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leeshajoyThis installment of Thinking Too Much is about My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. But only in part. More generally, I want to talk about certain challenges unique to serial fiction, particularly in the Internet age.
As before, opinions expressed herein are my own, and I don't claim to be an expert on anything spoken about below. If you disagree with anything I've written, or just want to discuss it further, feel free to comment and put your two cents in.
First, I should define my terms: what is "serial fiction," exactly? I would describe it as any fictional work, in any medium, that is published in installments rather than all at once. This covers things like television shows, radio dramas, episodic video games, comic books, comic strips, and to a lesser extent movies and books with multiple sequels. In fact, I would venture to say that most fictional works published today fall into this category in one way or another. And it's not hard to see why; publishing in short installments gives one's work greater exposure and makes it easier for people to start reading/watching/playing when they have a few minutes to kill--not to mention that it allows one to get more money out of customers over time.
But with the advantages of serial fiction come a unique set of problems. The tone and quality of the work may vary greatly from beginning to end, for one thing. The reasons for this are varied--the creators may be trying out new ideas and discarding ones that weren't working, people may enter or leave the project, there may be editorial mandates, or the creators' skill may simply be growing with practice. Whatever the reason, when the tone of a serial work is uneven, it's likely to remain uneven, because there will rarely be time or money to go back and edit past installments to make them match. (And such editing may not be desirable to begin with--witness the hue and cry over the "special editions" of the original Star Wars trilogy.)
Another difficulty is that, frequently, a serially-published work lacks a satisfying ending. Often, the story was begun with no specific ending in mind, and simply continues on until the funding and/or enthusiasm runs out, at which point the plot is either left hanging or capped off in a perfunctory fashion. Or, worse, the story was begun with a specific ending, but is made to continue on beyond that ending for the sake of more money--but that's another rant for another time.
The third difficulty is something that can be both a blessing and a curse, and that is the relationship between the creators and consumers of serial media. When a story is published serially, the audience can give feedback on the story before they hear the ending--sometimes, before the ending is even written. In the Internet age, that feedback is near instantaneous. This means that the audience of a given work can, and frequently does, influence how the story progresses.
Which brings us to My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Even if you're not a watcher of this newest TV version of Hasbro's My Little pony franchise, you probably have at least a passing familiarity with its fanbase. The show, which is ostensibly aimed at young girls, has attracted followers of all ages and genders, and particularly a significant demographic of adult men who refer to themselves as "bronies." A great deal can be, and has been, written about the gender dynamics of MLP:FiM's fanbase, and how that reflects upon gender dynamics in our society in general. But that's not what I'm here to talk about today.
No, I want to talk about this little pony.
[Source: mlp.wikia.com]
This walleyed pegasus first appeared in a crowd scene in the very first episode of MLP:FiM, "The Mare in the Moon." Whether her odd expression was an animator's private joke or just a glitch is unknown, but the fan community fell in love with her instantly, dubbing her "Derpy Hooves" and speculating on her backstory. Fans speculated that she was the town mail carrier, that she was a struggling single mom, that she had a strange obsession with muffins. Derpy Hooves was far from the only background pony to be given this treatment, but she was far and away the most popular. She became so popular, in fact, that the show's makers began deliberately including her in the background of a scene in each episode, as an Easter egg for those in the know.
In the episode "The Last Roundup," which aired on January 21, 2012, Derpy Hooves went from background character to supporting cast, getting a speaking role and being called by name by one of the main characters. And the fandom was immediately split.
You see, the name "Derpy" wasn't just pulled out of nowhere. It was an existing piece of Internet slang, initially pulled from the TV series South Park. The exact meaning depends on the context, but it generally implies extreme stupidity and can even connote retardation. [Source: Urban Dictionary] Fan interpretations of Derpy Hooves's "derpiness" have run the gamut from a full-blown mental disability to just a lazy eye. A minority of the fandom disliked even calling her "Derpy" because of the ableist implications of the word. Bearing this in mind, have a look at Miss Hooves's appearance in "The Last Roundup":
[Source: TheDerpiest on YouTube]
There are several things here that people have found objectionable:
But the impact of this scene goes beyond just fans of the show, and that brings me to another aspect of serial fiction which is both a blessing and a curse: every installment of a serially published work is potentially someone's first exposure to it. Creators and publishers of serial fiction have to strike a careful balancing act between hooking in new viewers and keeping the existing ones, and tell a compelling story to both.
Every once in a while, I like to take an installment of a serially published work I'm reading--a single comic strip, a single episode of a TV show, what-have-you--and ask myself, How would someone react to this if they had never seen this series before? What would they think the overall story was about? Would it interest them enough to keep watching? Again, the Internet age has changed this quite a bit; it's frequently easier to find all existing installments (particularly if it was published online to begin with) and start from the beginning. However, that doesn't completely remove the first-timer effect, because a new viewer still has to be interested enough to go seek out those past installments. It's something of a cliché, but it's still true: first impressions matter.
So imagine that you had never seen My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic before, or heard of Derpy Hooves, and the first thing you saw was that clip (which, again, is near the beginning of the episode). The character you see, while not necessarily "special," is clearly not terribly bright, and she's being abused and belittled by another pony who she's trying to help. And instead of turning this into a lesson about being nice to others even if they're not very good at something, the story goes on to focus on other characters and Derpy is never mentioned again. Would you be inclined to keep watching this show, ostensibly meant to teach little girls about friendship and good behavior? If you heard that both of these characters were fan favorites, would you be inclined to look favorably upon the show's fanbase? My gut says "no," and that's the problem. The first impression given here is a bad one, and I suspect that it will alienate a lot of potential new viewers.
More than that, there's always the question of whether a show should be bringing in fan-created content--particularly this show, which is designed to sell toys to little girls but has a fandom of full-grown men. There are a lot of things in MLP fandom that are fairly popular, but in questionable taste. What about the portrayal of another background pony, Berry Punch, as the town drunk? Or "Molestia," an alter ego of Princess Celestia who sexually abuses her subjects? Or the infamous "Cupcakes" fanfic in which Pinkie Pie is portrayed as somewhere between Sweeney Todd and Leatherface? Just because the fanbase embraces an idea doesn't mean it's a good one, or appropriate for the source material.
Now, that's not to say that you should ignore the fans altogether. A dedicated fanbase is a good thing, bringing in money and publicity and general good feelings toward a series and its creators. Going against what the fans want is generally a good way too lose viewership. But catering to the fans shouldn't mean turning the show into a series of in-jokes that confuse first-time viewers. There's a fine line between catering to your fans and pandering to them, and that line has been crossed when you start alienating people who might otherwise have become fans. I'm not certain whether this is one of those instances, but I personally don't think it helps, and I hope it's not the beginning of a trend.
As before, opinions expressed herein are my own, and I don't claim to be an expert on anything spoken about below. If you disagree with anything I've written, or just want to discuss it further, feel free to comment and put your two cents in.
First, I should define my terms: what is "serial fiction," exactly? I would describe it as any fictional work, in any medium, that is published in installments rather than all at once. This covers things like television shows, radio dramas, episodic video games, comic books, comic strips, and to a lesser extent movies and books with multiple sequels. In fact, I would venture to say that most fictional works published today fall into this category in one way or another. And it's not hard to see why; publishing in short installments gives one's work greater exposure and makes it easier for people to start reading/watching/playing when they have a few minutes to kill--not to mention that it allows one to get more money out of customers over time.
But with the advantages of serial fiction come a unique set of problems. The tone and quality of the work may vary greatly from beginning to end, for one thing. The reasons for this are varied--the creators may be trying out new ideas and discarding ones that weren't working, people may enter or leave the project, there may be editorial mandates, or the creators' skill may simply be growing with practice. Whatever the reason, when the tone of a serial work is uneven, it's likely to remain uneven, because there will rarely be time or money to go back and edit past installments to make them match. (And such editing may not be desirable to begin with--witness the hue and cry over the "special editions" of the original Star Wars trilogy.)
Another difficulty is that, frequently, a serially-published work lacks a satisfying ending. Often, the story was begun with no specific ending in mind, and simply continues on until the funding and/or enthusiasm runs out, at which point the plot is either left hanging or capped off in a perfunctory fashion. Or, worse, the story was begun with a specific ending, but is made to continue on beyond that ending for the sake of more money--but that's another rant for another time.
The third difficulty is something that can be both a blessing and a curse, and that is the relationship between the creators and consumers of serial media. When a story is published serially, the audience can give feedback on the story before they hear the ending--sometimes, before the ending is even written. In the Internet age, that feedback is near instantaneous. This means that the audience of a given work can, and frequently does, influence how the story progresses.
Which brings us to My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Even if you're not a watcher of this newest TV version of Hasbro's My Little pony franchise, you probably have at least a passing familiarity with its fanbase. The show, which is ostensibly aimed at young girls, has attracted followers of all ages and genders, and particularly a significant demographic of adult men who refer to themselves as "bronies." A great deal can be, and has been, written about the gender dynamics of MLP:FiM's fanbase, and how that reflects upon gender dynamics in our society in general. But that's not what I'm here to talk about today.
No, I want to talk about this little pony.
[Source: mlp.wikia.com]
This walleyed pegasus first appeared in a crowd scene in the very first episode of MLP:FiM, "The Mare in the Moon." Whether her odd expression was an animator's private joke or just a glitch is unknown, but the fan community fell in love with her instantly, dubbing her "Derpy Hooves" and speculating on her backstory. Fans speculated that she was the town mail carrier, that she was a struggling single mom, that she had a strange obsession with muffins. Derpy Hooves was far from the only background pony to be given this treatment, but she was far and away the most popular. She became so popular, in fact, that the show's makers began deliberately including her in the background of a scene in each episode, as an Easter egg for those in the know.
In the episode "The Last Roundup," which aired on January 21, 2012, Derpy Hooves went from background character to supporting cast, getting a speaking role and being called by name by one of the main characters. And the fandom was immediately split.
You see, the name "Derpy" wasn't just pulled out of nowhere. It was an existing piece of Internet slang, initially pulled from the TV series South Park. The exact meaning depends on the context, but it generally implies extreme stupidity and can even connote retardation. [Source: Urban Dictionary] Fan interpretations of Derpy Hooves's "derpiness" have run the gamut from a full-blown mental disability to just a lazy eye. A minority of the fandom disliked even calling her "Derpy" because of the ableist implications of the word. Bearing this in mind, have a look at Miss Hooves's appearance in "The Last Roundup":
[Source: TheDerpiest on YouTube]
There are several things here that people have found objectionable:
- The pony's official name is "Derpy."
- Her speech is slurred and generally "dumb"-sounding.
- She's clumsy enough to cause serious damage to buildings and injure herself and others.
- A main character, Rainbow Dash, is insulting and belittling her for the above.
But the impact of this scene goes beyond just fans of the show, and that brings me to another aspect of serial fiction which is both a blessing and a curse: every installment of a serially published work is potentially someone's first exposure to it. Creators and publishers of serial fiction have to strike a careful balancing act between hooking in new viewers and keeping the existing ones, and tell a compelling story to both.
Every once in a while, I like to take an installment of a serially published work I'm reading--a single comic strip, a single episode of a TV show, what-have-you--and ask myself, How would someone react to this if they had never seen this series before? What would they think the overall story was about? Would it interest them enough to keep watching? Again, the Internet age has changed this quite a bit; it's frequently easier to find all existing installments (particularly if it was published online to begin with) and start from the beginning. However, that doesn't completely remove the first-timer effect, because a new viewer still has to be interested enough to go seek out those past installments. It's something of a cliché, but it's still true: first impressions matter.
So imagine that you had never seen My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic before, or heard of Derpy Hooves, and the first thing you saw was that clip (which, again, is near the beginning of the episode). The character you see, while not necessarily "special," is clearly not terribly bright, and she's being abused and belittled by another pony who she's trying to help. And instead of turning this into a lesson about being nice to others even if they're not very good at something, the story goes on to focus on other characters and Derpy is never mentioned again. Would you be inclined to keep watching this show, ostensibly meant to teach little girls about friendship and good behavior? If you heard that both of these characters were fan favorites, would you be inclined to look favorably upon the show's fanbase? My gut says "no," and that's the problem. The first impression given here is a bad one, and I suspect that it will alienate a lot of potential new viewers.
More than that, there's always the question of whether a show should be bringing in fan-created content--particularly this show, which is designed to sell toys to little girls but has a fandom of full-grown men. There are a lot of things in MLP fandom that are fairly popular, but in questionable taste. What about the portrayal of another background pony, Berry Punch, as the town drunk? Or "Molestia," an alter ego of Princess Celestia who sexually abuses her subjects? Or the infamous "Cupcakes" fanfic in which Pinkie Pie is portrayed as somewhere between Sweeney Todd and Leatherface? Just because the fanbase embraces an idea doesn't mean it's a good one, or appropriate for the source material.
Now, that's not to say that you should ignore the fans altogether. A dedicated fanbase is a good thing, bringing in money and publicity and general good feelings toward a series and its creators. Going against what the fans want is generally a good way too lose viewership. But catering to the fans shouldn't mean turning the show into a series of in-jokes that confuse first-time viewers. There's a fine line between catering to your fans and pandering to them, and that line has been crossed when you start alienating people who might otherwise have become fans. I'm not certain whether this is one of those instances, but I personally don't think it helps, and I hope it's not the beginning of a trend.
