I think he’s referring specifically to My Little Pony, which became insanely popular among 16-30 year olds despite absolutely no advertising towards that demographic.
Aye, my girlfriend has gone so far as to watch the entire first season twice to try and see why there is such a large community of ‘bronies’. She is completely bewildered at its popularity, and even more by the demographic distribution.
Having watched it I feel that the simplest explanation is the best.
It’s got good animation, writing, and production quality.
It tells stories to provide characterization rather than plugging characters into plots. Though setup like a sitcom, it functions opposite to sitcoms.
It is transportive fiction. Like Harry Potter or Titanic, the aim of the show is to bring you into that world.
The characters and world are likable, good, and healthy. There is no grim darkness. You can feel good about the world by watching it.
Any one of these is rare individually and makes shows watchable. Two or more and you get Firefly or Harry Potter. All of these together creates a popularity storm where there really shouldn’t be one, and causes a series to be intensely popular despite all it’s flaws. Simply put, it uses the basics of children’s storytelling right.
I think he’s referring specifically to My Little Pony, which became insanely popular among 16-30 year olds despite absolutely no advertising towards that demographic.
She.
Sorry, my bad.
Aye, my girlfriend has gone so far as to watch the entire first season twice to try and see why there is such a large community of ‘bronies’. She is completely bewildered at its popularity, and even more by the demographic distribution.
Having watched it I feel that the simplest explanation is the best.
It’s got good animation, writing, and production quality.
It tells stories to provide characterization rather than plugging characters into plots. Though setup like a sitcom, it functions opposite to sitcoms.
It is transportive fiction. Like Harry Potter or Titanic, the aim of the show is to bring you into that world.
The characters and world are likable, good, and healthy. There is no grim darkness. You can feel good about the world by watching it.
Any one of these is rare individually and makes shows watchable. Two or more and you get Firefly or Harry Potter. All of these together creates a popularity storm where there really shouldn’t be one, and causes a series to be intensely popular despite all it’s flaws. Simply put, it uses the basics of children’s storytelling right.