Hi! Welcome to Feminist Fridays--a series where we explore the social, the political,
and the media from a feminist and an intersectional perspective...and use a lot of F-words. But
not today because we're talking about cartoons. So I actually did not plan on making a video
today and then the season 1 finale of Steven Universe happened...to me. So here we. It
was bad. It was to the point where it was four in the morning and I was looking up fan
theories and speculation and it was a dark deep hole. Just like where my heart should
be. I was on Reddit. I DON'T go on Reddit! So I need to talk about Steven Universe because
all of the people that convinced me to watch Steven Universe don't wanna talk to me about
it today apparently--so I'm gonna talk to you guys. My first impression of Steven Universe
was that it was really cutesy and lighthearted and it just looked like if you touched it
it would feel like a fleece blanket. And for the first ten or so episodes it is lighthearted
and cute and the stories are adorable. There's a whole storyline where the main character
Steven Universe is obsessed with ice cream sandwiches that are shaped like cats, so I
mean c'mon. But I was very surprised at the depth of the show and how much was going on
underneath the surface. There's a clue in every single episode and they all add up as
like puzzle pieces to form this larger picture of what's actually going on. And there are
parts where it's dark as hell and it's emotional and it deals with the darkest parts of human
nature. But it's also so loving and sweet and wonderful and I love it. But what I really
wanna talk about is how feminist this show is. It's amazing! Steven Universe is a show
created by Rebecca Sugar who is actually the first woman to create her own show on Cartoon
Network. Which, even though this shouldn't be progressive, it's pretty fucking progressive.
The story of Steven Universe revolves around Steven who is a little boy being raised by
three women who he just thinks are the COOLEST. He's surrounded by these powerful and lovable
and multi-faceted female role models that he completely looks up to. THe premise of
the show is that Steven is part of group called the Crystal Gems who are aliens that are here
to protect the planet earth. Through out the show they fight many other gems who as we
see aren't always good but they have a pretty complex relationship with earth and the other
Crystal Gems. One of the coolest things about the gems is that they're all non-binary and
technically sexless, but they choose to present as feminine and use she/her pronouns. Pretty
much every powerful, magical character on this show presents as female. The character
of Steven is based on Rebecca Sugar's younger brother who really looked up to her as a kid,
and each of the Crystal Gems represents a different aspect of her personality. Garnet
is the laidback and chill protector of the group. She's the de facto leader and everyone looks
up to her and respects her. Pearl is the intelligent, Type A, uptight, mom type who keeps Steven
and everyone else in line. She's like the micomanager of the group. Amethyst is the
fun-loving, reckless one who just wants to have a good time and mess around. But as we
see in the show, she has a lot of heart and a really interesting backstory. All of the
Crystal Gems are really lovable, but they're also multifaceted but have really glaring
character flaws that we learn more about as the series goes on. And these aren't just
like Twilight/Bella Swan character flaws, these are actual flaws that reflect the darkest
parts of the human spirit. You can tell Rebecca Sugar put a lot of thought into the psychological
realness of the show. Another thing I absolutely love about the show is that so many of the
characters are voiced by awesome women of color. Three out of the four leads are voiced
by women of color, Estelle plays the voice of Garnet, and even Nicki Minaj plays a role
in one of the episodes. This show does a lot of interesting things with gender--Steven
is not your stereotypical aggressive little boy--he's pretty feminine and is not afraid
to cry or like cutesy things. And that's not to associate femininity with weakness, even
though I don't think that crying is a weakness at all. Because so many of the female presenting
characters in the show are not typically "feminine" and are seen in roles where they're fighting
and kicking ass and being powerful. But on the flipside of that, the more traditionally
feminine characters are also doing all of those things. There are also a lot of allusions
to lesbian relationships and even though it's not the same thing as explicit representation,
it's still a step forward considering it's a children cartoon. It's also really interesting
because some of the characters straddle the line between masculine and feminine and it's
clear that they don't conform to male or female. I think this show does an interesting job
at portraying non-binary relationships, which is pretty progressive. Some children might
not feel comfortable or necessarily identify with the gender identity they were assigned
at birth and can seek solace in alternative gender identities represented in the show.
Anyway, let me know if any of you guys watch the show. Do you think it's super feminist
or do you have critiques of the show? Also just like talk to me about the last couple
episodes of season one because I'm still not over it.
So here are 6 racist and sexist things not to say to mixed race women, and mixed race
people in general, in order to avoid being racially insensitive.