This episode is my favourite so far because:
1. Big Mac actually speaks more than he ever did in the previous seasons, even if it was disguised as Orchard Blossom.
2. It built upon his character, and shows how family oriented he is, going so far as to enter a competition to earn the love of his little sister.
3. The way the two reconcile at the end.and 4. The fact the officials said plain as day why he was disqualified (is evident there was no drag, trans, or whatever buzzword the SJW horde use to claim offence to).
If you want to blame “shitty writing”, why the hell have a “sisterhooves” event with a vague ruling, when it could be a more open and friendly family-social, which is more inclusive, and could allow Big Mac to take Apple Jack’s place? Just saying.
The reason a man dressed as a woman is ‘funny’ is because people are seeing all things feminine as jokes. The same reason men in pink is laughed at, and why men acting feminine is also often something people joke about. We get movies about men dressing as women for admirable purposes (Mrs. Doubtfire) and it’s a comedy.
Usually, women dressing as men is considered bold, brave, and heroic, even charming at times. Examples like how people admire tomboys and praise them for being athletic while girly boys are called ‘sissies’, and we get ‘inspirational’ movies like Mulan where her dressing as a man is funny for a bit, but still proves she is bold and brave for that action. It’s the reason strong women in media are being praised so much, because we’re trying to say ‘masculinity is good. Masculinity is what makes a woman admirable’.
And yet we don’t get major films showing men embracing and accepting femininity.
We as a society have been deeming ‘feminine’ as weak, silly, and laughable, while anything masculine is praised. We try to encourage women to be stronger and more bold, but we don’t encourage men to be more sensitive and vulnerable.
This is where we have extremist feminists screaming that men shouldn’t touch anything that is meant to be ‘for women’. They don’t realize they are villainizing femininity and embracing masculinity. These women are doing as our society taught them: They are acting in a way they were taught was strong. To act more masculine, essentially. We shouldn’t be talking about man and woman as two binary defined things. We need to start looking at things as masculine and feminine, and praise both as strengths but also be willing to look at the flaws of both as well.
This whole thing about men in dresses being ‘offensive’. It has nothing to do with transphobia. This is gender misogyny. It wouldn’t be offensive if we just stopped and said ‘there is nothing wrong with a man in a dress’ as a society. And it’s weird because a long time ago, it was wrong for a woman to dress as a man, but men dressing as women was standard in theater which was considered a sophisticated thing.
Somewhere along the line, that changed. Somewhere along the line, women learned that in order to be strong, they needed to be considered able to do all the things men can do. They are now equals in that they can wear pants, and they can act masculine, they can hold that difficult job and support a family on their own, they can be heroes.
But because they used masculinity to create ‘equality’, femininity was sacrificed. Men could not be equals to women because masculinity for both genders has become so highly praised that they FEAR being anything but masculine. We want men to understand women more, and we want to all be equals, but how can we be when we won’t allow people to embrace feminine things no matter their gender?
Why can’t we try to encourage everyone to have a good balance of both sides and that either side is just as admirable and just as strong as the other?
Instead of screeching about a man wearing a dress being offensive to transpeople, maybe you should be screeching about how colors, outfits, and choices on appearance need to stop being so heavily gendered. And fight for the fact that there is nothing wrong in the masculine embracing the feminine.
I’m well aware, but it’s the reason for being offended is the issue.
Are women dressing as men as transphobic as men dressing as women?
Is there intent to harm the gender image?
Why is the character in drag?
Are they cross dressing because they want to?
Is it just a disguise?
Would you say the same thing if the genders were swapped and Big Mac was a female attempting to dress as a big male with a humorous appearance like pillows in a shirt for a large chest?
Are we not allowed to dress as the opposite gender at all?
they’re offended because it’s been ingrained in their minds to be offended by anything that remotely resembles them ever being depicted in the media as anything but perfect.
We need to help these people understand that they are NOT under personal attack and honestly this episode very well might encourage some young boys out there to try on a dress and have fun with it.
Nothing negative happened to Big Mac for wearing a dress or displaying masculine behaviors while in the dress. No one went “THAT’S A MAAAAAN EEEEW” they all just kinda went ‘yeah it was kind of obvious but it was sweet of you, still you didn’t play fair with the others so you’re disqualified’
Like I get where you’re coming from, I actually liked a lot of things about the episode. I’m still don’t think it’s right to tell other people how to deal with things that affect them, though.
Like honestly I loved the shit out of how outgoing and confident Big Mac seemed to be as Orchard Blossom and the fact Big Mac spoke to Apple Bloom in private IN that persona. She even seemed to be apologizing at the end by asking for Orchard Blossom’s opinion.
Still, there were some pretty obvious ‘HAHA AWKWARD DUDE IN A DRESS LET’S LAUGH AT HIS FAILURE’ jokes.
Credit where credit’s due, but let’s be fucking honest here and admit that the staff was capable of better.
“I still don’t think it’s right to tell other people how to deal with things that affect them” -
When they are trying to make an offended deal and talking point to censor an episode, then yeah, the opposing view has a right to voice and find fault in the logic. To not do so is to say “I’m offended” is a good excuse to stiffen any form of media.
As for the “Awkward dude in a dress” - Shoutout to Mrs. Doubtfire, a much beloved classic, and still heralded as so. How come you lot don’t take offence to that movie yet take offence to this when it had NO correlation to the argument you were making? Again, I cannot stress this enough: The officials and EVERYONE (as the officials were speaking on everyone’s behalf) knew Big Mac was a stallion the whole time and only disqualified him for poor showmanship.
It wasn’t trans-misogyny, it wasn’t trans or drag phobic, it was acceptance within reason, which pales IN COMPARISON TO THE ACTUAL LESSON of this episode: A brother doing all he can for the love of his sister.
Seriously, after this last spat of drama, I assert the same position as I did with Steven Universe: I’ll enjoy the show, screw the fan base.
The position I’ve been seeing is less about censorship and more about tact and the fact that the show staff CAN do better.
As for Mrs. Doubtfire, don’t stuff words in my mouth, kthx? On the one hand it IS possible to be aware of faults in a piece of media and still like the thing itself, but I never actually brought UP Mrs. Doubtfire, so I don’t know where you get off saying ‘you lot.’
I’ve already acknowledged the episode had positives, but the staff could have been less hamfisted.
//The position I’ve been seeing is less about censorship and more about tact and the fact that the show staff CAN do better.\ -
No this clearly ISN’T the position. This is the result of a badly presented analysis of an episode where it is making offence to something that clearly doesn’t exist in this episode. And this position clearly demonstrates a position of pro-authoritarian. By implying the staff can do BETTER is to outright censor their current existing product, as such, the basis has to criticise this position: The alleged transphobia, trans-misogyny or whatever alleged offence was caused.
No I am not putting words in your mouth, and I never implied to, what I am doing is showing what the parallel of the episode actually draws to, and no where in intent and purpose is it degrading or demeaning when you consider what the officials implied and what the overall message is.
I’m sorry, but this is political correctness gone mad, and its frankly speaking, appalling.
Just gonna point out here that all trans people I’ve talked to today, myself included, don’t think the episode is offensive. What’s offensive to me is people trying to tell me to get mad at something and blocking me when I tell them not to speak on my behalf.
A preview for the upcoming pony episode, Brotherhooves Social, was released earlier today and I need to warn everyone: huuuuge content warning for transmisogyny.
With minimal spoilers, the episode appears to revolve around a male pony ‘pretending to be a mare’, and the footage so far shows him crossdressing in a cartoonishly offensive depiction. It does not look to be handled with anything resembling decency, tact, or awareness whatsoever.
Im extremely upset that a show so dear to me would do this and I felt this needed to be spread. I will not be watching this episode and I felt I needed to let people know about this prior to the airing.
-Mod Rarity
FOR THE LAST TIME
DRAG=/=TRANS
DO NOT MIX THEM UP.
I am sick and tired of biggoted people claiming that drag is the same exact thing as trans when it’s NOT.
Drag is an art form, it’s ACTING. Men acting as women and women acting as men has been a thing for a long time.
The difference between drag and trans is that people in drag are playing a character, and they have EVERY right to!
Spike’s VA is a woman, are you going to call her transphobic for voicing a boy who’s constantly getting used as the butt of a joke?
Big Mac acted as a highly intelligent, highly caring, and VERY determined woman who was looking out for her family. He was trying to project his inner voice out as a character in order to give his sister what he thought was what she really wanted the most because she was so obsessed with her sister and sisterhooves social that he wanted desperately to be a part of that.
When I was little, I used to dress up and pretend to be different people because it made me feel more confident. And I’d dress up as either gender and claim to be a cousin or a distant family member of myself. Sometimes I’d ask younger friends to pretend I was related to them as well.
I am transgender, and I am also an actor who plays characters of both genders. Sometimes, I like to wear drag and I prefer people refer to it as ‘drag’. (If I wear a dress, because I’m a transman. I wear lolita dresses for example and doll makeup for conventions)
And I know plenty of people who do drag as an art form who do not identify as anything but the gender they were assigned.
Orchard Blossom is a fine character that Big Mac invented to be Applebloom’s perfect big sister. And guess what? Sometimes people (kids especially) WILL go to that length for their family.
And the sweetest thing about all of that was if you even bothered to watch, at the very end, Applebloom asks to talk to Orchard Blossom again, and Big Mac does so for her.
Not to mention that even if Big Mac was trans, the everyone let him compete. They were a little weirded out that they were still accepting of it. The reason why he was disqualified was because he destroyed half their competition equipment.
The episode is not offensive. The person who is saying it is isn’t even trans and is actively blocking trans people who say it’s not offensive
For people who think they can’t draw.
Arin: “I think anybody can draw”
Danny: “Yeah you do”
Arin: “And it’s true!”
Danny: “Could you not draw at all? Like, when you started?”
Arin: “Of cou– yOU think I came out the pussy drawin’ fuckin’ Mozart?!”“In the past, I have made no secret of my disdain for Arin Hanson’s famous motto, “Anybody can draw.” But I realize, only now do I truly understand what he meant. Not everyone can become a great artist; but a great artist *can* come from *anywhere*.” - not Ratatouille, (2007)
