Vylet Pony
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![【Music】THE THINGS THAT BIND US [w/ Kai]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Ttx5Dsa3ej4/hqdefault.jpg "【Music】THE THINGS THAT BIND US [w/ Kai]
Shortly after I had a few demos, I came into this conversation with my friend, Kai. We talked a lot about existentialism and philosophy, particularly with relation to “purpose” in MLP:FiM. They opened up me so much about their frustrations with how limiting the concept of a “one true purpose” felt. We talked about how cutie marks felt arbitrary and restrictive, reducing the personality of someone to one singular thing. I asked them to record themselves rambling about what they had said previously. They sent me a 30 minute file that I worked down to 3-ish minutes and it became the basis for the album. The point of contention that both Kai and I explored was with regards to how cutie marks felt so eerily controlling and unrealistic (which is ironic to observe about a series that pertains to magical talking horses, but really it’s a thought experiment.)
Music by Me
Narrated by Kai (CalamariSpider) https://twitter.com/CalamariSpider
Illustrated by Voreburger https://twitter.com/voreburger
CUTIEMARKS will release at 6PM PDT on July 30th, 2021
https://cutiemarks.net/
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Transcript:
Something that I’ve thought about, uh. Well not a ton but like, it’s been on — you know — it’s been in my brain, it’s been in my mind. Uh. since I first started watching the series. I mean, specifically with the Cutiemark Crusaders, right? Their whole thing for the — like — a good chunk of the show was the whole: ‘Oh, they don’t have cutie marks!’ They don’t have cutie marks and they aren’t treated well for it and that sucks. And, like, I found it really cool that as characters their whole thing was just — you know — having fun. And being friends and experiencing life without any sort of one goal. They were just kind of experiencing it. They weren’t — like — defined by their one true talent, you know? They could just be themselves. You think about cutie marks, you could say that ‘Oh! It’s something that they’re talented at’, you know? But then there’s points that doesn’t really work. Because like, Rarity’s talented at fashion and stuff — you know — and creating things, but her cutie mark is — uh — gems. But then like with Applejack; she got her cutie mark when she realized she should go back to her family. But that’a kind of different from apple bucking and stuff, because that could mean anything. But I remember there was the episode where — uh — Applebloom, she made a potion. I think she stole the stuff from Zecora, and it gave her a cutie mark — quote unquote — and it was, like, plate spinning? And she was like, ‘Wow! Finally I have a goal,’ or whatever and she just did plate spinning all the time! I mean, I can respect that I guess but it was almost like she had to? And I think in this situation it was more like a compulsion to. The issue I have with it is basically the idea of a cutie mark is the one thing that’s a summation of you. Right? It’s meant to be like what defines YOU and your one true purpose. But the thing is like, that’s not how anyone works you can’t really do that. So it really annoyed me with the Cutiemark Crusaders that they got cutie marks in the end and it was this weird, ‘your one entire thing in life is just helping other people find their entire thing in life’. Maybe there’s multiple things that are like important. Maybe there’s no one big thing, maybe it’s just a bunch of little things that there’s some enjoyment in, you know? I think I would be neat if there was more — uh — ponies without cutie marks. And they weren’t just trying to find one. It’s just that, I don’t even know. I’m a little tired, I’m always tired though.")
