Here's an idea.
Bronies are changing the definition of masculinity.
Not sure what a bronie is?
Man, have we got a surprise for you.
In late 2010, Hasbro rebooted their long-hibernating pony
franchise with a new TV show called
"My Little Pony-- Friendship is Magic."
It was a huge success with children everywhere,
but then something unexpected started happening.
Men, grown men, started watching the show.
These men, these male pony lovers, these bronies,
have become something of a phenomenon,
especially on the internet where their community continues
to grow and to be actually kind of awesome,
so this raises an obvious question.
Why on Earth would a grown man want
to watch a television show about magical,
talking ponies learning the importance of friendship?
It turns out the answer is actually really simple.
It's a great show.
Bronies want to celebrate-- actually celebrate, not
ironically celebrate-- the show's themes, characters,
and ideas as a community, and they
do this using image macros, fan fiction, music, costumes,
radio shows, and a huge amount of fan art, like, huge huge.
But the fact that "My Little Pony"
is a show for little girls provides some challenges
for the bronie community.
A lot of people think bronies must
be sexual deviants or morons, cretins of some kind,
but they're not.
As the bronie study shows, they're
mostly heterosexual dudes in their 20s
who aren't in it for the hot pony action.
They just happen to really love a show about the magical nature
of friendship, so what's with all the hate,
especially surrounding a show whose main themes are
love and tolerance?
Well, by unironically enjoying what's
only supposed to be for little girls,
bronies are actually challenging what constitutes masculinity.
Philosopher John Stuart Mill said
that we tend to accept whatever is usual as natural,
and bronies challenge the usual nature
of masculine media consumption.
Girls are supposed to watch TV shows with cute pink animals,
and boys are supposed to watch shows
where aliens and robots blow each other up.
But says who?
The notions of what's masculine, feminine,
for adults, or for children seem like they're permanent,
but they're actually very fluid.
Up until about the 1920s, pink was actually
considered a more masculine color
and better for little boys.
Feminist philosopher, Judith Butler,
argued that we develop ideas of masculinity and femininity
based upon the performance of gender.
Bronies are men who perform what is supposed
to be a strictly female past time,
and that makes some people upset or, at the very least,
confused.
This isn't anything new, though.
There was a time when it was unheard of for a woman
to wear a pair of pants or for a man to stay at home
and raise a child, but as more women
started wearing pants instead of skirts and more men
became stay-at-home dads, as they started
performing outside of their gender roles,
these things became normal.
Bronies are a group of dudes who say
that it's OK to be a man who likes a show about ponies
and unicorns and magic and friendship
and that it has no effect on their gender
self-identification.
Anais Nin said that it is the function of art
to renew our perceptions.
As the bronie community continues
to grow through the magic of friendship and internet,
they challenge our perceptions of what preferences
are acceptable in men and what shows we should consider girly.
This is all to say that if there are just as many men
as there are girls who love My Little Pony,
doesn't that make "My Little Pony--
Friendship is Magic" just as masculine as it is feminine?
What do you guys think?
Are bronies changing the definition of masculinity?
Let us know in the comments, and if you haven't subscribed,
you really should.
There are a lot of perks.
First of all, we owe a huge debt of gratitude
to Michael from Vsauce, so, Michael,
here's your internet high five.
If you could please place your hand inside the outline, ready?
All right, internet high five, second of all,
we want to welcome all of our new subscribers.
Don't you guys worry.
I have a lot of love to give.
So the hologram, Tupac, and new aesthetic conversation
was lively.
Let's see what you guys had to say.
RicRock25 makes a fine point about the evil genius
of record labels.
Justin Bieber better start watching his back.
Ionicgeorge points out that hologram creation techniques
date back as far as 1830.
If there is one person who is probably
upset at the sudden spike in subscribers,
it's probably Samy.
You can do it, Samy.
We believe in you.
SuperHorribleGaming wants to know
how "Idea Channel" is made.
I actually write the show with a small group of people
who help me whittle it down.
Jack Thomas wants to know if art can ever actually separate
itself from the past.
That's a really good question because a clean separation
is almost impossible.
Well, MintoBastet, you could just tell a hundred
of your friends to smash the Like button.
Hamstiog thinks that holograms are extremely disrespectful,
which kind of makes sense because the resurrected pop
stars have no control over their work anymore.
Fragamocrunch brings up a really good point about responsibility
as it relates to the resurrecting of pop stars.
Also, Fragamocrunch.
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