so. i’ve thought about it, and i personally don’t find the recent episodes “too dark”. i think that kind of thinking hangs a lot of the themes of the show entirely on steven, not on the rules of the world itself. i think that’s a mistake.
to me, what makes “steven universe” a hopeful show is that every character gets healing & love. not that it’s specifically steven who embodies that.
thinking otherwise - that it all hangs on steven - reads to me as believing in “great man theory”. not only putting him on this pedestal of divinely given goodness (as if his feelings & circumstances can’t push him to become a worse person), but saying he’s never allowed to fall to his lowest point. even if it was an accident. even if he regrets it. he’s supposed to be “better” than the rest, someone who would never hurt others.
essentially, building up the same mythos around him as the CGs did for rose.
the reality is, there’s nothing steven’s done that hasn’t already been well-established in the world. he’s lost control of his feelings after a long time of repression, similar to many homeworld gems. plenty of those characters have shattered others - probably including jasper herself (i say this as someone who loves her deeply. she was a soldier during the war, and we know homeworld shattered many gems during it).
you really think what he’s done is any darker than the episode where we saw the fusion experiments? it’s not. the only thing that’s changed is you can’t point to steven and say “well my baby would never do that, even on accident. he’s better than those bad people. he’s a good person. that’s all he’s allowed to be”.
i think it makes perfect sense that the show is taking steven down from his pedestal of goodness. SU has always thought such pedestals are unhealthy (just look at rose). you shouldn’t devote yourself to thinking of others as “better”, as unquestionably good, or as so evil as to never be able to better themselves.
and the latter point also includes steven. what makes “steven universe” a hopeful world is that every character gets healing & love. that includes him.
what matters isn’t that steven always does the right thing. what matters is that he’ll be given the chance to grow & heal when he doesn’t.
there is no doubt in my mind that steven will recover. maybe not “happily ever after”, but they’ll give him an ending that leaves him in a better place than he started out. he may not believe in himself right now, but his friends and family will never give up on him.
everyone around him have been at their lowest point. they’ve been cruel, vengeful, petty, self-destructive and selfish. if he accepts them, knowing that, then they’re going to love and accept him. all of him, not just the good parts.
that, i think, will give him the will to work on himself. not by once again putting himself on such a high pedestal as to be incapable of bad (thus repressing his feelings until he explodes)… but a healthy self-image, where he can express his feelings safely, care for both others and himself, and change - for the better, not just for the worse.
i want him to see himself as equal to those he helps, and thus deserving of help in return. not as a diamond who must be flawless & “make everything better”.
the message isn’t “steven is a good person who will fix the world”.
the message is “i’ve got you. you’ve got this. we’ve all got each other”.
I am Silver Tongue, I am an artist. I have many characters and you can check out my art in the art tag. I occasionally practice witchcraft though I don't do anything too complicated. I am girl 2 and don't know what else to put here.
