The thing about Steven Universe that remains wild to me is how it revealed to me that a bunch of people on the internet cannot parse metaphors meant for literal children.
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I know a certain amount of that comes from people who kinda only really watch shows made for children, so they have no real perspective on how silly it looks to take the show that literally, and miss that it’s supposed to teach kids to try to solve problems with non-violence first.
And like I don’t have a problem with adults watching stuff for kids, I do it sometimes. I feel you need to step out of your comfort zone sometimes though or you’ll end up as one of the people who think Rebecca Sugar is a r*pe apologist because they didn’t kill Jasper.
I’m late to this conversation but SU is also a deeply Jewish show— the Jewish concept of forgiveness is a key feature of the show. Once someone admits a wrongdoing, they are given the chance to prove themselges. It’s not subtle at all. It will always frustrate me that it’s dismissed.
I regret that I got suckered in by a lot of that tumblr shit, as someone who was genuine about wanting to be aware of social prejudices, and while I still don't think everything SU did landed well, I'm glad I got out of the utter unhinged insanity in those spheres entirely.
That era of Tumblr really did take "Good is the enemy of Perfect!" as their maxim. Any flaw perceived as problematic, no matter how minor, was catastrophised into a crime against humanity.
“Steven forgave space Nazis!!!”
Uh no Steven forgave pretty bog standard children’s anime villains. The diamonds were not even in the top like 10 million evil villains.
And as it’s shown in the finale and in Future, a sizable chunk of the damage that they did can be undone. Even from a utilitarian standpoint, it’s better to work with them to undo that damage rather than punish them with death/shattering.
even "despises" is kind of putting lightly, they deadass showed us him having an intrusive thought scenario of him murder-suiciding himself alongside her in future
"It's teaching children to forgive fascists!" Nah it's showing children a way that they can try to deal with mean relatives and classmates that they don't have the option of cutting off
I would say that any misgivings of Steven Universe in terms of its quality (I think the show is very good) are demonstrably hollow when you compare it to the reality where it gave children a LOT of queer rep characters, a GAY WEDDING and genuinely tried to explore abuse and emotional trauma.
Like you CAN have issues with the show in terms of its quality and there are real issues of that; However, it is absurd to think that the show took some turn to where the core message of 'kindness, empathy and compassion for yourself and others' was betrayed.
It doesn't even make a case of 'total forgiveness' for anyone, not even the FATHER figure we have known and love for the entire show; the first show literally ends with a song about how you as a person deserve love and respect even if your 'parental figure' doesn't show it.
"This show about a boy who loves everyone betrayed it's core message by not murdering the space triumvirate that's also part of his family in cold blood." is such a "Man You sure you watched same show as I did?" moment.
This is a character who when faced with an amalgamation of horrible entities that he has been fighting his ENTIRE LIFE who are trying to destroy his ENTIRE WORLD...he chooses to understand and genuinely help them.
I can understand that for many people who have been abused in their life, seeing representations of that become more or less accepted into the fold can suck.
But that acceptance didn't come without them actually TRYING to accept and understand that Steven is his own person.
Character does a thing and that thing has consequences and the show shows what those consequences are BUT you can learn + grow from it.
And somehow people were like...
"SHOW IS TELLING PEOPLE TO BE TOXIC."
and not.
"SHOW IS SAYING HEY DON'T DO THIS IT HURTS PEOPLE, BUT YOU CAN STILL BE BETTER."
EUGH. I'd forgotten about those Joker people -........
I hadn't heard about those kinds of Star Trek people but you know? Honestly somehow it doesn't surprise me that people would somehow completely miss the point of Star Trek.
gonna be honest, I don't actually think its actually the internet's fault: Steven Universe is super gay, was made by an out queer creator, so even inane critiques were picked up
a lot of gay kids in fandom honestly seem like they hate gay representation. never really understood it. maybe I’m old now bc any amount feels like a treat lol.
I think it's a kind of assertion of identity thing where they assert they're not like how everyone says they have to be because they're queer. Which is reasonable but tends to mean they project a lot of cisheteronormative bullshit on cartoons actively pushing against what they're fighting against
Speaking seriously, from the best of what I've gathered it's a combination of growing up in toxic discourse environments + internalized conservative Christianity + punching down at queer content and creators because it's easier than critiquing the MCU for being heteronormative CIA propaganda
Very specifically, fan fiction community has long been one of the strongest rallying points for visible gay affirmation in online community and the fan fiction community around MCU yaoi and SuperWhoLock was the most culturally dominant in the English internet around SU's airing time,
Two different people on tumblr tried to lecture me about how Steven Universe Didn't Punish Anyone For Being Genocidal Racists as recently as this month!
& it was on a post about how these charges also feel pretty antisemitic aimed towards a jewish creator
Some idiot not only misquoted Pearl saying "fusion is just a cheap tactic to make weak gems stronger." but took it at face value.... in a show where Garnet is literally Ruby and Sapphire's relationship....
It is fact Jasper that said this, however the person I was talking to said this quote came form Pearl, thus misquoting her.
See WE knew this instantly because the episode this quote came from was important. I highly doubt the person who attributed this quote to Pearl even watched the show.
The fandom was infamously toxic and is still remembered as such sadly. A few years back someone on Twitter found a custom art of a queer couple made in the SU style & main location at a thrift store and the comments were really nasty.
yeah, welcome to the funny kids show about understanding and overcoming generational trauma and parental idealization. The fandom sincerely believes that the 13 yo protagonist is a rational actor.
I’ve literally never watched that show and never will bc the tumblr fandom was so fucking crazy, if I see somebody posting steven universe fanart I instinctively distrust them like I’m seeing a rattlesnake in the wilderness
But yeah basically Steven Universe is a well done and charming kids show that can be enjoyed by adults. It's definitely the best time to watch it since all the show is done and you can breeze through the episodes fast
But, also, like, if it's not your cup of tea, you can skip it!
I’m sure it is but it’s so tainted to me mentally. I never really saw people saying it sucks, I just saw the craziest bloodthirstiest wars happening over fanart and characters not being drawn fat enough or some shit and then ppl being like “why do you HATE fat people? kill yourself” I was like bro
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...but you need to eat real food, too?
I just want to like stuff, even if I'm critiquing parts of it?
and if I'm overanalyzing it, I want it to be for /fun/
Uh no Steven forgave pretty bog standard children’s anime villains. The diamonds were not even in the top like 10 million evil villains.
Even in Future, he absolutely despises White Diamond and is only so charitable to the others because he knows they’re also victims of White Diamond.
But that acceptance didn't come without them actually TRYING to accept and understand that Steven is his own person.
And somehow people were like...
"SHOW IS TELLING PEOPLE TO BE TOXIC."
and not.
"SHOW IS SAYING HEY DON'T DO THIS IT HURTS PEOPLE, BUT YOU CAN STILL BE BETTER."
There are people who thought Walter White was awesome, who thought Tyler Durden was the hero, who idolize Heath Ledger's Joker.
There are fans who think Star Trek is right wing.
https://youtu.be/9K7XfFQVMgs?si=unr_1nLyG3yhHS-U
I hadn't heard about those kinds of Star Trek people but you know? Honestly somehow it doesn't surprise me that people would somehow completely miss the point of Star Trek.
& it was on a post about how these charges also feel pretty antisemitic aimed towards a jewish creator
Do you like my "I like Steven Universe" tweets? Then you may be in the audience for...uh...hardcore...SF/F erotica...
...okay, you know what, I think I won't advertise here...
See WE knew this instantly because the episode this quote came from was important. I highly doubt the person who attributed this quote to Pearl even watched the show.
There are a lot of folks on the internet trying to discuss the complexities of sartrean philosophy over an episode of Barney the Dinossaur.
But yeah basically Steven Universe is a well done and charming kids show that can be enjoyed by adults. It's definitely the best time to watch it since all the show is done and you can breeze through the episodes fast
But, also, like, if it's not your cup of tea, you can skip it!