It's been interesting to me to see how the reputation of "Fame & Misfortune" has evolved over the five and a half years since it debuted. These days, probably partly because of M. A. Larson's explanation of his unhappiness about it, the episode as aired is quite widely felt to have been a poor one. But that wasn't by any means the clear fandom consensus in 2017: in fact reception was pretty mixed, and the balance of opinion on Fimfiction specifically was actually fairly positive.
One exception here was Bad Horse, who absolutely hated the episode. The comments to that post make interesting reading, although some of it is fairly hard going and you should probably skip over the thankfully short blathering from some silly bespectacled orange-maned unicorn. Trick Question, for example, really enjoyed "Fame and Misfortune" while near the end of the thread horizon (while not displaying unbridled love for the ep) takes serious issue with some of Bad Horse's logic.
It's on record here that I had a pretty good time when I watched the episode in 2017. I currently don't know whether that will be the case when I rewatch it in (I hope!) 2023. My point isn't to say, "'Fame and Misfortune' was an almighty episode and I shall defend its honour to the death, egad!" It is just to say that, at the time of broadcast, it was not an especially unusual viewpoint among fans to really enjoy it. That's why it caused controversy in the first place: because we didn't all agree about it.
While I think the nature of my entry into MLP prevents me from feeling the same unbridled emotional rage at the episode that some do, I'm not going to pretend I like it at all. It's more of a clinical, analytical theoretical rage. And that it all I will say about it for now.
ReplyDeleteIn any case, it's always an interesting case study to see how opinion on something changes over time. Most works usually do have their opinion dip slightly, part and parcel of them no longer being current, though this isn't usually as noticeable as your oft-cited example of "Party of One" going from one of the show's most widely-acclaimed episodes to barely cracking the top 60 on a UK of E poll towards the end of the show's run. And as for the drastic examples, all sorts of reasons for this thing, from Larson speaking out about it effectively giving viewers permission to blast it, to something like Merchant of Venice being more of a black comedy/tragedy nowadays, relative to when it was new. A product of its time indeed, although alas, the same is not true of "Fame and Misfortune" – companies continue to not really understand their fans in ways similar to the episode that are all too real.
That's fine. I don't mind wildly differing views on here, even if they disagree with me on basically everything. The place I draw the line is if anyone starts attacking a person for having a different view. I would be just as annoyed with someone who insulted you for hating the episode as I would with someone who insulted me for (in 2017, at least) liking it. My dislike is of, as the saying goes, playing the man not the ball.
DeleteOn your other point, I think some of the early episodes have actually gained in reputation with the passage of time. "Look Before You Sleep" is a fairly commonly cited one in that regard -- it wasn't very well thought of even when I started in 2012, but these days it's quite widely liked.
DeleteI always loved "Look Before You Sleep." How can you tell how episodes are liked today vs in the past? Does someone make yearly polls of bronies?
DeleteI'm going off personal memory, largely, both of my own experiences at the time and of what people were saying on UK of Equestria or Equestria Daily. UK of E didn't exist when "LBYS" aired, so this was after-the-event stuff even then, but I don't recall it being very popular. UK of E did do a poll of every episode at one point, but since the site no longer exists I can't check where that episode ended up.
Delete