Simple Ways is a really interesting MLP episode for me,
because I didn’t have much of an idea of what to expect from it going in, and
didn’t think it would hit me hard, but looking at it now, wow did it surprise me
and hit me hard. All I knew beforehand was that it would be an episode about
relationships, something the show has stayed away from for the most part, and
something I think many fans preferred to stay that way. So when I heard there
would be an episode about not just relationships and crushes, but with a bit of
a love triangle, I must admit, I was a little scared and uncertain, not knowing
what to expect. But the more I thought about this episode, and what it did with
its themes and morals, the more I found myself falling head over heels in love
with this episode, and for this analysis, I shall explain why, and speak of
the conclusions I reached.
When I watched Simple Ways, the biggest thing that hit me
about this episode was……how lightly it treated relationships. Before this
episode aired I looked around the brony community and was seeing all this
worry, all this great panic and uncertainty, all this doubt and wonder if this
would be a terrible thing, and all I could see was that, this was a really big
deal to people. Relationships are often very important to us, so it made sense
that people would be pretty emotional about this one. And I think from that, I
was expecting MLP to be like other romantic stories I’ve seen, ones where the
relationship is a big deal, where it’s the character’s whole life, and where
characters go through so much to be with the one they love and make it to that
happy ending with them. And I couldn’t help but notice that…….Simple Ways was
nothing like that, was it?
In Simple Ways, the crush of Rarity on Trenderhoof and Trenderhoof
on Applejack was treated so much more lightly then I was expecting. There was
no great gasp or shock at Rarity having a pony she fawns over, nothing made
Rarity’s crush seem like a huge deal and a big thing to anyone other than her,
it was treated as if it was something she always has, something everyone has,
and above all, something that is perfectly normal and nothing to make a great deal
out of, and I…..really really liked this.
One thing I thought a lot about this episode before going in
was, what the moral was going to be. Now that they’re tackling the big serious
relationships in the show, what sort of grand epic powerful moral will they tell
us all on this great subject? And then when I saw the moral…….I saw that, the
moral wasn’t anything special at all. Not like well, not that it wasn’t
special, I wasn’t trying to say that, please don’t think that I’m so sorry, it
was special it was, don’t get me wrong. Random emotional paranoia aside, the
moral was special, but like, the moral itself was one you could so easily give
to that of friends, and wasn’t something that was exclusive to relationships.
After all, many times friends feel they must change themselves a lot to stay
friends with someone, and can get too involved with a friends life despite just
being friends.
The lack of a big emphasis on relationships has really made
me think a lot about how MLP sees relationships. The way the moral is similar
to that we’ve seen applied to friendships many many times (Call of the Cutie,
Read It And Weep, episodes about staying true to yourself despite hard
conditions or really wanting to change for others, etc.), the way no pony
treats the crushes as if they are a big deal, I feel like a core theme of the
episode as a result of all this, is that well, relationships are seen as
friendships, just with some twists on them here and there.
And you know what? I love that. That is awesome, and I think
that is how I see relationships too. They’re not this super special thing
society likes to make out as some sort of grand goal of life to be happy and
loved, they’re just a different kind of friendship, one that consists of some
great attraction sometimes, and nothing more.
And here is once again the magic of MLP, and why I love this
show so much. While most stories I feel would focus on the relationship, focus
on these two finding love, whatever that is, and focus on who ends up with who
in these so wonderfully lovable love triangles (sarcasm), MLP decides to throw
all that out the window, and instead focus on the effects of the great
attraction associated with relationships, the main thing that separates
relationships from friendships, and what sort of effect it can have on people
and friends.
For isn’t that what happens to all of us at some point with
relationships? With this great attraction we can have towards people, we’re
often put in a situation in which we feel greatly in love with some pony, but
they feel nothing for us, or we have some pony who seems to think they’re
greatly in love with us, despite us not really feeling anything for them (I
know using some pony instead of someone can be weird but I don’t care it’s so
ingrained in my mind I’m such a lost brony, it’s who I am, which the episode
said I shouldn’t be afraid of, so I’m saying it, deal with ittttttttttttttt!
(please don’t hurt me I’m sorry)). And instead of simply focusing on one side
of relationships, Simple Ways does the awesome thing and decides to focus on
both, in the character arcs of our two main characters; Rarity and Applejack.
Rarity represents the side of relationships that involves
great love being given, but none being returned. She has a huge attraction to Trenderhoof
that causes her to begin seeing him as her world, and she goes as far as she
can, doing all sort of seemingly selfless, kind, and generous things to make
him happy and be someone he will love. But no matter how hard she tries, her
efforts seem futile, and I think the episode does a wonderful job of showing
just how utterly painful this is. The real tragedy of it all is that no matter
how many times Trenderhoof turns down Rarity, she never gives up, she never
stops hoping, like a child hopelessly thinking things will work out when they
won’t, she clings to this dream so much. And this is something I see many do in
our own world, so I really love that they did that with Rarity here for the
sake of the story and moral, as it went a long way in letting this hit home
with many I’m sure.
And then Applejack is the opposite, she represents the side
of relationships that involve a great love being given to you by someone else,
but not being able to return them. Trenderhoof is hopelessly attracted to AJ
and feels he must do whatever he can to get her to like him and make her happy,
and as nice as it seems, you can’t help but see how frustrating it is for her.
How hard it is to have to deal with someone who won’t leave you alone and give
you space, someone who just can’t accept that things won’t work out and move
on. I can’t help but see a parallel to Spike at Your Service when Spike feels
hugely in debt to Applejack but ends up only causing trouble with his
“selfless” acts. This parallel further drives home the point that relationships
are similar to friendships, the theme I thinks this episode has, but more than
that, shows the great trouble and tragedies in being in this situation.
Applejack doesn’t only have to put with Trenderhoof’s attention, she also has to
deal with him, for reasons completely out of her control. Because Trenderhoof
has this great attraction to her, now she has to put up with him, and has to
break his heart by saying she doesn’t return his feelings. And as someone who’s
been in this situation many times, this can be soooooooo hard, and I totally
understand AJ not telling Trenderhoof the truth until the end, because hurting
someone else, especially one trying so hard for you, well, it hurts. And I
really really like how it was so hard for AJ to do that, she didn’t even do it.
She had a friend there, Rarity, who was able to help her to do it and do it
when she struggled, something a true friend would most definitely do.
And as these 2 parallel arcs progress and converge, we see
the dangers of love. When Rarity begins doing everything she can for Trenderhoof,
she begins causing Applejack even more trouble in her haste to prepare the farm
for the celebration, and above all, begins to hurt the many parts of her life.
Rarity begins changing who she is to someone she’s not, and someone she truly
doesn’t enjoy being, and she also begins changing her friendships, beginning to
create damage and turmoil with Applejack, and the longer the episode goes on,
the more clear it becomes that if Rarity does nothing but give in to these
feelings, she will lose everything she’s built up with her wonderful life.
In enters Applejack, the one to save her. Similar to Spike
at Your Service, while AJ tries to gently put off Trenderhoof and let him go,
in an attempt to not hurt him too much, she’s able to get nowhere, and her
attempts prove futile as she is eventually left with being the one who has to
lay down the cold hard truth in order to save herself. More than that though,
she has to save her friend, and one thing I found oh so interesting about this
episode was how she did it. Rarity was so absorbed and at the mercy of her
feelings that reasoning with her seemed impossible, so instead of doing that,
AJ decides to show Rarity the truth through showing, and not telling.
And I like how AJ does this, don’t try and counter feelings
with thinking, counter it with other feelings, the feelings of friendship
Rarity has for her friend. Applejack being the one to completely change herself
is kind of real fitting isn’t it? No other pony identifies so much with being
who they are, being part of their family, and being true to themselves then the
element of honesty herself, Applejack. Seeing Applejack abandon her entire
home, tradition, etc. is such a silly crazy thing to do, that I like to think
Rarity couldn’t help but take notice, see how wrong this for her friend, and
want to help. This is why she spoke up so much when AJ said she was such a fine
high class pony, she couldn’t stand to see her friend change so much and be so
silly.
Of course that’s not the only thing going on in Rarity’s
mind. Knowing exactly what Applejack is planning, she resists, clinging to her
feelings of hope that what she’s doing is right and wanting to prove everything
right by getting with Trenderhoof. But Applejack knows among all others that,
even if Rarity was with someone she truly loved, if she was stuck doing things
she hated for the rest of her life as a result, she’d never be truly happy,
well, at least in my opinion, which could be wrong, so don’t take my word for it
(please don’t!!!!!!!!!!!!!).
The climax of the entire story comes when Rarity splashes
mud on Applejack’s dress. In her haste and want to be with Trenderhoof so so
bad and prove she’s right she messes up something that’s really important to
her, not just a dress, but her great friend’s dress. I think Rarity was so hit
by this precisely because it was her good friend Applejack who had just had her
nice clean dress stained, and using their friendship to open Rarity’s eyes I
thought was a mark of brilliance, and has it tie in with the shows main theme
beautifully. In seeing the damage she’s done, Rarity’s eyes are opened to what
she’s been doing, and how much she is going against everything she stands for,
and how wrong this is for her life. Applejack learns she should have been more
upfront and honest about the lost cause for Trenderhoof and Rarity to stop them
from destroying themselves, and more importantly, Rarity learns that as nice as
relationships are, they are not worth throwing your life away for.
And really that well, that ties it all together doesn’t it?
As I said at the start of this, I like to think there was this huge subtle
theme in this episode of relationships not being as important as we make them
out to be. They are just like a friendship in which you really like someone,
but they aren’t the entire world. They aren’t worth destroying your friendship
for, aren’t worth changing all your plans for, and above all, aren’t worth
changing who you are for. As the episode states, true friends, and true
relationship partners given how similar they are, will accept and love you for
who you are, and not what you are, and I think that’s a beautiful message we
can’t help but all relate to, and I love it to death.
And the more I look at this episode and think about it, the
more I see all these wonderful subtle themes about relationships that I love. In fact, let me go through some of them right now. One nice example is that well, relationships don’t always work out, and that
sometimes you have to move on.
Stories often have this thing where a character meets
someone they’re attracted to, and then go on to do everything they can for this
one person, and have it all work out. It’s nice and sweet and all but, in my
own personal opinion, I don’t think that’s quite how life is, and I would say
it’s rare if anything for someone’s first crush to be the one they end up with
for the rest of their life. Showing Rarity now have crushes on two different
ponies (Prince Blueblood and Trenderhoof), and have neither work out, but have
her move on, is an excellent excellent thing to show I think. More than
anything I think it says that relationships aren’t about trying as hard as you
can to be with the one you love (though that’s certainly an important part),
but that it’s about being able to move on and never stop searching, never let
your passion for love leave despite how many failures you encounter, and I like
to think Rarity will have more crushes in the future. It does a wonderful job
of showing us that it’s okay to mess up with relationships, and that moving on
is a great skill to have for finding the right person for us, and I love it.
Speaking of, do you know how wonderful it is that the moral
was stating that often times a pony won’t like a pony who constantly changes
who they are for them? That goes in the face of so many romantic clichés that I
couldn’t help but love it to death, yes, thank you so much MLP, do not tell
everyone they should change who they are and be at the complete mercy of those
they think they are in love with, that is not someone many people will like.
People want someone who’s stable, confident, and above all, content with
themselves and not feeling they have to constantly change, and I love that they
threw this in there, as I think it’s a very good message to show everyone.
And another nice little theme I took away from this is that
well, relationships aren’t for everyone, and that some will be more into them
than others. Rarity has been built up as a character with a thing for crushes,
there was Prince Blueblood in Season 1, and now Trenderhoof in Season 4. Relationships
are clearly important to her. And AJ is the opposite, she’s never had a crush
throughout the run of this show, never seen a stallion as more than a friend
or family member, and it’s clear relationships aren’t as important to her. And
most importantly, above all of that, neither are better nor worse for it.
One of my favorite things about My Little Pony Friendship is
Magic, is this beautiful underlying message the show has of how okay it is to
be who you are. The fact that, you can be a great main character even if you
are nerdy and a book worm, or a hard working farmer, a shy animal lover, or a
guy who wastes hours ranting on a show about candy colored ponies and how
serious and thought provoking it is (not subtle enough?), etc. etc. There’s no
one best way to live life as many stories like to say there is, and the show is
instead about how the best way to live your life, is to be yourself, something
no story taught me personally as much as this one did. And that theme is seen
so well again here. By making Rarity the one who’s consistently having crushes,
she and Spike are now examples of characters with crushes who, don’t see them
fully fulfilled, but can still live on happily despite that. Shining Armor and
Cadence then are examples of crushes who are with somepony they love and live
happily together, and the rest of the mane 6 are examples of characters who
don’t have much interest in crushes, and are perfectly happy and stable living
their life on their own. There is no one best way to live life when it comes to
relationships, and well, in my own personal biased opinion, I think this is
kind of the coolest message ever, and so perfectly ties in with all other
themes of the show, and does a wonderful job in helping many like myself to
grow to be more accepting and happy with who I am, and god damnit MLP, stop
changing my life and making me a better person, I can’t even begin to describe
how much I love you for doing that to me <3
Random gush of love aside though, the more I think about
Simple Ways, the more I find myself loving its themes to death. By taking the
ultra serious this is everything life is about relationships and diminishing
their importance by characterizing them as nothing out of the ordinary and not
that different from friendships, the episode is able to convey so many themes
at once, the importance of not losing yourself in the emotions, the importance
of turning someone down to not string them along a lost cause, the importance
of good friends in these tough times, the importance of being able to move on,
and above all, learning that relationships just aren’t as big a deal as society
likes to make them out to be, and that you can be perfectly happy and content
without them, and that you can still feel love and feel loved as long as you
have a wonderful friend by your side to help you along your journey, as
Applejack did to Rarity, and Rarity did to Applejack.
Well, at least that’s what I say, I may be biased though as
one who’s never been in a relationship and may have never felt true romantic
love, but this is well, everything I took away from this episode, and
everything I love about it. Simple Ways is a fantastic episode that shows why I
love Friendship is Magic, taking a common trope and putting excellent spins on
it, giving me so much to think about so that I can belt out an essay on it in
no time (seriously this is the fastest I’ve posted an analysis of an episode
right after it airs) and well, I can see this episode becoming one of my favorites
as a result. Thank you so much Friendship is Magic, just, thank you <3
Credits for the fantastic fan art go to these lovely artists:
http://yajimaspm.deviantart.com/art/Simple-Ways-432791396
http://cogbrony.deviantart.com/art/Simple-and-Sophisticated-432856650
http://lessue.tumblr.com/post/76097414207
No comments:
Post a Comment