The concept of change has always been something that most
cartoon shows have struggled to embrace. Many television shows in general prefer
to stick to a set structure and keep it for their whole duration. They use the same
characters, same conflicts and climaxes, same worlds, etc. This is appealing in
part because it is easier to write and create stories with, but another appeal
of it is the safety and security that comes from this familiarity. There’s
always a familiar setting to return to, a familiar story, and familiar faces
and friends. It offers a comforting place to retreat to whenever things feel
uncertain, and it wouldn’t be hard to imagine this as a large part of its
appeal.
Despite this, there have been a lot of recent cartoons that
are taking the gamble and creating shows with change. Characters that change,
worlds that change, and stories that change, it’s slowly becoming more and more
common. Cartoons such as Gravity Falls, Steven Universe, Avatar: The Last Airbender,
and its sequel The Legend of Korra show a shift in cartoon storytelling, with a
greater degree of change being present. And they aren’t the only ones, there is
another show that’s embracing this theme of change, and in nowhere is this more
apparent than in the episode of On Your Marks from My Little Pony: Friendship
is Magic.
In the fourth episode of the sixth season of Friendship is
Magic, the heroine Applebloom faces a difficult challenge that I’m sure we can
all emphasize with: she’s achieved her goal by finally obtaining her cutie mark.
So with that in mind…now what?
Upon my first watch of this episode, I was very curious to
see where the story would go and what would happen. I must admit, I truly had
no idea, as every single one of my guesses turned out to be false. First, the
dilemma centered around what to do now that the cutie mark crusaders had
accomplished their goal, definitely a change of pace from their typical tale of
going on an adventure to find their cutie marks. Then the dilemma ended
seemingly with no resolution, and next the gang tried to relax and have fun now
that their goal had been achieved, yet a new problem arose. Now that the gang
had their cutie marks, they didn’t really have a shared interest or common
goal, thus there was less reason to stay together.
And this makes perfect sense. Despite the three always being
together, we’ve known since episode one (well, maybe not quite that early) that
they come from very different backgrounds, and have very different
personalities and tastes. The one thing that originally brought them together
and gave birth to their friendship was their common desire to find their cutie
marks. So it makes sense that once the goal is achieved, they’d have less reason
to see each other and hang out. It is definitely a change that could be for the
worse, and as seen in the episode, Applebloom definitely agreed with that
assumption.
The part of the episode that really threw me through a loop
and had me confused as to what the episode was trying to convey was the song
and middle segment, with its focus on Applebloom’s loneliness. Losing her
friends tossed Applebloom into a downward spiral, turning her into a clingy
cynical mess, and I like many others wondered, why? She has lots of other
friends to hang out with, she even has her sister and family, why not go to
them? Why did Applebloom desire such specific companions, and in such a way
that closed her off to new friends?
I wouldn’t realize the truth until the very end of the
episode:
“The Cutie Mark Crusaders will never be the same”
The feeling was similar to that of loneliness, so it’s easy
to see why she would mix them up, but no, Applebloom wasn’t being lonely and
clingy to having a friend. What she was being clingy towards, was none other
than the past itself. She didn’t
desire a friend or company to help her feel better, she wanted to go back to the
past, go back to the time in which her, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo spent time
together searching for their cutie marks, exploring together, and sharing their
common goal of finding their cutie marks. This is why, despite it all,
Applebloom was never able to improve her mood; because what she desired was the
feeling she only got from her past experiences and friends, experiences which
seemed to now be gone forever.
With this in mind, it’s hard not to sympathize with
Applebloom’s descent. We’ve all gone through times in which something has
changed, and we struggle to be able to move on and accept it.
Often it seems so different that it just doesn’t feel right, and we long for
the days before. Sometimes the desire grows so strong that we begin to resent
the change it has become, and begin to resent anything that doesn’t feel like
this old familiarity, and that’s exactly what happened with Applebloom.
Her pain was caused by the changes of time, the fact that
her life would never be the same, and that the poor thing wasn’t ready for such
a big transformation in her life. A common theme of the cutie mark crusaders
and their adventures is that they charge into life too confident and sure that
things will work out the way they think it will. The complexity and
difficulties of life constantly surprise and affect them, and we see that same
theme right here in Applebloom. Unable to accept her life as it stumbles on a
path she didn’t forsee, and one that seems to give her little control, she
grows to resent it and all parts of her life, becoming bitter and cold with
everyone.
This, I believe, is meant to portray the negative ways we
can react to change. With this in mind, it stands to reason that, if Applebloom
is meant to show the negative side of dealing with change, than Sweetie Belle
and Scootaloo are meant to show the positive means of dealing with it.
The other two crusaders look forward to the new future
ahead, excitedly using their new free time to work more on their own individual
activities, and go more on their own path to learn about their newly acquired
cutie marks. Rather than looking at the past, they look to the future,
embracing and accepting its new possibilities and taking advantage of them.
Eventually we see these contrasting ways of dealing with
change converge, and thankfully, their confrontation results in Applebloom
beginning to change, and see the error of her ways. Because Applebloom didn’t
take advantage of the new opportunities present to her, she wasn’t able to grow
in any way, while Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were able to gain some excellent
new skills on their own, skills that became important in helping Applebloom to see the positives of change and embrace them.
And with their help and encouragement, Applebloom is still
able to help poor Tender Taps to gain his cutie mark and grow in his own way. It’s interesting how Tender Taps was similar
to Applebloom, in that he was stagnant and struggled to really embrace the
world and himself like her. He was scared of the future just like Applebloom,
unsure if it would work out and if he’d really enjoy it. Perhaps this is why
Applebloom sympathized with and wanted to help him so much. Once she’s able to
reconcile things with him and become good friends, both are able to grow and
learn to embrace the future, showing the wonders friendship can do to help us,
which is another lovely way to channel that theme of the magic of friendship that
permeates through the entire show into this episode.
After Tender Taps gains his cutie mark, Applebloom reflects
on her journey, and through it all there’s so much to learn and say about it
that I still can’t believe how much was fit into this episode. I’ve already
mentioned a few of them above, showing more ways the magic of friendship can
help, and how difficult it can be for us all to embrace the future, but how
important it is for us to do so.
The ramifications of the cutie mark crusaders gaining their
cutie marks are never truly realized until this episode, and it hits as hard as
you’d expect it to. Yes, the cutie mark crusaders will never be the same, and
their adventures are now gone forever. We will never get an episode with the
familiar structure of the three crusaders working together to find a way to
gain their marks. There are different ways to respond to this great change, and
we see both in this episode.
Core to reacting to change positively I think, is
acceptance. Acceptance, the name of a song I’ve been addicted to lately, this
is a large of part of how we are able to grow from change. Yes, it is sad that
things will never be the same again, and that the past is now the past forever.
Yet…with the past now gone, there is a new future which breeds new and exciting
possibilities. Now we can look forward to brand new types of cutie mark
crusader episodes, those that focus more on each character individually, and those
that see them exploring new sides of themselves as they meet other fillies and
grow up.
With the closing of the door of the past, a new door opens,
and it is through accepting this change that brings about real growth and enjoyment, as
Applebloom learns here. Through embracing the future, Applebloom was able to
see the wonderful new possibilities of the future and enjoy them fully. She
finds a new hobby she enjoys in dancing, and she also meets a new friend in
Tender Taps.
Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle are also able to help, showing
the new techniques they gained on their adventures and how they made them
stronger and more versatile. Embracing the changes of the future allowed them
to grow and be able to help more when the time came, and in the end, embracing
the new future brought the cutie mark crusaders together once again.
This I feel, is another important part of the equation. Yes the
cutie mark crusaders have changed and may see each other less, but they will
still see each other and have adventures together. Those memories they shared,
their journeys, they will always be a part of them and affect them, and through
this, they’ll always be connected. The memories will always be there, and the
past doesn’t need to be clung to, nor do her friends. Sweetie Belle and
Scootaloo will stay with Applebloom regardless of what happens, and so will the
memories.
Even if they go their separate ways, forge new friendships,
and gain new skills, the cutie mark crusaders will always have a special bond
with each other, and always be able to come back to it should the time come.
The friendship of the cutie mark crusaders is not ending, merely changing. It
may no longer be the main focus, yes On Your Marks may be the final episode
that’s really about their friendship, but that doesn’t mean they’ll stop seeing
each other. What it means is that their friendship has reached a point in
which, no matter what happens, they can rest easy knowing they’ll always have
each other, and that they need not worry about losing each other anymore. It
will definitely give them the strength to continue into new territory, and with
all this in mind, I can’t wait to see the new cutie mark crusaders episodes.
There are just so many possibilities. There could be a
greater focus on helping others, the three learning individually rather than
cooperatively, and with all the new possibilities that now await them, it’s
hard not to look forward to this new change. It’s exciting, exciting in a way
that only a great change could be, and in this way, On Your Marks shows the
wonders of change, and why it can be such a wonderful thing to do. True,
changing in a show is dangerous, it can breed difficult results and dark
feelings of longing for the familiar, but with change also comes bright new
futures, and allows stories to progress and change in very natural ways that
allows them to feel like they’re progressing and growing up.
If I may go on a personal tangent, one of my favorite things
about My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is that I honestly feel like I’ve
grown up right alongside the mane cast. As each have grown and learned
important lessons, and seen themselves moving outward to help the world, I see
the same within myself. I’ve grown, I’ve learned a lot, met many great new friends,
and I feel like I’m at a similar point in which I’m working on using my abilities
and skills to help others, and I cannot express how deeply this creates a
connection between myself and the show and its characters.
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is a show that I think
does change extraordinarily well, and On Your Marks is an excellent reminder of
that. Like many of my favorite episodes it got me thinking a lot. It reminded
me of how much I have changed, how much of the past I’ve left behind, but how
many great new possibilities I’ve got to experience, and how many wonderful
skills and friends I’ve gained as a result. So, with that in mind, here’s to many
more fun stories together, and here’s to the beautiful changing world of
Equestria.
Image Source: http://dm29.deviantart.com/art/Tender-Age-And-Bloom-603121814
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