Does the Brony culture redefine masculinity in the U.S? I am not in the position to answer this question for the all American males. I would like, however, to share my thoughts about this subculture. Based on what I understand of the Brony culture, it is just a fandom of the online series originally intended for little girls called “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.. The cartoon was considered by some individuals to be made for adults, and in my opinion this show should not be watched by grownups even if they had developed the series to older viewers. This thought is based on the drama I observed in it. As I am a foreigner myself, who lives and studies in this lovely country, I always see American men as being strong, challengeable, powerful and creative. Manly men. The Brony culture does not have masculine values, and it has the side effect of harming the person’s image — so no, Brony culture is not the right one to redefine masculinity.
“My Little Pony” is a TV series that first aired in the 1980s. The new version of it, which was supported by the collective funding platform Kickstarter, premiered in 2011 and surprisingly enough caught the attention of an unintended public: straight male adults with apparently no record of psychological issue. The producer of the reboot did not change anything about the characters nor the plot of the series — they remained multi-colored ponies with names like Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash who help each other in their adventures at Ponyland. Even so these men became real fans of it, and now the call themselves Bronies (“Bro” + “ponies”).
I personally did not feel comfortable watching the documentary “Bronies: The Extremely Unexpected Adult Fans of My Little Pony,” directed by Laurent Malaquais. What surprised me the most was that all Bronies are adults, ages between 15 and 25, which makes the case even more weird. In the movie one of the members stated that their culture does not required any certain age, so they are willing to open their doors to any person who wants to join the group. However, while watching the documentary I realized that most of the fans amongst that Brony culture are not social with other individuals outside it. There is a good reason for that: Bronies only have confidence in being a Brony because they socially support each other. Even though they believe that it makes them more social between themselves, they will end up having more difficulty to get accepted by people who are from outside their unusual culture. Would you feel comfortable being friends with a grown man that is a cheerful fan of colored, girlish ponies? We all care about our reputation in our society. Would you accept a Brony member to redefine the masculinity of your country?
Redefining masculinity is totally different than what Brony culture has been doing to its members and to the society in general. When we talk about virility we talk about heroes, fighters, tough men, defenders, sharp guys. We talk about a gender who has different colors, strong emotions, responsibilities. We are talking about fathers, and, most importantly, leaders. The United States has developed their army until they became one of the strongest, most powerful armies in the world. And we should not forget the workers who built this country and made powerful cars. Based on these we can see that Americans are robust and dominant — I argue whether any of these hard workers would ever accept any person saying that Bronies redefine men in the U.S. I see Bronies in my mind as a soft, colorful, emotional, powerless culture, thus it cannot redefine American males by their values. American men have a high reputation between men in the world, and giving Brony culture a chance to represent men in the U.S will definitely affect that reputation. I was surprised when I saw some soldiers who are fans of that cartoon, and I wonder if their commander-in-chief are aware that they are watching it and of what might happen to them because of it. I believe if the same case happened in Saudi Arabia, for example, these soldiers would be under probation. Even so I consider they represent only themselves, not the whole army.
In an article called “What Does It Mean To Be A Man?” Dr. Nerdlove points out that the society should think about the representativity of a man and how important it is. The author assumes that certain people may blame the changings in the culture for the ongoing loss of masculinity. He also trusts that losing masculinity is a result of giving women total attention and forgetting about men. However, Dr. Nerdlove blames men who got involved in these changes and forget their basic standards (as in how to be a man in this world).
In his text, Dr. Nerdlove gives the audience a great example comparing the most powerful man in History, Ghengis Kahn, and the one that holds the title in this century, Mark Zuckerberg (who may as well be one of the pony characters). Obviously the author displays a brief background about masculinity in different centuries, presenting how it has been constantly changing throughout the years. The article has rich accounts of Dr. Nerdlove’s version of masculinity. For example he says that men should always take the benefit of learning and should not be afraid of trying new experiences. Responsibility is a major value all men should have as leaders. Men should not be defined by their jobs; they should be defined by their successes and goals. Also, in the article the author affirms that men must be strong and powerful, so they will be able to face life’s circumstances with ease.
Reinforcing this belief there is doctor Holly Devor, who in the article “Becoming Members of Society: Learning the Social Meanings of Gender” claims that the most common characteristics of a manly man are toughness, confidence, self-reliance, aggressiveness, violence and ultimately and most importantly the capability of avoiding anything related to femininity.
Usually before we choose our interests we first look at both the positive and the negative sides of it, and only then we decide whether it is appropriate to follow these views or not. Unfortunately the Brony culture has more side effects than positive ones, and that is not just an opinion: I consider myself neutral about it, however the statements made by some Bronies in the documentary seemed to me as a viewer that they were saying their culture is risky and not accepted within the society. Even if most of would claim to disagree, the majority of the stories motioned in the movie tell what I assume is the reality of their group. One of the good examples of it is a guy named Alex.
Alex revealed in his interview that he had been threatened by some people in his hometown simply because the were against his interests. They attacked Alex’s car and broke the windows. He also stated that he faced a very risky threat from a guy who had a gun pointed to him. The aggressor was warning Alex not to continue getting involved with the Brony culture.
This example clears the air for us to decide whether Bronies are normal or not. Receiving threats from people because of different interests is a serious issue. When someone’s taste leads the person towards a hazard it means that his or her interest is simply not right; in the case of the Brony culture, that it does not reflect any type of masculinity. Putting a person in danger is always wrong, so these who threat Alex are also wrong because of their actions. Their thoughts and beliefs, however, made them aggressive because they would never accept any person distorting the concept of masculinity. I believe that they were afraid of that. Following Brony culture is a sign of weakness. No person could represent any group if he or she is weak. I have never seen any president or leader displaying signs of fragility, therefore one cannot represent anything and be dull at the same time.
If we let just one American man to ride a pony, would the pony bear the man on its back? The answer, of course, is no, a pony cannot bear a man on its back because a pony is weak. It will break its back. This example refers to how Bronies values cannot represent American men. Not just Brony culture is a weak one, but it also has side effects which cover the positive side of that culture. The definition of masculinity is very heavy: I do not believe Bronies could hold that weight on their back.
Work citied
Malaquais, Laurent. “Bronies: The Extremely Unexpected Adult Fans of My Little Pony.” 2013. Film.
Devor, Holly. “Becoming Members of Society: Learning the Social Meanings of Gender.” Reading America: Cultural Contexts for Critical Thinking and Writing. 5th ed. Ed. Gary Colombo, Robert Cullen, and Bonnie Lisle. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2001. 414-421. Print.
Dr. Nerdlove. “What Does It Mean To Be A Man?” Doctor Nerd Love, 9 April, 2012. Web. 22 Feb. 2013.
