Bronies [USA, 2013]

Nine Things About the Movie Bronies

1. This little documentary was much more interesting than I expected. I actually watched it twice in one week.

2. It’s about how the show “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic” was created to use the classic My Little Pony characters as archetypes for various positive character traits, and challenge female stereotypes. It was aimed at little girls.

3. What nobody expected is that guys got obsessed with the show, too, and began to call themselves “bronies” - which is a combination of “bro” and “pony”. Their favorite form of greeting is the fist bump - which they call the "bro hoof".

4. The movie follows several different bronies from all over the world, and how they found each other. It also goes into the difficulties they face for being open about how much they like a
“girlie show”. It also shows their journeys to various “BronyCons”, which are huge conventions of bronies.

5. People that are uncomfortable with bronies suspect that they are either gay, or the opposite - they like little girls too much. This movie does a good job of dispelling those myths. One of the more interesting scenes is a gathering of bronies in the military.

6. What’s fascinating is how this show has obviously hit a real nerve among men - this is not an isolated phenomenon. We see people from redneck small towns, couples in Germany, a DJ in Israel, and a British kid with Asperger's Syndrome. This is not an isolated fetish.

7. Some bronies feel this documentary is too one-sided, by making bronies all look socially awkward and prone to discrimination. It also tends to ignore grown women that like the show (they call themselves “pegasisters”)

8. Other bronies are upset that the movie doesn’t talk about clopping - which is the porn part of My Little Pony fandom.

9. I’m not a brony, but I support them. This movie makes the point that men can be sensitive and inclusive and loving. In a world where violence among men is “normal”, but friendship and love is “deviant”, the movie shows that the problem is with the brony-haters, not the bronies.