I think this is partly about giving yourself an out for liking childish things as a near- or young-adult. Kids shows commonly do include some Parental Bonus but extending that idea specifically to dark undercurrent plots that you have to read between the lines of the text seems like a way to feel “in the know” about something adult in the work while still consuming something you feel society expects you to have grown out of.
Then with a bit more maturing than that, you can hopefully just embrace childish joys earnestly, because joys are precious.I used to be very much into My Little Pony when that whole thing was big, and there was a tremendous amount of very dark fan theorisation and spinoff material.
I think what you say is correct in part, that it can make things less shameful, but I also think there’s a simpler explanation - it’s fun.
It’s exactly because kids shows are so happy and non-threatening that these dark fan theories are so entertaining, because of the stark contrast between the theory and the source material. And so the darker it is, the better.
I mostly don’t think people “believe” the dark theories are true, or in any way actually intended as subtext by the showrunners. People aren’t “reading between the lines” so much as they are purely “making it up” - in ways that were never intended but feel somehow plausible. It’s just a bit of fun.
MLP itself was a strange case, though, and got quite bizarre in the end. As the show went on, the writers and animators became increasingly aware they had unexpectedly developed a huge adult following, and some of the plot points that began purely as fan theories later became canon… but that’s a whole different story…
It’s arguably layers of this cover behavior, and mostly as you say because it’s fun. The first layer, closer reading and fan theorizing, is covering why they’re into children’s media or some other media that isn’t seen as fitting them.
The second layer is entwined with the first, the fan theorizing is itself covering what some are too insecure to say or do outright, which is make fan fiction. Some may look down on making fan fiction in similar ways as they feel looked down on for what they’re enjoying, making it somewhat ironic.
In short, don’t let your fan theories remain theories, make fan fiction and your own independent, inspired work!
It gets more views on Youtube
Yeah, half of film theory/game theory ideas are just completely absurd. He carefully filters his evidence and dismissed basic reasoning in the name of reaching an absurd conclusion. He made a video once where he assumed all wine in Game of Thrones was like 20% and just casually marched his theory forward.
Top ten youtubers… who’ve SWORN 😱
You ever watch Gabby’s Dollhouse?
She stays in her room, full-time. She never interacts with anyone outside of her room. She receives deliveries from an unseen outside force, via a cart and ramp system that makes interaction between inside and outside impossible. She then uses her anomalous abilities to shrink down inside of her dollhouse and have adventures in a pocket universe.
She’s happily protected, in a contained, secure area which she never leaves.
Gabby is a comparatively benign SCP.
I think Gabby is one of Ewen Cameron’s experiments
People just feel the need to be edgy about everything.
But that’s just a theory.
It’s more fun this way. The stark contrast between a happy children’s show and a very dark subliminal plot makes for good humor.
And this is the point where I’d step in as a creator and announce that Paul the Protagonist wasn’t in a coma, all of the audience were, and that we’ve hallucinated the entire show.
Just to fuck with people a bit.
Just to fuck with people a bit.
As a treat
It’s because every childrens show is an abstraction of real life relationships meant to teach lessons or just generally have cooler adventures than real life.
So yeah, of course when you have an episode where there’s a loving caring character you can say “that’s actually their mom” or the spunky side kick can actually be their sister.
I have seen this theory about Pokemon but it actually make sense that Ash is just dreaming all of this.
#1 Rule for Movies is if it ends with guy waking from a dream its a dumb movie.
Hey did you ever notice that Danny Tiger has a bunch of animal characters, but also just like normal animals, Like the pet bunny? The tigers are humanoid, but not the bunny?
