Ponyville Confidential
The History and Culture of My Little Pony,
1981-2016
by Sherilyn Connelly
Beloved by young girls around the world, Hasbro's My Little Pony franchise has been mired in controversy since its debut in the early 1980s. Critics dismissed the cartoons as toy advertisements, and derided their embrace of femininity. The 2010 debut of the openly feminist My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic renewed the backlash, as its broad appeal challenged entrenched notions about gendered entertainment.
This first comprehensive study of My Little Pony explores the history and cultural significance of the franchise through Season 5 of Friendship Is Magic and the first three Equestria Girls films. The brand has continued to be on the receiving end of a sexist double standard regarding commercialism in children's entertainment, while masculine cartoons such as the Transformers have been spared similar criticism. The high-profile fans known as Bronies are also discussed, covering the media's problematic reaction to them and the Bronies' response when the My Little Pony cartoons didn't conform to their expectations.
Sherilyn Connelly did a remarkable and admirable job piecing together history of the My Little Pony phenomena. This is definitely more for adults because it’s like a textbook on the characters and their story that stretches from their birth in the 80s through current time.
There is a TON of information here that adds a real depth to what Hasbro and others were trying to create for kids. I was a huge fan when I was a kid and now my daughters are so to learn about the origins through their evolution was pretty eye-opening. There has also been quite a bit of controversy through the years which I never realized probably because I simply enjoyed them for the innocent toys they seemed to be and wasn’t trying to see something that wasn’t intended. It seemed to be sad in a way that some people actually got angry at characters that had a feminine appeal and gave little girls a world they could identify with, find something that appealed to them, and build up their self-esteem in some ways.
She even included an episode breakdown of the TV Show plus talked about the movie so if you haven’t stayed up to date on the newest incarnation you can get a quick recap plus learn about how the humanoid version came to exist and its competition to Monster High.
The details she put into this work is astounding, anything you could ever possibly want to know is in this book. It seems like the perfect text to use in a college course on popular media, trends, etc.
Thank you to Netgalley and McFarland & Co for allowing me to review this book.
*synopsis and pic from amazon.com