For the record, I don’t personally think the Star Wars ref was “painfully” blatant. I’ve seen Star Wars dozens of times, and it still took me until the sidelong glances between Spike and Twilight to actually pick up on what was going on. After that I thought it was hilarious and rather brilliant… and to be honest, I still didn’t realize that it was actually a* shot-for-shot* recreation of the Star Wars scene until I saw the Youtube video.
IMO, the scene fits nicely into the story, so it’s not really pandering. Or, at least, I don’t consider it a shoehorned-in pop culture reference like the kind that pollute Dreamworks movies or Family Guy episodes. It isn’t there just to be like, “HEY GUYS REMEMBER THIS POP CULTURE THING? NOW LAUGH.” It’s a well-executed bit of referential humor that simultaneously advances the plot of the story in a meaningful fashion - more Pixar than Dreamworks (like the rest of the show).
It just seemed awkward to me because of the lingering, contrived shots on Applejack and Spike. To me, at least, it screamed, “We’re trying to make this look like Star Wars! Get it? Eh? Do ya?”
It certainly wasn’t terrible and it clearly worked for other people, so different strokes and all that. I do find the notion of defeating a villain based on a Star Trek character and having a celebration based on a Star Wars scene to be hilarious, though.
What do you guys think of the moral of “Feeling Pinkie Keen”? A lot of people see it as Twilight giving up her rational skepticism for blind faith, which gives the episode an anti-intellectual moral. I got the feeling that Twilight was a bit of a Flat Earth Atheist in this ep, meaning she was holding on to skepticism a little too tightly and denying what was in front of her eyes. As she says at the end, just because there’s not an immediate explanation for a phenomenon, doesn’t mean it’s not true.
Based on things that Lauren Faust has said about the episode, I think the intention was for the moral to be that things which we don’t yet understand can nonetheless be true, and that it’s thus important to maintain an open mind. Unfortunately, the story and dialogue didn’t communicate this effectively - instead, by having Twilight first attempt to “solve” the problem using “science,” and then ultimately having her give up and just “believe” it, the episode seems to be condoning blind faith, rather than [rational] acceptance of a limited, subjective POV.
Here’s specifically what Lauren wrote after hearing about the controversy (compiled from several different DeviantArt posts):
True, but I think most people had trouble with the wording of the Aesop:
The two big things for me are:
“you just can’t explain” - That can mean an individual is incapable of providing an explanation, but it could just as easily mean an explanation is incapable of being provided period. That rankles when Twilight’s experimentation was shown to be less than thorough.
“you have to choose to believe in them” - First off, you don’t have to believe; as you say, DigitalC, we see the phenomenon occurring. There is empirical correlation between twitches and events. It happens, regardless of belief. Second, why do I have to choose to believe? Can’t I choose not to? Isn’t that what choice means?
It’s clear that the intended message was “just because we don’t have evidence/an explanation now doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist,” but it really comes off as a “science can’t explain everything, so if a friend tells you about woo you should believe it,” which is a harmful message that goes against the notion of critical thinking.
People listen to the letters? I don’t think I’ve heard a single one I didn’t think was schlocky claptrap. The message I took away from Feeling Pinkie Keen is when observational data fucks with your scientfic model, it’s time to reassess and clinging to the model because OMG it’s the model is a poor way to learn about the world. But then you probably knew that already.
Given that they’re meant to sum up what happened in the episode and provide the educational part of educational entertainment, I think it’s reasonable for adults to be concerned about what kids might take away from the show. Obviously we adults know what the show was intending to convey, which is why we’re grouching about the Aesop.
Though I’m sure there are anti-theists out there who are upset at an even vaguely pro-religion message; I just care that the episode comes off like Twilight was in the wrong for being skeptical and experimenting/thinking critically in the first place.
I think the guy responsible needs to stop writing FIM episodes. Both “Feeling Pinkie Keen” and “Over A Barrel” had these “what were you thinking?!” moments.
In “Feeling Pinkie Keen”, the moral should have been a pro-science aesop: if what you thought you knew is at odds with the evidence, consider the possibility that what you thought you knew is wrong.
No new ponies today, just when I was getting used to new episodes on Saturday.
Just found out about Bronytoons, a fan studio making animated shorts. Here’s their first release, Luna’s Lament.
Do the earth ponies have any advantage over the others? Unicorns can do magic and Pegasi can fly and walk on clouds. Looks to me like earth ponies will eventually become second class citizens in an apartheid state.
There’s also a less insidious alternative I made up just now.
Earth ponies are the Worker Caste. Talented, steadfast, productive.
Pegasi are the Warrior Caste (or Weather Caste). They tend to be pretty preoccupied with the fact that they can fly and do little but, much as warriors do little but train for war. And Rainbow Dash isn’t the only one with a brash nature, which makes me think that if there’s ever fighting to be done pegasi would be at the forefront.
Unicorns are the Aristocrat/Nobility/Mage Caste. Management, supervision, decision-making, some of which have the potential to fill the Colonel Badass trope.
Caste systems have been abused by humans, but in a species with significant polymorphism and a more general sense of good will like the ponies, it doesn’t seem like it would be that oppressive of a society.
(Stealing liberally from the Canim in Codex Alera, which has Maker, Warrior, and Ritualist castes.)
