SETTING THE STAGE
Steven Universe is a musical cartoon show about gems from space. These gems are an all female alien race, and so there are lesbian characters. These gems are ageless and do not have physical bodies, in essence they are only their gem, but they have physical light forms so they can connect with things in the world. Gem characters have special powers, and weapons that they can summon by pulling them out of their gems. Gems can also fuse, two or more of them becoming one consciousness, where they still have all the knowledge of the gems who fused, but are also a completely new gem all together.
The main character is Steven Universe, who is half human, half gem. He is not a fusion, but simply the son of a gem and a human. Steven is a small 14 year old, who in the first few seasons, is just learning to use his powers. He is born with his powers, just like Elsa from Frozen, and learns to control them as he gets older, just like Elsa. His powers are healing spit, pulling out a shield out of his gem, controlling his speed of falling when he jumps up high, super strength and summoning a solid bubble, which can have spikes on it. He is apart of a team of gems, called the Crystal Gems, which consist of Amethyst, Garnet, Pearl, and Steven.
The Crystal Gems used to fight and are still fighting a war against the crushing authority of the Diamonds. The Diamonds do not think the Crystal Gems still exist, thinking that they shattered them when they wiped out earth. Shattered is where gems are broken beyond repair; it is essentially death for Gems.
The Diamonds are the authority on Gem homeworld. There are four Diamonds, White, Blue, Yellow, and Pink. At first we do not know much about them, but it is learned throughout the show that Yellow, Blue, and White hate and want to destroy Rose Quartz because (Spoiler Alert) she shattered Pink Diamond. They control everything and every gem, trying to get them to all conform to the way they want the gems to be: perfect. They can create new gems using materials, and at one point, used the earth as a place to create more gems.
The Crystal Gems used to consist of many more gems, but lots of them were corrupted after the war. These corrupted gems used to be normal gems, but when the diamonds “wiped out” earth, they did not kill the gems that were there, simply turned them into mindless monsters. One of the original Crystal Gems was Rose Quartz, who is Stevens mom. She gave up her form so that Steven could be born. The other Crystal Gems perform as a mom type figure for Steven, while Greg, Steven’s dad, performs dad-like duties.
The Crystal Gems fight to protect earth. When they arrived on earth they were amazed to find its beauty and it’s worth, so they will protect the earth and the people on it. Pearl fights in the name of Rose Quartz and everything that she believed in. Garnet is the leader and the strongest of the bunch. She is a fusion of a Ruby and a Saphire, two small gems that fell in love. She fights for the earth, the place where she is free, to live together and exist as Garnet. Amethyst fights for the world she was made in, and the earth is the only environment she has ever known. She was made during the war, but came out late, so she was left alone on Earth after the war was over.
Connie Maheswaran is Steven’s best friend, who decides to fight alongside Steven against corrupted gems and the Diamonds. She is a human, who leads a relatively normal life outside of her best friend being a magical being. She trains with Pearl to become a master swords lady, and accidentally learns that she can fuse with Steven to become “Stevonnie”.
SPOILER ALERT!
Steven eventually learns that his mother was Pink Diamond, who faked her death and permanently reformed to become Rose Quartz. She is mysterious and has done some questionable things, just like Sherlock Holmes, who also faked his own death in the episode Reichenbach Falls from the TV show Sherlock.
Greg Universe is Steven’s dad, who lives in a van, runs a car wash, and is a musician. He won over Rose Quartz’s heart, through music and jokes, and he is a genuinely good dad to Steven.
Once Steven learns of his heritage he works to make the Diamonds understand that what they are doing is wrong, and eventually they join his side.
This is all just the TV show, there are 5 seasons, and each episode is just 11 minutes long. Then they came out with the Steven Universe Movie, and now they are coming out with new Steven Universe Future episodes.
The movie introduces a new villain who is eventually won over by Steven. Her name is Spinel, and she was once a friend of Pink Diamonds, who was left alone in a garden for six thousand years by Pink Diamond. This reminds me of Erik Killmonger from Black Panther. He too was abandoned, and became a villain because of it. He was more than a simple “bad guy” and I find this complexity in Spinel as well. Spinel felt abandoned and alone so she took it out on Steven and his planet. However, through Steven leveling with her and trying to understand how she feels, Spinel feels less alone and becomes happy again, and eventually goes to live with the Diamonds, as the Diamonds remind her of Pink Diamond, and Spinel reminds the Diamonds of Pink Diamond. This is important, because the Diamonds are still grieving from the loss of Pink.
STEVEN AND THE WIDER UNIVERSE
I would argue that Steven Universe is a transformative show in society because it is widely recognized as a kids TV show, yet it has so many twists and turns that even adults like it. It even has gay characters, and has at least one lesbian couple, and has many different women in love with other women. The subtext of Steven Universe is that you need to be yourself and accept others for being themselves. It is also very women positive, showing that women can be warriors just like men. Many would argue that Steven Universe is the most progressive kids TV show of all time.
So how does Steven Universe relate to popular culture? Steven Universe is so progressive just like how society is becoming more and more progressive as time goes on.
GAY CULTURE
Steven’s friends are all female, and yet they form relationships which would be tagged as Lesbian in human culture. These females fight, love, and die, sort of like the Amazonians in the last Wonder Woman movie. The Amazonian nature of these females cannot be denied.
By using all females for the characters, Steven Universe the TV Show is presenting strong female archetypes, along with female villains.
Some of the Gem characters are combinations of more than two Gems – There is even one that is a combination of six Gems! If this were not Science Fiction, but were “normal people” the audience would look askance at a six member multiple partner being.
Steven Universe gems are much like Amazonian warriors, because like the Amazonian women, they do not have children through procreation. Unlike Amazons, gems are born to fit a single purpose, and are born their full height and do not grow physically.
ACCEPTANCE
Science Fiction often brings to life characters that differ in their social norms. Steven Universe preaches acceptance simply by presenting their characters and letting the audience decide whether or not to “go along” with the ride. Fans of the show have proven they like the show and the characters as they are.
Steven and his dad simply accept the world as it is presented. In fact, the Dad had a child with the Rose Quartz Gem, so he obviously accepted her.
This show was the first one on Cartoon Network written by a woman. Rebecca Sugar, the writer, originally designed the character after her little brother named Steven. He became an animator for Steven Universe. Sugar set the viewpoint as her little brother, where “you’re so comfortable in your life because you get all the attention, but you also want to rise up and not be the little brother.” She started working on this show while being an animator and storyboard artist for Adventure Time.
FIGHTING TYRANNY
The Crystal Gems are constantly fighting the Diamonds and their Order. Diamonds represent a clear archetype, often used by other media, such as the Emperor in Star Wars, or the Nazi in real life. The Crystal Gems resist that order, and fight for freedom, much like Captain America or Luke Skywalker. The theme is often used, but it is a universal theme.
Fighting is a common theme in these episodes. Life is not carefree; the characters are constantly worried about an attack by their enemy. The Diamonds can attack at any time. Danger is constant. Steven and his band of relatives and friends are mostly on the defensive. They respond to attacks by the Diamond Gems.
CULT CINEMA
Fans of the show are not mild about their support for the show. They could be classified as a cult, just like Rocky Horror Fans, which we discussed in class, except instead of shouting at the screen, we sing along with the songs, much like the Disney cult.
There are many different types of cults but this type is a large group of people who all feel strongly about the fictional characters and have an almost religious devotion to them and the show.
OTHER PEOPLE’S VIEWS
Other people view this show as not very racially progressive and say that Garnet is over sexualized. They view fusion as sexual advances, and therefore view Garnet as a sexual, promiscuous character.
They also say that Steven Universe is not racially progressive, as Garnet presents as a black character, and her lips are drawn in whereas the rest of the characters only have a line for a mouth.
I disagree with these views, as Garnet is not in the slightest promiscuous. Also fusion is a simple act, and not done romantically in most cases. Steven starts out as a 14 year old, and he fuses with his best friend Connie, non-romantically. Rocky Horror Picture Show might be about sex and sexual liberation, but Steven Universe is not.
CONCLUSION
Steven Universe is a complex show in popular culture, and it is still ongoing, and becoming more of a phenomenon as time goes on and more people see it. You can stream it on Hulu, and I highly suggest watching it as it is a transformative and motivating show for any age.
Steven Universe and the effects it has on Popular Culture 