On Princesses, PhDs, and plastic dolls

Like many fans, one of things I love about My Little Pony is the strong feminist base. Lauren Faust made it clear from the start that her vision was not the traditional pretty-little-princess line of girls' toys, but would follow the adventures of a diverse group of positive female role models, skilfully crafted to meet Hasbro's requirements, without compromising any feminist values. The result being the awesome set of characters we know and love.

Like many, I therefore felt a little uneasy at the slow but definite princessification of the show, which first introduced Cadence – a pink pony princess presumably made to order for the Hasbro marketing department; and then crowned our favourite pony, Twilight Sparkle with a glittery headpiece.

While Cadence is shown to be perfectly capable of action scenes, in season 3 she has far too often been cast in a passive role (most noticeably in Games Ponies Play, where she spends the entire episode getting her hair done). What fate will befall Princess Twilight in season 4? Can she combine her princess-doll marketing career with saving Equestria, having fun with friends, and still find time to read lots of books? Will she still be such a good role model for young students?

We must wait and see. But there are some good signs. Equestria Girls suggests that Twilight's new role will be primarily learning about leadership. And the process of alicorn ascension shows that being a pony princess is not a fate of birth or marriage, but a mark of academic distinction. Twilight becomes a princess on discovering new magic – through carrying out novel research, and in doing so gains the same title as her teacher and mentor. In other words, it's the Equestrian equivalent of a Ph.D. With a few notable advantages: in Equestria you do not need to write a full thesis on your work – a few rhyming couplets is enough; you don't have to got through the tedium of an oral interrogation by a pair of examiners who know far less about your work than you do; and there is the added bonus of a pair of wings.

(We can speculate whether we could boost the number of young girls aspiring to graduate school, if we offered the title 'Princess' instead of 'Doctor' at the end. But this would probably not be popular with many current graduate students, who see the 'Dr' title as the ideal answer to that irritating 'is it Miss, Ms, or Mrs?' question.)

Let's hope Twilight will be a new sort of princess, and instead of being corrupted by the royal treatment, she will be the future model for others follow. Showing what a nerdy book-loving young girl can achieve through study combined with the magic of friendship.

Earlier this year, the top novelist Hilary Mantel created a short-lived tempest in the British press by describing the Duchess of Cambridge as a 'plastic princess', a 'jointed doll on which certain rags are hung'. A little unkind perhaps, but it is a pretty actually description of her public image (and Mantel made it clear that it is the public image, crafted by the institution, rather than the real person, she was referring to.) This fuss went completely unnoticed by the pony fandom as it occurred the same weekend as the much bigger royal news: the coronation of Princess Twilight Sparkle.

How do these two princess dolls compare? Twilight is a studious intellectual genius, who uses her natural gifts and hard work, combined with an unrivalled appreciation of the magic of friendship to mature into an awesome well rounded heroine, set to take on the world. Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge is... err... a well dressed accessories buyer.

Despite having all received an incredibly expensive education, the British royal family have an atrocious academic record, possibly due to a culture that 'it is most unroyal to be highly educated'. Let's see if Twilight Sparkle can smash that culture, and make it clear that if today's princesses want to be idols for young girls, they are going to have to up their game.

And maybe the Kensington Palace press office could learn something by watching My Little Pony.