Bronies.de

By far I've spent the most time with John, since he was the only one of the three actively in the studio. You grow comfortable around him really quickly, because he's very relaxed and loves to joke around. And by Celestia, does the man like to tease. He is every bit a trickster as Discord is. He has a very sarcastic, dry sense of humor that he deadpans so well that you'd think he was serious. (Well... I would, at least. I'm just ridiculously gullible.) He's also very smart, and I get the feeling he analyzes bronyism at the macro level--what this fandom is capable of in the grand scheme of things, and the cultural and societal implications it can have on the world at large. He gets pretty philosophical with it too, and it's actually pretty fascinating.

I had actually met Tara previously at a couple MLP events prior (MLP Project Art Gallery in Hollywood, as well as the UCLA Book Faire MLP panel) so I was decently comfortable being around her. But the first day I met her on the job was when I went over to her home very briefly during her interview for the documentary. I originally wasn't supposed to come, but the crew had left a tripod back at the studio, and they had asked me to bring it over. I met her again while running an errand for Mike. I was supposed to drop off a box of Love and Tolerance posters for her to sign for our Kickstarter backers. She ended up inviting me in, and I helped her out with the autographs (hence why she nicknamed me Spike). Her kids were there too, and were just hanging out, so everyone in the room was just chatting up a storm.

Tara is just a ball of fun. She's taken this whole "twolling" thing and completely run off with it. And I think it's amazing that she not only knows how much attention she gets, but how she wields it responsibly. She knows she has a veritable army of bronies, so she points them towards charities and good causes and says, "GO GET 'EM, BRONIES!" It's awesome. She's a wonderful person.

She ended up attacking me with one of her Twilightlicious slap bracelets before I left. I am forever scarred by that memory.

Lauren is immensely busy, so I don't get to see her very often at all--the first time I met her was when I dropped off the box of posters for her to sign, but I didn't stay for more than a few minutes. But based on the time I've spent with her, you can tell how much she appreciates the bronies and how much she cares about this thing that she's created. The amount of thought, energy, and love that she put into creating the MLP world is just so palpable and so real. The documentary crew did a THREE-HOUR interview with her, and she had so much insight to offer regarding her vision of the MLP universe. It was amazing to watch and listen. She's a brilliant woman, surrounded by brilliant people, and no one could have brought MLP to life as well as she and her team did.

John DeLancie hat einen sehr trockenen Humor und wird gerne philosophisch. Er betrachtet "Bronyism" gerne im Großen und spekuliert gerne über die Auswirkungen, die Bronies auf die Welt haben könnten.

Tara ist auch privat eher lustig und energiegeladen. Sie ist sich ihrer "Macht" über Bronies und ihrer Position als "Twoll" bewusst und nutzt diese gerne und ganz bewusst, um ihre "Bronyarmee" in Richtung Charities und anderer toller Dinge zu dirigieren.

Lauren ist ständig beschäftigt. Sie schätzt Bronies ungemein und kümmert sich sehr um ihr Werk. Es wurde ein dreistündiges Interview mit ihr gemacht, in dem sie sehr viel Einsicht in ihre Gedanken in Bezug auf die MLP-Welt gibt. Dieses und andere Interviews sollen angeblich in voller Länge auf die Bonus-BluRay-Disc kommen.

The day that my producer discovered what clopping was is a day that will forever go down in infamy in the studio.

No, I'm not joking. I had to explain what clopping was. It was both mildly amusing and mildly frightening at the same time. He was utterly shocked, and even asked me if that was something all bronies did.

They also asked me a lot about episodes from the show, where we could find specific examples of clips they were looking for so we could use them in the documentary, and about brony musicians. The story producer, Stephanie, would often have pretty deep psychological discussions with me about why bronies exist, why they do the things they do, and what exactly caused it to blow up so much. Among a lot of other things, really. I'm trying to remember if there was anything else beyond that.

And then you explained Rule 34, so he won't be shocked by this sort of thing ever again?

Yep. That was part of it.

Der Tag an dem sein Produzent von "clopping" erfahren hat, wird in die Geschichte des Studios als berühmt-berüchtigt eingehen. Er fand die Situation zugleich etwas witzig und furchteregend. Der Produzent hingegen war komplett geschockt und fragte, ob das denn alle Bronies machen? (Dann wurde das Prinzip Rule 34 erklärt usw.)

Zudem musste er helfen beim Finden von Künstlern, Musikern, Clips aus der Show und ähnlichem. Die Story Editorin hat ihn auch für tiefgründige psychologische Gespräche über den Ursprung, das "Warum?" und wie es zu einem solchen Wachstum kam, eingespannt.

In My Opinion™...

The most immediate concern is the elimination of hate and the pursuit of peace through the use knowledge, logic, and rationality.

The most likely result is that those who watch it will gain a better understanding, and hopefully a better appreciation, of who bronies are and what they're all about. We're not expecting people to Join the Herd after watching the doc. If they do, awesome! If they don't, we're hoping that they'll at least tolerate bronies instead of judging them at first glance without really looking into what bronies are all about.

Idealistically, I'd like for the documentary to force people to confront and re-evaluate society's understanding of gender roles and stereotypes, and recognize them for the archaic notion that they are. Lauren put it very well in the trailer: "We need to allow men to be sensitive and to care about one another, and not call them weak for caring." Right now, men are relegated to this whole "You have to be tough, you have to be unforgiving, you have to be strong, you have to be unyielding" thing, and as a result, it's causing men to disassociate themselves from empathy and sensitivity, which are natural traits in the human psyche that society is telling us to abandon. It's in our evolutionary psychology to be sensitive and to have empathy for one another. My Little Pony is helping men reconnect with that side. I want people to recognize that, and value it.

Not only that, but we as a society associate femininity with weakness, or with a lack of quality. Whenever a man is being "weak" or showing signs of fear, we tell him to "stop being such a girl!" or, "Man, you're just a little p&%#y, grow some balls!" Anyone mentions a show for little girls, and the immediate response is, "oh it's crap, oh it's vapid, oh it has no plot, oh there's no depth, it's just mindless tea parties and fashion shows." And quite frankly, that's BS. Women's entertainment is not stupid. Women are not weak. These notions need to be abandoned.

Women can be strong and independent and confident, just like men can be caring and sensitive and empathetic. This is what Lauren wanted to show with MLP, and anti-bronyism is getting in the way of this message.

But honestly, if this documentary convinces even one person to stop hating bronies, then it's done its job.

Der wichtigste Punkt ist die Auslöschung von Hass und die Streben nach Frieden mit Hilfe von Wissen, Logik und Rationalität.

Das wahrscheinlichste Resultat ist ein besseres Verständnis dafür, was Bronies sind. Vorurteile abbauen, den Leuten die Angst davor nehmen. Sollte jemand sich deshalb sogar der "Herde" anschließen wäre das toll, aber es ist nicht das Ziel.

Idealistisch gesehen soll das gesellschaftliche Verständnis von Geschlechterrollen aufgebrochen und neu bewertet werden, denn derzeit ist es so, dass Männer die sich kümmern ("men who care" - mir fällt keine wirklich gute Übersetzung dafür ein) als schwach, als "weiblich" gelten. Jeder hat eine sensible, mitfühlende Seite, und MLP kann Männern dabei helfen, diese wiederzuentdecken.

Zudem soll das Vorurteil, dass Dinge für Frauen/Mädchen automatisch Schei*e sind, bekämpft werden. Diese Vorurteile müssen aufgegeben werden. Frauen können unabhängig und stark sein, sowie Männer mitfühlend und sensibel sein können. Das ist Lauren Faust's Vision.

Aber ernsthaft, solange zumindest eine Person nach Ansehen des Films ihren Hass auf Bronies aufgibt, ist er schon zufrieden.

This is actually a popular question. I'll answer to the best of my ability, but do bear in mind that I'm only an assistant editor. What I say represents my personal views, and those may or may not coincide with the views of the documentary as a whole.

The documentary emphasizes a lot of different things, but it tries to focus on what defines bronyism and what makes the culture on a whole so unique and compelling. The music, the art, the fiction, the charities, the ways that it's changed peoples' lives for the better. The conventions that are being attended to by thousands around the world and the celebration of brony culture that ensues.

My question to you is, would you define bronyism as a whole by its "more 'controversial' elements"? How much do those elements dictate the nature of the overall fandom? Is it a major part of the fandom to the point where it influences the vast majority of people who belong to it? I would say no. Said controversial elements are not a defining, exemplifying aspect of bronyism. And therefore, it's not necessarily relevant to the purpose of the documentary, which is to explain who bronies are and how bronyism has affected their day-to-day lives.

The documentary, in my opinion, shouldn't touch upon the controversial aspects of the fandom, because they aren't necessary in explaining what bronies are and why they exist.

But the documentary does make a very short, very succinct reference to one such controversial element of the fandom. I'd rather not spoil it, but you'll know it when you see it.

Die Doku befasst sich mit der Erklärung, was "Bronyism" ist, wie er entstand, was daraus entstand, natürlich auch den Conventions, auf denen es zelebriert wird und vorallem auf wie vielfältige Arten es unterschiedliche Menschen beeinflusst hat.

Dabei wird der Fokus auf Dinge gelegt, die das Fandom definieren. Die meisten kontroversen, negativen Dinge zählen nunmal nicht zu dieser Definition und stellen keinerlei Besonderheit des "Bronytums" dar. Sie sind einfach nicht nötig um zu erklären, was ein "Brony" ist.

Aber es wird eine Referenz auf ein kontroverses Element des Fandoms geben, welche und um was genau es geht, wird aber nicht verraten. Das ist eine Überraschung.

The documentary follows a select number of bronies (whom I will refer to as "characters") throughout their journey as they make their way to BronyCon/Brony UK/Galacon. It goes into their lives and examines how bronyism has changed their life, for better or for worse.

Some of the stories are just flat out happy. But others, there's a bit of a struggle. Alex's struggles with his community's refusal to accept his bronyism, Lyle's issues with his father, Dan's fight with agoraphobia, Lauren's sadness regarding her having to leave the franchise...

There are some plain happy stories too, but the whole idea is to engage you emotionally with these characters and their lives. In that way, it's touching.

Aside from that, we try to explore the brony phenomenon from a factual, psychological perspective. We say who the bronies are, how they came about, why they exist, and how bronyism has affected people. So those are the facts.

I'd say it's all around: drama, comedy, education.

Die Doku begleitet mehrere Bronies auf ihrem Weg zu BronyCon/B.U.C.K./Galacon und betrachtet ihr Leben und wie es sich zum besseren oder schlechteren geändert hat. Einige sind einfach nur fröhlich, bei anderen gibt es Konflikte oder Probleme. Lauren (Faust) ist traurig, dass sie das Franchise verlassen musste ...

Das Ziel ist es, den Zuseher während dieser Geschichten emotional in den Film hineinzuziehen.

Andererseits wird das "Brony-Phänomen" an sich aus einer faktischen, psychologischen Perspektive erforscht. Es wird gesagt wer Bronies sind, wie sie entstanden sind, warum das Bronytum existiert und wie es Menschen beeinflusst.

Also von allem ein bisschen: Drama, Comedy und Bildung.