fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #4440 ]

[ SECRET POST #4440 ]

⌈ Secret Post #4440 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

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But... SU is a kids' show. Kids' shows generally emphasize nonviolent ways of solving problems, this is nothing new.

I know, but most kids' shows don't emphasize using nonviolence as a method of ending systematic oppression, which SU kinda does. And that's a harder sell these days.

Kids aren't watching SU and thinking "Oh golly gosh the villains' crime is systemic oppression!" The villains are trying to Take Over the Universe, a very common goal for kids' show villains that usually comes with implications of oppression that go over kids' heads. SU is no different in that regard, so I don't know why people always act like it's the first show ever to do this kind of villain plot and solve it peacefully.

Fair point, but that feeds into what Vrai says--that sort of message would have been understandable when the show started, but the world is different now, and things we would have been fine with before now take on different meanings. Also, most of the people I know who are into SU don't watch much other current kid's programming. It makes sense that they would criticize something they've actually watched instead of something that's barely on their radar. The pacifistic stuff they watched as kids, again, was made in a different time, so it gets judged differently. (To say nothing of what nostalgia does to your perceptions of a work.)

I think it's a bit ridiculous to try to ascribe deeper messages to children's programming than the standard be kind to others/don't treat others differently because they're different/don't solve things with violence/etc. It's kids' stuff, it's not meant to be deep or nuanced the way media made for adults is because that sort of nuance will fly right over kids' heads. It's just made to be entertaining and usually impart some gentle, simple lessons.

Rebecca Sugar has always said that the main lessons of Steven Universe were about family. Steven is based directly on her brother, and the three main Gems are all based on different parts of Rebecca herself. The plot about Homeworld is all secondary, as you can see when the fandom complains that not every episode is about that and there's too much "filler" that's just based on interpersonal relationships between Steven and the Gems and the townspeople. Even the Homeworld plot isn't literally about an intergalactic dictatorship. It's about another family that's come apart. It so little resembles any real world sociopolitical system that the only people who see it that way are not the people it was made for.

I don't know, if these themes are in the show, it kind of seems reasonable to comment or critique based on them? Even if they're not supposed to be the main part of the show? Obviously you don't have to agree with that point of view, they just want a different thing from the show than you do?

Perhaps not, but SU does present more progressive views on gender and queerness than most other kids' shows, which makes it easier for adults to want the rest of the show to be similarly nuanced. You don't expect much from something that gives you nothing, but when something gives you a little, you might expect it to give you more.

Right, but the simple fact is that it's not made for adults and people need to keep that fact in mind. Even if adults enjoy it, it's still a show aimed at kids and thus the storytelling is on a level that's meant to appeal and be understandable to kids.

I don't think there is much nuance in Steven Universe. At all.

Have you ever heard the saying "Perfect is the enemy of good"?
I don't agree with people who assert that any critique of progressive media is letting the side down, a betrayal of some higher ideal - but I also don't think it's fair or reasonable to demand that any creator who puts in any real effort to include positive representation in their work must therefore be all things to all people, or else they're some sort of turncoat.

OK, seriously, who is saying these things?

Because the example that OP provided doesn't even come close to saying that

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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