Lauren Faust on Her Favorite Childhood Toy and Pitching Animated Shows for Girls

By Liz Ohanesian Mon., May 21 2012 at 10:45 AM

See also:
*"Lauren Faust: Let's Hear It for the Girls"
*"Top 5 Lessons for Adults From My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic"

For this year's L.A. Weekly People Issue, I interviewed Lauren Faust, the fabulously talented artist and writer who has worked on top-notch shows like The Powerpuff Girls and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. Now, though, she's best known for developing the TV series that launched the Brony phenomenon, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. More recently, Faust led the team behind the DC animated short series Super Best Friends Forever.

We talked about a lot of things in the interview that didn't make the final version of the story. Below are a few outtakes.

On the first toy she loved:

It was a stuffed Snoopy. I remember this from when I was 2 years old. My brother pulled off the nose and my mom had to sew it back on.

On the first cartoons that made an impact on her:

I think the biggest thing that hit me early on were Disney movies. I remember my grandparents taking me to drive-ins in the late '70s and stuff. I think that's what really pulled me into animation first.

I watched The Smurfs. I watched Super Friends. I didn't watch Scooby-Doo as much as other people did.

On how Super Friends influenced Super Best Friends Forever:

In one of the shorts, we're featuring Solomon Grundy, and I very specifically wanted to channel the Solomon Grundy from Super Friends because he's kind of weird. He's funny. He's really funny. He's this big guy with this really silly accent and this kind of nonthreatening voice that I thought was funny.

Tags:

Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, Lauren Faust, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, Super Best Friends Forever

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Ricardo Griva

yeah, I can rememeber when I was just a kid and I watched a my little pony commercial. I though "why girls love that kind of stuff?" "it´s just a show with a lot of random ponies who spend most of their time brushing their hair and drinking cups of tea." I´ve never though that I will become a big fan of this show. XD

chelseatime

Girls dominate YA books, and those books get turned into movies and make a ungodly amount of cash (Twilight, Hunger Games) so considering that kind of spending power executives should greenlight more cartoons and comic books for girls.

guest

Underneath the article in the "related Content" section, there is an article that is entitled "Top 10 Strip Clubs in Los Angeles (Public Spectacle)" How is this related?...or even appropriate?

Liohem129

Lauren dont ussually make cartoons, but when she do one, it rock!!!!

JoseGalapagos

She is definitely doing something right. I like all the shows mentioned.

Sacher

Have to say Lauren is right. Most of the stuff available for girls is boring as hell. Girls get enough of hairbrushing and fashion advice for their friends and piers, they don't need it in their entertainment too. MLP:FiM is successful because it has compelling stories, wonderful charactization, and outstanding music. Yes girly elements are there but in such a way that they are tolerable or even appealing.

Finally girls can have adventures and kick butt without being relegated to "useless background characters that stand around and do nothing. (I'm looking at you Naruto)" In MLP: FiM, being a girl is cool.

Anthony Santora

Also from a male perspective it is refreshing to see newcharacterizations of the typical female archi-types. Guys do not simply wantthe standard Mary-sue characters that permeate a lot of the shows that are outthere, but rather they are more interested in women that are a lot likethemselves in terms of qualities, characteristics and personalities. The show gives girls good role models, whilegiving guys characters that are both intriguing and identifiable.

David Forty-Four

I agree with Lauren. Television programs oriented towards females can be very successful if the production team actually puts effort into it (which often, sadly, they do not). I always liked the cartoons that had a sort of weird charm and genuine humor to them (Foster's Home), or very complex plotwriting (Avatar: The Last Airbender).

I like cartoons that don't really *feel* like cartoons. To be honest, the newest My Little Pony is one of them. It came across to me the same way that iCarly did, even though iCarly is a sitcom. Main characters female? Check. Writing revolves around stereotypically girly stuff? Not check. I like that.

Dessa Brewington

I love cartoons that feel like cartoons, and that's one of the things I love about this show. Above the careful characterization, the plot (heehee), the lesson, there are those old-school wild-takes, doors-in-the-hallway gags, and Pépe le Pew references. MLP is both really cutting edge, and really traditional at the same time.

It's got a little something for everyone, this show.

Gracie

Personally, I hope the new My Little Pony show refrains from further Looney Tunes-type slapstick, as in the episode "Feeling Pinkie Keen". While anvils on the head might work for villainous characters like Wile E Coyote, they don't work for innocents like Twilight Sparkle. That episode was awful to watch. Not funny, and a weird message (believe in what everybody else believes in or you might get hurt!)

Rozax

This episode was actually very cutting edge. You typically don't see female characters in slapstick humor.

Rick Pikul

It is worth noting that Lauren has admitted they messed up the moral on that one. It should have been less 'decide to believe' and more 'sometimes you have to believe, even if you don't understand'.

Lexi Rose

I think the moral of that episode was a lot deeper than you perceived. The episode shows that If you don't believe what someone else believes, fighting it and trying to prove them wrong will just end up getting you nowhere and causing hurt for both of you. In the end, twilight still didn't really believe in pinkie's powers, but she decided not to fight her beliefs anymore. It's a lesson I wish many more people would learn.

Dessa Brewington

I loved that episode. Not only funny ("Can you do that? can you explode TWICE!?"), but with a great message. One of the most widely interpreted messages, it seems. What i got out of it is simply that sometimes you should trust your friends. You're not always right. Aside from religion, there is still value in faith. Indeed, faith is a major part of any friendship.