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television consumption - pie for breakfast

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July 17th, 2012
11:48 pm

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television consumption
a couple of months back, on facebook, kid_prufrock wrote: ‘The last two shows I've been watching are Breaking Bad and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. I think I like both best when I watch an episode of the latter right after one of the former, as a chaser.’

i now understand the deep wisdom of this approach.

[minor theme and premise spoilers follow]

think about it: Breaking Bad has an anti-episodic structure to the point where pretty much every episode ends with a cliffhangerish lack of closure, the driving force of the whole thing is Walter's various masculinity-associated complexes (especially his masculine provider complex), and nobody ever seems to learn their lesson.

now compare MLP:FisM: although there are some recurring themes and ongoing plots, almost every episode forms a satisfying and reasonably complete narrative (or, at most, is part of a two-parter), there is not much of a problem with gratuitous masculinity, and many (most?) episodes end with an explicit statement of what lesson was learned.

that is, a ~20-minute episode of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, is a concentrated dose of exactly the things one needs to balance out the effects of Breaking Bad consumption. i don't know that they could have done a better job if they'd designed the show from the ground up for this purpose.

two other thoughts:

- i am very, very happy to finally have the perfect post for this userpic.

- if it comes up, the Applejack is clearly the pony to cast in the Walter White role.

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[User Picture]
From:prisminawindow
Date:July 18th, 2012 04:21 am (UTC)
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<3
[User Picture]
From:rose_garden
Date:July 18th, 2012 07:15 am (UTC)
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I have been watching Breaking Bad very slowly. It is fascinating but painful to watch. I've watched about five episodes over about two months.
[User Picture]
From:q10
Date:July 18th, 2012 04:23 pm (UTC)
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this is why it's so important to alternate with My Little Pony.
[User Picture]
From:kid_prufrock
Date:July 18th, 2012 02:57 pm (UTC)
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... except for the fact that Applejack's signature virtue is Walter's favorite flaw?

I dunno--why do you see it? (I see Walter as a twisted Twilight Sparkle, personally: a Twilight Sparkle who never returns to Princess Celestia in Canterlot, and spends year after ever-longer year as the underappreciated magical guardian of Ponyville, until the day she finds out how Applejack's failed little sister actually spends her time...)
[User Picture]
From:kid_prufrock
Date:July 18th, 2012 02:59 pm (UTC)
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OR: Rarity's Cutie Mark doesn't actually have anything to do with ornamentation.
[User Picture]
From:q10
Date:July 18th, 2012 04:21 pm (UTC)
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heh.
[User Picture]
From:kid_prufrock
Date:July 18th, 2012 03:02 pm (UTC)
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AW MAN PINKIE PIE IS HANK
[User Picture]
From:q10
Date:July 18th, 2012 04:22 pm (UTC)
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i was thinking Rainbow Dash.
[User Picture]
From:q10
Date:September 17th, 2013 01:32 am (UTC)
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two episodes out from the end, i think i've come to the conclusion that Rainbow Dash is Hank and Twilight Sparkle is Walter.

and her kingpin alias is ‘Starswirl’.
[User Picture]
From:kid_prufrock
Date:July 18th, 2012 03:18 pm (UTC)
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should've been FATAL flaw, obviously.

Edited at 2012-07-18 03:19 pm (UTC)
[User Picture]
From:q10
Date:July 18th, 2012 04:21 pm (UTC)
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Walter White's fatal flaws are his need to provide and his stubborn refusal to accept help.

Applejack demonstrates both of these, occasionally to the point of extreme evasiveness (signature virtue or no). I am thinking here most especially of The Last Roundup, but also of Applejack's desire to raise some cash for her family by moving a large volume of high-quality product in Ticket Master, and her stubborn and prideful refusal to accept help she obviously needs in Applebuck Season.

and she's the only major pony named after an intoxicant, so there's that.

hell, you could practically write a Breaking Bad episode into The Last Roundup. you see, after the financial disaster with the Grand Galloping Gala concessions, Sweet Apple Acres has been hurting much more than anybody realized, and Granny Smith's hip replacement still needs paying for. the rodeo competition was Applejack's last desperate bid to raise that money legit, and, when that didn't work out, she met up with Copper Kettle and Moonshine to start a bootlegging operation. you see, Applejack has access to zap apples, and is the only one who knows how to sing to them to get them to ferment properly, and zap apples are the key to the strongest, purest applejack in all of Equestria (this also provides us with an opportunity to have prohibition-era gangster ponies, which i think would be hilarious).

i'm not sure what we'd do for the Jesse role - maybe Scootaloo?

η: obviously, in this version, Cherry Jubilee is just providing Applejack with a cover story.

Edited at 2012-07-18 04:28 pm (UTC)
[User Picture]
From:q10
Date:July 18th, 2012 05:51 pm (UTC)
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ooh! maybe Pinkie Pie could be Jesse. after all, her aptitude with keeping things stashed around Ponyville (seen in It's About Time) would be useful for a street-level dealer (cf. Jesse's blind drops), and both of them love to party.

hrm. would that mean Carrot Cake was Gus? ‘surgarcube corner’ indeed.
[User Picture]
From:q10
Date:July 18th, 2012 05:05 pm (UTC)
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oh, also, AJ and WW both have signature hats.
[User Picture]
From:q10
Date:July 19th, 2012 01:26 am (UTC)
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would you object to this entry being made public? you're the only one for whom i see it being any kind of security issue, so i thought i should ask first.
[User Picture]
From:kid_prufrock
Date:July 19th, 2012 05:08 am (UTC)
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Not at all!
[User Picture]
From:anasai
Date:July 18th, 2012 05:02 pm (UTC)
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This sounds brilliant. I've been unable to get through more than a couple episodes of BB or MLP because they are both kind of TOO MUCH on my psyche. I'll try it out!
[User Picture]
From:zandperl
Date:July 19th, 2012 12:04 am (UTC)
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One of my LJ friends, calzephyr77, is a huge MLP fan and I think she'd get a kick out of this comparison. Since it's flocked, would you mind my sending her a copy via email?
[User Picture]
From:q10
Date:July 19th, 2012 01:25 am (UTC)
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sure - pass along whatever you want.

(if kid_prufrock doesn't object, i can make the entry public - i don't think anything remotely personal or identifying about anybody else appears here. η: now public. just link her to it.)

Edited at 2012-07-19 01:25 pm (UTC)
[User Picture]
From:zandperl
Date:July 20th, 2012 02:18 am (UTC)
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Great, I'll send her on over. :)
[User Picture]
From:ccommack
Date:July 19th, 2012 01:56 am (UTC)
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How happy does this make me? This happy.
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