Thoughts on the documentary

It was decent. Not fantastic, mind, but decent.

I think it was trying to be two documentaries at once. One about ‘what’ the fandom is and ‘why’ the fandom exists. While those topics are related, together they become such a massive mess of data that in the end the doc ends up doing both kind of half-heartedly.

On the ‘what’ it is, they focused a lot more on the ‘emergence’ part of things than the ‘existence’ part of things; look at the stories. Many of them talked about how bronies broke the news to their parents, the Lyle story in particular with the conservative dad. And while some of the stories were a bit over-the-top (custom decals dude), I feel they did a decent job of explaining the difficulties involved in that process. However, they seem to have glossed over the camaraderie that develops over the internet between members of the fandom; how we can, via social networks like Tumblrpon, search out and interact with people who share the same interest. This is true of all fandoms, of course, but I think it still would have been good information to include. 

On the ‘why’ it is, they kept talking about how men liking a little girls show is such a special thing. However, they ignored the bread and butter of the discussion: the WHY. This show was designed to be an example of a cartoon with realistic female character personalities, and the opposite gender reacted positively! This could be used as a entry point into a whole host of psychological discussions about gender roles, gender equality, and social constructs; arguments that, I suspect, de Lancie and co didn’t want to fill up the documentary with.

After all, we paid for it. So, it would have to be geared towards us! This is where I think the ‘circle-jerking’ argument comes into play from most people; I respond to that with, ‘What did you expect?’ A documentary which presented an impartial, objective viewpoint? If it was paid for by a source that was not connected to the fandom in any way, but rather curious about the fandom, it could happen. But in these circumstances? No bloody way! From the kickstarter onwards, this thing was guaranteed to show only the ‘good’ side of things. None of the grimdark, or R34, or anything that would really look weird.

I think that’s why they stayed out of the history of the fandom itself. 4chan is the weirdest place on the internet, and to even start talking about how the fandom formed out of a failed hate-raid and clawed its way into formal internet existence using the now-sullied phrase ‘Love and Tolerate’ would require a full discourse on exactly what the hell 4chan is. The problem with that is that any parent with half a mind for their kids would probably ban them from the Internet upon learning about the monstrosity that lives within. 

Regarding the history of how the conventions started up… I can’t really give commentary on that. I don’t know much about how they started up myself.

In the end, though, I think it’s all about perspective. There’s been a lot of fear and doubt in the past few weeks that this documentary would turn out to be a piece of shit, and I think that people who went into the doc expecting it to be bad only saw bad. The same is true in reverse. This isn’t true for everyone, of course, but I think it accounts for the ‘people either love it or hate it’ discourse I’ve been seeing in the tags.

I wouldn’t pay $12 for it, especially considering the kickstarter. I’d say maybe $20k of it was actually used, with the rest going god-knows-where. lyra plushie The video editing as well was rather slap-shod. I think we could do a better job of it than that, especially considering the wealth of PMVs the fandom has created. However, in my opinion, it’s certainly worth watching on Youtube. Just be careful to try and go into it with no biases or preconceptions on how it’s going to turn out. It might surprise you.