Talk:A Changeling Can Change/@comment-15889853-20161028050245/@comment-13140940-20170606224712

This was an amazing song, but it was brought down by the cringe. The animations were cringe and the context was cringe. Seriously? Spike making gestures like he's singing at an opera? Spotlights? Thorax running and crying like a bullied kid? This song is much better without context.

"Life isn't some cartoon musical where you sing a little song and your insipid dreams magically come true!"

This is one of the greatest problems with the show, because this exact statement used to be false for MLP's world. But Season 4 and 5 suddenly pulled MLP from a high-fantasy world into one grounded much more in reality, and the show suffered in nearly all aspects. Rewatching early episodes using the same lens for new episodes makes the show absolutely terrible. Everything is cringy. Pinkie's songs were terrible.

But the show was good, because it wasn't grounded in reality like it is now. That's why Twilight being angsty in Winter Wrap-Up isn't cringe like Spike being angsty here is. That's why This Day Aria and A True, True Friend could be used to sing their way out of their problems without people complaining.

Why do you think A Hearth's Warming Tail was so good? Because it got rid of the restrictive expectations of realism this show developed. It framed the story as one from a storybook, and added a festive mood. Perfect for recreating the mood of the original seasons where the show was expected to be childish.

And on that note, going back to your quote; remember when Pinkie literally sang her way out of Nightmare Moon's curse? Remember when the only thing needed to beat Discord and Nightmare Moon was to be glad you had friends and be happy? Remember when Twilight literally had a teardrop that formed a broken heart on the ground, and we didn't cringe and call the show horrible? This is exactly what I mean. MLP WAS a world where you could sing to achieve your dreams, or have fun learning you're not there yet but know you'll eventually get there. Because the show back then didn't directly cover issues like it does now. The show wasn't "Stop being racist this bug has good qualities", it was "Oh wow this zebra's pretty cool and it was all a misunderstanding", which REPRESENTED "Oh can we not be racist". The show was not another reality with racism and depression and societal pressures, it was a near-ideal reality where its little faults could be applied to racism and depression and societal pressures. An ideal world where singing was awesome and friendship did mean you could change the world. A Changeling Can Change is written like MLP is still that world. But it's not.