. I think both takes were pretty stupid, but more generally I think I was pretty stupid. I had friends that liked it and I used to make fun of them for liking it.
Years went by and I held this weird distaste, into my teens. Bronies were weird shut-ins and I didn’t want to be associated with them or the show or be seen in that light, so I just naturally didn’t bother ever sincerely trying the show. Didn’t help that my circle generally was pretty snobbish about animation and content made for children for some reason, so I never followed through.
Picture me now, in my mid 20’s, working two jobs, barely having the time for hobbies and trying to grasp onto enjoyment in life before I come tumbling back to reality. Enter My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. It’s a wholesome, fairly paced show that’s maturely written and sincerely fun to watch. I’d show this to my kids.
I like the stories, I like most of the characters, the world building is nice, and it’s a pretty decent closer at the end of a long work day. I’ve kind of released my youth’s inhibitions to try new things and give media a chance and it feels good to not be a stuck-up loser about content like this. I think this goes for a lot of media, too, not just TV but also movies and music and videogames and all media. So, I guess if anything, this show is a pretty good testament to me growing up. I’ve been learning as I get older that it’s a good thing to expose yourself to new things you might not realize you enjoy. It’s unhealthy to hold a grudge against something you’ve not tried, as the old saying goes, “don’t knock it ’till you’ve tried it.”
I find it quite ironic that when I was the target age group for this television series, I was too immature to handle it.
Your faithful student…
