If you are like most people, you probably find this odd. We are grown adults gladly and proudly watching a show meant for families with small children, (who are probably girls), of which we have none. And we don't love it the same way we love cartoons we watched as kids either, which is mostly out of nostalgia. We first saw this as adults, and we love it as adults. And we're not the only ones; the whole brony phenomenon is proof of that. But this is still weird. Even we acknowledge it as weird. But I think that someday, it will be not-so-weird. Because I believe that adults should watch more kids' shows, and doing so should be perfectly socially acceptable.
Ask yourself this: What are the kinds of shows that adults usually watch? TV dramas or comedies of various kinds, most of which deal with very real, often very harsh issues. Even your run-of-the-mill crime show makes references and whole episodes about sex, drugs, and various groups and subgroups of people that are really not very nice. One of the biggest and most respected adult dramas right now is Breaking Bad, a show about a man who starts making meth to provide for his family. Comedies, though light-hearted, are hardly different. Adult comedies seemingly can't exist these days without sex jokes, and how many TV and movie comedies have a "stoner" character or two thrown in there? This is what we watch; what we follow; what we become engrossed with. Think about how that could affect a person. It's certainly not stuff we want kids watching until they're old enough to understand from us having talked to them about such topics first.
Now, this isn't to say that these shows are bad, even for adults. They're pretty damn awesome and entertaining, even the terrible ones, (and I mean terrible here as in off-beat in a very serious way, not necessarily literally bad). One of my favorite shows is Archer, an adult cartoon comedy with about the raunchiest, vulgar sense of humor you can possibly find on television. It is most certainly not for the faint of heart. But just think about how much these things surround us. Even though most of us are not cancer patients with meth labs, there are real-world issues presented in these shows that we identify with, and that's great. It's just that sometimes, because we're so worried about not only our own problems but the problems of our fictional friends as well, we forget about stuff. We forget about the small things in life. We forget the lessons that kids shows taught us decades ago. And that's why we should watch them now, as adults, on our own, on purpose.
To the surprise of no one, Clinton and I spend a pretty good amount of time on the internet, and a few years ago, the sites we frequented were exploding with My Little Pony posts. And we reacted like everyone did: ...what? Ponies. My Little Pony. Those stupid little toys that have existed longer than I've been alive. The silly cartoons that existed solely to sell said toys. EVERYWHERE. ALL THE TIME. We slowly became familiar with the concept of Bronies over this time period, but were still super skeptical. Sure, there are teens and young adults who still like cartoons to some degree, (ourselves included), but seriously?
But one fateful day, we finally said "to hell with it", and brought up that first episode on YouTube...
..
Ughhhhhhhh.....
We groaned. It was cheesy. Why did everyone like this so much? But we stuck it out. And eventually this dude came up, and I couldn't stop laughing.
I don't know when Clinton's official love of the show cemented, but I would assume around the same time, (I tried to find this whole scene, but couldn't. YouTube has failed me...). So I kept watching the episode, and it got to the final big showdown with Nightmare Moon, which was admittedly cheesier than the opening. But this time, I didn't groan. I actually didn't mind the cheese. Because the cheesy kids' show was suddenly pointing out important things.
To summarize the ending of the pilot episodes, the Mane Six, (Mane. Instead of Main. Mane. Like a horse's hair. Get it? Har har, internet), defeat Nightmare Moon after utilizing the Elements of Harmony, which they realize they harbor inside themselves the whole time. Jesus, even that short description sounds terrible, doesn't it? But here's the thing...The Elements of Harmony are as follows: Honesty, Kindness, Generosity, Laughter, and Loyalty, which when combined together bring out a sixth element; Magic. Replace the word "Harmony" with "Friendship" and you can see where the show gets its name. Obviously, being honest, kind, generous, loyal, and remembering to laugh are important things to teach kids, but I found myself realizing then, as Princess Celestia showed up and summarized the importance of everything that had just happened, that I sometimes forget to be and to do those things myself, even though shows similar to this one told me to do so twenty years ago. In my adult life, I sometimes get so caught up in everything that some of that stuff falls by the wayside, and I am very willing to bet that this is the case for most, if not all, adults. The remembering to laugh part, especially. Digesting these ideas is easy as a kid, because the show is telling you to do so almost verbatim, and what else do you have to do? Poop? A little bit of homework? Sure, whatever, that's easy. But as an adult, we have so many more responsibilities than we had as kids. We have bills, we have debts, we have houses or apartments, we have jobs, we may have a spouse, significant other, or even child to worry about. We therefore end up viewing kids' shows as a chore; yeah, yeah, we know this crap already. But think about it: do we? Do we really? We know it, it's in our brains somewhere, but are we truly conscious of it? Or are most of us like me, and only start to realize how much better I could make life for myself and others, (with just a little effort), because a kids' show reminded me of things I had forgotten?
And the real-life lessons for adults don't stop at episodes one and two of this show. Almost every single episode has something in it that has struck a chord with me, some more than others. Here's a random sampling of ones that hit me pretty hard.
You can't always make other people happy. If you try to please everyone, you end up pleasing no one, least of all yourself. (S1E3 and S1E14). Relevant to adults in the workplace and at home. Decisions have to be made, and yes, they may upset people, but that's part of life. This happens to me at work a lot; I try to be the "nice" supervisor that everyone will love, but sometimes, you just can't do that.
Listen to what everyone has to say, even if it seems stupid or nonsensical. (S1E10). You owe it, especially as grown-ups, to listen to everyone's point of view and everyone's opinion of something. You don't have to agree or disagree, but what they have to say may end up being really important, and if you just dismiss it without giving them a chance to explain themselves, it's your loss. Not to mention it implies a lack of respect for the person speaking, and most people deserve basic respect.
Never be afraid to ask for help. (S1E4). It's not a sign of weakness, it's a sign of wisdom and a self-awareness of your own abilities and limitations, things we as adults are expected to have. And yet, I almost feel this one applies more to adults than kids, as it seems the older you get, the more embarrassing asking for help becomes.
Friendships, and relationships of all sorts, are hard and you will, at some point, have to fight for them. (S2E1 & 2, and the movie Equestria Girls, to some degree). Nothing in life is easy. We almost expect friendships to be one constant in our lives that we don't have to worry about, since we have so many other things to worry about, but it isn't always. (An alternate lesson for these episodes is that John de Lancie is freaking awesome, but that's a given).
Not everything in the world has to be about accomplishing a specific goal. (S3E8). This, I think, is the most obviously for adults lesson I've found in the show. Kids already inherently know this; that's what playing is for. Adults forget to play. We forget to enjoy simple things like company and family and talking to each other. We forget to breathe. We forget a lot of things.
For the love of God, don't forget to smile! And laugh! And be a person who makes others smile and laugh, too! (S2E18). Though not the primary "lesson" of the episode, this is the main thing I personally get out it, thanks to this song:
Though it's long and doesn't escape the kids' show cheese, my face actually hurt after I watched this episode for the first time, because I was smiling so hard after hearing this song. It's a beautiful and wonderful song, and haters gonna hate all the same, but you know what? Doesn't matter. Smile. Your smile makes someone else's day. Their smile makes your day. On your sad days, reach out. Call a friend, tell them you're having a rough day, and be that person for them on their bad days. It's kind of stupid how much a smile or a chuckle can turn a day around, but it does. So c'mon everypony, smile, smile, smile!
All of these are things I was reminded of when watching this show. And it's one thing for someone like me to just sit here and tell you all these lessons, but it's quite another to be watching them happen to fictional characters that you find yourself starting to relate to. It's the same draw from our adult shows we watch; we identify with stuff and start to care more about it, but in the case of MLP and other kids' shows, it's happy things that we're identifying with. It's good things. Not the struggles and the problems of characters on a CBS drama, but the lives and the joy of colorful ponies in a magical land. With catchy-ass songs and good writing, to boot.
This show has affected both Clinton and myself more than we could have ever expected from any work of fiction, and it's a kids' show! It makes us smile. It makes our worries seem less...well, worrisome. Watching these six rainbow-colored friends honestly makes life better for us.
So take a step back from adult life every once in awhile. Put your Netflix account on the kids setting and watch something. Be reminded of the things that are important in life, and breathe a little more. Remember those same lessons you learned as a kid, being presented to you again in a more stressful time of your life where they take on so much more weight and importance and meaning. You have the life experience now to know what these lessons were really all about in the first place, so absorb them. And most importantly, have fun.
Brohoof! /)(\
(Disclaimer: There are obviously exceptions to the kids' show thing. You gotta find something like Ponies that's aimed at the younger kids. When you start getting into stuff that's more meant for 10-year-olds and preteens, you risk running into mindless dribble that may be entertaining, but won't have the same value.)
No comments:
Post a Comment