memes

I used to be very much into My Little Pony when that whole thing was big, and there was a tremendous amount of very dark fan theorisation and spinoff material.

I think what you say is correct in part, that it can make things less shameful, but I also think there's a simpler explanation - it's fun.

It's exactly because kids shows are so happy and non-threatening that these dark fan theories are so entertaining, because of the stark contrast between the theory and the source material. And so the darker it is, the better.

I mostly don't think people "believe" the dark theories are true, or in any way actually intended as subtext by the showrunners. People aren't "reading between the lines" so much as they are purely "making it up" - in ways that were never intended but feel somehow plausible. It's just a bit of fun.

MLP itself was a strange case, though, and got quite bizarre in the end. As the show went on, the writers and animators became increasingly aware they had unexpectedly developed a huge adult following, and some of the plot points that began purely as fan theories later became canon... but that's a whole different story....