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''My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic'' is an animated television series produced by Hasbro as part of its My Little Pony toy franchise, which is tied in with the 2010 launch of dolls and play sets, and original programming for U.S. cable channel Discovery Family (formerly Hub Network). Lauren Faust was selected as the creative developer and executive producer for the show, based on her previous animation experience with shows like ''The Powerpuff Girls'' and ''Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends''. Under Hasbro's guidance, Faust developed the show to appeal to the target demographic of young girls and their parents, but created characters and settings that challenged formerly stereotypical norms of "girly" images, and added adventure and humorous elements to keep parents interested. The show is animated using Flash, and produced at DHX Media's animation studio in Vancouver, Canada. Its production is overseen by director Jayson Thiessen, who took over as showrunner after Faust stepped down after the second season. The show received praise from television critics and parental groups. It also found an unlikely audience in a large group of adult Internet users in late 2010 and early 2011. These fans, mostly male, were drawn to the show's characters, stories, animation style, and influence of the show's propagation as an Internet meme. The fandom adopted the name brony (plural bronies), a portmanteau of "bro" and "pony". Though initially considered to propagate the humorous and ironic concept of people enjoying a show for young girls, the fandom has shown deeper appreciation for the show far beyond this concept, and is considered part of a New Sincerity trend. Its technology-savvy members have created numerous works in writing, music, art, and video based on the show, have established websites and fan conventions for the show, and have participated in charitable events around the show and those that create it. The appreciation of the show by an older audience came as a surprise to Hasbro, Faust, and others involved with its development, but they have embraced the older fans while staying focused on the show's intended audience. Such reciprocity has included participation in fan conventions by the show's voice actors and producers, recognition of the brony fandom in official promotional material, and incorporating background characters popularized by the fans (such as the fandom-named "Derpy Hooves") into in-jokes within the show. As a result of these efforts in part, ''My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic'' has become a major commercial success with the series becoming the highest rated original production in Hub Network's broadcast history. ==History== One of the first critical reviews of ''Friendship Is Magic'', published shortly after the initial broadcast in October 2010, was written by Amid Amidi for the animation website ''Cartoon Brew''. Amidi wrote that the show was a sign of "the end of the creator-driven era in TV animation".〔 Amidi's essay expressed concern that assigning a talent like Faust to a toy-centric show was part of a trend towards a focus on profitable genres of animation, such as toy tie-ins, to deal with a fragmented viewing audience, and overall "an admission of defeat for the entire movement, a white flag-waving moment for the TV animation industry."〔 Though the show had been discussed on 4chan's cartoon forum before the essay's publication, the alarmist nature of the essay led to more interest in the show, resulting in a positive response for the series for its plot, characters, and animation style.〔 This reaction soon spread to the other boards of 4chan, where elements of the show quickly inspired recurring jokes and memes on the site. Some of these included adopting phrases from the show like "anypony", "everypony", and "nopony", instead of "anybody", "everybody", and "nobody",〔 or jokingly stating that they watch the show for the "plot", a reference to the ponies flanks.〔 The number of ''Friendship Is Magic'' posts drew attention on the site. Fans of the show defended it against various trolling attacks from other 4chan boards, leading to a temporary ban on the discussion of anything related to ponies.〔 Christopher Poole, the founder of 4chan, briefly acknowledged the popularity of the show on the site at the 2011 South by Southwest festival.〔 Poole has since created a dedicated board for discussion of the show and its fandom. Though the discussion of the show continued at 4chan, fans created other venues to discuss it, and the fandom spread to other Internet forums.〔 The adult interest in the show is comparable to that of ''The Magic Roundabout'', ''Tiny Toon Adventures'', ''Rocko's Modern Life'', ''Animaniacs'', ''Dexters Laboratory'', ''The Powerpuff Girls'', ''SpongeBob SquarePants'', ''Yo Gabba Gabba!'', and ''Phineas and Ferb'': older audiences appreciate jokes aimed at adult viewers and a sense of nostalgia for older cartoons and animated films.〔 Many of the aforementioned shows had attracted college-aged fans who, when ''Friendship Is Magic'' was airing, would be raising children of their own. The show references works that older viewers would recognize, such as ''I Love Lucy'', ''The Benny Hill Show'', ''X-Men'', ''2001: A Space Odyssey'', ''Diamond Dogs'', ''The Big Lebowski'', ''The Avengers'', ''Star Wars'', and ''Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas''.〔〔 Most of these fans are surprised by their fondness for the show. Shaun Scotellaro, operator of Equestria Daily, one of the main fan websites for the show, said, "Honestly, if someone were to have told me I'd be writing a pony blog seven months ago, I would have called them insane."〔 He commented that the spread among adults was accelerated by its presence in online gaming. Mike Fahey, an editor for the gaming website Kotaku, noted that the fandom was "building friendships among a diverse group of people that otherwise might have just sat on either side of the Internet, flinging insults at each other".〔 Dr. Patrick Edwards, who performed several "Brony Studies" to survey and analyze the fandom, observed that the brony fandom is unlike most other fandoms which "aren't welcoming to people who are different", and promote the show's message of love and tolerance.〔 Further interest came from the furry community, which includes a large number of animation fans. One contributor to "The Brony Study" (below), Dr. Marsha Redden said that the adult fans are "a reaction to the US having been engrossed in terrorism for past ten years" in a manner similar to the Cold War, and are "tired of being afraid, tired of angst and animosity"; the show and its fandom are outlets from those strifes.〔 She compared the brony fandom to that of the bohemian and beatniks after World War II and of the hippies after the Vietnam War. In a similar vein, Amy Keating Rogers, one of the show's writers, believes that the fans have come to like ''Friendship Is Magic'' due to "so much cynicism and negativity out there in so many () shows", while the show "has such a positive message" that counters this. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic fandom」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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