Month: October 2020

Bronies: The Extremely Unexpected Adult Fans of My Little Pony 7/10

Nick SheedyLeave a comment

TV-14, 90m, 2012

Directed by Laurent Malaquais. Produced by Anglie Brown, Morgan Peterson, Michael Brockhoff, Tara Strong, Lauren Faust and John de Lancie. Screenplay by Nat Segaloff. Music by David O., The Living Tombstone and Gabriel Brown.

            I was born in the mid-nineties, in the southern part of the United States. As a result, I’ve always had certain beliefs thrust onto me. One of these beliefs was that the show My Little Pony is for girls. As a kid, I never watched any of the previous three generations of My Little Pony, but I certainly knew girls who at some point or another loved the show. So, when the fourth generation of My Little Pony, or as it’s more commonly known as My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, was released the show flew completely under my radar. When I was in high school, and as I was just begining to get into fandoms such as the anime fandom, I heard of another fandom that confused me. The fandom was for the show My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, and a large number of the fans were guys. They called themselves bronies, or in some cases, a girl would refer to herself as a pegasister, and at first, I wasn’t sure what to think of it. I eventually decided to think to each their own and go about my business. I quite possibly would have never watched the show if it hadn’t had been for my then girlfriend at the time. Like me, she was a massive animation and anime fan and we used to have long talks about our favorite animated shows and movies. One show she kept insisting I watch was My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, but I still had my doubts about how good this show could possibly be. One day we were hanging out at her place, while her brother was there. She was flipping through the channels, and she put on My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, I jokingly replied “really?” to which she replied that it was one of her favorite shows and even her brother liked it. So, I relented and watched it with them, and I found myself enjoying the show. We watched a few episodes before I had to leave to go to a college class. Fast forward a few years, to when I was a Junior in college. I had not watched a single episode of the show since that day. I was bored and trying to familiarize myself with as many aspects of animation history as I possible could, because at the time I had aspirations of becoming an Animation Historian. Remembering the show, I justified watching it so I can learn what the fuss was truly all about and so I can have some insight in the show if I was to ever talk about the sociology of animation fandoms. Once again, I found myself enjoying the show, only this time I didn’t stop at one or two episodes. I watched all of the available seasons and I continued to watch the show until its completion in 2019. Admittedly I kept the information of me being a brony, a secret from most people, as I knew the social stigma. Naturally, my friends teased me a bit on occasion, but I didn’t care. I like what I like and that’s alright. 

            The documentary is split into several sections, primarily featuring the mid-2012 BronyCon, GalaCon, and B.U.C.K. conventions. The documentary introduces various segments that include original animation that offers a brief history of the previous My Little Pony generations, as well as key terms and artistic contributions that bronies have made to the fandom. Other segments feature interviews from the cast and crew of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, as well as interviews from bronies from all walks of life that explores how they got into the show and how it has had an impact on their lives.

            The documentary is certainly aware of the social stigma surrounding the brony fandom and it goes to great lengths to break the stereotype of the show being just for girls. The documentary features fans from various parts of the world, and they talk about how they go into the show as well as their experiences as a brony. At the beginning of the documentary several interviews of people who had never seen the show are shown and words such as creepy, flamboyant, pedo and weird are thrown around. It’s a fate of cruel irony that fans of a show, whose driving message is that of tolerance and friendship, receive a tremendous backlash with such venomous tenacity. It’s true that there are a few bad apples amongst the fandom, but to be fair every group or organization has a certain group of people that give the group a bad name, and the normal people of said group hate to be associated with the deviant group.  This documentary never explicitly mentions such deviant people, but the feelings of negativity towards bronies are featured at times. In the documentary Alex, who resides in North Carolina was harassed one night, because on his car had Princess Celestia and Princess Luna on his rear windshield. The hoodlums encircled the guy and brandished tire irons and baseball bats and proceeded to bash in his rear windshield. One guy went to his truck and came back with a rifle, that he waved around while telling Alex that he needs to “stop this little gay pony girly shit”. Fortunately, no harm came to Alex that night, but it did understandingly shake him up. I know that there will always be people who look down on people who have hobbies or interests that while harmless, are a deviation from the norm, and I actually pity these types of people a little bit. These people will miss out on some truly wonderful content as their close mindedness will prevent them from experiencing something great. I know plenty of people who view animation as a children’s medium, and as a result, I know they’re going to miss out on some of the best creative content that television and movies have to offer.

            While this documentary does feature some of the down sides of being a brony, the documentary also covers some of the more joyous and positive effects of the show. Through his watching the show and attending cons, Daniel, a man with the mental affliction of Asperger’s Syndrome, was able to truly come out of his shell and accomplish things that were previously thought to be impossible for him. He was able to do this by relating to certain characters, and by watching them deal with difficult situations, he was able to overcome obstacles in his own life. Multiple people featured in the documentary go into great detail about how much of a positive effect that the show has had in their life. I get this on an umber of levels. While there are certainly darker elements to the show, whenever I watch My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic I always get a happy feeling and I get more relaxed. The show especially helps me wind down if I’d been having a challenging day, or if I just need a bit more cheerfulness in my life. I find it rather beautiful that a show that tries to promote friendship has created friendships in the real world.

            Rewatching this documentary brought back some pleasant memories from the show, and I was left with a tingling sense of nostalgia, which I thought was a bit odd as it hadn’t been that long since I saw the show. This documentary is near perfect for fans and non-fans of the show. Fans will get to see people who enjoy the show take their love for the series and create some impressive content and in one case even find love through a fan meet-up. I highly recommend this documentary for those who are curious about the brony phenomenon, and I feel that this documentary as well as Saberspark’s The Brony Chronicles, perfectly encapsulates what people enjoy about the show.

Corpse Bride 7.5/10

Nick SheedyLeave a comment

PG, 77m, 2005

With the Voice Talents of Johnny Depp (Victor), Helena Bonham Carter (Emily), Emily Watson (Victoria), Tracey Ullman (Nell Van Dort and Hildegarde), Paul Whitehouse (William Van Dort, Mayhew and Paul the Head Waiter), Richard E. Grant (Barkis Bittern), Joanna Lumley (Maudeline Everglot), Albert Finney (Finis Everglot and Grandfather Everglot), Christopher Lee (Pastor Galswells), Enn Reitel (Maggot and the Town Crier) and Michael Gough (Elder Gutknecht). Directed by Tim Burton and Mike Johnson. Produced by Tim Burton and Allison Abbate. Screenplay by John August, Caroline Thompson and Pamela Pettler. Music by Danny Elfman.

            Corpse Bride marks the first stop-motion animated directed by Tim Burton. Many may find this confusing as The Nightmare Before Christmas is often called Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas. While The Nightmare Before Christmas may sport his name, the film was actually directed by Henry Selick, who would go on to direct James and the Giant Peach and Monkeybone. This raises the question; can Tim Burton direct a stop-motion animated film without the help of Henry Selick? In this reviewer’s opinion, the answer is yes.

            The film opens with two families, the Van Dorts (Paul Whitehouse and Tracey Ullman) and the Everglots (Joanna Lumley and Albert Finney), singing about the upcoming marriage of their children. The families have similar reasons for the marriage but view the union with opposing views. The Van Dorts view the marriage as a way for their son Victor (Johnny Depp), as well as themselves, to climb the social ladder and join the high society of Victorian England. The Everglots on the other hand, view the marriage with disgust, and see it as an embarrassment that they have to marry their daughter Victoria (Emily Watson) off to a newly wealthy family to avoid being poor. Fortunately for the bride and groom to be, the two hit it off quite nicely, and it seems that they may actually be able to live happily with one another. Unfortunately, Victor’s nervousness causes the rehearsal ceremony to go awry, by fumbling over his wedding vows and accidentally lighting Mrs. Everglot’s dress on fire. Disgraced, Victor rushes off to practice his lines alone. While practicing his vows, Victor places a ring on a seemingly dead branch. The dead branch is revealed to belong to the Emily (Helena Bonham Carter), who is a bride that was tragically killed just prior to getting married. Emily takes Victor to the Land of the Dead, while Victoria’s parents contemplate the notion of having Victoria marry the charming Lord Barkis (Richard E. Grant). Meanwhile in the Land of the Dead, Victor has begun to develop feelings for Emily, but a catch is revealed. Two people are married, until deaths does them part, and in the case of Emily and Victor, death has already done just that. Now Victor must choose between a life with Victoria or an undead life with Emily.

            While a number of Burton’s films may be lacking in the story and character department, the costume and set design are almost always the highlight of his films. I was a bit disappointed with the artistic design of Corpse Bride. While I did find it a brilliant choice to feature the Land of the Living set in Victorian England in a drab matter, with the color palette consisting of grays and muted colors. I found the Land of the Dead to be a bit underwhelming. Sure, the Land of the Dead does have its moments, and it does look visually pleasing with bright vivid colors and interesting character designs. But the design of the Land of the Dead doesn’t look as interesting as the Netherworld from the Beetlejuice. I like how in Beetlejuice the dead characters had a very distinct look, that hinted at how they died. In Corpse Bride, the dead don’t look all that impressive, with many of the characters designed as skeletons. Granted the film does have some interesting characters in the Land of the Dead such as Paul the Head Waiter (Paul Whitehouse), who is literally a severed head atop of an insect. This is an interesting idea as well as a comical gag and I wish that more characters had been designed with as much creativity.

            As a medium, stop-motion animation is one of the most difficult and tedious to pull off. For every one second that passes in a stop-motion animated film, twenty-four frames are needed to make it look believable. Corpse Bride pull this off swimmingly. The character’s movement are very fluid and look very natural unless the scene calls for the movement to appear unnatural.

            The characters in this film are a mixed bag. Some of the characters such as the villain, Lord Barkin are bland and forgettable. The villain’s motive is your standard greedy villain. We’ve seen this a million times, and nothing is added to the villain to make him stand out as a character. The parents of Victor and Victoria are equally bland and forgettable as both sets of parents just seek to enrich themselves and rise up in society. While I like the character of Emily, I feel there was a missed opportunity here. The film very wisely avoids portraying Emily a a horrific character that just wants a husband, she’s complex and has her own interests. It’s revealed early on in the film that she was murdered by an unnamed assailant, who was going to marry her. This could have led to some interesting scenes involving Emily coming to terms with what happened to her and having different problems and insecurities other than being dead. Victor is a little bland and comes off as an indecisive wimp throughout most of the film. The side characters such as the black widow spider and Maggot are interesting enough and they give Emily someone to talk to in order to express her inner feelings.

            The relationship between Emily and Victor works just as well as the relationship between Victor and Victoria. Victor and Victoria are initially pushed into a relationship by their parents. Both Victor and Victoria have rather timid personalities with certain personality quirks. There’s a very nice scene at the beginning of the film where Victor and Victoria first meet. Victor feeling alone, plays Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata”. This attracts the attention of Victoria who is delighted by Victor’s playing. The two hit it off as both hold certain views that are contrasting to their parents. Despite her parents living in a loveless marriage, Victoria longs for a husband she can live happily with in loving bliss. She finds this in Victor, who treats her kindly and shows her guanine loving attention. With Emily and Victor, their relationship starts with Emily literally dragging Victor to the Land of the Dead. At first Victor is horrified at the prospect of being married to a corpse. Emily is shown to be very patient and caring towards Victor, even going as far as to reunite Victor with his childhood dog, Scraps. This could have easily made Victor seem like a massive jerk for spurning Emily and even lying to her in order to try and reunite with Victoria. As the film progresses, Victor starts to take a shining to Emily and even has a piano duet with her, mirroring the first meeting of Victoria and Victor. Emily even helps Victor to be more self-confident and more assertive, as evident through Victor’s behavior later on in the film. This makes things all the more tragic because the audience knows that Victor is going to end up with one girl, leaving the other without a husband. This wouldn’t be as tragic if either female character had several close friends to help her through getting rejected. Thankfully, the film was able to remedy this problem in a satisfactory, yet tragic way.

            Like most of his scores, Danny Elfman once again knocks it out of the park with this film. Released during a time when animated films were recycling pop songs into their soundtracks for no real purpose other than for marketability reasons, Corpse Bride offers audiences a refreshingly dark, yet whimsical original score.

            While Corpse Bride lacks the charm of The Nightmare Before Christmas, Corpse Bride still delivers on an interesting premise and stellar animation. Some may find my criticisms of the film to be a bit harsh, but I assure you that I actually like this film. While I don’t consider this film to be the best animated film of 2005, I find it vastly superior to films like Chicken Little, Hoodwinked! and Valiant.