Analyzing Lessons - Why the lessons might've benefited from all the Mane 6 writing letters from the beginning
Last week I wrote the first post in a series I'll be doing on the friendship lessons from the show, analyzing them, discussing themes, etc.
This week we move on the first three episodes of the show following the pilot . . . and out of the gate I think the things the characters learned and the episode's stated lesson are kind of separate. As well as situational. Before I get to that though, I'll analyze each of the stated lessons on their own terms.
"I've learned that one of the joys of friendship is sharing your blessings. But when there's not enough blessings to go around, having more than your friends can make you feel pretty awful."
Lessons behind the lesson: I feel like the lesson here could be phrased various ways, either something like "Don't force yourself into a choice that will only make you feel guilty." or something more controversial like "Give up anything you can't share equally with your friends; never choose favorites."
Or maybe it's just "Having to pick friends and giving them something to fight over creates conflict and unhappiness."
Who really learned the lesson: In Lesson Zero, the third episode of season 2, the learning of lessons is transferred to the entire mane 6 and this episode, the third of season one, is proof that this format should've begun much earlier.
The lesson that Twilight wrote down in the journal is not the lesson learned at the end of the episode. In truth, she learned that lesson halfway through the episode. She never expressed a conceit not having enough blessings to go around didn't suck so I'm not sure the stated lesson represents any personal growth.
The real self-reflection happened in the rest of the mane 6, when Twilight gave up trying to choose (I guess that was her growth?) and her friends observed her emotions and realized they were causing her stress.
But let's stick with the show's stated lesson:
How is this lesson taught: This is one of our first glimpses into showing how MLP, and many other media, teaches a lesson. This series may open up a few discussions of ethics and morality, but the show itself actually has contains very few moral statements. Twilight doesn't learn anything is right or wrong in this episode, she learns that something feels bad.
Most episodes lessons are phrased as life advice or wisdom (You should take time to do things the right way, etc.) The word "wrong" only appears in a moralistic sense in Top Bolt "lying to your friends is wrong". Though there are a few "oughttas" and "should/shouldn't"s sprinkled throughout the other lessons.
This episode is an example of stating a feeling like it's a truth. "This feels bad". Another example is Rarity Takes Manehattan, where Rarity ends with saying "Nothing feels worse than taking advantage of the giving nature of your friends."
And that brings us to.
Real life applicability: I've never had to choose friends before, but I think Twilight's situation is kind of unique in that she's been equally helped by five other people in one night, and hasn't had time to grow close to any particular one. I imagine there are a lot of people in real life who do have friends they're closer to, and the rest of their circle of friends would have no problem with someone having one best friend they're most likely to share tickets with.
The next episode's lesson, I think, is also very situational.
"So while friendship is about giving of ourselves to friends, it's also about accepting what our friends have to offer."
Who learned what?: Like Ticket Master, I question whether the learned moral and the stated moral is really the same. Is giving up on harvesting an orchard by yourself and accepting help really the same as learning or changing your mind about what friendship is about? In other words, the episode is saying friendship is about accepting help . . . because AJ failed to harvest the orchard? I'm trying to imagine what an alternate episode would look like that examined more directly the impact on a friendship of not accepting help, rather than of biting off more than you can chew.
Real life applicability: I've posted these words here before but, it's funny how easily this episode could've ended with Applejack having a correct estimation of how large her farm is and being right when she said she was all done. It was only that last scene where Big Mac pointed out a whole 'nother orchard that she finally agreed to accept help.
The Grander Theme: But the moral as stated isn't really about whether Applejack could've done it herself, and her pushing herself had already caused harm by that point anyway, so my point is mute. The moral is similar to that of the pilot; "accept the help of others", except in this episode Applejack puts up a fight, whereas Twilight begrudgingly accepts help and is repeatedly impressed by how helpful her friends' help actually is.
Magic Duel is another episode where the lesson is using the help of others out of an inability to succeed alone, although Twilight didn't quite share Applejack's stubbornness.
I know this post is already a bit long, but let's get to the third episode;
- "Though it's impossible to control who your friends hang out with, it is possible to control your own behavior. Just continue to be a good friend. In the end, the difference between a false friend and one who's true will surely come to light."*
Who learned what?: This moral is interesting in that it's not a conclusion that comes about from a change of mind; nopony grapples with the wrong approach to this situation before being set right. Twilight just observes Pinkie Pie's response to Gilda, and decides Pinkie handled it swimmingly.
The issue Twilight actually grappled with; of misjudging Pinkie before realizing Pinkie was right, is not addressed at all by the moral.
Real life applicability: Because the moral isn't grappled with in the episode, it's hard to say what exactly is being warned against. What kind of "control" does it refer to when nopony tried to control who Rainbow Dash hung out with?
It's easy to imagine a situation where not interfering at all with who someone hangs out with has a negative consequence; if someone's in a toxic relationship and you don't really try to get them out of it.
But at the same time, I think it has a point. In many cases, someone won't even believe you when you tell them the person they hang out with is terrible (Actually, Pinkie experienced just that, so I guess in a way the issue was addressed). Often the best thing you can do is to continue to show the person what true friendship is so they always have true support available if they need it.
Trying to be friends with the toxic person can also serve to show your friend the person's true colors in how they treat you, as so happened with Gilda.
Because relationships are so personal, people will often not listen to people telling them who they should and shouldn't be friends with (actually, telling others who to be friends with is usually a sign of being the controlling one).
The grander theme: That said, this episode's moral and approach is kind of contradicted in The Mane Attraction, where when Applejack realizes Svengallop is abusing her friend she takes more direct action than "just being a good friend". Likely, because that was an abuser situation.
So I guess I'm reading too much into the episode by comparing it to people in toxic relationships. I guess this episode is about people who are mostly nice to your friend, but jerks to you and everyone else.
Similar morals to this one are No Second Prances in which Twilight learns not to control Starlight's friendship with Trixie, and a sort of inverse in Hearts and Hooves Day which is about ponies (the CMC) learning about not forcing ponies together rather than about wanting ponies to be apart.
Thanks for reading all that. The next installment will probably just cover one or two episodes, since the next two episodes each cover what I think are two of the biggest themes within the show.
Submitted May 02, 2019 at 07:04AM by Crocoshark
via reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/mylittlepony/comments/bjupdt/analyzing_lessons_why_the_lessons_mightve/?utm_source=ifttt
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