Contextualizing the bronies

Cult, quality, subculture and the contradictions of contemporary fandom

Bibliographic Data

ID21874635
AuthorsEwan Kirkland (0000-0001-7036-2259, University of Brighton, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume8
Issue1
Pages87-104
Publication date2020-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Journal of Popular Television (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2046-9861 • E-ISSN: 2046-987X
PublisherIntellect (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1386/jptv_00012_1
OpenAlexW3005687342
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited17

This article critically situates My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (2010–19) and the ‘brony’ following it has attracted in terms of age and fandom, discourses of quality television, cult media and interactions between fandoms and cultural producers. Far from unprecedented, the show’s unexpected male audience reflects adults’ historic appreciation of media for children, the increased mainstreaming of animation, and the already infantilized persona of media fans. Aspects of the reimagined series reproduce characteristics of ‘quality television’ concerning characterization, genre, authorship and political intentionality. Simultaneously the show corresponds with overlapping aspects of cult television and cult cinema, crucially affording both cultural and subcultural value. Finally, examples of the series deliberately courting adult fan audiences are presented as reflecting reciprocal relationships between show producers and its mature viewers. The brony following consequently reflects changes in contemporary fandom dynamics, and the increasing mobility of twenty-first-century television viewing

Aesthetics · Art · Cult · Fandom · Media studies · Popular culture · Sociology · Asian Culture and Media Studies · History · Media Studies and Communication · Media, Gender, and Advertising

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