'Well-played, Fluttershy’: Defeating Discord and Dragons in My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
‘Almost every major myth cycle of the Graeco-Roman world featured a drakõn at its heart, including the sagas of Heracles, Jason, Perseus, Cadmus, and Odysseus’ (Ogden 2013: 1). And Hasbro’s most recent incarnation of the My Little Pony franchise (2010) is no different. From the opening shows of Season 2 (‘The Return of Harmony: Parts 1 and 2’) of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, that dragon is actually Discord, a draconequus (a ‘dragon-pony’, as the name suggests, fitting the pony-led theme of the show). But the show includes many different types of classical-themed ‘monsters’. In this paper, I am going to focus primarily on Discord, but these other ‘monsters’ will make brief appearances. I will discuss some of the myriad ways the show uses ancient Greek monsters, and specifically Discord and other dragons, to set up a hero narrative that mimics those of classical myth.
In this paper, I will examine Discord, and other classically-derived dragons (and monsters more generally), looking at their form, actions, and contexts. I will specifically discuss how these characters and creatures, and the hero-narrative tropes they tap into, are rendered for children (the show’s target audience is ages 4-7). My examination will focus primarily on characters who make their first appearance in the first two seasons of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, (those seasons produced by Lauren Faust), and I will compare these to depictions of classical monsters in shows targeted at a similar audience (like Disney’s Sofia the First). I hope to show that the employment of monsters directly from, or influenced by, classical myth serves a broader purpose to the show’s premise, and perhaps more broadly in children’s development.
Please note: the slides for this presentation contain personal information, and so I will not be posting them publicly. If you would like to see the slides, please feel free to get in touch.
In this paper, I will examine Discord, and other classically-derived dragons (and monsters more generally), looking at their form, actions, and contexts. I will specifically discuss how these characters and creatures, and the hero-narrative tropes they tap into, are rendered for children (the show’s target audience is ages 4-7). My examination will focus primarily on characters who make their first appearance in the first two seasons of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, (those seasons produced by Lauren Faust), and I will compare these to depictions of classical monsters in shows targeted at a similar audience (like Disney’s Sofia the First). I hope to show that the employment of monsters directly from, or influenced by, classical myth serves a broader purpose to the show’s premise, and perhaps more broadly in children’s development.
Please note: the slides for this presentation contain personal information, and so I will not be posting them publicly. If you would like to see the slides, please feel free to get in touch.