CONTEXT

url: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G49bLZ2nAmE (it’s garbage do not click)

author: Cats Millionaire aka blacksquares aka Yellow Bile aka EAT BABIES? aka a trans woman/slimy thing (is that a jab at sartre i hope so b/c fuck him[1]) lo-fi punk rock artist from Toronto. she has a thing for tall yellow quiet horses and chain smoking

author: circuitfry. he organizes awesome stuff for the music community, though I’m not as familiar with his music as cats, however he does work hard and even I give him less credit than he deserves. [0]

The review will focus on Cats, but I have been informed of circuitfry’s significance in instrumentation and video design.

album: released under Cats Millionaire, Pony Songs. 30 minutes of chain smoking and brony covers/collabs thanks to the brony vs brony remix wars~

album: released under circuitfry’s we broke it, a massive 50 track collaboration thing.that I was just informed about.

OVERVIEW

It’s a really complex music video (both symbolically and technically), featuring paper puppets and crudely drawn MS paint animations, all with a thick layer of audiovisual distortion. Heavy symbolism surrounding Luna, the moon and what her identity is. The song is a mashup/cover of predominantly Eurobeat Brony’s Luna (Dream Mode), featuring vocals from Swagberg’s Pony Swag and lyrics from Doomwad765’s Bronies Everywhere.

There’s some Neon Genesis Evangelion in the video, I wouldn’t know.[2] But hey, at least that’s a good reason to believe that there is Eastern philosophical influence.

The video’s core questions, and one that Cats Millionare likes to address in her works, both musical and analytical (see: I’m So Sorry) is the question: What is Princess Luna? (hint: her life sucks)

This question encompasses many questions, including Luna undergoing severe depression, Luna as defined by her relationships vs Luna defined by raising the moon (at least that’s one thing gone over in the video), Luna’s jealousy w.r.t. Twilight and some really complex issues that Celestia had about the ethics of sending her sister to what essentially amounted to a thousand year psych ward [3].

VIDEO BREAKDOWN

The video starts off with a conversation between Cats and Circuitfry that resolves with something breaking, followed by the Korg and Cats covering Eurobeat to start. Unfortunately I’m not capable of handling two symbolically rich things at once, so I might be missing a bit on lyrical analysis. Sorry :/

Meanwhile the video starts with Japanese writing with slides of text below. These slides continue for the video, and provide a narrative. The text at the bottom is colored to indicate what I presume is the speaker.

NARRATOR: It was 7:55 PM The thing ponies lost In other words, the complementation of the mind is unfolding However, there’s too little time to describe the entire process Therefore, we will discuss the complementation of the mind of one single pony named Princess Luna Case 3: In the case of Princess Luna Fear

The last shot is black on red with rather than white on black, and appears to be in Luna’s color.

This is followed by drawings of the stage and the equipment being set up. There’s a bunch of references and credits in the shots. Anyway, the paper puppets come into the stage once Cats starts singing Luna (Dream Mode). Luna (Dream Mode)’s lyrics by themselves are interesting - they’re about a third party to Celestia and Luna that misses Luna after her return to Equestria. Said third party is quite pissed about being abandoned on the moon.

But while she’s singing, the slide show continues. There’s Luna in blue, and an ambigous speaker in pink. Maybe it’s Celestia giving some hard advice. Maybe it’s the third party of Dream Mode. Maybe it’s something in Luna herself. Maybe it’s the moon itself.

Luna: I can disappear because I think I am useless

(changes to a drawing of Luna in her bed)

Pink: Why? Luna: Because I am useless

(image of craters on the moon)

Luna: After all, I am a useless filly \ Nopony cares about me Pink: You run away thinking nopony cares about you Pink: Your fear to fall Pink: You fear to be disliked Pink: Your fear to see the weakness within yourself Luna: So do you! Pink: Right. We are the same.

(zoom in on a new drawing of Luna)

Luna: A pony cannot live alone Luna: A pony is made of weak and fragile materials Pink: The mind and body are also made of weak and fragile materials Luna: Then, why?

(shot of a bookshelf and a moon in the distance)

Pink: There was no other way to live Luna: Is that true? Pink: Why do you live? Luna: I have no idea.

This is an interesting sequence - the first part is about fear of loneliness. Luna ran away from lowering the moon because she feared that her subjects would abandon her.

The second part goes into the topic of ponyhood - I’m guessing it’s saying that by itself, a pony is a weak and fragile thing; the implication being that a pony’s strength comes from the moment, from being defined by harmony with others, not by something they do themselves.

We then return to shots of the stage, and then circuitfry curses, saying that he broke the compressor knob, with a slide of present events:

Narrator: Meanwhile in the DJ booth Twilight: Their friendship ratios are over 400% Twilight: That’s impossible

We then return to a shot of a crater on the moon, while Cats and a distorted voice start singing Bronies Everywhere. The lyrics at this point are mostly naming off ponies - ponies are the things that Luna runs away from.

Pink: So it begins

(drawing of canterlot)

Pink: You dislike being sad? Luna: Yes Pink: You dislike hardship? Luna: Yes Pink: So you run away

(waves splashing on a shore)

Luna: I don’t run away. \ If I ran away it would be more painful (shot of a chalk outline and blood, possibly from NGE) Pink: You ran away from something painful. Luna: It was painful Pink: You can run away from something you truly hate (moon landing image) Luna: But I don’t. I don’t want to run away. Pink: It’s because you know that running away results in more pain. Luna: If I ran away, nopony would care about me

We have Luna talking about running away from pony society - she doesn’t want to run away, but she feels like the pain that conflict with society generates forces her to run.

(shot of the S1E1 painting of Luna rebelling)

Luna: Don’t desert me! Pink: Following orders. That’s just how you get through life. (drawing or something landing or being injected on the moon, words saying blood type: BLUE) Luna: Right. Otherwise I would be deserted.

(shot of a decapitated older gen pony in the soil)

Pink: You fear to be hurt, but \ everypony feels hardship Luna: That has nothing to do with me!

(shot of Celestia and Luna on the cloud

Luna: Ponies don’t care about me Pink: You always desert your value Luna: I have nothing Pink: Ponies try to keep themselves by being praised Luna: NO PONY ACCEPTS ME.

Mauvaise foi, or “bad faith” is the existentialist concept of someone who just goes through the movements of life, without creating anything. All Luna thinks she does is raise and lower the moon. Following orders. Being worthless.

(shot of Luna’s eyes closing and opening as nightmare moon. meanwhile bronies everywhere has gone to a whispered H.E.A.R.T.)

Pink: You are trying to think so. Luna: So I have to raise the moon. Pink: You’ve been trying to think of yourself as worthless since the very beginning Luna: I have to

(drawing of Luna)

Pink: You’re trying to think so, anyway.

(canterlot again, and we have a return of Luna(Lucid Mode))

Luna: I am worthless. I have nothing to be proud of Luna: Before raising the moon, I had nothing Luna: The fact that I raise the moon lets me stay here

(shot of a screw and some other machinery)

Luna: I have nothing else Pink: The will to live?

(shot of the moon)

Luna: No, I don’t have that. \ I hate myself

(Japanese text that flashes)

Luna: Now everypony hates me

(sunset)

And arguably, her rise as Nightmare Moon is a rebellion against this. Unable to co-create with her subjects, she must impose on her subjects the one thing she does have - the moon. Luna of course hates herself for this.

Pink: You’re trying to think so. Luna: NO. Because I hate myself.

(animation of the ponies giving Luna a laurel)

Pink: So, you are trying to think others hate you. Luna: But I was welcomed!

(Swagberg’s Pony Swag comes into play - maybe thematically connected to the idea of a unified pony community)

Luna: After the longest night of the 1000th year I was welcomed! Luna: So, happy Luna: I was welcomed by ponies!

But she was forgiven, and restored to her old self. Unfortunately, this is insufficient.

(Japanese text again)

Luna: But not happy Pink: Which is your true mind Luna: I don’t know, or both of them are my true minds

(shot of a lunar eclipse)

Pink: And raising the moon? Luna: I have nothing but raising the moon

(drawing of a smoky forest)

Pink: Otherwise you cannot be yourself? Pink: If you depend on the moon too much, the moon itself will be yourself.

Here we explore plurality of identity - eastern cultures don’t necessarily have the singular psyche that Western philosophy has. However, these identities are often defined by interactions - the unhappy Luna is defined by her negative subject interactions, the happy Luna by the positive interactions. And, if the moon Luna’s interactions are Luna’s only interactions, the only Luna that would be would be the Luna defined by the moon.

(drawing of nightmare moon running through the forest)

Pink: The moon will be all of yourself. And your true self will be nowhere.

(drawing of RD operating a Ponysonic phone)

Luna: It’s OK. I’ve had nothing from the beginning.

(drawing of nightmare moon approaching canterlot)

Luna: I’ve been trying to learn PS3, but it results in nothing.

(Japanese text)

Narrator: The Pony that Shouted “BLAOW!” at the Heart of the World

(shot of elements blasting Luna)

Luna: I’ve got it. THis is also a world. The me at the moment is not always the me as I am.

(drawing of Luna at a windowstill)

Luna: There are many myselves. Yes. There must be a me who does not raise the moon

(drawing of the nightmare meeting Luna)

Pink: The real world itself is not always bad

(drawing of Luna flying out the window)

Pink: It’s your mind that concives that reality is bad and hateful Pink: The view, the angle, the position. If these are slightly different, the things in the mind greatly differ.

(Celestia and Luna circling around)

Pink: There are as many truths as there are ponies.

(nightmare moon and luna about to touch)

Pink: But there’s only one truth that you have, which is formed of a narrowed view of the world.

And here we have a contrast between the world of perceptions, and Pink’s real world. Pink believes that Luna’s fear of the world comes from a perception, but interestingly enough Pink calls the perception narrowed, rather than false - saying that it is just one of many truths. Albiet a narrow truth.

(Luna putting her hoof on the nightmare)

Pink: Revised information to protect yourself. \ Your twisted truth. (nightmare moon from S1E1 painting) Luna: But, don’t you hate me?

(drawing of Luna entering the nightmare, background in red)

Pink: It’s you who always thinks that.

(shot of T viruses)

Luna: But I hate myself

(Twilight on a pegASUS computer)

Twilight: Stats returning to normal. Looks like everything’s going to be alright after all.

Now this here is an interesting analogy - a distorted view replicating internally like a virus of the mind, that the elements cured (at least temporarily).

(blurred yellow thing)

Pink: Those who hate themselves cannot love or trust others.

(Nightmare eyes closed)

Luna: I am wicked, a coward and weak.

(Nightmare rises up in a pixelated drawing)

Pink: If you know yourself, you can be kind to others . (Gilda looking shocked followed by RD walking in to meet her) RD: You’re right. \ They do suck. Luna: I hate myself \ But, I might be able to love myself.

(blurred yellow thing again)

Luna: I might be able to stay here. Yes. I am nothing but myself. I wish to be me.

(shot of Pinkie Pie holding a balloon)

Pink (perhaps a different shade of pink): A party? For me? Pink: I’ve waited so long.

(yellow thing)

Luna: I wish to stay here and be myself.

(abandoned stage)

Luna: I will stay here and be myself!!!

(red vertabrae thing)

Pink: Congratulations

(stage drawing)

Luna: Thank you.

(credits)

And finally, Luna discovers self acceptance - a step necessary before discovering others. Congrats indeed, Luna.

NOTES