2. Ian Realo
The Hidden complexities in
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
in relation to social theme’s and
cultural icons
3. Thesis
• My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is a children’s
show originally aimed towards a demographic of
eleven to twelve year old girls. However, since its
inception, the show has been critically praised for its
deep, complex and unorthodox plot lines not usually
found in shows aimed towards children. In my study,
I aim to examine these complexities, tying them to a
wide array of mature social theme’s and deep rooted
cultural icons, showing that complexity and children
media are not always separate, but can sometimes
mesh together to form something great.
4. Source #1
• VISUAL COMPLEXITY AND YOUNG CHILDREN'S LEARNING FROM TELEVISION
(1982) Journal of Human Communication Research
• ALICIA J. WELCH, JAMES H. WATT Jr.
• Studied the impact of Sesame Street segments on a group of 48 four and
five year old children. Study targeted three specific variables, visual
attention, recall and recognition in regards to both Static and Dynamic
complexity. Their study showed “strong negative relationships between
static complexity and all three viewer variables”, and “strong positive
results between dynamic complexity and both attention and
recognition, and between attention and both types of learning”. Study
showed that there was no significant relationship between dynamic
complexity and recall
• This research shows that the complexities in children TV shows are very
beneficial towards youth, providing skills that are elementary towards
building higher IQ and succeeding in academia.
5. Source #2
• Television is "easy" and print is "tough": The differential investment of
mental effort in learning as a function of perceptions and attributions.
(1984). Journal of Educational Psychology
• Salomon, Gavriel
• This study was on the amount of invested mental effort (AIME) and
learning through two different media types in children aged eleven to
twelve. Those media’s being, television and the written word. The study
showed that television is “perceived it as more realistic and easy” and
one of the easiest media’s to digest and understand
• This research shows television is very easy to comprehend, therefore
making its knowledge very accessible to younger demographics, enabling
children to take more from television than from most other media’s
7. Methodology-Popular Culture
• Cultural Studies and the Study of Popular Culture. Athens: University of Georgia, 2003.
• Storey, John
• Researching Children's Popular Culture: the Cultural Spaces of Childhood. London:
Routledge, 2002.
• Mitchell, Claudia, and Jacqueline Reid-Walsh.
• These books details the ways in which to research via popular culture in relation to
children and other demographics. The method I will be using for my study involves
watching the episodes, taking note of the specific complexities revolving the plot lines
and cultural references included in both past and future episodes. (Currently, My
Little Pony: Friendship is Magic has 34 total episodes contained in two seasons. MLP
has been approved from a third season)
• This approach allows me to gain a wide scope of information on the series, looking
deep into the complex theme’s of the show and relating those theme’s towards well
understood social theories and cultural icons. However, this methodology prevents
me from actual testing these theme’s influences on children. But, as my previous
source states, complex theme’s in TV shows have a large benefit towards children,
something I do not have to reprove
8. Works Cited
• Mitchell, Claudia, and Jacqueline Reid-Walsh. Researching
Children's Popular Culture: the Cultural Spaces of
Childhood. London: Routledge, 2002. Print.
• Salomon, Gavriel. "Television Is "easy" and Print Is "tough":
The Differential Investment of Mental Effort in Learning
as a Function of Perceptions and Attributions." Journal
of Educational Psychology 76.4 (1984): 647-58. Print.
• Storey, John, and John Storey. Cultural Studies and the
Study of Popular Culture. Athens: University of Georgia,
2003. Print.
• Welch, Alicia J., and James H. Watt. "Visual Complexity And
Young Children'S Learning From Television." Human
Communication Research 8.2 (1982): 133-45. Print.
