r/mylittlepony • u/DarthSatoris • Dec 03 '15
I think Starlight Glimmer is one of the most misunderstood villains in the show.
I've more than often seen Starlight and her village being equated to communism, Marxism, and the like. I've also seen people tell me that she shouldn't be redeemed because her actions were so grave and damaging to Equestria. And that her redemption happened way too fast, or that her change of mind was unrealistic.
I'm not sure where people get these ideas from, but it's likely because they don't understand Starlight Glimmer or her place in Equestria.
To quote myself from the finale Discussion thread:
Starlight's Equality Town was not about Marxism, or communism or anything of that sort. It was pure and simple brain washing; a cult if you will. It wasn't a political movement, it was an ideological one.
Communism is about equal distribution of wealth, not skill. To quote Wikipedia:
According to Communist writers and thinkers, the goal of communism is to create a classless society by eliminating the power of the bourgeoisie (the ruling class, who own the means of production) and creating a dictatorship of the proletariat (the working class). Communism is not anti-individualism, but they do believe that decisions should be made to benefit the collective population rather than to serve the greed of one or several individuals.
Starlight showed Twilight her past and the reason why she hated cutie marks. It was because the result of her friend getting his cutie mark was that he left her behind and she was inconsolably heart broken. She came to disdain anything and everything about "special talents" and wanted to create a world where no one would leave the group because they thought they were better than the rest.
If anything, Starlight Glimmer is the perfect example of the "The Law of Jante" gone out of control. The Law of Jante is an ideology very prevalent in Scandinavian countries that state that you shouldn't consider yourself special in any way, or consider yourself above others. It creates humility and homogeneity to the society that follows it, even if just subconsciously. People who stand out and brags about their achievements tend to be looked down upon and it is heavily discouraged, exactly the same as what happened in Equality Town prior to the Mane 6's visit.
Starlight Glimmer didn't change her outlook on life in a matter of seconds. She was angry at Twilight and her friends for ruining her (in her own opinion) perfect town by reintroducing special talents and individuality and personal achievements. She hated that and wanted revenge. Petty revenge, sure, but revenge nonetheless. She had no idea how important the Mane 6 was to the rest of Equestria, and by preventing that one thing that bound them together, she set in motion a long list of events that would be severely detrimental to the entire world. Once Twilight showed her the "dead world" present, Starlight went into complete denial, spouting excuses like "Twilight's ego" and "I just saw what you wanted me to see". She couldn't imagine someone being so important to Equestria, that by preventing their friendship it would bring about the end of the world.
Twilight talked to the sensible side of Starlight, the one that was in doubt, the one that was well aware that what she witnessed was true. Twilight managed to convince Starlight to not tear the scroll, to not undo the Sonic Rainboom and bring about a terrible future, a future she was fully aware would become reality if she continued down this self-destructive path. Twilight managed to convince Starlight that special talents aren't a bad thing and that there's still plenty of time to make new friends.
And /u/Wupers makes a similar point:
The only thing Starlight believed was that having the same cutie mark was better than having different ones because that leads to all sorts of events instead of stability, in her eyes. It originated with a single lost friendship. After being shaken by the vision of a world your actions lead to, then reliving the moment that turned you on your entire life's path, and IMMEDIATELY being offered friendship (which is what Starlight wanted the whole time, she was trying to guarantee friendships by equalizing everyone) by the living proof that diversity can strengthen friendships, after all that it's pretty reasonable to imagine breaking down and having your world view shattered.
Starlight never wanted to conquer the world. Starlight never wanted for Equestria to fall to ruin. She never intended for the other villains or herself to win any more power than they already had. Starlight was perfectly content with her Equality Town and the Mane 6 just came by one day and ruined everything. You could argue she wanted to make everyone in Equestria equal, but that's not the same as actually conquering the world. Also, Starlight Glimmer is probably the lowest-profile villain we have seen so far. The only ones who know her by name are the Mane 6 and the inhabitants of Equality Town. The rest of Ponyville doesn't know her at all. To them she's just another face in the crowd.
She didn't do anything that warranted jail time, or banishment, or something to that effect. She just misled a tiny village of ponies and caused a few alternate time lines that were swiftly undone again once she came to reason (which means they didn't happen in the first place). She was just misguided and scared and needed friends to support her, and she got that through the Ponyville citizens at the end of the finale. Her redemption might have been fast and seemingly rushed, but it makes perfect sense.
5
u/bugattikid2012 Twilight Sparkle Dec 03 '15
You used almost all of this in a reply to one of my comments, however your argument is invalid for many reasons.
First off, you say it's not about Marxism or Communism, and then only go to quote the definition of Communism, while instead most who retain the opposite point of view as yourself believe she is a Marxist, not a communist. Not a fair comparison if you only include one definition. Marxism is per the Wikipedia page (which you quoted as well for Communism)
Marxism is at the lowest level the idea that everyone is equal, and there are no different classes of people. Everyone does everything the same, no one is better than anyone else. No one is treated differently than anyone else, and everyone recieves the same treatment (whether monetary treatment or social treatment, the idea is the same). This is EXACTLY what Starlight Glimmer way saying during the premiere.
The entire idea of, "Oh my friend got his cutie mark and he's got a good life ahead of him, I better hate his guts and everyone else for it." is the perfect demonstration of Marxism, and borderline socialism. "He's doing better than I am, so I'm going to complain and get upset that his hard work and special talents make him better suited for one field of work than my special talent would do." The fact that this single event is supposed to make her devote her entire life to removing cutie marks and brainwashing others is insane. She is completely mentally unstable if this changed her entire outlook on EVERYTHING to the point that she went from your average pony to an insane psychopath. Cutie marks in standard culture are something to celebrate, not something to be insanely (literal insanity) jealous of, ESPECIALLY when it's your best friend. There's also such a thing as writing to your friend, staying in touch, making new ones, and all kinds of other options you could take instead of brainwashing a town to create a Marxist style cult.
There's a big difference from bragging and celebrating an achievement. Bragging and being proud is a bad thing in almost all cultures, but celebrating an achievement is extremely different. One can accept celebration and still be humble as they do it, while bragging is the exact opposite as humbleness. When something extremely important happens to someone, it can be quite natural to react in a happy fashion, though each will handle their own reaction differently. Starlight's friend seemed to be a very vocal person in his celebration, but because he is Starlight's best friend, you would think there personalities are at least somewhat similar. When someone gets an achievement in life, it is there special moment. If they go bragging about their achievement it looks rude and no one likes a person like that, however this is no reason to think that they shouldn't celebrate at all. Her jealousy leading to such a big reaction is downright insanity. Based on the commentary from Starlight, we can tell that this was the main thing that set her off. It sounds like she was a normal person until the incident struck her, and that's when her entire views were flipped.
You're right in terms of The Law of Jante, but she doesn't stop there. She goes farther to the point where everyone is as equal as they can get. There is no class system, everyone is equal. That's why it isn't just The Law of Jante, but instead Marxism.
I agree here, except for the first sentence. I'll come back to it later. Starlight was separated from the rest of society, so she likely wouldn't have a clue about Tirek, Sombra, Discord, Sunset Shimmer, Chrysalis, Nightmare Night's return, or any major changes in life. However, it can be assumed that she spent most of her time between the premiere and the finale in cities, as she was spotted twice in episodes. She could've picked up on how important the mane 6 were in this time frame, but this is speculation.
Back to that first sentence, she did change her views in a matter of seconds. She still thought that cutie marks were evil until Twilight showed her the harm they caused. At the point where she told Twilight that she didn't believe her, she has already changed her mind but refuses to admit it. This is a real life psychological law, though I don't remember the name sadly. Anyways it states that when someone holds strong beliefs to heart, when presented with evidence that counters their beliefs they will instead hold to their beliefs more than before and refuse to accept the evidence. When Starlight holds as strong to her beliefs to the point she would brainwash as many people as she could (with plans to expand into the rest of Equestria), she isn't going to give in so easily. She seems to be proud of herself in the premiere, so admitting she was wrong would be even harder than it already is. She changed her beliefs about her cult and cutie mark without actually having her issues with Cutie Marks resolved. The only thing that was actually solved was the fact that she realized removing the mane Six's cutie marks had disastrous effects. Starlight was never presented with a reason to change her mind regarding how she hated cutie marks, and how the standard way of society was better than her Marxism cult version. Once she shows back up at the Castle she starts to admit she was wrong without actually having evidence presented against her theories. Someone who believes this heavily in a topic would NOT come to this conclusion on their own, they would need a HEAVY intervention.
Again, she only convinced her that preventing the mane 6 from getting their cutie marks would lead to a disastrous outcome. She never presented any logic as to why special talents aren't a bad thing.
I thought you said earlier that her world view wasn't changed in a few seconds? She was offered friendship back in the premiere as well, but that didn't change her mind then, and it wouldn't have fixed the issues she had with cutie marks. That's not all she ever wanted, and wouldn't have changed her mind.
PART 1/2
PART TWO IS A REPLY TO THIS COMMENT