“I’m Going to Love and Tolerate the Shit Out of You”: Hybrid Masculinities in the Brony Community

Based on interviews with 30 men who are fans of My Little Pony and ethnographic observations at four My little Pony conventions, this article examines men’s engagement with feminized media as a form of hybrid masculinities. I identify two major subgroups of fans. The first utilized the brony community as a space that expanded the norms for men around emotional expression without challenging systemic inequality and distanced themselves from privilege by aligning themselves with a “gender defying” fandom. The second and dominant group expressed an aggrieved masculinity and engaged with the community as an explicitly antifeminist project, reinterpreting the show to assert hegemonic masculinity. This article contributes to understanding how men may articulate power through their engagement with feminized media and, more generally, expands the concept of hybrid masculinities.

Online collaboration and identity work in a brony fandom: Constructing a dialogic space in a fan translation project

Online collaboration has become a regular practice for many Internet users, reflecting the emergence of new participatory cultures in the virtual world. However, little is yet known about the processes and conditions for online collaboration in informally formed writing spaces and how these create opportunities for participants’ identity work. This ethnographic case study explores how four young adults, fans of the show My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (bronies), negotiated a dialogic space for their online collaboration on a fan translation project and how this created opportunities for their identity work. After a year of participant observation, we collected interviews, ethnographic diaries and participants’ chats, which were analysed with qualitative content and discourse analysis methods. The findings showed how the Etherpad online writing platform used by the participants facilitated the construction of dialogic space through the visualization of a shared artefact and adjustable features. It was in this dialogic space where the participants negotiated their expert identities which furthered their discussions about writing, translating and technological innovations. The study advances present-day knowledge about online collaboration in affinity groups, engendering the construction of a dialogic space for collaborative writing and participants’ identity work.

PENTINGNYA KESESUAIAN VISUAL KARAKTER TOKOH DALAM FILM ANIMASI “MY LITTLE PONY: THE MOVIE”

Film merupakan salah satu media yang menyediakan hiburan dalam bentuk elekktronik berupa audio visual, yang dapat menampilkan bunyi, kata-kata dan gambar. Film juga adalah sebuah medium untuk berkomunikasi yang dapat memberikan dampak kepada penontonnya. Film pada masa sekarang banyak berkembang dikarenakan teknologi yang semakin maju yang membuat dunia perfilman semakin maju dengan pesat. Film animasi “My little Pony: The Movie” adalah film animasi musikal yang diadaptasikan dari serial televisi animasi animasi My Little Pony yang diciptakan oleh Lauren Fraust. Film animasi “My Little Pony: The Movie” merupakan film yang disukai oleh anak-anak dan remaja karena menggunakan visual yang menarik dengan warna-warna yang disukai oleh anak-anak pada umumnya. Film ini mempunyai 6 karakter tokoh utama yaitu Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy dan Applejack, 6 karakter tokoh utama tersebut memiliki karakter dengan sifat-sifat yang berbeda satu sama lain. Film animasi My Little Pony menceritakan dunia fantasi tentang pertemanan 6 (enam karakter Tokoh). Tujuan penelitian adalah mencari konsep dibalik karakter visual setiap tokoh. Terlihat adanya masalah dimana visualiasi tidak identik dengan karakter yang diperankan. Metode penelitian yang digunakan semiotika F Sausure: sign = penanda & petanda. Di dalam pembahasan objek terlihat tersturktur dalam beberapa pemvisualisasian yaitu: wajah, warna, bentuk mata, ekor dan pakaian. Tiap visualisasi memiliki makna sesuai dengan mitos fantasi. Diketemukan di dalam penelitian ini bahwa kesesuaian tokoh dengan karakter dikontruksi oleh ekspresi wajah, gerak kaki, sorotan mata, warna dan gaya berpakaian. Dari penelitian disimpulkan bahwa kesesuaian dalam pemvisualisasian menciptkan karakter yang membedakan antara tokoh satu dengan yang lainnya.

‘Get out of my fandom, newbie’: A cross-fandom study of elitism and gatekeeping in fans

In the present article we discuss three studies aimed at better understanding elitism in the context of fan groups. The studies assess different facets of elitism, predictors of elitism and the potential outcomes associated with holding elitist beliefs. The survey studies were conducted on members of three distinct fan groups: furries (fans of media featuring anthropomorphized animal characters), bronies (adult fans of the television series My Little Pony) and anime fans (fans of Japanese animation). Elitism was found to include both self-inflation and other-derogation and is predicted by two components of fan identity (fanship and fandom). Elitism was also significantly associated with pro-gatekeeping attitudes and behaviours. Practical and theoretical implications for fan culture are discussed. We also discuss the limitations of the studies and their ability to contribute to a discussion about creating inclusive fan spaces.

Contextualizing the bronies: Cult, quality, subculture and the contradictions of contemporary fandom

This article critically situates My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (2010‐19) and the ‘brony’ following it has attracted in terms of age and fandom, discourses of quality television, cult media and interactions between fandoms and cultural producers. Far from unprecedented, the show’s unexpected male audience reflects adults’ historic appreciation of media for children, the increased mainstreaming of animation, and the already infantilized persona of media fans. Aspects of the reimagined series reproduce characteristics of ‘quality television’ concerning characterization, genre, authorship and political intentionality. Simultaneously the show corresponds with overlapping aspects of cult television and cult cinema, crucially affording both cultural and subcultural value. Finally, examples of the series deliberately courting adult fan audiences are presented as reflecting reciprocal relationships between show producers and its mature viewers. The brony following consequently reflects changes in contemporary fandom dynamics, and the increasing mobility of twenty-first-century television viewing.