Twilight Trap USciology

There is silence in a room of twenty five as they watch Twilight Sparkle and her pony friends contend with wrapping up winter in preparation for the upcoming spring. All of the ponies in the village of Ponyville know their tasks which include snow removal, bird nest building, and waking hibernating animals in order to usher in the new season. The quiet space is broken when some of the attendees start singing along with the feature song of the episode “Winter Wrap Up.” Soon the entire room is singing the song and everyone appears to be genuinely enjoying themselves as they do so. The twenty five people are not young children, but young adults and mostly men. They are members of the Lehigh Valley Brony Group attending their bi-weekly meeting …show more content…
These young men and women actively enjoy the camaraderie they have with each other as they show off their latest pony merchandise and talk about topics relating to the show.
The opening paragraph reflects my first encounter with Bronies as their new club advisor. The interactions I had with this group began to transform my own understandings of masculinity. Furthermore, those experiences made me curious about how this new and growing fandom might alter contemporary conceptions of masculinity within society. But one might wonder, as I did, why this mostly male group is earnestly enjoying a cartoon show often associated with little girls? Bronies present a conundrum to conventional understandings of masculinity. Their existence is perplexing because many people cannot understand how young adult males could genuinely enjoy colorful ponies talking about friendship issues and …show more content…
Here we have a young man attending a fan convention for My Little Pony where a number of like-minded individuals openly confronting gender expectations by liking “a show for little girls” and yet he still feels the need to reinforce his “manhood” by finding women to use for sexual purposes. It is as if Luke still fears that his masculinity is in danger of disappearing because he is surrounded in a seemingly feminine space of pastel ponies and open, caring friendships. There is also the possibility that Luke may not genuinely adhere to notions of the show and was only looking to get what he wanted from others at the convention. My roommate for the weekend also provides an intriguing nuance to the experience in that she was familiar with the types of individuals that attend fan conventions and knew of a possible way to exploit those perceived weaknesses like Luke