#mylittlepony - #What do you think of the depth/shallowness of ponies' passions portrayed by the show?

What do you think of the depth/shallowness of ponies' passions portrayed by the show?

I've been wondering whether interests in reading/animals are kinda portrayed poorly/stereo typically while the passions for parties/dresses are portrayed with more depths.

Twilight's love of reading and Fluttershy's love of animals seems to be portrayed the most shallow.

Maybe I'm the exception since I was never obsessed with my grades, but I loved reading about things I was interested in growing up, and for me reading was not just knowledge for knowledge's sake. The things I learned helped me build new worlds and ideas in my head. Where with Twilight, I don't really get the deeper sense of why she loves books-books-books so much.

Meanwhile, Fluttershy comes off like she just finds all animals everywhere cute/beautiful/amazing on a very surface level.

Do you think their interests are portrayed so shallow because the writers don't really understand why someone would be that into reading or animals?

Pinkie and Rarity's passions are the best portrayed in the series, with whole musicals dedicated to the emotions that drive them. Rules of Rarity and the episode Canterlot Boutique is all about why she loves making dresses, the creative spirit and what happens when that spirit is squashed.

Between the show and fanfiction, the portrayals of Rarity's love of fashion has made me, someone who's hated fashion his whole life, see the subject with a new outlook, how fashion can actually be about self-expression and individuality and bringing out what's special about oneself rather than conformity to what's considered popular or the need to be "pretty".

Pinkie's Lament and the Smile song hammer in the larger purpose of her love of parties; making ponies smile and the former song is one of my favorite songs in the show.

On the one hand I want to commend the show for these songs and its portrayal of Pinkie and Rarity's passions.

On the other hand, I feel like the other ponies' passions deserve the same depth and celebration.

Perhaps they haven't received it because the other ponies' interests are not as focused on making others' smile, and this is a show about friendship. The other passions are not as social and involve ponies enjoying something for its own sake within their own limited context; winning races, farm and family, reading books, and making animal friends. The social boundaries are kind of limited.

But I still think the others' deserve their Pinkie's Lament or Rules of Rarity.

Fluttershy's So Many Wonders is the closest we get after those two and to me it's kind of an underwhelming season 1 song, lacking the emotional exploration of later songs.

Submitted June 01, 2017 at 10:20AM by Crocoshark
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