#mylittlepony - #Do the writers not know how to be positive?

Do the writers not know how to be positive?

There's something that's been bugging me for a long time, I just couldn't put it into words. That is until I saw the episode about the trivia game and Spike drops this line:

Do I have to do that thing where I list all your successes as Princess of Friendship to put things into perspective...

Multiple times have they pulled that previously, where they start listing accomplishments of a character as an attempt to cheer them up, as if they were pigeons and suddenly forgot.

As a method for motivation, this is total bogus.

Validation is a big part of support. I'd wager to say that it's the main thing. Making the person know, that they're not wrong in feeling that way, that it's perfectly understandable. "Putting things into perspective" only invalidates their feelings, most likely making them feel even worse in the process. Because now they not only have whatever problem they were previously having, they also have to worry about feeling stupid.

The girls straight up make fun of Twilight for being worried about ruling a country.

"Oh she's tWiLiGhTiNg! Let's tell her how stupid she is being, that'll get her confidence back!"

That's when I realized, that this is part of what's been bugging me. I always liked the show for how positive, but not stupid it was. That it had a good vs evil narrative, but wasn't bland and generic with it. It had a positive message, but also recognized that perfect positivity doesn't exist and things will be hard and that sometimes you have to do something negative, to truly get a positive impact.

Now it seems a bit more mean-spirited in some way and the positive bits seem all that more vapid and shallow.

I could probably go on and analyze recent redemption arcs and how they fit into this change in the overall feel. Or how lessons are being handled, or how the elements of the harmony have been treated. Even the comedy seems to have went from self-aware, but still cute, to straight-up self-parody and even just genuinely mean in some cases. Or how the meaner attitude may contribute to the bad guys ending up as more engaging and entertaining characters.

That would take ages though and I still haven't put a firm finger on the subject. But I definitely noticed a change in how characters try to motivate each-other.

I now realize that I mostly have just been rambling, but I do wanna talk about it.

So I must ask: Has anyone noticed this sort of change in attitude as well? Am I finding the right thing in the right spot?

In what other ways have the show's overall mood changed?

Submitted August 29, 2019 at 11:45AM by JesterOfDestiny
via reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/mylittlepony/comments/cx48z4/do_the_writers_not_know_how_to_be_positive/?utm_source=ifttt