I found Derpy's scene borderline offensive. I keep thinking about how this is a show for kids, and some poor kid with a stutter or a learning disability is going to watch that and feel like they are being personally made fun of.
Goofy, clumsy, comically dumb characters have been being used in cartoons for decades. They're cartoon characters. They're not all meant to be a personal avatar for the viewer. They're there to entertain first.
I don't look at Pinkie Pie and feel like I'm being mocked for having ADD. My fiancee doesn't look at Twilight Sparkle's manic breakdown and think she's being mocked for having OCD. And believe me, speaking as someone who was mocked by her peers (and sometimes authority figures) for everything I did as a child, the characters in the cartoons I watched - many of which had casts and writing similar to that of MLP - were some of the only folks out there whom I never, ever felt personally mocked by.
I don't look at Pinkie Pie and feel like I'm being mocked for having ADD. My fiancee doesn't look at Twilight Sparkle's manic breakdown and think she's being mocked for having OCD. And believe me, speaking as someone who was mocked by her peers (and sometimes authority figures) for everything I did as a child, the characters in the cartoons I watched - many of which had casts and writing similar to that of MLP - were some of the only folks out there whom I never, ever felt personally mocked by.
That's great. Not everybody is like you, especially not kids who might be in different circumstances.
Guys, the Internet named the goddamn pony "Derpy." What did you expect, some kind of secret genius? No, you called it "Derpy" and you got derp in return. You should've seen that coming.
I don't look at Pinkie Pie and feel like I'm being mocked for having ADD. My fiancee doesn't look at Twilight Sparkle's manic breakdown and think she's being mocked for having OCD. And believe me, speaking as someone who was mocked by her peers (and sometimes authority figures) for everything I did as a child, the characters in the cartoons I watched - many of which had casts and writing similar to that of MLP - were some of the only folks out there whom I never, ever felt personally mocked by.
That's great. Not everybody is like you, especially not kids who might be in different circumstances.
Ditto.
Animation for children is ridiculously censored and over-sensitized as it is. Characters like Derpy or Goofy and their ilk are not where we need to start making changes to improve them. Young audiences can generally handle (and enjoy!) a lot more than we give them credit for.
I was more annoyed that Derpy seemed to be accident prone in a cursed way, as opposed to in an accident prone innocence. And the voice. Felt too forced.
I think ultimately we have to look at the intention, as it is nine points of the law, of the artist in depictions of mental disorders. Were they trying to say "Hey look, this retard is funny!" So far MLP has handled mental disorders very well. Sure its usually played for laughs, but that's because it makes you kinda want to laugh at the situation, not the person. Pinkie Pie's ADD is colorful enough and playful enough to get past the fact she can't focus for more than ten seconds. Twilight's OCD is believable enough, even if the mental breakdown goes a little over the top. Although, I'm sure your fiancee's friends might react similarly if she starts having a nervous breakdown over a seemingly trivial thing, Loltsundere.
Animation for children is ridiculously censored and over-sensitized as it is. Characters like Derpy or Goofy and their ilk are not where we need to start making changes to improve them. Young audiences can generally handle (and enjoy!) a lot more than we give them credit for.
Look, I'm not saying it offended me, or even that it would offend most people. I'm just saying it was pointlessly cruel. Most of the time when there is a character with silly antics, those antics contribute at least in some superficial way to the overall story. In this case, no.
Then again, I also have a problem with the squirrel torture shorts in Ice Age, so whatever.
Animation for children is ridiculously censored and over-sensitized as it is. Characters like Derpy or Goofy and their ilk are not where we need to start making changes to improve them. Young audiences can generally handle (and enjoy!) a lot more than we give them credit for.
Look, I'm not saying it offended me, or even that it would offend most people. I'm just saying it was pointlessly cruel. Most of the time when there is a character with silly antics, those antics contribute at least in some superficial way to the overall story. In this case, no.
Read my thoughts on this from above/previous page. The Derpy scene showed us that the town hall is breaking down and needs repair. Yes, same thing could have been shown in many different ways, but same could be said about most of the scenes. So it wasn't totally worthless scene in overall story.
Clearly Applejack should have kept an open mind and bargained harder with the brothers. They destroyed an entire field for naught in the competition. Applejack still can't supply the entire town for a given day without the help of the other ponies!
I also think Granny Smith may have secretly let them use the south field because the apples there were not proper cider apples!
The wise decision would have been to carefully evaluate if there was any useful advances from the technology that would not impact the cider's consistency, then potentially barter at a fair negotiated rate!
I work with over 200 people with a wide range of intellectual disabilities, speech problems, and physical disabilities. Yet I was not offended by Derpy's depiction.
Derpy comes off to me as just derp. It was nothing like actual disability, and it was more reminiscent of silly derpy cartoon characters that many of my clients enjoy.
I think once the other ponies entered into the competition, it would've been good to point out that it took nine ponies, six of which are world-saving superheroes who punch gods in the face, to outdo their one machine. Their one machine which, even if it was eventually outperformed, could still have provided enough cider for the town every day - which would've been good quality without the disabled quality control mechanism.
I get what the message was supposed to be, but it ended up feeling a bit like "progress is always bad". Just a little, though. I still enjoyed it.
Comments
I don't look at Pinkie Pie and feel like I'm being mocked for having ADD. My fiancee doesn't look at Twilight Sparkle's manic breakdown and think she's being mocked for having OCD. And believe me, speaking as someone who was mocked by her peers (and sometimes authority figures) for everything I did as a child, the characters in the cartoons I watched - many of which had casts and writing similar to that of MLP - were some of the only folks out there whom I never, ever felt personally mocked by.
Try playing up Dr. Whooves some more.
Animation for children is ridiculously censored and over-sensitized as it is. Characters like Derpy or Goofy and their ilk are not where we need to start making changes to improve them. Young audiences can generally handle (and enjoy!) a lot more than we give them credit for.
Then again, I also have a problem with the squirrel torture shorts in Ice Age, so whatever.
I didn't learn anything! I was right all along!
Fuck yeah!
(Yes, I know it's looking way to into it, but that's what I saw.)
I also think Granny Smith may have secretly let them use the south field because the apples there were not proper cider apples!
The wise decision would have been to carefully evaluate if there was any useful advances from the technology that would not impact the cider's consistency, then potentially barter at a fair negotiated rate!
I work with over 200 people with a wide range of intellectual disabilities, speech problems, and physical disabilities. Yet I was not offended by Derpy's depiction.
Derpy comes off to me as just derp. It was nothing like actual disability, and it was more reminiscent of silly derpy cartoon characters that many of my clients enjoy.
I get what the message was supposed to be, but it ended up feeling a bit like "progress is always bad". Just a little, though. I still enjoyed it.