Twilight Sparkle was a cynic. So today I'm going to dive headfirst into an issue at the core of FiM from its very first episode: The nature of Twilight Sparkle, and why she worked as a character.
Before I go on, I'd like to make clear that most of what I write here is a version of another analysis I read, summarized and compacted into reasonable reading length with a little bit of my own extension and building on it. I heavily suggest either listening to or reading the entire thing (youtube here, text version here ). All original credit to JawJoe for his work!
Twilight Sparkle was a cynic.
"That's impossible! Cynics are rude, abrasive, nasty people who think everything is going to come to a bad end. Twilight wasn't like that at all!
But no. That's not what cynicism means. Cynicism means you don't take things - especially people - at face value. Cynicism means Twilight Sparkle viewed the world through an almost adult-like lens. She questioned things. She was the one who very often attempted to tear apart plans, called out the most outrageous things to happen, attempted to dig down and uncover the core reasons for things happening because they sure as hell weren't happening for the reasons given at first.
Hell, she even questioned her beloved mentor Celestia: The one pony who Twilight is apprehensive, even fearful of at the beginning, yet Twilight had no qualms about pushing her muzzle in and going "but wait, why?" More than books, more than being asocial, more than snarky, more than anything else, this was at the core of Twilight Sparkle's character. She liked learning from books because they were objective in the information they provided, she was snarky because so many ponies weren't upfront with her, she questioned because that's how you got to the truth.
And beyond even the character itself, this was a core factor in the original appeal of the show itself. FiM was a show that dared to mix cynicism with optimism. Sometimes cynicism provided important lessons - unbridled (hurr hurr horse pun) optimism could lead you into disaster. Being realistic was important. When Trixie flees the Ursa disaster, it's Twilight who said no, don't chase her - she needs to learn to be better own her own. This is an excellent balance of cynicism ("we cannot teach her to be better just by being nice") and optimism ("but maybe she will learn on her own").
Even more interestingly, there was an unbridled optimist on the show. Her name was Pinkie Pie. Pinkie was the stereotypical bubbly girls-show character: A friend to everyone, always optimistic, always happy... and let's face it, more than a little annoying at times. Yet the show took this in stride, and at times as much called out her excessively exuberant personality.
You might have noticed I'm writing in the past tense.
That's because Twilight Sparkle is no longer a cynic. Unlike the source essay, I don't think we can really identify a specific point at which it changed. It's been a slow slide. Certainly there are several illustrative times we can point at, but never a single turning point at.
The results, though, are clear: It is Twilight who has become the pseudo-Pinkie: Always helpful, always willing and ready to teach "friendship", always believing the most positive outcome will happen. And I honestly think this - more than the books, more than the snarkiness - is what's gone missing from her character. This is why she worked. And it's why she's been drifting as a character for so long now: Twilight's role was to enable lessons to be taught by tearing down the typical tropes of young-girls storytelling.
There is some argument made - accurately - that Twilight was to take Celestia's role as mentor and teacher. And the thing is, that's not a bad thing - because Celestia was also a deeply cynical character, playing manipulator in any number of episodes. Celestia was the one who banished her sister for a millennium because it was the best of all possible options. Celestia knew that sometimes you have to do difficult things be cynical to get a lesson through.
FiM no longer has a cynical character. Starlight Glimmer - the sometimes-snarky, pseudo-Twilight, student replacement - is not a cynic. She was once, and for that crime was cast as a villain - the show lecturing us that cynicism inevitably leads to despotism and then apocalypse. Because cynicism is no longer allowed; optimism is the rule of the day. Everything will work out, everything will be fine, all separated old friends will happily reunite, all antagonists will become friends.
Look at a character like Stygian or Starlight in comparison to Trixie or Luna. The former are taught friendship in a moment, optimistically become just... better, because they were told so by a friendly face. The latter run off to learn lessons on their own (in Trixie's case) or is left diminished and insecure (Luna's case).
Turbo-tl;dr:
-
Twilight Sparkle was a cynic.
-
The show often reflected that cynicism, balancing it against other characters' optimism for a daring mix that told realistic lessons without being too dark.
-
At some point Twilight Sparkle lost that cynicism, becoming a blind optimist.
-
The show has shifted as well, with optimism becoming enforced and having no cynical character or themes to carry the balance.
Discuss.
What are your thoughts on this? Did the cynicism - or lack thereof - affect your enjoyment of the show? Was this really a critical character component?
Submitted March 08, 2018 at 10:15AM by Logarithmicon
via reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/mylittlepony/comments/82z57x/twilight_sparkle_was_a_cynic/?utm_source=ifttt
