Challenging Stories Pt. 1

As many know, I adore the show Steven Universe. This is one of my two favorite shows of all time, the other being Adventure Time. When Leeper was talking today about stories that should be challenging, well, the first thing that came to mind for me was Steven Universe. Throughout the show, the creators deal with tough social, personal, and emotional issues.

The first issue that the show deals with, which is the most obvious, is the aspect of lesbianism. Although in the show's cannon the Crystal Gems (Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl) are genderless, they still have the appearance and social cues often associated with women. In fact, all of the Gems that exist, that we know of, have a feminine form. So, when two gems are romantic with each other, as is seen in the show, it is often portrayed like a lesbian relationship. This caused a lot of controversy when the show first came out, but I actually like that the show portrays lesbianism in a safe environment where there is no right or wrong association. The show never really comments on whether lesbianism is right or wrong. It just lets you decide, and I think that it is good to expose kids (with their parents watching as well) to facts of life that the children will come into contact with. The kids and parents should then work out together what they think is right or wrong.

Another issue that the show deals with is the concept of doing too much for others. This is a strange one that society is starting to be more concerned with. In the episode "Kiki's Pizza Delivery Service" (a direct homage to Miyazaki's film), Steven loses sleep every night from helping his friend Kiki deal with her problems. This ends up in the Steven's life getting progressively worse. As the episode wraps up, Steven helps Kiki to work through her own problems without using Steven to fix everything for her. This episode is really incredible because we don't often talk about self-care in today's media. Yet, Steven Universe discusses how you can't truly help others unless you're taking care of yourself. 

To be continued...