Weapons

In a previous post, I explained what symbolism is, and how the contrast between light and dark is one of the most common symbols used in visual stories (so common you might even call it a trope… but I digress). However, Steven Universe doesn’t really seem to use this symbol.

Instead, there are much more complex and interesting symbols that the show does use. For example, the weapons that the Crystal Gems wield: each one seems to symbolize and represent their owner in different ways.

First off, there’s Garnet, whose signature weapon takes the form of two huge gauntlets. The most obvious way in which the gauntlets serve as a symbol for Garnet herself is through shape: they’re square when she makes a fist, mimicking her enormous square afro (also, the word ‘gauntlet’ sounds like the word ‘Garnet,’ but that was probably unintentional). More than that, however, the gauntlets are a symbol for her personality: Garnet is a Gem of few words, so when she opens her mouth her statements are very direct – no beating around the bush. In a similar vein, her gauntlets (unlike Pearl’s spear or Amethyst’s whip) don’t give her much distance between herself and her enemy – they’re not a weapon she can use from far away, so she has to get straight to the point. Garnet’s blows, just like her words, are a direct hit.

Pearl, on the other hand, primarily uses a spear. Again, the spear acts as a physical symbol – it is tall and thin, just like Pearl – as well as a personal one. For one thing, Pearl pulls her spear out of her forehead, which is symbolic of her intellectual personality. In addition, aiming and throwing a spear take careful aim, concentration, and planning, which are definitely strengths that Pearl has over the other Crystal Gems. She’s pragmatic almost to a fault, and her weapon reflects that. In addition, Pearl has been known to fight with a sword, which is another long, thin weapon that requires a lot of grace and strategy to wield. It comes as no surprise, then, that Pearl is the most graceful of the Crystal Gems. Just look at her twirl!

In contrast, Amethyst uses a double-headed whip as her signature weapon. Physical symbolism plays a role here as well, because the whip isn’t rigid like the other weapons – rather, it curves as it flies through the air, mimicking Amethyst’s curvy body type. Whips are also known to be incredibly fast (just think of the term ‘whiplash’), which represents Amethyst’s impulsive nature. She’s always one to launch herself head-on into battle without thinking about the consequences, which is symbolized by her speeding weapon. Amethyst is also known for her sense of humor and her sarcasm, which can be described as ‘biting’ or ‘stinging’ wit. What else stings? The slash of a whip, of course. Thus, Amethyst’s whip acts as a symbol of both her physical appearance and her hasty, at times stinging, personality.

Last but not least, there’s Steven, whose weapons are a shield and a large protective bubble. Physical symbolism is a little less prominent, though both weapons are circular which may mimic Steven’s round features. What’s more obvious is the personal symbolism: both weapons are protective, which reflects Steven’s caring personality. He sympathizes with almost everybody, and his most pressing concerns are usually to make sure that the people around him aren’t hurt. For example, in “Rose’s Fountain” he admitted to crying about snakes because “they don’t have arms,” and in “Reformed,” the first thing he asked Amethyst when she reincarnated in an asymmetrical body was, “Does that new form hurt you?” He wants to ensure safety, and his weapons symbolize his compassion.

It’s safe to say, then, that each weapon serves as a symbol for its owner. Why is this important? Well, it lends a deeper meaning to each weapon. These weapons aren’t senseless killing machines, rather, each one has a personal connection to the person who wields it. This implies that the Crystal Gems also have a deeply emotional connection with the cause behind their weapons – that of protecting the Planet Earth.

In addition, weapons also serve as a symbol for agency, or the power that each character has to shape their own fate. Weapons reflect on the people who wield them, and too often for female characters in science fiction, the heroine’s greatest weapon is reduced to be her sex appeal. No matter how many fancy gadgets she may have, attributing her success  to her sexual attractiveness is objectifying – that is, it turns a complex, human character into just a body to oggle at. Therefore, Steven Universe makes obvious strides: the Gems are not sexualized, and their weapons forge a deeply personal connection between their personalities and their power. Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, and Steven do not need to rely on sex appeal to have agency; rather, their own unique strengths, which are represented by and channeled through their weapons, are they keys to their success!

I’ve only profiled the weapons of these four Crystal Gems, but the same probably goes for Jasper, Peridot, and Lapis Lazuli as well. So next time you’re watching an episode like “The Return” or “Jail Break,” as yourself this: how do the Gems’ weapons or special abilities symbolize aspects of their personalities?

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Background Sources:

Bing, J. (2002, June 3). Cutback in femme credits.(number of female movie directors and writers in Hollywood drops)(Brief Article)(Panel Discussion)(Statistical Data Included). Daily Variety, 4-4.

Symbolism

Symbol

noun | sym·bol | ˈsim-bəl

1. an action, object, event, etc., that expresses or represents a particular idea or quality (Merriam-Webster Dictionary)

Symbolism is probably one of the most widespread literary devices used in novels, TV shows, and movies. Something becomes a symbol when it takes on an extra meaning, or when it can be used to channel an idea or a character. For example, one of the most common symbolisms is the use of light to represent “good” and dark to represent “evil.” You can spot that one everywhere: The Lion King, Sleeping Beauty, and The Little Mermaid are just three examples of Disney movies that use this color symbolism.

 

The ‘bad guys’ are darker than the ‘good guys,’ whether it be through their hair color, outfit color, or skin tone. This isn’t a coincidence.

Interestingly enough, Steven Universe doesn’t seem use this light/dark symbolism as much – there are various ‘bad guys’ throughout the episodes, but the most obvious ones are Jasper and Peridot, who aren’t darker than the rest of the Gems.

                         

You could argue that there is no white vs. black, good vs. evil symbolism in Steven Universe because each Gem has a bright, distinctive color from the rest – the color of their namesake stone. However, the writers of Steven Universe could’ve easily named the bad guys after dark gems like onyx and obsidian, which are black, but they chose not to. This is probably for a number of reasons: they might want to branch out from the light/dark symbolism cliché because it is overused, or they might want to avoid this type of symbolism because it can be seen as feeding into racist beliefs (associating “white” with “good” and “dark” with “evil”… just think about that one).

Despite this fact, symbolism is indeed used in much more interesting and complex ways throughout Steven Universe. Keep your eyes peeled for future posts that delve into different symbols that appear in the show!

The Bechdel Test

This is the time of year where many students are taking tests – whether it be standardized tests or final exams for school. Luckily, the Bechdel Test is not one that you have to take! Rather, it’s a test that people apply to movies, video games, and other fictional narratives, to see how diverse and representational they are in regards to gender.

So how does a story pass the Bechdel Test? Well, there are only three requirements that have to be met. The story must:

• Have at least two named female characters…
• Who talk to each other…
• About something other than a man.

Seems easy, right? Well, you’d be surprised by how many high-profile movies manage to fail this simple test for gender bias. These include the original Star Wars trilogy, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, 21 Jump Street, The Social Network, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Avengers… the list goes on and on. In fact, of the eight films nominated for best picture at this year’s Oscars, only four (Birdman, Boyhood, The Theory of Everything, and Selma) passed the test.

If you’re interested to see how your favorite movies stack up, http://bechdeltest.com/ is a very useful web site that has a full, searchable list of films and their scores on the Bechdel Test.

Why is this test important? Well, it was created in 1985 by cartoonist and activist Alison Bechdel, who was tired of seeing gender bias in the media. The test is meant to encourage writers to create more female characters who are interesting for more than their physical appearances. It’s also a push against tokenism, because failing the test usually indicates that the story’s female characters are not developed individuals, but rather objects or “window dressing” for a male-centric plot. In the end, it all goes back to the idea of diversity: women and girls deserve to be inspired and intrigued by stories in the media as much as their male counterparts, so the media should not be dominated by male characters.

Steven Universe does, as expected, pass the test – and with flying colors! In “Gem Glow,” the very first episode, Steven and the Crystal Gems find themselves battling a giant monster called a centipeetle. Garnet yells “Gems, weapons! Let’s do it!” to Amethyst and Pearl, which marks the first scene that fulfills all three requirements of the test.

Seeing as three out of the four main characters on the show are female, this doesn’t really come as a surprise. But it’s still nice to know that Steven Universe makes quantifiable strides for female representation!

Of course, the Bechdel test does have its limits. Because of its simplicity, many films that are seen as empowering for women, such as Gravity, and many films that aren’t necessarily sexist but have a lot of animated animal characters rather than human ones, such as Ratatouille, fail the test. The Bechdel test doesn’t take into account whether a film actively tries to defy negative female stereotypes, or whether the two female characters who are talking to each other are actually positive portrayals of women in the media. Thus, ultimately, the Bechdel test shouldn’t be your only criteria for deciding whether a story is sexist or not. You should think deeply about the characters, male and female, and how they interact with each other. Is one group portrayed as more powerful or smarter than the other? Does the main character seem like they treat a certain gender with less respect? Does one gender seem like they are more dispensable or less important throughout the story? While the Bechdel test can be your first step in thinking about the gender dynamics of a story, you should also follow up with more in-depth questions such as these. I believe that Steven Universe answers these questions well when it comes to the female characters on the show: each has her own unique strengths and weaknesses, and a personality that undergoes a lot of development throughout the show. And those are characteristics that many female characters lack in popular films that don’t pass the Bechdel test!

So the next time you go to the movies, play a video game, or watch a TV show, ask yourself whether it passes the Bechdel test. Then, go deeper. Really think about who has power in the storyline, and who doesn’t. Look at the proportions of male versus female characters, but also look at how they act and how they are treated. Investigate whether the story feeds into negative tropes. You’ll find that asking these tough questions will make you learn new things about your favorite stories, and will hopefully make them more interesting to you. Heck, that process of analysis is the basis of this entire website! So go out there, ask tough questions, and don’t be afraid if your preferences are rattled in the process.

   

It’s what Garnet would want you to do!

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Background Sources:

Bechdel, A. (1986, June 1). Dykes to Watch Out for: “THE RULE” Off Our Backs, p. 27.

Cocca, C. (2014). The ‘Broke Back Test’: A quantitative and qualitative analysis of portrayals of women in mainstream superhero comics, 1993–2013. Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics, 5(4), 411-428.

Imposter Syndrome

With the word ‘syndrome’ in it, it might sound like a disease, but imposter syndrome is more of a behavioral phenomenon. It occurs when people are plagued by nagging and negative thoughts about their skills – thoughts that are usually unfounded, but still make these individuals feel like outsiders who are only pretending to fit into their workplace. This feeling of  not belonging or not being good enough leads to a fear of being “found out” for being the “imposter” that they supposedly are. It can also lead to a vicious cycle of negative thoughts feeding into low self-esteem, which creates even more negative thoughts.

We all have moments of self-doubt, but Imposter Syndrome is like that on steroids. It affects more people than you would think – especially those who are working in a field where they are underrepresented.  For example, women in high-power business jobs and women in technology and engineering fields seem to be plagued by this phenomenon a lot. To highlight this fact, Maria Klawe, a computer scientist and the first female president of Harvey Mudd College, wrote a very insightful piece for Slate about her personal experience with Imposter Syndrome. Suffice is to say that minorities may feel like they have less worth in their field of work, even if they are actually successful, purely because they are not represented in their field and thus automatically feel like outsiders.

(Randall Munroe, https://xkcd.com/385/)

Sexist beliefs and stereotypes that women aren’t good in the mathematical/technological/physical sciences don’t help, either.

So how does Imposter Syndrome relate to Steven Universe? Well, there’s one character who feels like she don’t fit in with the rest, no matter how much she actually blends in and manages to save the day.

That’s right, I’m talking about Amethyst!

Though she was initially presented in the show as a goofy, obnoxious, and impulsive character who mainly provided comic relief, her disturbing back story and deep-seated problems with personal identity have been exposed in a number of ways.

The most notable instance of this occurred in “On the Run.” During the episode, Amethyst convinces Steven to run away from the temple with her to an eerie dark canyon that she calls her ‘original home’. It is then revealed that Amethyst is not from the Home World like Garnet and Pearl: the canyon is in fact the remains of the Kindergarten, a base where Gems were “mass-produced” in order to take over the Earth. Amethyst was originally synthesized there by the Home World Gems as a soldier for their army, but she was rescued by Rose Quartz. When Pearl arrives on the scene to confront the runaways, the feelings of shame underlying Amethyst’s cheerful façade rise violently to the surface as she yells: “we shut this place down so the Earth would be safe from parasites like me! […] Admit it! I’m just an embarrassment to you! […] I never asked for it to be this way. I never asked to be made!”

Our impressions of Amethyst as the funny, easygoing Gem were dashed, and we caught a glimpse of her inner turmoil. All of those negative voices in her head, who had been berating her for being an ‘imposter,’ are revealed.

Even though she has been living with Garnet and Pearl for thousands of years, she still struggles with her own identity and feelings of artificiality and isolation. She probably acts so boisterously to compensate for feeling like an outsider; yet, no matter how extroverted she is, and no matter her eventual redemption, she still can’t escape these feelings of inadequacy. Her tendency to overcompensate while still feeling like an outsider is also one that many women and minorities in our society share while attempting to break the glass ceilings of the professional world.

There are, of course, more subtle ways in which Amethyst suffers from Imposter Syndrome. Ever notice that she shape shifts way more than Pearl or Garnet do?

Amethyst has been known to take on the form of many different animals and characters on the show, including Steven, Greg, Pearl – even Rose. Ever wondered why that is? It’s a sign that she still isn’t comfortable in her own skin. Her feelings of not being a ‘real’ Crystal Gem, of being an outsider, become physical when she chooses to take on alternate forms. It’s like feeling like an outsider causes her to gravitate towards looking like an outsider; if she doesn’t look like a Crystal Gem, people won’t be able to compare her as easily to Garnet and Pearl. She is avoiding this comparison, of course, because she thinks they will always look better. The fact that she has been doing this since a young age – in “Story for Steven,” a flashback to the past shows Amethyst as a small child shapeshifting into an owl – just goes to show how deeply-seated her Imposter Syndrome is.

In fact, most of the Amethyst-centric episodes follow a very similar theme of showcasing Amethyst’s struggles with accepting herself. She often seems like she is purposefully pitting herself against the other two Crystal Gems, especially Pearl. This is probably because Pearl’s pragmatism makes Pearl seem superior, which only feeds into Amethyst’s feelings of inadequacy. This comes despite the fact that the show emphasizes each Gem as unique and powerful in her own way.

“Reformed” really drove this idea home.

Whenever the Crystal Gems get gravely injured, they lose their physical bodies and must reform. Pearl always takes a long time to reappear, so that she can rationally create a better version of herself. However, in this episode we learned that Amethyst frequently and recklessly rushes the process, much to the criticism of Garnet. In trying to warn Amethyst to slow down, Garnet compares her to Pearl, which only seems to upset Amethyst further. Thus when a monster critically injures Amethyst, she immediately rematerializes as a gross caricature of Pearl to mock Pearl’s pragmatism. “You wanted me to be more like Pearl,” she shouts, “and now I am!” This action practically screams Imposter Syndrome, as Amethyst sardonically shows us that she believes Pearl is more accepted in the group than she is.

As the battle with the monster continues, Amethyst must reform herself multiple times. Each new attempt is increasingly unstable, as she takes Garnet’s criticism to the extreme.

When she yells, “You wanted me to be stronger, I’m doing it! I’m being what you want!” and “Well, what do you want? Just tell me and I’ll do that!” it becomes clear that the comparison to Pearl has undermined her self-confidence.

In the end, though, Amethyst seems to see the positive in Garnet’s comments, and deliberates before reemerging. Instead of changing dramatically in attempt to please, she comes back looking almost the same as her original form. It’s a step in the right direction, because this time she’s done “what feels right” for herself, and Steven and the Gems couldn’t be happier.

So yes, Amethyst really struggles with the Imposter Syndrome, but that doesn’t mean she will always have to. She’s been dealing with these feelings of inadequacy for a long time, but episodes like “On the Run” and “Reformed” have shown her reaching new levels of self-acceptance, though these tend to happen when her emotions bubble dramatically to the surface. She’s working on it, and Steven, Garnet, and Pearl are there to help her realize that she is a real Crystal Gem, and she is a real member of their family. Nobody said it was easy to come to terms with your fears, but Steven Universe characters and fans alike are rooting for her!

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Background Sources:

Clance, P., Dingman, D., Reviere, S., & Stober, D. (1995). Impostor Phenomenon in an Interpersonal/Social Context. Women & Therapy, 16(4), 79-96.

Roche, J. (2014). Conquering Impostor Syndrome: Lessons from Female and Minority Business Leaders. Leader to Leader.

Tokenism

Token

noun | to·ken·ism | ˈtō-kə-ˌni-zəm

1. the policy or practice of making only a symbolic effort (Merriam-Webster Dictionary)

Whenever you talk about diversity in the media, the idea of tokenism becomes very important. Tokenism occurs when diverse characters are included in a story purely for the sake of improving the story’s image, rather than for the purpose of creating a multi-dimensional and deep character in and of itself.

These token characters often tend to be female or ethnic and one-dimensional, lacking power in the context of the story. They can be present for a number of reasons – purely for a visual sake, or as a motivating plot device, or as a cheap way to make the story appeal to a wider audience – but they aren’t nearly as interesting or developed as the other main characters.

If you’ve ever looked at the cast of a story and noticed a female, ethnic, or minority character who seems out of place, unimportant, or heavily reliant on stereotypes, they’re probably a token character. A common example is the “token black,” an African-American character who primarily serves the role of being loud and sassy to provide comic relief. Examples of stories that seem to have a “token black” character include New Girl and the Oceans 11 movie franchise (interestingly enough, the show South Park seems to poke fun at this phenomenon by naming the only African-American child character ‘Token’). “Token females” are also rampant in popular media, placed into stories merely for the purpose of having a female character. For example, Black Widow is only female Avenger in the first movie of the franchise (her back story is more interestingly fleshed out in the second installment though, which also adds in a second female Avenger!).

    

           

Tokenism happens in real life, too. For example, it can occur a lot at conferences in fields such as technology and politics, where women and minorities are underrepresented. In this case, panels may consist of all male speakers except for one female speaker, as women may be invited to talk solely to have a more diversified image for the hosting organization.

Steven Universe does not seem to suffer from tokenism, mainly because each of the characters on the show is unique and quirky in his or her own way. Everyone manages to have their own special abilities, secrets, strengths, and weaknesses, and even the side characters who live in Beach City play big roles in the plot of the show. In the episode “Beach Party,” the members of the Pizza family from Beach City help the Gems defeat an enormous and dangerous monster; the workers at the local donut store, Lars and Sadie, have an ongoing relationship that takes center stage in “Island Adventure,” and the so-called ‘cool kids’ have an adventure of their own with Steven and without the Gems in “Lars and the Cool Kids.” There is no token female character, obviously, because women are so well-represented on the show, and there also seem to be no token ethnic characters, as the Crystal Gems and the residents of Beach City reflect a very diverse mix of different ethnicities – white, black, Asian, Latino… even Onion! (I’m only joking, but really, Onion is so strange at times that he deserves a group of his own). By making each character on the show special in their own right and not bound by the tired old stereotypes of their race or gender, Steven Universe has found a wonderful way to avoid the tokenism problem. And that’s awesome!

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Background Sources:

Thibodeau, R. (1989). From Racism to Tokenism. Public Opinion Quarterly, 53: 482-94.

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Post Script: If you think tokenism in conferences or on panels is bad, there’s still something that’s worse: a total lack of even one attempt at diversity. Read this article and visit this tumblr for real-life evidence.

Intergalactic Suburbia!

As I explained in an earlier post, tropes are elements that commonly crop up in books, movies, TV shows, comics, video games – pretty much any type of story has a set of tropes that comes with it. Steven Universe, as a part of the science fiction genre, has a whole history of tropes behind it that come from the science fiction stories of the past, and part of what makes the show so interesting is how it decides to incorporate these tropes, especially when many of these tropes have been negative in the past.

In particular, Steven Universe has an interesting way of interacting with the science fiction trope of “Intergalactic Suburbia.” The name was coined by writer Joanna Russ, who noticed something that bothered her: even though science fiction authors can create entirely new worlds, they rarely change the typical nuclear family structure (one father, one mother, and their children) and they rarely alter stereotypical family gender roles. Isn’t it strange how futuristic science fiction shows like The Jetsons create a world with amazing new technologies and ways of living, and yet Jane Jetson is still portrayed as a stereotypical housewife?

In The Image of Women in Science Fiction, Russ sums it up by describing these Intergalactic Suburbias as “The American middle class with a little window dressing.”

However, the Crystal Gems’ tri-parental relationship with Steven transcends Intergalactic Suburbia by changing traditional gender roles and family structures. This was made particularly obvious in the episode “Fusion Cuisine:” Steven’s best friend is a girl named Connie Maheswaran, but the two are put into a predicament when Connie’s parents want to meet Steven’s presumably nuclear family. To solve the problem of choosing just one of the three Crystal Gems to masquerade as his mother, he asks them all to fuse into one physical form – a six-armed, giant Gem called Alexandrite. What follows is nearly sitcom-like, as the Maheswarans attempt to have dinner with Steven, his human father Greg, and Alexandrite, who barely manages to fit at the table. The caricature of a thirty-foot-tall alien warrior crouching in a fancy seafood restaurant and attempting to eat shrimp and make small talk is symbolic of the impracticality of attempting to force diverse family types – ones that are not made up of one mother and one father – into the limiting mold of the nuclear family.

I mean, just look at her! Her ridiculous position is the show’s way of making fun of the absurdity of Intergalactic Suburbia.

In the end the Crystal Gems are unable to keep up the charade and spontaneously split apart, causing Connie and Steven to run away from the situation in shame and impulsively board a bus. They are quickly apprehended by Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl, who heartily scold Steven in front of Connie’s parents. This display of parental instinct and discipline makes Mrs. Maheswaran immediately commiserate with the Gems, saying “That was a masterful use of the ‘because we love you’ shutdown. I’m quite partial to the ‘it’s for your own good’ myself.” By bonding through shared language, the Maheswarans realize that both groups can be responsible parents, despite having different familial structures. They sheepishly reconcile with the Gems, saying, “I see that you are responsible parents – uh, caregivers? Guardians.” They’re searching for the right words, because Steven’s family has forced them to take apart their usual ways of understanding familial structures; yet, they nevertheless accept that having three mothers instead of one does not deprive Steven of any value as a friend to their daughter. Ultimately, the Crystal Gems manage to overcome the trope of “Intergalactic Suburbia” without even having to resort to an alternate universe or society, presenting to its audiences the idea that more than one type of familial structure can still work to effectively raise a child. If that’s not a smart way to break down negative tropes, I don’t know what is!

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Background sources:

Russ, Joanna.  “Images of Women in Science Fiction.” Images of Women in Fiction: Feminist Perspectives. Ed. Susan Koppelman Cornillon.  Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green UP, 1972, 79-94.

Tropes

Trope

noun | ˈtrōp

1. b:  a common or overused theme or device :  cliché, e.g. “the usual horror movie tropes” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary)

What is a trope? In the simplest of terms, it’s a common “thing” that always seems to happen in a certain kind of story. For example: in chick flicks, there is often the trope of the ‘dorky girl’ undergoing a makeover and becoming ‘beautiful’ (just look at The Princess Diaries, A Walk to Remember, The Devil Wears Prada… the list goes on).

As a cartoon show that frequently references popular culture, Steven Universe has used a wide variety of different tropes throughout its episodes. For example, in the episode called “Garnet’s Universe,” Steven paints an imaginary picture of what he imagines Garnet does when she leaves for the day. The resulting story looks almost exactly like a classic video game, complete with pixilated characters, levels, trainers, and battles. It’s funny and it’s cute, but what makes it an especially enjoyable episode for fans of video games is that it references so many common tropes from classic video games, from Mario to Minecraft.

However, while tropes are easy to recognize and relate to parts of our lives (like video games!), they also run the risk of becoming tired clichés, especially if they are negative or damaging. For example, there has historically been a trope called “Women in Refrigerators,” (a term coined by comic book writer Gail Simone) wherein female characters in science fiction stories, comics, and video games are brutalized and trapped, causing the male hero of the story to go on a quest for revenge. Not only does this trope seem to create a world where violence against women is normalized, it also takes power away from female characters, turning them into a grisly plot device. As a female fan of science fiction, this trope gets old pretty quickly.

It doesn’t stop there. Countless negative female tropes have existed for a long time in the genre of science fiction, and Steven Universe, a show that seems to emphasize the power of female heroines, would be incomplete if it chose to ignore them. Instead, Rebecca Sugar has created something even more powerful: a show that actively recognizes, and then negates, decades of negative female science fiction tropes, all within the context of a children’s cartoon show. Amazing! These negative tropes include “Women in Refrigerators,” “Monstrous Mothers,” “Intergalactic Suburbia,” and “Fembots,” among others, and each will have their own individual post in the coming future. So keep your eyes peeled for more in-depth posts about tropes in science fiction coming soon!

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Background sources:

Richardson, Sarah. “Gender and Science Fiction.” Harvard University. Cambridge, MA. 12 March 2015. Course Lecture.

Russ, Joanna.  “Images of Women in Science Fiction.” Images of Women in Fiction: Feminist Perspectives. Ed. Susan Koppelman Cornillon.  Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green UP, 1972, 79-94.

Diversity

Diversity

noun | di·ver·si·ty | də-ˈvər-sə-tē

1. The quality or state of having many different forms, types, ideas, etc.
2. The state of having people who are different races or who have different cultures in a group or organization (Merriam-Webster Dictionary)

Steven Universe focuses a lot on exploring the different powers and personalities of the Crystal Gems, who have superhuman strength, supernatural weapons, and are of alien origin. Sound familiar?

That’s right – Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl are superheroes! And I don’t know about you, but when I think of superheroes, I tend to first think of these guys:

The Avengers are your classic superheroes: incredibly strong, fast, smart, and brave – battling against the evil forces of the universe to protect the human beings of planet Earth. And yet, The Hulk, Ironman, Captain America, Thor, Black Widow, and Hawkeye have a problem on their hands even bigger than a diabolical alien mastermind or a bloodthirsty killer robot: they have a diversity problem. And they’re not the only ones.

For a movie, TV show, comic, or animated cartoon to have diversity, it should have a mixed cast of characters. Think about race and gender – a combination that has enormous variety all over the world. From this perspective, the Avengers are not diverse: five out of the six main characters are male, and all of them are white. In fact, superheroes in general are not a diverse bunch. Sure, there are a few female superheroes and ethnic superheroes, but it is by no means an even split, and there has never been a full-length, live-action movie made with any of them as the main character.

Why is diversity important? Because diversity goes hand-in-hand with the idea of representation, which aims to give screen time to characters of all backgrounds, races, genders, ages, sexual identities, and body types – you name it, and the media should try to represent it. The human population is not 83% male and 100% white, so why should our most popular band of superheroes be that way? Superheroes aim to inspire us by showing us what the farthest limits of strength and determination can achieve, but limiting the diversity of superheroes limits the number of people who can identify with them and feel empowered by them.

That is why Steven Universe is so special. On the basis of gender diversity alone, Steven Universe knocks the Avengers out of the park, with female superheroes galore! Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, Rose Quartz, Lapis Lazuli – each of these Gems has a unique background, appearance, personality, strength, and weakness. The fact that they are strong female characters with immense, world-saving powers builds up the representation of female superheroes and the diversity of existing superheroes in general, allowing for a wider audience – of girls and boys – to feel empowered by their stories!

Of course, animated cartoons are in a different realm from live-action movies, and Steven Universe isn’t the first such “Girl Power” cartoon to showcase female superheroes. Think of the shows The Powerpuff Girls, Kim Possible, Atomic Betty, and Totally Spies. What do they all have in common?

True, all four of these shows are American girl-power cartoons because they focus on female superheroes or action heroes. And yet, though they provide girl heroes in a male-dominated genre, there’s still something missing. That’s right – all four of these shows lack diversity in major ways. First of all, all of these girl heroes (with the exception of Alex from Totally Spies) are white, illustrating a pressing lack of racial diversity. Secondly, all of these girls are members of privileged middle-class society, which points to a problematic lack of class diversity as well. Even more problematic is the lack of diversity in the body types of these characters: all of them are slim, with long legs, thin waists, and what are considered to be conventionally beautiful or cute facial features. The end product is a decidedly one-sided and biased image of what a girl hero can be like, and fails to represent the other combinations of race, class, body type, and facial features that exist all over the nation (let alone the world!).

In comparison to these past cartoons, the diversity of Steven Universe stands out even more!

The cast of characters run the gamut of height, weight, skin color, hairstyle, and outfit; none of the Gems would be considered conventionally attractive, yet all of them manage to be confident, powerful fighters against the forces of evil. Since they’re from an alien planet, they also don’t have to be associated with any single single human culture or race. In this way, the Gems occupy a unique very unique space when it comes to diversity and representation: they are human-looking enough so that viewers from many different backgrounds can identify with them, but they are not forced into traditional female roles because they do not live by human rules.

In summary, diversity and representation are important in superhero TV shows, movies, cartoons, and books alike because they allow everyone to connect with the characters and feel empowered by their strength. Steven Universe manages to be diverse to an extent that the superhero genre and the girl-hero genre have not been able to achieve in the past. Go Gems!

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Post Script: If you want to read more about why Diversity is so important and how it can impact our lives, this article from Everyday Feminism might interest you.

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