Can you please explain what’s so awful about Lily’s video? No offense to you or people who agree with you, but all of things you guys say about the video AND her as a person sound fairly biased to me. Especially considering you haven’t watched the whole thing and are mostly getting opinions from other people. I don’t want to argue, honest, but I do wanna discuss it.
1. she calls rebecca sugar, a jewish nonbinary woman, a nazi sympathizer because she made the irrefutable crime of making her antagonists sad
2. she blames the hiatuses on her and the crew, despite them saying multiple times that the show’s schedule is beyond their control
3. says that rebecca stole fan theories for the pink diamond reveal, even tho the crew has said multiple times that this was planned from the beginning
4. says that they stopped givng sugilite lines because she’s a racist character even tho the actual reason is that nicki minaj doesn’t come cheap
5. blames the show for stuff it already explained at length (rose quartz is not a good person)
6. says that pearl is a slave even tho the show has extensively shown that everything she’s done has been her choice
7. accuse the show of racism even tho these claims are either reaches (amethyst in that once concept art), easily disproven (fusions) or already apologized and removed (concrete, something that was done before the show)
in short
Can we as a culture start thinking about Jewish artists telling complex stories about fascists before saying stupid shit? Sugar is not apologizing for dictators, she’s telling a story where the bad guys are people, too. There’s almost no chance that she’s not using her lives experience to explore political realities that have been affecting her people for thousands of years.
She’s also telling a story about redemption and compassion in a narrative that’s got a hopeful view on humanity. Extending humanity to everyone is the beating heart of her story.
Blue Diamond mourns Pink. But her actions are also that most direct reason Lapis struggles to even imagine being happy. Rose Quartz lied to everyone, abused her power over Pearl – but was also instrumental in saving earth.
Steven is a product of selfish desire and unconditional love. He’s inherited an amazing family who loves him and an unfair burden where everything that matters is a stake.
It’s not fair he has to deal with it. It’s not fair Rose lied. It’s beyond unfair that Yellow and Blue are three demensional characters who he can’t kill without consequences. It’s not fair that terrible people who do so much harm aren’t easily disposed of.
And that’s the point.
Steven Universe is unflinchingly honest about how complex the world is. That’s why the narrative is so powerful. Demanding justice isn’t filling out representation checkboxes – Its about recognizing one another’s humanity and struggling the make something good in systems that are built on the pain of others.
And it’s still worth it because Lapis came back. Steven’s unconditional love and compassion helped her heal enough to want her home back, just like it will in the final climax of the story.
But that climax is only going to matter if his compassion has been tested, if his antagonists are realized while still being wrong. That he can still for care and recognize the humanity in those whose want to destroy all that he values are what makes him a hero.
I don’t even watch Steven Universe, but this emphasizes something I’ve started noticing in a few other fandoms (particularly Voltron). I’m beginning to see a trend where people treat a story with the mentality that if anything bad happens to a character ever, for any reason, and in any context, then it’s bad writing and proof of the creators’ bad intentions. And I want to smack my head against the wall every time I see something like that because that’s not how storytelling works.
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