It has been going on a long time, the whole cynicism thing. The Simpsons and Seinfeld were probably what brought it to the mainstream, though Seinfeld was ultimately cynical about cynicism (the contreversial last episode has the four main characters going to jail for, essentially, being cynical).
The eighties also began what is known as the Dark Age in superhero comics. During the nineties, DC comics came in designer shades of black and red, while everyone in the Marvel universe carried a gun. Even now, Brian Michael Bendis' Avengers' spend more time discussing the ethics of being superheroes than actually being superheroes.
Last decade's Best Picture winner No Country For Old Men is another good example. This was the year host John Stewart asked the Academy if they needed a hug, as super not-light-and-happy There Will Be Blood was the obvious second place finisher.
The tide is turning. Nowadays, in comics, you have the cult character Squirrel Girl, who takes being a superhero seriously while having fun in a completely non-cynical way (at least until she got written by Bendis, who missed the point completely). The King's Speech beat the critically preferred The Social Network mostly because it was a good movie about a Good Man with a Good Friend doing a Good Thing, while its rival was a good movie about a Bad Man with a Bad Friend doing a Bad Thing.
The bronies are part of a trend. The phenomenon starting on 4chan, the Internet's heart of cynical darkness, is emblematic. Somebody had the guts to recommend the show completely seriously, just because he liked it. That's as uncynical as you can get.
It has been going on a long time, the whole cynicism thing. The Simpsons and Seinfeld were probably what brought it to the mainstream, though Seinfeld was ultimately cynical about cynicism (the contreversial last episode has the four main characters going to jail for, essentially, being cynical).
The eighties also began what is known as the Dark Age in superhero comics. During the nineties, DC comics came in designer shades of black and red, while everyone in the Marvel universe carried a gun. Even now, Brian Michael Bendis' Avengers' spend more time discussing the ethics of being superheroes than actually being superheroes.
Last decade's Best Picture winner No Country For Old Men is another good example. This was the year host John Stewart asked the Academy if they needed a hug, as super not-light-and-happy There Will Be Blood was the obvious second place finisher.
The tide is turning. Nowadays, in comics, you have the cult character Squirrel Girl, who takes being a superhero seriously while having fun in a completely non-cynical way (at least until she got written by Bendis, who missed the point completely). The King's Speech beat the critically preferred The Social Network mostly because it was a good movie about a Good Man with a Good Friend doing a Good Thing, while its rival was a good movie about a Bad Man with a Bad Friend doing a Bad Thing.
The bronies are part of a trend. The phenomenon starting on 4chan, the Internet's heart of cynical darkness, is emblematic. Somebody had the guts to recommend the show completely seriously, just because he liked it. That's as uncynical as you can get.