Princess culture

I am very sorry, this is another look at the My Little Pony phenomena. This time I wanted to talk about the views that the show gives to princess culture.

I will focus on the four princesses in the show; Cadence, Luna, Celestia, and Twilight .

Princess Cadence I feel is the most stereotypical of all the princesses, however throughout the show she has had to show strength and perseverance. When she was first introduced she was shown as mean and stuck up- we later learn that it was actually Queen Chrysalis who took her form as to over throw the long lost Crystal Empire, mean while the real Cadence is trapped underground in a jail. Cadence eventually escapes with the help of Twilight and is able to save the empire from invasion- with the power of love. She is also Twilights old baby sitter, just a fun background fact, and marries Twilight's older brother. She gains the title Princess Mi Amore Cadenza after the wedding. She is the left to protect the crystal empire. She seems to be spunky and kind to all.

Princess Luna is a very interesting character. She and her sister Princess Celestia are in charge of raising /lowering the sun and moon. However, Luna becomes disheartened that the night that she rules over is slept through and not appreciated as the day time that her sister rules over. Out of jealousy she becomes Nightmare Moon. To save the world form eternal night, Celestia Banishes Nightmare Moon/Luna to the moon . When Luna returns and has Nightmare Moon cast out of her by Twilight and her friends, she realizes that she isn't used to the current world she shows this when she tries to enjoy a holiday that takes place during her beloved night time. She shows strength and teaches that jealousy isn't a good thing. She also teaches that even though someone seems strong sometimes they just want to fit in and be liked by all although sometimes you don't realize that people like you for who or what you are.

Celestia is the highest in the terms of stature of the four. She is very very old and has had to make many many hard decisions, such as banishing her own sister to the moon. She is the wisest and most respected character in the series. She shows that being a princess isn't easy and that it often can lead to bad things happening. She also demonstrates that she isn't perfect, when battling Queen Chrysalis she stands up the the villain but is ultimately defeated, instead of pushing on she understands the importance of passing on the task to someone else instead of doing it all herself.

Finally, Twilight. Twilight is the main character for the entire series. She does not start off a princess though. Instead it is something that she has to earn it- even though she never asked for or wanted it (it was actually a marketing strategy by Hasbro because they wanted to sell a toy).  However that aside, she earns the position by knowing herself, allowing herself to grow, and getting to know others better. She as a character values knowledge, learning, friendship, hard work, and honesty. She studies under Celestia  as an apprentice but lives in Ponyville inside of a treehouse-library. For all that she is though she isn't perfect, she even drives herself crazy in one episode due to obsession (also please note the Golum reference in the clip). She is very smart but sometimes doesn't know what to do, showing that even though someone is smart they won't always know all the answers. She is faced with hard decisions, uncertainty, not knowing where she fits is, responsibility, and much more. She has to show strength and determination on many occasions- most recently in the 4th seasons epic final battle against an old enemy of the princesses. She doesn't quite meet the stereotypical princess idea- she is tough, smart, kind, has a select group of close friends, and isn't always sure of herself. She also isn't pink and lives surrounded by books. Even though she is a princess and very good at magic she never is done learning and never thinks that she knows everything.

Overall I think this show shows the princess culture in a very interesting way, each princess in the series brings something new to the table. Even though Cadence is pink she is spunky and strong. All have good attributes and aren't perfect, I think that that is an important aspect of life to acknowledge.